Epics of India

Hanuman jumps to Lanka, and finds Sita in a garden. Hanuman shows her the ring of Rama, and Sita regains hope. She gives him some jewlery of hers, and Hanuman starts wrcking the garden. Indrajit captures Hanuman, and he gets his tail set ablaze. Hanuman jumps around Lanka and burns everything. Maya rebuilds it, but Ravana is already pissed. Everyone is telling Ravana what to do, and he eventually kicks out Vibhishana for being doubtful. Vibhishana goes to Rama and tells the army how to fight and kill Ravana. Rama prays and the sea god build rocks in the ocean which Rama's army crosses. Ravana tries to trick Sita into thinking that Rama died, but she doesn't fall for it. Indrajit poisons Rama and Lakshmana and Sita thinks they are dead, but Tijata explains that they are just stunned. Hanuman, with Rama on his shoulders, jumps to Ravana's flyimng chariot and Rama wounds Ravana and breaks his crown. They call it a day. Next day, Kumbakarna wakes up and fights. Rama finally kil...

Ravana, disguised as a hermit, approaches Sita. She says no to his advances, and Ravana kidnaps her. Jatayu tries to rescue her, but Ravana kills him. Rama and Lakshmana find the dying bird but doesn't figure out where Sita is headed. Rama and Lakshmana go towards the monkey kingdom, and Hanuman meets them. Rama sees through the disguise, and explains the history of the monkey kingdom. Vali went to the cave to fight a demon, and when he wouldn't emerge, Sugriva blocked the entrance and Vali got pissed and fought him and stole his girl. Rama decides to help. The monkeys find Sita's jewelry and Sugriva says he'll help Rama if Rama helps him. Rama shoots Vali during the fight for king. Vali argues that Rama cheated, but then finally agrees that it was okay, and dies. Sugriva never fulfills on his promise to help Rama, so Lakshmana goes to talk to Sugriva. After getting caught being lazy, Sugriva promises to never drink again. Next, he builds a huge army and the search part...

Rama and squad in exile Source Everyone is pissed that Rama is exiled, and the squad decides to join him in the forest. Dasharatha dies from a broken heart when Rama leaves. Bharata learns about what's going on, and gets pissed. He asks Rama to come home, but Rama says he can't cause promises and whatnot. Bharata explains that "the sandals" are for the true king and decides to rule in an outside village and won't go back to Ayodhya until Rama is back. Rama and squad walk around the forest and run into a sage's wife who gives Sita jewelry and Jatayu (the big bird) makes a pact with the squad to help out. Shurpanakha finds the squad and tries to get with Rama. Lakshmana captures the homewrecker stalking Sita and cuts off her ears and nose. She asks her brothers to kill the squad, but squad wins. She runs to Lanka to tell Ravana. Ravana has made gods his servants, and Ravana goes to kill Rama for what he did to his sister, but falls in love with Sita. Rav...

A painting of Rama Source Fairly similar to the Ramayana I had already read earlier in the semester. The king of Ayodhya, Dasharatha, was childless, and the gods were trying to plan on how to deal with Ravana. Dasharatha gets Rishyashringa (rain bringer) to do a sacrifice. Dasharatha feeds the rice he got to his 3 wives. The sage, Vishvamitra, asks Dasharatha if Rama can go kill demons with him in the forest. Dasharatha says fine, but bring your brother. Rama and squad kill Thataka. Rama and squad continue to kill demons in the forest, and Vishvamitra decides to take the boys to Mithila. Vishvamitra tells the boys how the Ganges came to Earth. Rama accidentally wakes up Ahalya from her curse of being stone, and we learn about why Indra is the thousand eyed god. Rama meets Sita in Mithila and they fall in love. Rama is challenged to bend the bow, and he does, so they wed. We learn of how Dasharatha killed a boy in a forest and cause of this, he owes Bhara...

Ravana fighting off Jathayu while abducting Sita Source Ravana fought Indra, but luckily his children helped and Indra fell. Ravana singled out Kubera in front of everyone and killed him. He now conquered the heavens. He stole shape-shifting flying machine and chained Indra in the town square of Lanka to show their king's power, but Brahma came to Ravana and ordered him to release Indra, and Ravana did.  While in a river to meditate, the river closed up cause the thousand armed human king Arjun dammed the river so his wife could bathe. Arjun had a boon that nobody could defeat him, and though Ravana tried, he lost. Ravana Was taken into Arjun's city and chained up (Just like Indra was in Lanka) and though he could have escaped by breaking the chains, he decided to stay and meditate/repent for his sins (Karma). Ravana's paternal grandfather pleaded with Arjun and had Ravana released. He told Ravana that he needed to pick his fights, and anger always leads to down...

A Statue of Ravana Source Parents had to cast a spell to hide Ravana's ugliness (10 heads) All animals roared when he was born Father, Vishrama, taught him a lot as a kid (Sacred texts). Perfected every teaching except non-violence All rounder  Grandfather (Maternal) taught Ravana about his demon heritage while his father taught him about Brahmin (reading, music, harmony). Ravana was half demon and half brahmin All the siblings hated Kubera cause Kubera thought that Ravana's maternal grandfather Sumali was to blame for why Vishrama left Kubera's mom Went to pray to their great grandfather, the creator of the universe. Everyone asked for boons, and Ravana received immortality and to never be slain (only by a man). He got his 9 heads he cut off back, and Kumbakharna misspoke and asked for eternal slumber instead of life.  Ravana asked Vishrama for an army, and he said "Okay, but what king has no kingdom?" To which Ravana  said "I'll take L...

A flying elephant Source 1:The bodisat was a marsh crow. There was a famine so all the crows left the kingdom, and one crow found the bodisat near a pool of water catching fish. The crow asked to be the bodisat's servant and over time he thought "I can do this by myself, I don't need the bodisat" and went to the pool and drowned. 2: The king's sons asked a charioteer to take them to the Judas tree. The driver took the sons one at a time They all disagreed on what the tree looked like cause it was in/out of bloom when each of them saw it. 3: The bodisat was born in a family of a landed proprietor and grew to be wealthy. Him and his brother finished their father's business when he died, and was gifted a lot of money. While the bodisat was asleep, the brother tried to nab the money but the money was dropped into the Ganges. The spirit of the river made a fish eat the money, and the fishermen that caught the fish tried to sell it to people for 1K, b...

The golden Banyan deer Source 1: There was 2 hawks, an osprey, a turtle, and a lion. The haws needed friends, so they made friends with the other animals to protect eachother if danger ever arose. Later, a bunch of fisherman came and heard the sounds of the hawk's children and wanted to eat them, so the dad hawk went to the osprey and it helped extinguish the fire until midnight. Then, the turtle's kid put out the fire and dragged the men into the water. Then, the hawks asked the lion to help, and he scared away the men. 2: The Bodisat was a tin and brass dealer. He and another dealer (same merch) decided to split a town in half so they could sell equally. His competitor went to a house where they tried selling their gold (covered in dirt so disguised) plate for his tin, he denied to make them think the plate was worthless. Then, the Bodisat went to them and told them their plate was gold. They were convinced that the Bodisat turned the plate gold (cause the other guy ...

Standing Buddha Statue Source 1: The bodisat was born as a bull, and was brought up very well by his brahmin keeper. The bodisat told the brahim to challenge a farmer to see whose bull's could carry the most weight. The brahim did so, and a bet was made. The brahmin got on the bull and set "Giddy up you brute!" To which the bodisat's feelings were hurt and he didn't move and the brahmin lost the bet. Later, the bull asked the brahmin why he called him that and told the brahmin to ask for double or nothing and as long as he was nice to the bull, he would win. The brahmin did so, and called the bull "beauty" this time and the bull dragged the carts and the brahmin won great wealth 2: Still as a bull, the bodisat was sold to a woman. The woman raised the bull as her own son, and the bull wanted to repay her. He took a job with a caravan whose bulls couldn't move their carts. The caravan owner tried to sell the bull short, but the bu...

100 Jataka Tales Source 1: Buddha is born as a lion. A hare was convinced that the earth was going to cave in and started a mob of animals running away from "where the earth was caving in" and the lion (Buddha) asked what the commotion was about. The hare told him, so he and the lion went to the spot where the earth was caving in and realized that the sound was just a fruit that had fallen from a tree. They went back to the other herds and told them that there was no caving in of earth and everyone went home. 2: A croc's wife asked her husband to kill a monkey so she could eat its heart. The croc tells the monkey that across the river is a bountiful amount of fruits, and the croc volunteers to take the monkey over the river. The croc tries to drown the monkey for its heart, but the monkey tells the croc that monkeys keep their hearts hanging from trees, and if the crc takes him to the tree than the monkey will get the heart. The monkey gets to the t...

Bhima victorious after killing Baka Source This time around, I chose to watch the Mahabharata rather than read it. I really enjoyed this telling of the story, as it incorporated my favorite aspect of the original reading: The massive world it creates that you can become immersed in. I also was a huge fan of the artistic style they chose to present the epic in. The hand drawn cartoon-like figures made me think back to the "Draw My Life Challenge" that went around the internet a few years ago, in which internet personalities and celebrities would tell their life story while drawing images to go along with the story. These images were commonly cartoon-like, just like the Mahabharata video I watched. I also enjoyed how they told the entire story, not just summaries like I read in the version by C.A. Kincaid. One of my biggest complaints with the original Mahabharata was how long it took to read and how confusing the family trees were, and this online film really helpe...

The death of Karna Source This week I was prompted with re-reading the Mahabharata, so I chose to read one of the online versions of the Mahabharata, The Princes of Elephant City by C.A. Kincaid. I thoroughly enjoyed this version of the Mahabharata, almost as much as the first version I read during weeks 6 and 7. One of the reasons I enjoyed this story so much is that is was severely condensed. Though I absolutely loved the original, being tasked with reading it is quite the commitment. There are many pages which vary in length and complexity, as well as changes in story telling from page to page. Sometimes the story is told in a traditional way, while on other pages it is told in the form of a song with rhyming couplets taking the place of paragraphs. Also, understanding the family tree is very confusing in this version, as in some pages it throws many names with many relationships at you at once, leading to you having to reread the same paragraph many times ...

An concept of Swarga Source 1: Bhishma dies in battle, and asks everyone to finally stop fighting, but Duryodhana and Karna disregard this message and continue the conflict 2: Drona takes charge of the armies and vows to defeat the Pandavas. 3: Arjuna's son is killed by Jayadratha. Arjuna kills a lot of people to get to his sons murderer, and finally kills him. 4: At night, things got crazy. Everyone killed eachother, and Karna killed Bhima's demon son 5: Drona couldn't be killed as long as his son were alive, so Bhima killed an eleohant named after his son. Drona asked Yudhishthira if it were really true that his son were dead, and (not lying) he said (quietly) "the elephant named after YOUR SON IS DEAD" and Drona was eventually killed 6: Bhima killed and drank the blood of Duhshasana, the dude who who vowed to kill at the gambling match 7: Karna and Arjuna fought, but Arjuna broke his bow and called TO, Karna didn't abide by this and still fo...

The Storm God Indra Source 1: The Pandavas start their journey in exile in the woods. They do a bunch of holy stuff for the promise of one day getting their kingdom back. Surya blessed Yudhishthira with a endless pot of food to help them 2: Draupadi doubts her religion (She isn't used to living not in luxury), Yudhishthira tells everyone to just wait and god will help them, and Bhima wants to bring war to the opposition 3: A holy man stumbles upon the boys and says that if Arjuna goes to the mountains and receives the vision of god, then all enemies will be slain. Arjuna goes to the mountains and prays, meets god in the form of a huntsman, and is given a bunch of weapons. 4: Arjuna is taken to Indra's home and is given a bunch more weapons from other gods. He is tasked with waging war on sea demons and giants, and he is victorious. 5: The exiles continue wandering around the forest, and Yudhishthira learns dice from a sage. Arjuna comes back and the group is ...

Bhima Slaying Baka Source 1: Prince Vidura warned the next-to-be king Yudhishthira about the plan and when they got to the palace, he told them about how they'd all die. They planned to dig a tunnel to the jungle to escape, which they did, but Bhima wanted to go back and fight the guard Purochana. He snuck back inside the house, set the guard barracks on fire, and Purochana died. The embers found their way to the palace anyway and it burned. Earlier in the day, the royal family gave some wine and food to a beggar and her children who passed out and died in the palace fire that night. People thought the bodies were that of the royal family and Duryodhana and the king rejoiced thinking their plan worked. 2: Bhima helped the family find a place to rest in the forest, and took first watch. A demon smelled humans and told his sister to kill them and bring them back for eating. The sister saw Bhima and fell in love. She turned into a beautiful women and tried to steal Bhima away s...

Painting of Karna Source 1: The king Uparichara of Chedi was so devoted to religion, the gods feared he was trying to rob them, so they sent Indra to bribe him into calming down with a flying chariot. The king takes the bribe and drops some of his semen while flying it . This semen lands in a fish, who gives birth to a boy and a girl after being caught by a fisherman. He told the king about his find, and the king took the son with him, and the girl stayed with the fisherman family. The daughter one day agrees to bang a rishi in return for her fish smell to go away, and gives birth to Vyasa. 2: King Shantanu and his wife Ganga (the goddess of the Gangas river) of Hastinapura met when Ganaga was cursed to have sons and be in human form. Ganga in human form killed all her sons right when they were born so they could stay in their celestial state, as long as they left 1/8th of their power behind for her son, who would stay among men and never marry/reproduce. Ganga told the king sh...

Carving of Sugriva and his army Source Compared to the "reading" I did yesterday over Sita sings the blues, this reading was much more consistent and familiar to the Ramayana I read last week. The chapters in this telling were very similar to the one I read last week, and at times I even forgot I was reading a new telling of the epic (Granted, I havent touched up on last week's version since I finished it.) One of the things I noticed differently in this telling was the lack of poem sections. This was refreshing for me, as I was not a huge fan of the poems in the previous readings. The constant storytelling in this Sister Nivedita's work allowed for a much more enjoyable and easier read. I feel like if I were to recommend the Ramayana to someone (which I have a few times but have been told they'll "get around to it" which we all know means they won't) I would recommend Sister Nivedita's version, as I found that it is much more common to st...

Scene from the animation mentioned Source After reading the Ramayana, I was curious to see how it has been told in other ways, as it was mentioned that there have been many telling and alterations to the story. After looking at the list, I chose to watch the animation, as I wanted to see how they would tell the whole story in just the short time (Books are always better than the movies.) The animation was a little strange at first, as it started with some trippy visuals before eventually there was dialogue. I continued to be confused as the animation style changed every few minuets. Sometimes there was dialogue, and others not. I eventually caught on that this was meant to represent how there are many retelling of the Ramayana, and this is showcasing those in a chronologically ordered compilation. Out of all of the styles it showed, I particularly liked the one where there was 3 people speaking with animations playing in the background. It had some pretty funny moments, and the ...

The battle of Lanka Source 1: Rama prayed to the god of the sea, in hopes that he would allow for his army to pass into Lanka. Nothing happened, so Rama shot the ocean, which caused the earth to shake and lighting and thunder roared. Rama ignored this warning and lit a arrow on fire and threatened to dry up the entire ocean. This prompted the king of the ocean to rise up, and he said "Rama, I like you, but according to ancient laws, I cannot help you. But you should hit up Nala, a monkey chief, and he'll help you" Then the king went back into the ocean and everything went back to normal. Nala came forward and began constructing a bridge of rocky islands. 2: The weather became dreadful as the comings of war were known. Rama prepared to lay siege to Lanka, and Ravana knew of this as his spies had come back from their disguised monkey forms to report the news. They advised Ravana to surrender Sita, but he was just more enraged. Ravana faked Rama's death and told ...

Statue of Hanuman Source 1: The brothers run into Hanuman, the messenger of the virtuous monkey Sugriva. Hanuman asked why the boys were wandering, and Lakshmana told him the story so far. Hanuman explains that Sugriva is in a similar situation, and that he will help, and he takes them to Sugriva. 2: Sugriva explained his story and how his brother, Vali, hated him. Sugriva thought his brother died, so he basically buried him alive, but his brother didn't believe that Sugriva thought he died, he thought Sugriva was just a terrible brother. Vali took Sugriva's wife. Rama asked Sugriva to challenge Vali to battle. 3: Tara, Vali's wife tells her husband how powerful Rama is and advises him to avoid the battle. Vali doesn't listen and prepares to battle. 4: Rama hides from the battle, and ambushes Vali and kills him. 5: Tara, Sugriva, and the counselors of the monkey kingdom all mourn the death of the king. Sugriva is named the new king 6: Sugriva holds up his en...