Reading Notes: Twenty Jataka Tales Part B

The Two Pigs
This story had an unexpected turn that was kind of confusing. One of the pigs said this poem causing everything in the world to listen? I wasn’t sure how his riddle was able to do all of that. I thought what was going to happen was that the two pigs found out they were going to be eaten and then run away. Also, the pigs didn’t say anything about it but the drunken grandma ended up betraying Cullatundila. If I was that pig, I would’ve tried to get back at the grandma. With these Jataka tales, I never know what’s going to happen. The story has to have a twist in rather than the expected. I really thought the pigs were going to escape through their window or door and runaway to the forest. Instead, they end up being treated as royalty. What an ending..



The Patient Buffalo
I have to say this one was my favorite story because of the lesson that’s taught. I loved how the buffalo stated that the monkey did not have a brain so why should he punish him for it. It’s like saying why should I waste my energy on someone else who won’t understand. It’s an important lesson to learn. I know for me I tend to waste a lot of my time on trying to convince the other person and in the end, it’s pointless. Thank you buffalo.



Bibliography
Noor Inayat, Twenty Jataka Tales, Source

Water Buffalo

Source: Wikipedia

Reading Notes: Twenty Jataka Tales Part A

The Monkey Bridge
What surprised me was that the king went with his men to search for the tree. Usually kings stay in their kingdoms rather than doing the work. I felt sad reading the part where the chief monkey sacrificed himself to save his children. I just can’t believe that none of them stayed back to make sure he was okay especially the last monkey who broke his back. I also thought that the king was going to kill the chief monkey. However, it was surprising to me when the king actually had a conversation with the chief monkey. The fact that the king even made a temple in honor of the chief made me warm inside. WhatI liked about this story was that a lesson was taught by example. The chief indirectly showed how to be a king and the king saw that. In the end, the king actually ruled his people by loving them instead of being a tyrant like many other past kings. After reading so many tales with sad endings, it was nice to read a happy ending like this one.

Guilty Dogs
When the royal family found out their royal satchel thing got ruined, I instantly knew the king was going to order those dogs to be killed. This is what I was referring to in the Monkey Bridge. I really thought I was going to read about the slaughter of those street dogs and then read about how guilty those royal dogs felt after. But I’m glad that the chief dog came up and saved all the innocent dogs. Unfortunately, we don’t know what happened to the royal dogs; I wish they included that.

Bibliography
Noor Inayat, Twenty Jataka Tales, Source

Royal Dog Breeds: Akita

Source: Bustle

Reading Notes: Jataka Tales Part 2

The Wise and Foolish Merchant
This story reminds me of the Monkey and the Crocodile story with the clever monkey as the wise thrifter. A detail that I noticed was that the story said “young” and “foolish” when describing the merchant. The story is trying to show that young people tend to be less wise and more naive while older people tend to be wiser. Being the wise merchant, I expected him to be more helpful with the other merchant. In the end, I felt bad for the young merchant for falling for the demon’s trick.

The Elephant Girly-face
What I enjoy about these tales is that there’s a lesson to be learned. This story shows that the people you surrounded yourself with influences you in the end. If you hang with bad people, you will end up adopting bad traits. If you hang with good people, you do good things. I enjoyed the simple-minded elephant but I would have liked it more if she thought for herself instead of following what those robbers said.

Bibliography
Ellen C. Babbitt, Jataka Tales, Tales

Elephant Airbnb

Source: NY Times

Reading Notes: Jataka Tales Part 1

The Crocodile and Monkey
I actually remember reading this tale earlier in the semester. I always enjoyed this story because of the clever monkey. My favorite part is where the monkey tricked the crocodile into talking.

The Merchant of Seri
I haven’t read this story yet. After reading it, the story exhibits the greed that some people have within them while juxtaposing that trait with selflessness. After time and time again, poor people are taken advantage of by others who have wealth. However, I’ve always believed that exploiting people especially the poor comes back as bad karma. I’m glad that the second merchant wasn’t greedy and gave the grandmother and girl something in exchange for the bowl.

Bibliography
Ellen C. Babbit, Jataka Tales, Site

The Merchant of Seri

Source: Sacred

Reading: The Five Tall Sons of Pandu

After reading the beginning, I’m glad that I get to read more about Yudhishthira and Bhima. I remember learning about them in the earlier readings. The story says that the sons were trained in the “arts of war” and I wonder if that’s actually what happened in those times. Did royal sons and daughters actually learn about war? What I appreciate about the way the Five Tall Sons of Pandu is that the story is easy to understand. 

Bibliography
Richard Wilson, The Five Tall Sons of Pandu, Reading

The Pandava’s

Source: Wiki

Reading Notes: Nine Ideal Indian Women

Not trying to sound bad but when the story said that Indian women “highly educated and accomplished” I was a bit surprised. I always thought women were oppressed back then. Yet again, this story does focus on the daughter of a royal family. Also, I’m not to familiar with how royal families work so I was surprised when the Maharani chose the friends of Savitri; it makes me question how genuine Savitri friendships are. Since they chose certain girls, I would like to know how they chose them. I wonder what parameters the royal family abided by. Another detail that I noticed was how the Princess was paying attention to her professors. Not trying to sound negative but I just wonder how long her attention span keeps up because in some stories regarding royal families, the princess or prince become apathetic towards learning. So far, I’m enjoying reading about Indian women! Something that I like about these Indian stories is that the description of scents and scenes are well-written; I can really imagine  “floating flowers” and “crystal-clear stream” or smell “jasmine flowers.” I find the writing in Nine Ideal Indian Women to be beautiful and carefully written.  Aesthetic diction is a method of writing that I would like to use in my future stories. 

Bibliography 

Sunity Devee, Maharanee, Nine Ideal Indian Women, Archive

Savitri

Source: Blog

Reading: Mahabharata Part C

A detail of the story that caught my attention was that the Pandavas lived in the forest for 12 years living off of fruits. Plus, they continued to perform their religious acts despite living in the forest. This part of the story surprised me because the Pandavas were royalty so it must’ve been difficult for them to get use to the forest at first.

I really liked the part where Arjuna, who was only a mortal, trained himself to live off of air. His penance was extremely high that the Gods even noticed him. I found it super funny when he came across the Great God and had a battle with him.

C. A. Kincaid., Public Domain Edition: Mahabharata, Mahabharata 

Arjuna 

Source: Wikipedia

Reading Notes: Mahabharata, Part B

I noticed that the prince paid attention to detail. He noticed that the palace roof was made out of wood and other materials that can easily burn as well as the oil. I appreciate characters who are aware of their surroundings. I enjoyed reading how the skillful miner dug a tunnel for the Pandava’s escape and how they were able to escape. What stayed with me was how a violent wind spread the fire to the lac palace causing the low caste mother and five sons to die. Then, what’s even worse is that their charred bodies made everyone think that the Pandava’s died.

When the sister rakshasa went to Bhima, I didn’t think what she said was smart. She was very quick to tell Bhima about her brother and that he should let her be his servant. I think if she chose her words carefully, then Bhima might have considered. I’ve also noticed that many women rakshasas fall in love with mortal men. The fact that the rakshasa and Bhima ended up together really surprised me because usually demons don’t have a good ending. The story talked about their marriage too quick so if I were to rewrite it, I would spend more time talking about their time together. I also found it funny when their son was named Ghatotkacha, which means pot-headed. They named their son that because he was bald, but the meaning does not make me think of baldness. I also thought it was sweet how the demon was honest; she just wanted to be with Bhima and begged for his family to convince him to marry her.

C. A. Kincaid., Public Domain Edition: Mahabharata, Mahabharata

Bhima, Hidimba, and Ghatotkacha 

Source: Wikipedia

Reading Notes: Mahabharata, Part A

I instantly noticed that this story features Ganesha in it! In my earlier blogs, I talked about how I was always interested in learning more about him. Ganesha was appointed as the scribe for Vyesha where he was told to not stop his pen. I’m thinking about giving this story a more modern take on it so maybe instead of pen, I’ll have Ganesha type the story out. One detail of the story that stood out to me was that Uparichara’s semen fell into a river where a female fish consumed it. As a result, when the fish was caught, a boy and girl came forth. I’m not sure what that means but I would definitely change this detail. In a small amount of semen, there are millions of sperm so I would make it so that all those sperm cells turn into his million children. However, since it takes an egg and a sperm to create a human, I might make his children be missing something to show that they’re not complete. I’m not sure what I’ll do. I might make it so that all of his children are all males and that they’re on a hunt for their other half.

The next part of the story kind of confused me. While the daughter, Satyavati, was ferrying across the river, the Rishi Parashara persuaded her to marry him in exchange for her to lose her fishy smell. They get married and have a kid named Vyasa; he arranged the Vedas.

Reading further into the story, I was surprised reading the part where Ganga threw seven of her babies into the Ganges river. After reading it, it makes sense now because she was helping the Vasus. When her husband finally said something, I was hoping that she would be more considerate towards his feelings because the story did not say that Ganga ever explained herself to him.

I’m starting to understand Satyvati’s story now especially reading her part from a different perspective. The man who wanted her thought her smell was sweet and alluring but to others, her scent was fishy. The man wanted her to be the mother of his son so he promised a sweet smell and that she would be a virgin again. When she gave birth to his son, the baby turned into a man which is how I perceived the story. What surprised me was that the son quickly left his mother to holy meditate. I don’t understand what compelled him to do it since he quickly turned into a man.

Mackenzie, Donald A., Public Domain Edition: Mahabharata, Mahabharata

Manuscript illustration of the battle of Kurukshetra

Source: Wikipedia

Extra Credit Reading Notes 0

Despite being the wife, Kaikeyi doesn't care about the death of her husband nor her other sons. Throughout the reading, I noticed that men are notably nicer towards women. For example, maybe it's because she was his mother, but Bharata would not kill his mother despite the wrongdoing she's done. Shatrughna and Bharata both knew that Rama would not be happy if he finds out what they did to a woman. I might change how Kaikeyi received zero punishment. Bharata's comments about parents are interesting to me. He says that a man's allegiance to them is temporary. A man enters and leaves this world alone. I might include Bharata's analogy in my future story.

Later in the story, Sita was kidnapped by Ravana while Rama was trying to catch the golden deer was. The demon’s plan was good so I think I might keep this part of the story. The sister of Ravana, Sherpanakha wanted Rama badly so she tried to kill Sita. There’s not much I want to change because I enjoyed reading this part the most.


Bibliography
Mackenzie, Donald A., Ramayana, http://ouocblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/pde-ramayana-bharata-returns.html

The Golden Deer, Rama, and Sita

Source: Academy

Reading Notes: Ramayana, Part A

It’s evident that men plays an important role in the story. For example, Dasharatha who had three wives but no children, wanted sons to inherit his throne. I would like to change the gender roles so that instead of the king making the choices, it’s the queens. I haven’t thought out how a gender change would affect the story but, I would like to see the change.

When Rama and Sita met, I really appreciated how they were meant to be soul mates because they had ties to a god and goddess. I thought the romance between them was beautiful and would like to keep that part. The part I enjoyed the most was when Rama bent and broke the Bow of Shiva because it further established how godlike and impressive Rama is. I really enjoyed this being a hero story.

As of right now, there isn’t much I want to change except for the execution of the story. The word choice and grammar made the story difficult to understand at some parts. Therefore, I would definitely retell the story so that it’s easy to understand. One more thing that I would change is the part where Dasharatha listens to his wife Kaikeyi. I did not enjoy how Kaikeyi was forcing Dasharatha to banish his beloved son, Rama, or else she would kill herself. Being the wife of a king, I would expect her to have more dignity. While that whole scenario was taking place, I also wanted to know what the other wives were thinking. I wanted to know what their thoughts were because if was one of the other wives, I would be upset. If I were to retell this story, I would definitely include the perspectives of the other wives which brings me to my next point. The whole story was very narrative. I never knew what Rama, Dasharatha, or Lakshmana were thinking about. I wanted to know how they felt in certain parts of the story. Plus, the story rarely talks about the fourth brother, Shatrughna.

Bibliography

“Ramayana Online: Public Domain Edition,” M. Dutt, R, et. al., Web Source

Rama, Sita, and Lakshmana

Source: Ancient History

Reading Notes: Week 2, Anthology

Initially, I wanted to just focus on the plot, but after reading the stories, I also focused in one character. 

The Foolish, Timid Rabbit by Ellen C. Babbitt

For this story, what stuck with me was the lion. When all the animals were running, it was the lion who was the voice of reason and courage. It was his roar that silenced the all the others. The rest of the animals feared him since he was at the top of the food chain. None of the others animals thought to check out where the rabbit slept. In other words, no one else thought for themselves and just followed the crowd. Furthermore, I didn’t expect the story to end so quick; I thought there would be more to the story. For example, I thought that none of the animals would believe the rabbit so quickly. I might change that part of the plot. 

The Turtle and the Geese by Ellen C. Babbitt

The unique feature that I took from this was the sad ending. After reading the brief summary, I was waiting to see why the turtle was foolish. By focusing on the plot, the ending hit me hard because it was so unexpected and an unhappy ending. Using an unexpected ending or maybe an unhappy ending would be a tool I could use to make my story unique and memorable. Similar to the previous one, this story also had a lesson to be learned. I’m not entirely confident that I can explain it correctly so I’ll leave it at that. 

In both of these stories, I would like to include an important lesson behind my plot.

The Feared Lion

Source: Sacred

Week 2 Reading Overview

After looking at both options, I decided that I will read the Public Domain Option for the Ramayana. While both options looked good, the second one had a small summarization of the section. It’s great to have a summarization because I know what to expect. Also, even though each part has several sections, the sections look manageable to read which makes me excited to read. 

The two comic books that I’m interested in reading are Ganesha and Sherpanakha. In the Ganesha story, it explains why Ganesha has an elephant head. Plus the story is really interesting because Ganesha was able to fight off Shiva, Brahma and other gods! Shiva is known as the the Destroyer so being able to prevent her from entering Parvati’s door is extremely impressive. I’ve seen Ganesha several times on the internet so I would love to learn about him. For Sherpanakha, I’m interested in it because it’s about a demoness named Lakshmana who falls in love with Rama. Lakshmana ends up consoling with her sisters and overall her brother which is the ten-headed demon king, Ravana. I don’t know why but I enjoy reading about demons and other entities related. 

The first video that immediately caught my eye was the Symbols of Divinity. Learning about symbols and their meanings is cool and interesting. There was a symbol that I’ve seen throughout my life but never knew what it was called. The symbol is called the OM and it represents the sound that began all things. Another symbol that I saw was the lotus. According to the video, the lotus is associated with creation and wealth; I didn’t know that. I always heard that the lotus stood for strength. The flower must push through mud and water before it blossoms. The next video that caught my attention was the Indian and Greek Mythological Parallels. In my Favorite Storybook post, I think I said that I enjoy Greek mythology. This video helps me make connections and realize that despite the culture, the similar stories can be told throughout the world. For example, Yama and Hades are both gods of death that allow souls to pass to the underworld. Plus, in both Indian and Greek mythology, there is a river that allows souls to reach the underworld. It’s crazy that for both mythologies to have similar aspects.

Ganesha, God of New Beginnings

Source: Wikipedia