Week 14, Reading Diary D, Sita's Ramayana

Author: Samhita Arni

Artist: Moyna Chitrakar

Title: Sita's Ramayana

Year: 2011

Sita's Ramayana

pages 111-end

Ravana is dead. The war is over.

Rama gets the city and the honor of crowning a new king. 

Sita is free. Rama is of course a hero, he saved her.

For all the good that does. The cannot be together, again.

His war to save his honor has left a blood soaked trail and women and children with out fathers, brothers and husbands.

Sita in her state of innocence and purity is deeply hurt.

Sita jumps into a fire, but the god Agni leads her out because she is indeed pure.

Rama and Sita jump in their UFO and head back to the kingdom they had been exiled from.

Ayodhya.

Sita gets pregnant.

Rumors.

She gets left in the forest.

Abandoned.

The forest hears her grief.

Again, like Snow White, the nature kingdom are there as her companions.

She has a son Lava.

Bam, magically she has his twin, Kusha that a hermit, Valmiki, made for her.

Usually only a man gets to be the wise person, dweller of the forest.

Sita takes on a male role by staying in the forest.

Hanuman, Lakshmana and Rama get beat in battle by the boys.

The boys then get raised by their father as warriors

and poor Sita jumps into the earth.

Week 14, Reading Diary C, Sita's Ramayana

Author: Samhita Arni

Artist: Moyna Chitrakar

Title: Sita's Ramayana

Year: 2011

Sita's Ramayana

pages 72-110

It appears that everyone tells Ravana to stop being foolish, and give Sita back because it means ruin to the whole of Lanka if he won't stop. He is like a pitbull and is relentless and refuses to budge from his mission. His son is killed without honor. I think it is important that the story points this out and also adds how war itself is without honor.

The magician that tries to deceive Hanuman also is lacking in honor. He tried to poison the cute monkey man and then tried to get him killed by the crocodile. Hanuman frees the crocodile who was trapped in the body by magic and tells Hanuman of the deceit. The good guy wins, the bad guy never does for long.

Hanuman goes to retrieve the herb needed to cure Lakshmana and can't find it, so he brings the whole hill. I am sorta wondering right now if this is how it normally looks in other depictions too. This looks to me like the pinecone thing that the Persian kings have.

Week 13, Reading Diary B, Sita's Ramayana

Author: Samhita Arni

Artist: Moyna Chitrakar

Title: Sita's Ramayana

Year: 2011

Sita's Ramayana

Pages 36-71

Jatayu the friendly bird tells Rama about Sita being nabbed by the evil Ravana.  The friendly bird died for the sakes of Sita and Rama. 

Loyalty.Duty. Desire. Rebirth and Death.

Dharma.

Kama.

Karma.

Moksha.

Samsara.

They find the dropped jewelry that Sita leaves as a trail. 

Rama, the banished and exiled king gathers the army of Vanaras the king of which was also an exiled king. Sugriva. He gets his vengeance but it is at a high price. It hurts those he loves.

I find it comical that Hanuman starts the fire for the demon king and its demons. In modern western tradition, the demon king (satan) would already have fire in his kingdom of hell. Of course a strinking difference being that Lanka is real and Hell maybe not so much.

Bears, monkeys and squirrels in army to rescue lovely Sita. It's hard for me not to see her as Snow White. The animal kingdom builds a bridge. Whoa.

The War begins.

Week 13, Reading Diary A, Sita's Ramayana

Author: Samhita Arni

Artist: Moyna Chitrakar

Title: Sita's Ramayana

Year: 2011

Sita's Ramayana

pages 1-36

This is another graphic novel. I really love Sita so much, and I thought it would be fun to learn more about her in order to write more about her. So far, the many ways that I have read the story of Sita, they all really don't have as much variances as I had expected. The channel that the story is told is mostly what changes. 

This book is so vivid in color. More so than the comic books or the other graphic novel I read about Sita. Also, this one I checked out and could take home and the others had to be read in the library. I took more extensive notes on those because it was harder to be able to revisit them if I had questions.

"Violence breeds violence, and an unjust act only begets greater injustice."

In the beginning in the forest, Sita narrates that it was simple compared to where they came from. The temptations of evil came upon them and caused problems, first in the demon, then the deer. The minstrel that causes Sita to cross the ward of protection and be nabbed by the demon king Ravana.

"The Rakshasi, Trijatha, was kind and compassionate and had the gift of prophecy."

Hanuman shows up.

Week 12, Reading Diary D, Vishnu's Secret: Detached Engagement Brings Order

Secrets of Beings: The Avatars of Vishnu
www.huffingtonpost.com

Title: Hindu Calendar Art

Author: Devdutt Pattanaik

Year: 2009

Vishnu's Secret Part 1

This is nearly the most precious idea of life I have ever come across. We all want to be Lions and rule the jungle. But life forces us to be cows, to nourish our calf and also the world around us.
Lakshmi is the Goddess of wealth and fortune, which organizes the world, because stable and organized culture brings wealth.
I had no idea about her sister Alakshmi, who must also be honored. Jealousy and struggle come from wealth, so you have to acknowledge this aspect of abundance. Makes sense.
Vishnu is the rhythm of time, but cannot stop it. Shiva shuts his eyes, but Vishnu leaves his open and smiles because he understands the dance, and dances with her.
I really like how the attributes of the forces work in pairs and cycles.
The idea that rules are constructs made by man and cause unhappiness is where I think I am with looking at the philosophy of religious studies. I do see the irony.

Week 12, Reading Diary C, Devi, Vishnu 1

Birth of Lalita Devi for slaying of Demon Bandasura
image found on Google images

Title: Hindu Calendar Art

Author: Devdutt Pattanaik

Year: 2009

Devi, Vishnu 1

The Goddess and Shiva are to be married, but a trickster makes a cock crow and Shiva believes he has missed the ceremony and never shows up. The Goddess is powerful and is angered. The food for the wedding went to waste and so she kicked the pots and pans and wiped her face of makeup and it caused the sands to be multi colored.

The point is that the power of the female is best channeled as married to create a home, and if unmarried the energy is channeled as protection.

The Goddess is the world we live in, what we see with our senses.

I LOVE THIS, SO MUCH ! 

I THINK SOMETIMES THAT ONE OF THE MAIN REASONS I AM DRAWN TO HINDUISMS IS BECAUSE IT SEES THE NEED FOR THE THE BALANCE FOR THE FEMALE AND MALE DEITIES. THE GODDESS IS EXPRESSED IN SO MANY WONDERFUL PRIMAL FORCES. I LOVE HER SO MUCH! 

THE GODDESS HAS SO MUCH SASS!

The earth is our mother, she protects us and feeds us. To force change and domestication upon the earth is not nice to her. But we do it because we DESIRE a better life for ourselves. So this creates a conflict. Desire can satisfy need or greed. Humans exploit nature to satisfy the need to care for ourselves.

SO THE PART THAT STRIKES ME AS INTERESTING HERE IS THE STORY WITH HANUMAN AND SITA. HANUMAN HELPED THE GODDESS WITH TRUE PIETY IN HIS HEART AND WAS ABSTINENT HIS WHOLE LIFE, SO HE BECAME WORTHY OF WORSHIP. THIS SCREAMS TO ME OF THE IDEAL CONCEPT OF CHIVALRY IN THE  MIDDLE AGES. TO BE A KNIGHT AND TO LOVE OUTSIDE OF YOUR STATION, HAS TO REMAIN CHASTE ETC. 

Week 11, Reading Diary B, Seven secrets of the Hindu calendar, Nayan's secret

Narayan's Secret

Title: Hindu Calendar Art

Author: Devdutt Pattanaik

Year: 2009

Narayan sleeps on a coiled serpent, Sesha, that floats in a ocean of milk. The world ends when Narayan is asleep. Sesha is what remains at the end. Does this posit the philosophical question that our world also disappears when we sleep? Yes. Without the observer, the observed does not exist.

I was going to keep better notes for this one, but I have watched it three times and it moves so fast it would really be a lot of writing.

This part of the movie is deep. Tremendously awesome. This is the story of all creation. Narayan is God. WE are also Narayan. Everything is God. All of creation is connected, it is all primal forces that weave the fabric of reality. The soul is never destroyed, it is immortal. It is what remains as we, like Shiva close our eyes and sleep, and wake up reborn.

This is some of the most beautiful ways to look at life. It really resonates with my soul. As a child I could remember past lives. I was also able to tell other people about their past lives. About the age of 6 when my grandpa asked me to give someone a reading, I did not know what he was asking of me, and I was unaware that I was doing it. Also, my mom would get angry with me, because she was convinced that I was making things up, and if I got things right it was because I had a wild imagination, or must have overheard some adults talking etc.

When I was in high school, my mind woke up and I started remembering past lives again. I know when I meet certain people that I see their soul and that we "travel" together. Our souls are immortal. Our loved ones are always with us. They are also an expression of us. Like Narayan. He is surrounded by his loved ones, the primal forces that makes his world move and stop.

One thing that I really love about epified the people producing these videos is that when something comes up, like the angels in the picture, they point out that this idea became popular after being influenced by western thought. I was all excited and about to look it up when they gave the disclaimer. Awesome!!!

Sesha is interesting to me, because in my previous dabbling in the metaphysical world I read a book called "The Serpent of Light" by Drunvalo Melchizedek. I have since 2008 when I read the book become very aware of how much the symbol of the serpent is a very important part of all ancient knowledge.

I am terrified of snakes. And horses. I love cows. None of this makes any sort of logical sense. But to my soul it makes perfect sense.

Week 11, Reading Diary A, Hindu Calendar Art, Ganesha's secret

Ganesha's Secret

Title: Hindu Calendar Art

Author: Devdutt Pattanaik

Year: 2009

For this weeks readings and the next as well I will be viewing the movie the 7 Secrets from Hindu Calendar Art. 

The God Shiva and his Goddess wife Parvati, Ganesha and Kartikeya are the divine family. Ganesha and Kartikeya are gods with lower case to show they are lesser gods. Shiva is a God, but not The God.

I am really liking the movie so far. It is a nice change of pace from actual stories. This is super informative and philosophical. This appeals to me.

There are stories in this movie, like the story of the mango and the better son. Ganesha is wiser than his brother. His brother Kartikeya travels around the world, and Ganesha encircles his parents because they are his world. 

Ganesha removes obstacles and Kartikeya leads other gods in battles. Ganga, the river that springs from Shiva's top knot is a goddess of the river she embodies. Shiva is a destroyer, the world ceases when Shiva closes his eyes.

"Divinity is formless, but as humans we require forms to understand it." 

The four headed male deity is Brahma. His existence implies the existence of his counterpart, but where is she? The Vedas are a book of hymns,timeless and universal, not of human origin and during a drought they had been forgotten. A Sage named Vyas remembers them and compiles them. Suka (means parrot) is the parrot headed Sage, the son of Vyas. There is an image of Brahma blessing Suka and the energy (of formless knowledge) is the implication of Saraswati the mother of the vedas.

Brahma did not create the vedas, no man can create without a woman. Not even God.

Four heads represent the 4 expressions of the vedas, the four goals in life.

1) dharma- right conduct

2) artha- economic activity

3) kama- pleasure pursuits

4) moksha- spiritual practice

There can be local manifestations of the cosmic god. People who can become holy men that can transcend human limitations can be worshipped. This is how they get a god and a God. They serve different functions.

Vishnu- a pan-Hindu God, a king who reclines on the coil of a serpent that floats on the ocean of milk. Unlike Shiva who is a menidcant that lives on a snowy mountaintop.

Parvati is also Shakti. There can be goddesses and Goddesses.

Two hands in an image indicated that the person is human. This is important because sometimes great people have been elevated to a status of worship.

Vishwakarma is a god that is nearly an equivalent of the Roman deity Hephastus, he is a Vulcan god for potters and metalsmithing etc. There is also a deity that is like the love god, cupid, named Kama. There is also similarities to the deity Zeus in the god Indra. This gives the appearance of relatedness of the Greek myths and Hinduism, but  this is not the whole truth.

Greek subjective truth is different than the Hindu subjective truth. The Greeks have times where the gods are overthrown by titans and fear humans etc, this is missing from the Hindu myth.

Hijras are men who feel themselves to be women and are outsiders to society. They dress as women and live with others like them, begging and also prostitution to survive.

The goddess Bahuchara is tolerant of the gender challenged and has a following for some that have turned themselves into eunichs and has a myth about turning a boy into a woman, they fall into the pond and it happened because the goddess Bahuchara was there.

The goddess Annapurana is the kitchen goddess, the one who feeds,and she becomes the goddess Lakshmi.

Ganesha's elephant head- no known enemies in the animal world.
Pot belly- excess resources, nobility
Rat- an annoying pest, but is his pet
Ganesha represents a life of power and prosperity without any problems. Hid form is a container of an idea. This is an ideal that Hindu's aspire for.

Week 10, Reading Diary B, Sita Daughter of the Earth

Bibliography :

Author: Saraswati Nagpal

Artist: Manikandan

                                                               Year: 2011

Title: Sita: Daughter of the Earth

Pages 46-end

xxxxx

After Rama and his brother killed the Rakshasa's the Maharishi Agastya

gave them both magical celestial weapons to kill the demons that they were going to face in the forest. Quivers that were never empty and arrows that travel at the speed of light. King Jatayu Sita grew to love as an uncle. Years pass.

A woman with anklets finds Rama in the forest and decides that is what she wants. Rama refused her because of Sita. So the woman decided to get rid of Sita. She was a demon and threatened to scratch out the eyes of Sita, a puny woman. Lakshmana cuts the demon up.

The demon, Shurpanakha is angered and is the sister of king Ravana the king of Lanka. 

She whines to her brother and they plot to have Sita become the wife of Ravana and the demon to have Rama.

The golden deer is enchanted and Sita asks Rama to get it for her. Rama, because of his duty does go after it. It was a trick and Rama's brother is left to guard Sita, but is tricked to go into the forest after Rama and Sita is tricked by a man who looks like a Brahmin, so she is under obligation to feed him, but she is magically protected by a ward and doesn't want to step out of it. The Brahmin is a demon and tricks her into crossing the ward.

Sita leaves her jewelry as a way for Rama to have clues to find her. She is taken to a glorious palace in Lanka. She is treated like the queen she should be an Ravana wants her to come willingly to him as his wife.

Sita is loyal only to Rama. The Rakshasa's tempt her daily and she is threatened by death if she does not agree to marry Ravana.

Hanumana pledges his services to Rama and he agrees to go find Sita. He finds her, shows Sita Rama's ring, so she will trust that he is sent from Rama. He asks Ravana to set Sita free, he says no. So Hanumana sets the kingdom on fire. Ravana shows Sita her husbands head and says that she is free to marry him now. Sita doesn't buy it.

Rama builds and army and comes to Lanka to fight for Sita. A battle ensues. Ravana dies. Rama is crowned the king of Lanka.

So Rama has to tell Sita that he cannot accept her back as his wife. She is upset. She goes through an ordeal by fire to prove her purity. She passes. They go back to Ayodhya because the 14 years had passed. Sita is cause for trouble in the kingdom. Rama has his brother take Sita to the forest. she is pregnant.  Maharishi Valmiki takes care of her and helps to raise the twins. Rama shows up to take the boys. Sita has another trial to prove her purity, this time she goes into mother earth.

Week 10, Reading Diary A, Sita Daughter of the Earth

Bibliography :

Author: Saraswati Nagpal

Artist: Manikandan
Year: 2011

                                                Title: Sita: Daughter of the Earth

pages 1-45

xxxx

This is the first graphic novel I have ever read. Since it is on reserve in the library, like the comic books I read in week 9, I am making a more complete set of notes of what is going on in the story to be able to go back and reread it. Usually if I forget something I can easily pull it back up because of the easy links we set up as crumb trails. The next two blogs are longer than normal for this reason. As far as I can tell, the graphic novel does not really differ from the storyline of the one I read. It was just a different experience seeing the story illustrated.

In the beginning, Sita is telling the her story. It started in a time cycle called the Treta Yuga, an age of magical powers and the gods and demons walked alongside the mortals.

Sita's parents were perfect king and queen but lacked a child, so they prayed to a wise guru lady and Janaka, Sita's father used a golden plough after they meditated for 7 days, gave away wealth and received blessings from Rishi's.

Sita is born, the name means daughter of the earth. She became the Princess of Videha. Then she had a sister, Urmila. As a child, she is told to stay out of the room that holds the sacred bow that no one has been able to lift. Sita accidently loses her ball in the room and in order to retrieve it, she moved the bow by barely a touch.

She also  grew up with her cousins and a young uncle. She loved to study history, law, philosophy, tradition, logic and wisdom. She cherished the time spent with the goddess Bhudevi, the one her parents prayed to for her earthly incarnation.

When she is 16 she goes to the courts to help her father with the issues of the people. She wants to be trained to fight, but her father tells her no. She is of the Kshatriya class (warrior/kingly) but not allowed to fight, and Sita has issue with this paradox. That night Bhudevi comes to her in a dream and tells her it is not her destiny, she will meet the prince who will kill demons. He will be her husband, and she is obsessed with the idea. 

The Prince of Ayodhya is Rama, the guy of Sita's dreams. He is known for attacking the Rakshasas in the forest. Sita plans a test for the man who is to be her husband. He has to lift the great bow and string it at her swayamvara (party). Her sister tells her that Rama and his brother Lakshmana are coming to the party.

Many qualified men of all ages came to the party to take the test and claim Sita as his wife. Sita prayed to Bhudevi that only Rama would be able to lift the bow because she was in love at first sight with him. Likewise, her sister only had eyes for Rama's brother. Her father was upset, thinking that Sita had asked an impossible task and would remain unmarried because of course all the men could not budge the bow.

Rama handled the bow like it was a toy. The two royal families, Ayodhya and Videha were glad to be joined and they arranged for Lakshmana's twin to marry and also Bharata to marry Sita's other two sisters. Four brother's and four sisters. Big family alliance. All the women would have to leave their family and join their husbands kingdom. As Sita is saying her good-bye's to her mother, her mother gives her important advice about the laws of Ayodhya being her priorities now.

Rama's father, King Dasharatha has a bad dream and knows he is going to die soon and needs to name his successor. He names Rama. His Queen Kaikeyi's hatching a plan to manipulate the plan of Rama being a king, because she fears being made a lowly servant under his rule. So she is reminded that the king long ago swore to give her two boons, and she was calling them in. She wanted the king to renounce his plans and make the brother, Bharata the king. And also that Rama be banished for 14 years to the forest to live as a hermit.

Rama and Sita have no choice because of their honor code but to obey, and so does the king. Rama does not hold a grudge, but understands why the queen is acting out of fear and also knows that his brother is innocent. Rama feels bad for Sita. She is supposed to be a queen, not live in the forest. It is dangerous and Rama urges Sita not to go, but she insists her place is with her husband.

Rama's brother also feels it is his duty to go to the forest with his brother. Lakshmana goes along. They go across the river and find a nice spot to build a cottage. Rama's father dies of a broken heart and the family comes for a visit. His brother is angry at the queen for creating drama and refused to rule. But Rama makes peace with the queen and urges his brother to as well and tells his brother he has to go do his duty. His brother is sad because he will be in luxury and Rama will be living in poverty. Rama only cares about keeping his duty.

The group visits an ashram and is told to go deeper into the forest. They meet a Rakshasa and it grabs Sita and Rama and his brother kill it.

Week 9, Reading Diary B, Ganesha the Remover of All Obstacles

Amar Chitra Katha Vol 509

Ganesha The Remover of All Obastacles

Lord Ganesha image found on Google images www.astrogems.com

I chose this reading  because I love this guy, Ganesha!

Parvati wife of  Shiva

taking a bath and posts a guard to demand that no one enter (does this remind you of Melusine?!)

The guard feels helpless to stop the Lord Shiva from entering

this irritates Parvati because she feels that the guard does not respect her

She makes a boy from Saffron paste, 

he comes to life (a bit like Pinnocchio?)

She makes him her guard and he is eager to please his mother

He tries to stop Shiva and hits him with his staff

This causes problems with the other Ganas (staff/guards)

Shiva is angry with Parvati and feels she has gone too far by not letting him into his own house

so he sends the guards to attack the boy,

He easily takes them all down and others fled

Brahma, Vishnu and Indra hear about the issues and talk with sage Narada to talk with Lord Shiva

The whole kingdom tried to get rid of the boy, they fail

Parvati is upset for them harassing her son

So she creates the Shaktis Kali and Durga

Kali ate the enemies trying to kill her brother basically

Durga became lightening and destroyed the weapons of the enemies of her brother

this news upsets Shiva and he decides to kill the boy himself

A battle ensues with all the gods and Shiva kills the boy from behind with his trident

Then he worries about what his wife will say, she created the boy, which makes it his son!!!

Parvati wants the boys death avenged, created hundreds and thousands of shaktis to destroy devas and ganas

Shiva tells the shaktis to go north and bring the head of the first creature in the path and put it onto the boys body in order to appease Parvati

they find a single tusked Elephant

Parvati was half pleased 

Shiva puts his hand on the boys head and declares him status the presiding officer of all the ganas and to be worshipped as Ganesha,

called Vighneshawa, the queller of obstacles

Week 9, Reading Diary A, Star-Crossed Lovers

Amar Chitra Katha Vol 661

Star-Crossed Lovers

Image found on Google ppvx.finolib.top

This is a very new experience for me. I am not familiar with reading comic books at all, much less one from another culture. So, I am going to move out of my comfort zone of doing the same thing and do something brand new.

This story caught my attention because I love the idea of soul mates, twin souls, soul monads and that we reincarnate over and over with our loved ones. I have felt in my life that I have been star-crossed with more than one person.

So what I am noticing is that things move very quickly in this story. There is the villain side that is battling the good side and the bad guys (Asuras?) know this guy, Shukracharya, who knows the art of bringing the dead back to life ( Sanjivani) and the good guys do not have this knowledge.

The valiant Devas (the good guys) go to ask, Kacha, the son of Brihaspati, to go and learn this art in order to be able to win in the unequal battles.

Meanwhile, it appears that Kacha is smitten with a lovely lady, Devayani who appears to be the daughter of his Guru?  And then he romances her and she is also smitten with him.

Kacha studies with the Guru and the Asuras grow suspicious of his motives, they plot against him and eventually killed him, cut to  pieces, fed to dogs. His lover, Devayani notices that he does not come home on time with his cattle. She worries that he is dead.

The Guru brings Kacha back to life and Devayani scolds him for worrying her. But he tells of the Asuras killing him and then coming back to life. Time passes and Devayani asks Kacha to go to the forest and bring her flowers and Kacha is ambushed again by the Asuras and is killed, his body in the water. Once again when he is late coming home his lady and Guru miss him and Guru brings him to life. The Asuras again know that he lives. The Asuras get him again and burn him, put him in wine. They give the wine to the Guru and he drinks it.

Devayani knows he is dead and asks Guru to bring him back, he tells her there is no point. So then Devayani decides she does not want to live with out Kacha.

The Guru cursed himself by drinking the wine, and now it's forbidden for those engaged in pursuit of wisdom. Kacha is going to come out of the Guru but it will kill him an Devayani is upset that he will die. So he teaches her the craft of Sanjivani, Kacha also knows the art now. Kacha brings the Guru back to life. The Guru goes to scold the Asuras, because he believes that Kacha loves his daughter.

Kacha learned what he came for and decides to leave the girl and the guru. They had both hoped he was going to stay and marry. But Kacha feels his duties are greater.

The girl forgets about the boy and life goes on.

Week 8, Reading Plan for weeks 9-14

Lord Ganesha image found on Google images www.astrogems.com

I have put several things on hold to be picked up at the Bizzell Library today. I hope they will be ready by tomorrow when I am on campus, or the latest by Friday. I look forwards to reading them!


Week 9
Ganesha: The Remover of All Obstacles
Kacha and Devayani: Star-Crossed Lovers



Week 10
Author: Saraswati Nagpal
Artist: Manikandan
Title: Sita: Daughter of the Earth
Year: 2011
This is a graphic novel version of the Ramayana, focusing on Sita.
Sita: Daughter of the Earth


Weeks 11 & 12
A movie!
Pattanaik. Calendar Art



Weeks 13 & 14* check out later
Sita's Ramayana

Week 8, Reading Plan for weeks 9-14

Week 8, Other Blog Faves

I went and visited my Introduction page. I made several editing changes with capitalizations. I read people's comments and have replied to them. That was fun. I try to read them as soon as I get them, then I have a file I put them all in, and I do try to reply to them on the blog post. They are lots of fun.

I went to visit my classmates blogs and have left comments on their pages about what I really like.

My favorites today are:

Thomas- I really like the tabs at the top.

Christina H.- Her page is so crisp and clean. The labels with the images are so neat.

MadisonB- Her page felt like a world marketplace. Its funky and different, and that is appealing to me.

Week 8, Time for a Plan

image found on Pinterest

Where has the time gone? I can't believe we are already half way through this course! I really appreciate the review week, time to evaluate and then full steam ahead!

At the beginning of this course I chose to have my week start on Tuesday. This is currently still working out the best for me. I am on campus Mon, Wed, Fri with my other three classes. So Tuesday is a good day for me to start the week for this class and get as much done as I can and then try to finish up if I need to on Thursday. Then I try to do the second half of the class on Sunday. I try to work ahead as much as possible in my classes. So far this semester it has not been possible.

There was hope for a few weeks, then family issues arose and I got behind, now I am just trying to stay afloat! I do want to focus on getting some extra credit done to help me to finish this class early. I did that last semester and it was such a good feeling. I would like to do that again, but this semester is so different. I hope to get a move on it during Spring Break. My family really wants family time,so I am going to have to spend time with them too.

I don't feel totally overwhelmed with anything, so I think I want to keep my schedule the same and try to do some extra credit.

image found on Pinterest

I plan to go to the library on Wednesdays when I have an two hour wait between classes and read the comic books and graphic novels for the second half of this class.

I plan to enjoy this class and have fun with writing!!

image found on Pinterest

Week 7, Storytelling, Ari and His College Trip Abroad

Author's Note & Bibliography:
I wrote a story two weeks ago using the college student Ari to tell part of the story of the Mahabharata where Arjuna is in exile. The story Ari and His Gators actually happens chronologically after this story in the original context. The original stories I found in two different sources. I kept the Ari character to connect these two stories.

In the original version of this story, Arjun's Journey, that I watched on Youtube, Epified Mahabharata
it tells the tale of Arjuna meeting the water nymph that wants to marry him, and he leaves only to go find a beautiful princess and pretending to be a Brahman married the girl and has children with her and then goes back home, running away in the middle of the night. He also had a wife back home.

Arjun's Journey

Epified Mahabharata

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Warwick Goble—1913, Indian Myth

Now that Ari was in his junior year of college at Florida State University it was time for him to go study abroad for his degree in Cultural Anthropology. He would be travelling to India. He was very excited about this trip because his ancestry is Indian even though his family had lived in the United States for several generations. He had never been anywhere outside of his country before, so he was naturally curious about what he would discover about himself on this trip. So he decided to start a blog to record his journey. This is what it says:

Day 1 of trip- I finally made it to my destination after nearly an entire day in flight transit! I am so happy to be here, the youth hostel here is nice. I can't wait for tomorrow.

Day 2 of trip- This place is amazing. The food I have eaten today is otherworldly good. Mumbai is, just wow. I have no words. I feel so at home here, like I have been here before. The smells of the city, a mixture of foods and industry that stirs something deep in the soul.

Day 3 of trip- I met some other students here today. It was neat to find others that are here having the trip of a lifetime and also being a little bit blindsided with culture shock. We are all going to meet up tomorrow to go for a swim. I think that will help me to work off some of my nervous energy from such a change of pace of travelling.

Week 2 of trip- One of the guys showed us a spot on the river that is apparently enchanted. A local had told him not to go there. He was curious. He went. So we all went. Then I went back alone. I cannot believe how much time has passed. I thought I was gone a few hours. Weeks have passed. I thought I was having a dream about a beautiful woman....I don't know. I think it was real.  She knew my name, Arjuna. This is a little strange because mostly people just call me Ari. She was so beautiful, radiant. She told me she was the daughter of a Naga king. I don't know her name, I can only remember her eyes....Oh, and curiously we were in a water palace. She wanted me to stay there with her. I ran away. If I didn't know better, I'd say I was kidnapped by a water nymph.

The underwater city Ari visits.   digital-art-gallery.com

Week 6 of trip- I want to go home. I came  here to study abroad, and I thought it was going to be an academic experience. What I have learned is that these women are lovely, but will be the death of me. I accidently got married. Don't judge me. Bollywood is alluring. I do not know how to handle my liquor. She is gorgeous and very wealthy, her father is a bit of a movie king. She is also pregnant. My mother is going to have kittens she will be so mad at me.

Ari's accidental wife-www.bollyberg.com

End of trip!!!

I am so happy to be home on American soil. I love India, but I think India may love me a bit too much. I really missed American pizza. I think I will load these photos onto a flash drive, get some pizza and call it good.

Week 7, Reading Diary 2, Epified Mahabharata, Arjun's Journey

Epified Mahabharata

Arjun's Journey

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Warwick Goble—1913, Indian Myth

I of course gravitate to this story of Arjuna and the water nymph that reminds me so much of the story of Melusine and a Crusader knight. I like that she is the daughter of a Naga. I was just reading an interesting article today that talks about how  the Naga's were a ruling class at one time in our history.Tracing the origins of the Serpent Cult



I don't like the part about where he leaves the nymph. Then goes off to some other kingdom and married some princess, has a kid and leaves in the middle of the night without saying goodbye. And he is already married in the most awkward of ways while breaking young nymphs hearts along the way. Reckless I say.

Week 7, Reading Diary 1,Epified Mahabharata,100 Sons & A Brief History of Temples in India

Epified Mahabharata

Vitthala temple, Hampi www.historydiscussion.net

So this was a really nice way to see the story of the Mahabharata in a different way. The story is really great but it is hard to digest by reading it. I read it while having it read to me by Laura on the audio file and it was tough. This way was good. But honestly, even with this method the names got me confused on more than one instance.

The son of the sun was a story I did not pick up on while reading. Nor was the 100 Sons story on my radar. Holy smokes it was like a bit of sci-fi watching the king guy take a miscarriage and turn it into genetic material for 100 baby clones. Who are evil. Whoa. 

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This is perfect! I really did not want to do a lot of reading today. So I chose the online choice to watch interesting things. I am having a blast watching these videos. The art is so fun, and I really want to get out my markers and color in the pictures that the artist is drawing in all of these short snip-its.  

The one that has just grabbed me is the one on the history of the temples. HOLD THE PHONE! Ok, so I have a fascination with Mohenjo Daro. But I did not know that there was not any temples in the old culture. Whoa. Mind Blown. Because in retrospect it makes perfect sense.

Also, I am studying the time of Alexander the Great in other classes currently. So I was skidding sideways while hearing about how the Greeks brought the building tech with them from Egypt and Mesopotamia. Shut the front door!

Also, as a side note, in the past few weeks in my Biblical Archeology class we were reading a passage out of the Old Testament in Ezekiel where he is describing the wheels in a vision. My professor had offered up the idea that maybe Ezekiel was seeing a wheel/coaster that was attached to a moving temple. Pffft.  I dissed his idea. Until I just saw the same idea here in this little 4 minute gem. What!!!

I am horrible with timelines and such. What a horrible thing to say outloud when I am a History minor student....but I digress...so the Greeks had influence over the Jewish culture during the time of the writings....the Jews were in Egypt and Mesopotamia...The Greeks were in India, Egypt, Mesopotamia....Hmmm. I see a pattern. 

A pattern left in stone. I found the image above on Google images rather quickly by searching for "temple in India".

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I have no idea how I came to be on the link for this video. I am now looking at the playlist for the readings for this week and it's not part of the readings. I watched some really neat stuff though....

It was KARMA, that I found it!