Week 14 Lab: Writer's Write

The first article I read was titled "What is a Paraprosdokian?". In this article, I learned that a paraprosdokian is a type of sentence that ends in an unexpected way. Typically, a paraprosdokian is used for comedic effect. I learned that while I've made use of paraprosdokians in my humor, it would be interesting to try to learn to use them in my sentences.

Source: Amanda Patterson. "What is A Paraprosdokian?". Writers Write. https://writerswrite.co.za/what-is-a-paraprosdokian/

The second article I read was titled "3 Super Sidekicks & What They do for Your Story". This article focused on how a sidekick is essential to the plot of many good stories, and it also says when to leave sidekicks out. The article focuses on three sidekicks: Doctor Watson (Sherlock Holmes), Samwise (Lord of the Rings), and Obelix (Asterix). The article explains that a sidekick should not be used unless it furthers the plot, but, even then, special attention must be paid when writing a sidekick. The sidekick should help the protagonist or bring out more of the protagonist that would not be visible without someone close with him.
The author makes note that Doctor Watson was particularly effective as a sidekick because his character was so well-developed. Further, Watson also told the story of Sherlock Holmes, giving more insight into Sherlock Holmes as a character without giving away all of Sherlock's secrets.
Samwise was so good as a sidekick because he was so supportive of Frodo throughout the entire series. Without Samwise, Frodo would not have been able to finish his quest. However, J.R.R. Tolkien did an excellent job of not making Samwise into the main character. Samwise also added comedic relief and keep the books relatable to readers.
Obelix was a great sidekick because he was necessary to the comic and was like "the other half" to Asterix. Obelix was strong and sometimes dumb. This caused Obelix to unwittingly mess up Asterix's plans, creating comedy.

Source: Christopher L. Dean. "3 Super Sidekicks & What They Do For Your Story". Writers Write. https://writerswrite.co.za/3-super-sidekicks-what-they-do-for-your-story/

The next article I read was "The 3 Best Tips For Writing Dialogue". Anyone who has read my stories this semester knows I struggle with dialogue. In real life, I'm a simply-spoken person. I prefer to keep my vocabulary simple and understandable, and I do not go on-and-on about anything (unless it is civil engineering related; don't even get me started on concrete...). However, this has sadly leaked into my writing style in a manner such that dialogue stories I write are too straightforward and don't build much plot.
The article stated that the three tips for better dialogue are read, listen, and watch. This article can be summarized rather quickly. First, does your dialogue match the tone your story is trying to set? Don't use wording that wouldn't actually be used in that scenario. Second, it is very important that the character acts like they speak. If a character is speaking something sad, it is useful to show that the character is sad through descriptive wording. The final piece of advice is to never write with an accent. Readers do not want that.

Source: Christopher L. Dean. "The 3 Best Tips For Writing Dialogue". Writers Write. https://writerswrite.co.za/the-3-best-tips-for-writing-dialogue/

An image of dialogue from Public Domain Vectors

Reading Notes: Epified: Mahabharata, Part B

Kunti was adopted by a king. Durwasa visited the king and Durwasa was known for giving out curses. Kunti served Durwasa and Durwasa became delighted with Kunti and he gave her a way to summon any god she wanted to summon. Kunti then summoned Suryadev, the sun god. However, the mantra also had the sun god bring her a child who was born with golden earrings and armor. Kunti had to send her son down the river because she was unmarried.
One day while hunting, Pandu shot an arrow at a hermit who was making love with his wife. The hermit placed a curse on Pandu that he would die as soon as he had a son. Kunti told Pandu about her gift from Durwasa. Pandu told Kunti to have sons with the gods, unaware that she already had a son.
Yama, god of truth and death, was first god Kunti summoned. That child was Yudhishthira. Then she summoned Vayu, the wind god. This child was Bhima. Then she summoned Indra and had Arjuna. Then, Kunti said that she would not have any sons but Kunti summoned twin gods to come for Madri and had Nakul and Sehdev. Kunti returned from the forest and found Pandu dead because he tried to make love with Madri. Madri threw herself into the fire with Pandu and died as well.
Ghandari gave birth to a lump of flesh instead of a child. Dhritarashtra gave cut the lump into 100 pieces and put them into oil. The oldest son was Duryodhana.
Duryodhana was jealous of Bhima and challenged Bhima to a wrestling match but was brutally beaten by Bhima. Shakuni, Ghandarvi's brother, led Duryodhana to believe that the Pandavas were pretenders for the thrown. Duryodhana poisoned the food of the Pandavas and they fell asleep. Duryodhana tied the hands and feet of Bhima and pushed him into the river.
Snakes found Bhima but Bhima was able to fight off the serpents. Bhima met Vasuki, the king of the snakes and Vasuki gifted Bhima a magical potion that gave him the strength of 1,000 elephants.
While playing with a ball, Bhima accidentally threw the ball into the well. A poor Brahmin, Drona, helped get the ball out by throwing reeds with perfect aim so the boys introduced Drona to Bhishma.
Nakul and Sehdev became great with a sword. Bhima became great with a mace. Arjuna became a perfect warrior and could handle all weapons perfectly but decided to focus on archery. Arjuna and Drona's son, Ashwatthama, were taught to use the devastras, weapons that could control the weather.
Ekalavya had made a dog be quiet by filling its mouth with arrows without harming the dog. Drona had taught Ekalavya according to Ekalavya. However, Drona had not taught him. Drona had turned him down long ago. Drona made Ekalavya cut off his thumb to prove his worth.

Bhima and his mace. Image from Wikimedia

Source:
"Epified: Mahabharata, Part B" Epified. YouTube. Found online here

Reading Notes: The Mahabharata, Epified, Part A

Bharata dictated the Mahabharata to Ganesha the first time it was ever told. The war was also known as the Karmic Revolution.
King Shantanu who ruled over Hastinapur fell in love with the river goddess, Ganga. He promised that he'd never question her. Queen Ganga drowned baby after baby and Shantanu didn't question her. Eventually, he did question her after the eighth child. Ganga told Shantanu explained the truth and left with the one remaining child.
Shantanu met his long lost son Devavrat while he was shooting arrows at the river. Shantanu brought back Devavrat as the prince. Shantanu tried to marry Satyavati but her fisherman father said no. Devavrat went to talk with the fisherman about letting Shantanu marry his daughter. Devavrat vowed to never marry and became known as Bhishma (he with the terrible curse).  Shantanu recognized the sacrifice and gave Bhishma a boon to be able to choose his own death.
Vitchitraveerya, Bhishma's half brother, became king of Hastinapur but he was not in good health. Bhishma then went to another kingdom (Kashi) and stole their three princesses to marry Vitchitraveerya so that he would have an heir. The princesses were named Amba, Ambika, and Ambalika.
The eldest princess pleaded to go back to the man she loved. Bhishma reluctantly agreed but then sent the princess to go beg to marry with Bhishma. Bhishma said no though because he promised his father that he would not marry. Amba was very upset. No one would marry Amba because no one wanted to challenge Bhishma for her. Amba wanted to be the reason for Bhishma's death.
Vichitraveerya soon died and had no king or prince despite having two queens. Queen Satyavati ordered Bhishma to have kids. Bhishma would not comply. Soon, Satyavati told Bhishma of another son that she never told him about named Vyasa. Vyasa came when Satyavati asked for him to come. However, Vyasa was not attractive and the two queens were not happy.
Because Vyasa was not attractive, his son with Ambika was doomed to be blind. The other son with Ambalika was doomed to be pale. But the next time a servant was sent that loved Vyasa and they had a son too. Ambika's son was Dhritarashtra who was blind. Ambalika gave birth to Pandu who was pale and weak but a great archer. The servant gave birth to Vidura who grew to be wise. Bhishma was the teacher for each of the children. There was always rivalry between Dhritarashtra and Pandu.
Dhritarashtra became King of Hastinapur. Pandu became director of the army. Vidura helped Pandu and Pandu was seen as king. Dhritarashtra became married to Gandhari who blinded herself so that she could match Dhritarashtra. Pandu married Kunti and Madri.

Image of Bhishma taking the oath. Image from Wikimedia

Source:
"Epified: Mahabharata, Part A". Epified. YouTube. Found online here

Famous Last Words: The Busiest Week of My Semester (so far...)

This week was quite a crazy one. I was on campus from 8 AM to 12 AM almost every single day. Even on Friday, I was on campus from 8 AM to 9 PM but went straight from campus to hanging out with friends which was fun. I slept for an average of 5 hours each night. It was just an unfortunate week where I had all sorts of homework due at the same time. And last weekend, my family was visiting from Iowa to watch the OU versus Iowa State football game (which almost came back to haunt me when we thought they were going to win) so I was not able to get to any of my homework completed during the weekend leading up to last week.

In my Dynamics of Structures class, we had homework where we were finding the natural frequencies of structures. Basically, everything has a frequency that it likes to vibrate at. But it gets more complicated. Technically, everything has an infinite number of natural frequencies and the vibration is best modeled using a Fourier Series. But the natural frequencies get harder and harder to hit. We're talking in excess of 100 radians per second after the 3rd, 4th, or 5th term of the Fourier Series (that's an excess of 900 rpm). The only way to excite the structure would be to use a motor. But each mode (I'll loosely define mode as the deformation shape associated with a natural frequency) gets less and less crucial to the structure's governing natural frequency. To make this more complicated, every beam is technically an infinite number of small beams. Anyways, I had to model this for my homework using MATLAB, stiffness methods for structural analysis, principles of dynamics, and linear algebra to complete my homework and it took upwards of 12 hours for 5 questions.

This image is a sample from my MATLAB code for the homework. Here, at the top I am showing the mode matrix, [Phi].
Then, the diagram plots out the rough shape of the beam's bending. However, the beam would be curved, not linear as shown. For the homework, we only had to analyze 6 modes because it'd be so much work to model many more modes.

However, I did finish all of my homework for this class which felt great. I really want to finish this class up in 14 weeks like the schedule plans for us, and I didn't want to delay my progress by missing assignments. This week I watched the Epified videos about Krishna. I found the videos to be really entertaining. They packed so much information into a 2-3 minutes video. I was amazed. I learned a lot and learning more about Krishna makes me understand much more why Yudhishthira chose Krishna to be on his side instead of Krishna's army. Then, writing my story, I had to recall all sorts of events that happened and it really engrained the story of Krishna into my brain.

I am excited for the final week of this class. I get one last week to learn about Indian mythology and I'm going to do my best to learn as much as possible! I'm also excited to see what my project turns out to be in the end!

Week 13 Story: Kamsa's Nightmares

Kamsa was the cruel king of Mathura, a city in India. The people of Mathura badly wanted a new king. However, Kamsa kindly helped arrange a marriage between his sister, Devaki, and her husband, Vasudev. The day of his sister's wedding, a voice spoke down from the heavens telling Kamsa that he was to die at the hands of Devaki and Vasudev's eighth child. Kamsa was furious and terrified. Ironic, isn't it? Kamsa's death would ultimately be due to one of his very few kind acts. Kamsa immediately acted upon his fear and anger; Kamsa wanted to kill his sister and her husband. However, he was convinced to imprison them instead.

Devaki and Vasudev spent their honeymoon in a prison cell in Kamsa's palace. Kamsa didn't really feel bad. He was only doing this to protect himself. However, no one else saw it the same way. When Devaki gave birth to her first six children, Kamsa would visit the prison cell and throw the baby at the wall, brutally killing the baby. This cruel display of power disgusted the guards, Devaki, and Vasudev. However, Kamsa felt that he was only doing what he had to do.

Kamsa had nightmares about what his death would be like. Hearing his fate left Kamsa on edge at all times. He faced serious anxiety about dying some day. He would much rather have not known how he was going to die. He would regularly have nightmares about his death. One night, he had a particularly vivid nightmare. His dream was filled with flashes of bright light and a feeling of impending doom.

When Kamsa heard that Devaki had given birth to her eighth child the following morning, he visited the cell to once again kill the baby and save his fate. However, when Kamsa got to the prison cell and saw a baby girl, he was confused. How could he die at the hands of Devaki's daughter? He did not think he had a chance of being killed by her. Nevertheless, he felt the need to save his fate. He grabbed the baby girl and was about to throw her at the ground when all of a sudden a bright flash of light stunned him. In that moment, Kamsa was certain that his dreams were foretelling this moment. If his nightmares had foretold this moment, what else had they correctly foretold? Kamsa snapped back to reality to notice Durga standing before him. Durga told Kamsa exactly what he was now aware of: Devaki's eighth born child was moved to another location and he would someday kill Kamsa. Durga wanted Kamsa's fear of his fate to consume him over the next years. Kamsa was confused as to why the process had to be drug out for so long. He couldn't take the anxiety. He wanted the resolution and he wanted it quick. If it resulted in his death, at least he didn't have to live in constant fear.

He couldn't be certain of when his foretold death would occur, but he was going to fight fate. He couldn't believe how cruel the gods were to make this all happen so slowly. He decided that his only option was to deal with rakshasas to fight his destiny. He was going to send out rakshasa after rakshasa to find and kill Devaki's eighth born child.

Kamsa trying to kill Devaki's 8th child only to learn
it had been swapped with Durga.
Image from Wikimedia

Author's Note

This story was developed from the Krishna series of Epified videos on YouTube. The videos explained Krishna's life from his birth to slightly after the killing of Kamsa. In my story, I tried to focus more of the plot on Kamsa and less of the plot on Krishna. I wanted to show that Kamsa was truly going mad with the frustration of not knowing when he would die but knowing how. It seems very harsh to know how you're going to die, but not when. It would surely consume a person. And it is shown to in this story. Kamsa was going to kill his own sister on her wedding day but spared her after intervention from others. However, he still locked his sister and her family in a cell for the rest of their lives and killed all of their children. I hoped to not make people feel bad for Kamsa, but to understand that he truly went crazy and would resort to anything to preserve his life.

Bibliography

"Epified: Krishna: Part A". Epified. Youtube. Link

Reading Notes: Epified Krishna, Part B

Krishna went out with cowherd friends. Brahma watched Krishna. Brahma saw Krishna sharing a plate with the same plate. Brahma wanted to test Krishna's divinity so he kidnapped his cows and his dogs. Krishna decided to create the cows and cowherds from his own body.

There was a bull named Hastin that was ferocious and the source of all of the cattle. Krishna said that he would ride Hastin. He decided to play the flute for hours every day standing near Hastin until Hastin got more comfortable with Krishna. Eventually Krishna was able to ride the bull through town. This showed the town that kindness is the ultimate strength.

Krishna wanted to marry Radha but he did not have permission from anyone. Krishna asked the priest and the priest determined that Krishna's future held something else more important than Radha.

Kamsa decided to try one last time to kill Krishna. He sent Akrur to invite Krishna to a dinner. However, Akrur admitted to Krishna that Kamsa just wanted him in Mathura to kill him. Krishna was not scared of facing Kamsa and told Yashoda that he wanted to go do it. On the ride to Mathura, Akrur saw Krishna's true form - Vishnu. Akrur knew that Krishna would soon rule over Mathura.

Stories of Krishna's kindness and strength had spread through Mathura before he got there. Everyone was happy to see him. Trivakra was paralyzed and had been told that Vasudev's son could heal her. Krishna hugged Trivakra and she was healed instantly. Soon, Kamsa heard of Krishna's feats and was angered. He knew that he would die in Krishna's hands. He was going to try to use his elephant to kill Krishna. Krishna ran into the elephant on his way and the elephant tried to trample him. Krishna grabbed the elephant by the trunk and killed it. People praised Krishna for killing the elephant with ease, further angering Kamsa.

Then, Kamsa sent two of his wrestlers which were easily handled. Kamsa then sent his army after Krishna. His army was defeated by Krishna. He saw the face of Vishnu of Krishna during the fight with Krishna. Krishna ended up defeating Kamsa and killing him.

Krishna was then led to his parents by Akrur and he released them from prison. Ugrasen, the father of Akrur, was made King of Mathura.

Krishna playing the flute while in the form of Vishnu.
Image from Wikimedia

Bibliography
"Krishna" Epified. Youtube. Link

Reading Notes: Epified Krishna, Part A

Krishna had many enemies before he was even born. Many of these enemies even tried to kill him before he was born.

Kunti gave birth to Arjuna the same day that Krishna was born. Kamsa was an evil king, and a voice told him that his sister, Devaki's, eighth son would kill him. Kamsa decided to kill them. Instead, he threw them in prison and was going to kill all of their kids. Kamsa killed six of their kids. However, the seventh child was moved to Deaki's husband's first wife. Krishna was the eighth incarnation of Vishnu. Vasudev is Devaki's husband and Krishna's father. 

The guards fell asleep, and a voice told Vasudev that it was safe to escape the prison will Krishna. Devaki was okay with them just leaving as she understood. Vasudev had to cross the Yamuna River and a serpent protected him. Krishna was left in a cowherd's camp with Yashoda.

Kamsa learned that Devaki had given birth to her eighth child. Kamsa wondered if this was his last day of his life. When Kamsa saw that Devaki was holding a baby girl, he laughed. Kamsa knew the girl wouldn't kill him. He was going to throw the baby against the wall, there was a burst of light and Durga appeared (she was in disguise as the baby).

Yashoda woke up to having a baby boy instead of a girl. Her husband brought another baby boy home. Her husband told her the story of Mathura's king slaying babies. Putana paid Yashoda a visit. Putana quickly became part of the family. She turned into a demon one night and kidnapped Krishna. She was going to try to feed Krishna some poisoned breast milk. Krishna was draining powers from her while drinking the milk. Krishna killed Putana. Yashoda knew that her baby was something special when she found him next to Putana's dead body.

Krishna slaying Putana. Image from Wikimedia

A cart lost balance and rolled towards Krishna (still a baby). The cart was broken because Krishna kicked the cart away from all of the children. Krishna was a trouble maker. One day someone told Yashoda that Krishna was eating mud. Instead, when she forced Krishna to open his mouth, it had all of the universe inside of it instead. Yashoda now knew that her son was Brahma.

Krishna choked a tornado that was actually a demon to save himself. Bakaasur was another demon who came for Krishna was killed by Krishna. Kamsa had been sending the demons and was running out of demons.

Krishna told the people to worship Govardhan Hill instead of Indra. Indra got mad and sent torrential rains. Krishna picked up Govardhan Hill with one finger. Indra realized he couldn't do anything to overpower Krishna and went to Earth to apologize to Krishna.

Krishna loved Radha. She let him drink water off her feet to cure him.

Bibliography

"Epified: Krishna: Part A". Epified. Youtube. Link

Reading Notes: Eastern Stories and Legends, Part B

The Merchant Who Overcame All Obstacles

Buddha was born into a merchant family. The merchants had to travel across a desert to sell their goods. The desert was super hot, so they traveled by night and navigated using the stars. They had to carry all of the wood, water, rice, and oil that they needed during the trip. On the last night before they left camp, the merchant said to throw out all of the supplies as they would be at the trading post that night. The merchants obliged. Sometime at night, the navigator fell asleep and the oxen got turned around. When the pilot woke up, they were in the very spot that they had taken off from. Buddha knew if he lost his temperament, his men would too. So, he kept cool and looked for a solution. Buddha noticed a tuft of grass and knew there must be water. So he and one of his men dug down and found rock. The men were discouraged that they didn't immediately find water, but Buddha still kept his cool. He put his ear to the rock, and he heard running water. He had his men split the rock, and this formed a well deep enough for water for any traveler to drink from it. The men took off for the trading post the next night and made it safely.

The Horse That Held Out to the End

Buddha was now born as a royal horse. The king of Benares was under attack by seven other kings who were jealous of his kingdom. The horse is armored up and going out with a knight to raid the kings' villages one-by-one and bring the kings back as prisoners. The first six raids go smoothly and each of the kings is brought back alive. However, before going out for the final raid, the knight notices that the horse is bleeding and notices the horse has suffered a bad wound. He begins taking the armor off the horse, but the horse tells the knight to put it back on, bandage the wound, and take the horse into the last battle. The horse knew he was the only one who could do it. The knight complies, and sure enough, the final king is captured and brought to Benares. The horse tells the king of Benares that he should take mercy on the kings and make them take an oath of peace, asks the king to rule over his own people with righteousness and justice, and asks the king to honor the knight. The horse then passed away and the king complied with all of the horse's requests.

This is about what I imagined when reading The Horse that Held Out to the End.
The actual image is of an ancient Chinese warrior on a horse.
Image from Wikimedia

Bibliography

Shedlock. "The Merchant Who Overcame All Obstacles". Eastern Stories and Legends. Source

Shedlock. "The Horse That Held Out to the End". Eastern Stories and Legends. Source

Reading Notes: Eastern Stories and Legends, Part A

The Hare That Was Not Afraid to Die

There were a hare, a jackal, a monkey, and an otter living in a rainforest. They gathered food to redistribute to the poor people of the neighboring village. The jackal found some food in a hut with no one home and grabbed it. The otter grabbed fish that a fisherman had buried in the sand after the otter called out to the fisherman with no reply. The monkey grabbed mangoes. The hare realized that no one would want to eat grass if he offered it, so he thought to himself that he would offer himself up for food if someone was hungry. Sakra, another name for Indra, heard the hare's thoughts and put the hare to the test. Sakra came to the forest as an old brahmin that was looking for food. He asked the monkey, jackal, and otter for food, and they all offered but Sakra turned them down. Then, he asked the hare for food. The hare told the brahmin that he would offer up his body for food and that the brahmin only needed to make a fire and he would jump in. The brahmin made a fire, and the hare jumped in. However, the fire was cold and Sakra revealed his true identity to the hare. Sakra was so pleased that he used a mountain to carve the hare's image into the moon. In this story, the hare was a version of Buddha. The story is to show how virtuous/selfless Buddha was.

I did a little more research into Sakra as I was confused as to why the religion has so many names for the same character. I found that Sakra is actually a deity worshipped by people all across Asia - including Japan, China, Korea, India, and more. Sakra was viewed as the teacher of moral lessons to Buddha. He typically would appear in jatakas to teach Buddha some lessons on virtue and morality. In this jataka, he taught Buddha the virtue of selflessness. 

Image of Sakra and Brahma, who are often times depicted together.
I chose this image because I really liked the art. Image found on Wikimedia

Bibliography:

"Sakra". Wikipedia. Source
Shedlock. "The Hare That Was Not Afraid to Die". Eastern Stories and Legends. Source

Week 11 Story: The Framing

The Framing

There once were three dogs who lived with a family. One dog was named Maggie. Maggie was a great dog. She was ten-years-old, a beagle-mix, and very calm. Maggie never did anything bad. Along with Maggie, there was an eight-year-old chihuahua named Fred. Fred was also a very well-mannered dog, but he was prone to some relapses in his behavior from time-to-time.

Maggie is always happy to be petted. Image from me

Maggie and Fred had a younger friend named Niko. Niko was a puppy who was six-months-old. He was a silver lab mixed with a catahoula, and had a very pretty silver coat.  Niko was a very smart dog but also liked to cause trouble and play rough. Every day, Niko liked to test the limits of his owners. He would grab things he knew he was not supposed to have just so he could get a reaction out of his owners. However, Niko also pushed the limits of the other dogs. He would often do his best to get on Fred's nerves by bumping Fred over and sitting on him.

Niko sitting on Fred's head to try to get a reaction.
Image from me.

One day, Fred and Maggie were left alone in the house when Fred started to feel particularly mischievous. He went into the mudroom and grabbed his owner's shoe and chewed the shoe up. He knew that he could get in trouble, but he had a plan. He was going to frame Niko. Why wouldn't the owners believe that Niko had chewed the shoes? After all, the owners had Fred for eight years but had only had Niko for six months. Fred took some scraps of the shoes and took them to Niko's kennel. He knew the owners would think that Niko had done the shredding. He just had to get Maggie on board. Maggie was easy to convince because she knew she could look guilty since she was also left inside. She was going to help blame Niko.

When the owners got home and saw the shredded shoe in Niko's kennel, the owners were furious. Niko should have known better than that. They were going to punish Niko by making him stay outside for the rest of the week. Niko heard the owners talking and knew he had to act fast. Niko ran up to the owners and the owners said, "Bad dog! Why would you destroy Marshall's shoe?"

Niko calmly responded, "I could not have chewed Marshall's shoe. I was outside all day chasing butterflies."

The owners rebutted, "Then who could have done it!"

"Fred was the only one inside today. He had to have chewed the shoe."

The owners began to realize their mistake and apologized to Niko and sent him on his way inside. The owners then handed down the punishment to Fred and Maggie instead. The owners learned their lesson to not hold judgment until all of the evidence and facts have been gathered. Niko was given a new chew toy and some treats as an apology for the accusation and was treated more fairly from then on.

Author's Note

I based my story off of the jataka "The Guilty Dogs". In "The Guilty Dogs", some of the king's dogs chewed up leather harnesses and reigns for the horses. The king immediately thought that it was a dog from the village, and ordered all of the village dogs to be killed. The chief village dog went to talk to the king and explained that the village dogs could not get into the palace, so there is no way they could have chewed the leather. He urged the king to purge the stomachs of the palace dogs, and, sure enough, they threw up the leather. The king punished his dogs and rewarded all of the village dogs with good meals. I thought the story had a good moral, and the story reminded me of my dogs back home. Niko, Fred, and Maggie are all dogs my family actually has, and, like the story says, Niko is naughty, Maggie is calm and good, and Fred can be naughty at times while he is typically good. The story reminded me of the past summer when I came home from work to one of my crocs being chewed up by one of my dogs. While Niko really did do it, I thought it would be fun to merge this story with the plot of "The Guilty Dogs". Niko also does love to chase butterflies.

"Twenty Jataka Tales". Retold by Noor Inayat. Found Online at this lin

Reading Notes: Babbitt, More Jataka Tales, Part B

The Hawks and Their Friends

On an island in a lake, a mother hawk and father hawk had a nest with young hawks. The father hawk had made friends with a turtle, a kingfisher, and a lion. One day, a hunter settled in for camp under the tree that held the hawks' nest. The hunter started a fire, and the smoke caused the young hawks to cry, alerting the hunter to their presence. The hunter decided to try to eat the young hawks, so the father hawk took off to get the kingfisher for help. The kingfisher repeatedly put out the hunter's fire, but eventually, the kingfisher grew too tired to help. The hawk went to grab the turtle for help, and the turtle put mud over the fire. Then the turtle had to dive into the lake to escape a net the hunter made. Then, the hunter was still not done. So, the father hawk ran to grab the lion who scared the hunter away. The story ends with the hawk saying, "Friends in need are friends indeed."

Prince Wicked and the Grateful Animals

There was a prince who was very rude to all around him. One day, the prince and his servants were swimming in a river when a big storm hit and caused the river to rise. The prince grabbed onto a log. Soon, a rat, a parrot, and a snake joined him on the log. As they were floating down the river, a poor man in his shack saw the prince, the rat, the parrot, and the snake floating. The poor man swam out to the log and pulled the prince, rat, parrot, and snake in. Once in the lodge, the poor man started a fire and fed the snake and the rat first since they were in worse condition. The prince was upset about this. When all were back to health and leaving, the rat promised the poor man money if he ever needed it. The snake promised the poor man gold. The parrot promised him rice. And the prince promised the poor man wealth once he became king. Years down the road, the poor man went to see if each would follow up on their promises. The three animals kept their promises without hesitation; however, the prince did not. He was now king and ordered his men to kill the poor man until the poor man told the prince's men about the prince's promise. The people killed the prince in fear that he may turn on them as well and made the poor man king. The poor man brought the snake, rat, and parrot into his palace and gave them the best homes and amazing food.

A white-throated kingfisher is a species of kingfisher in India.
Image source: Wikimedia

Bilbiography

"More Jataka Tales". Ellen C. Babbitt. Found online here

     

Reading Notes: Babbitt, More Jataka Tales, Part A

The Tricky Wolf and the Rats

A wolf pretended that his front legs did not work to trick a group of rats. The wolf told the group of rats that he was lonely because his legs didn't work and that he could only eat air. The rats visited the wolf every morning and night since the wolf was lonely. However, the wolf would always snatch the very last rat so that he could eat. Eventually, the rats realized their numbers were dwindling and the chief decided to be the last to leave. When the wolf sprang at him, the chief dodged the bite and countered with biting the wolf. The wolf was killed by the bite.

The Stupid Monkeys

A gardener for the king had to take water the trees while the rest of the workers and his friends a day off and they were all going to the city. The gardener asked the troop of monkeys who lived in the palace if they could take care of watering the trees. The chief said yes. The gardener told them to water the trees enough but not too much. When it came time to water the trees, the chief told his troop that they should pull the trees to see how long the roots were to water them the proper amount. Of course, this killed all of the young trees and the gardener returned to tons of dead trees.

The Penny-Wise Monkey

A king and his soldiers were marching to conquer another kingdom to get more land. Along the way, they fed their horses peas at a stop. A monkey took a handful and a mouthful of peas and scampered up a tree. Once in the tree, the monkey dropped a pea and then took off after it. In the process, the monkey lost all of his other peas. The monkey then said something along the lines of, "If only I hadn't been so greedy. Then I wouldn't have lost everything." The king learned the lesson the monkey learned and returned to his kingdom without attacking the other kingdom.

A troop of Rhesus Macaques. After reading the jatakas, I was interested
in learning more about monkeys in India, and I found this species. I thought
it was interesting because many of the pictures of the rhesus macaques
are in areas where people exist. I found it interesting that people likely
interacted with monkeys on a daily basis back when the jatakas were
created as well. Found on Wikimedia

Bibliography

"More Jataka Tales". Ellen C. Babbitt. Found online here

Week 10 Story: Mahabharata WWE

Tonight, here on SportsCenter, we are going to show you the Top 10 plays in India this year. It was a year with many great athletic feats, but one athlete claims the top two spots. Many compare his bold feats to Rama, but I think he's even more impressive because he doesn't even need weapons. Here are SportsCenter's top two plays of the year. Both feature Bhima, a superhuman superstar in the WWE. Let's roll some footage.


Footage 1 - #2 Play of the Year - Bhima vs Hidimba

Vyasa announced, "In one corner, we have Bhima, who has not yet fought a rakshasa, and in the other corner we have the formidable rakshasa, Hidimba."

In one side, Bhima, his brothers, and his mother enter the room with minimal applause; no one knows exactly who Bhima is yet. On the other side of the room enters Hidimba and his sister, Hidimbi. Hidimba had plans to cheat. Hidimba forced Hidimbi to take the form of a very beautiful girl, and he was planning to distract Bhima so the fight would be quick and easy. Bhima noticed the beautiful girl, but knew not to fall for the trick. Hidimba and Bhima have now entered the ring. Hidimba notices that Bhima is not distracted, but now also notices that Hidimbi has fallen for Bhima.

"Can you believe what we're seeing?! Bhima has gotten Hidimba's sister to fall in love with him! Surely Hidimba will take offense!", Vyasa exclaimed.

And, as Announcer 1 had suspected, Hidimba had taken serious offense. He charged Hidimbi, but Bhima stepped in the way. The crowd fell silent, eager to hear what the hero and rakshasa were going to say.

Bhima boomed, "You coward, you're here to fight me!"

Bhima and Hidimba fight while the Pandavas cheer Bhima on.
Image Courtesy of Wikimedia

Hidimba turned his anger towards Bhima. Hidimba rushed Bhima, but Bhima caught him by the arms before Hidimba could land a blow. Bhima threw Hidimba to the ground, and then drug him offstage. The crowd was going wild. They had never known of Bhima, and he is manhandling Hidimba! After minutes of wrestling, it became obvious to the Pandavas that Hidimba was trying to make the fight last a long time so he could finish off Bhima once Bhima wore out. Arjuna, aware of the plot shouted, "Finish him, Bhima!"

Bhima climbed to the top rope, and the crowd fell silent. He was towering over Hidimba, who still lies on the ground. Bhima flew off the top rope, bodyslamming Hidimba. The crowd went wild, cheering Bhima's name. Bhima then showcased his signature move in front of the eager crowd - the Bow-and-Arrow. Bhima picked the rakshasa up by the neck and waist and then threw the rakshasa over his knee, breaking Hidimba's back. The fight was now clearly over. However, not only did Bhima defeat Hidimba, he then added insult to injury by marrying Hidimba's sister after she witnessed the stunning victory of Bhima over Hidimba.

Footage 2 - #1 Play of the Year - Bhima vs Duryodhana

Bhima fought Duryodhana in what must have been the match of the year. The list of similarities between the fighters is long. The two are closely related. Both were trained by the same trainer, Drona. Both were in line for the throne in Hastinpur. But, ultimately, the jealousy of the cousins drove them apart from each other. The drama: intense. Duryodhana had won Bhima's wife in a rigged gambling competition. The hatred: inconceivable. The fight between Duryodhana and the Pandavas, including Bhima, had been raging since they were kids. The strength of each fighter: incredible. Bhima had more strengtht than anyone we know of. Duryodhana was an incredibly skilled fighter. We all know the outcome of this miraculous fight, but let's roll some footage.

"Duryodhana, you get out of your hiding hole and fight me. Face-to-face. Right now," Bhima bellowed towards Duryodhana's place in the crowd. Duryodhana knew why Bhima wanted to fight so badly. Bhima had vowed to kill Duryodhana in hand-to-hand combat eventually after the whole losing his wife to gambling ordeal. Duryodhana really didn't see the big deal. He had won her in a gambling match, and he had only begun to disrobe her after winning her. However, to the Pandavas and most of the world, it was a huge deal. And Bhima wasn't about to let it go.

"Fine. I'll make quick work of you, but your brothers are not allowed to join in. I want a fair fight, nothing cheap," Duryodhana stated.

"Deal," Bhima confidently replied, already stepping towards Duryodhana. Bhima was eager for this fight. The viewers in the room knew that this wasn't a good sign for Duryodhana. He ran away and hid for a reason. He certainly knew he didn't stand a chance against Bhima.

Wasting no time, the wrestlers who, at this point in time, seemed more like warriors charged into battle. With a thud, the wrestlers collided in hand-to-hand combat. Duryodhana jumped out to an early lead after landing multiple unanswered blows to Bhima. Bhima was struggling to keep up. But then, Bhima recalled something very important. He was allowed to take cheap shots for Duryodhana's knees because he had vowed to after the wife-stealing incident. Wasting no time, Bhima went for the knees. With an audible gnarly cracking sound, Duryodhana's knees instantly collapsed out from under him. Duryodhana's immediate pain, both emotional and physical, was immediately palpable to the audience. Even the rest of the Pandava brothers felt sympathetic towards Duryodhana. The fight was certainly over, but no one was cheering. However, the referee announced that Bhima's knee-shot was legal because it was agreed upon years ago. Both fighting careers ended that day.

Author's Note

For my week 10 reading, I have decided to edit my story from Week 6 because I am doing a storybook and this was an option. I have enjoyed the repetition of fighting scenes from the Ramayana and Mahabharata. This story was written to use many of the fighting stories involving Bhima from the Mahabharata. I've added another fight scene from later in the Mahabharata involving Duryodhana as I think it is the most action-packed of any fight scene. The hatred for each other was palpable as the whole Mahabharata had lead up to that fight.

Reading Notes: Inayat Twenty Jatakas, Part B

The Patient Buffalo

A giant buffalo was grazing, and a monkey kept bothering him.  While sleeping, the monkey ran out to where the buffalo was sleeping under a tree and climbed onto the buffalo's back. The buffalo woke up, but went back to sleep when he realized it was just the monkey. The monkey then swung on the buffalo's horns, but, once again, the buffalo did not mind. The monkey was trying to make the buffalo angry. So, next, the monkey trampled any grass that the buffalo tried to graze on. Once again, the buffalo didn't mind. The monkey then hit the buffalo with a stick. The buffalo did not mind. Eventually, a fairy appeared and reminded the buffalo that he could easily kill the monkey, but the buffalo said he hadn't killed the monkey because it was, unfortunately, not as smart or strong as the buffalo.

Indian Water Buffalo from Wikimedia

The Great Elephant

An elephant lived in an oasis in the desert. He was always very, very happy. One day, he heard the faint voices of men in the desert. He went to check out the scenario and found a few men who were very sad looking. The elephant asked where they were coming from and where they were going. The men said that the king kicked them out of town and they were on their way to the next town. The elephant asked how many men started the trip, and the men replied that there were originally 1,000 men. The elephant pointed out a nearby hill and told the men of the oasis there and said they could find the body of an elephant to eat, and the elephant took off. The elephant then jumped off the hill, leaving his body for the men to eat. The men debated whether it was more honorable to eat the elephant or not eat the elephant, and decided to eat the elephant. The elephant's meat gave the men a ton of strength and they made it to their destination.

Bibliography

"Twenty Jataka Tales". Retold by Noor Inayat. Found Online at this link

Reading Notes: Inayat Jataka Tales, Part A

The Monkey Bridge

A troop of monkeys protected a mango tree so that the fruits would not fall into the Ganges River and wash downstream to Benares - a town on the Ganges. Eventually, a fruit fell into the stream, and King Brahmattan ate the fruit and wanted to find the source. The king and his men went upstream until they found the tree, and they surrounded it to kill the monkeys the next morning so they could have the fruit to themselves. Then, the monkey chief jumped across the river to another tree, grabbed a reed, and jumped back to the mango tree. Thus, a bridge was formed. The chief then allowed his troop of 80,000 monkeys to travel across the river to safety. However, the chief's back was eventually broken by a monkey, and the monkey chief was brought to the ground by the king who was amazed by the selflessness of the chief. The chief gave an emotional speech about loving those who you rule over and then passed away.

The Guilty Dogs

The king's palace had chariots with leather straps and harnesses that got left out during a rainstorm. During the night, the dogs of the palace snuck out and chewed up the leather. The king ordered for all of the town's 700 dogs to be killed for chewing the leather. The dog chief hears of this and goes to talk to the king. The chief walks with such calmness that he is allowed into the palace unharmed. He then tells the king that it had to have been the palace dogs and told the king to feed the dogs some kusa grass and buttermilk to make them throw up the leather. The strategy worked, and the town dogs were then treated very well with great meals following the incident.

A pack of retrievers. Image Source: PxHere

The Master's Test

A master was old, poor, and weak. He had no money to buy food with, and he developed a plan to teach his students a lesson. The old man asked his students to go into town and steal money from the wealthy. He said to do no harm to the people but steal the money. He said to only steal where no one was watching. All of the pupils but one left to go follow their master's task. The master asked the student why he didn't leave. The student replied that no matter where he went, he would always be watching himself. And the student did not want to disappoint himself by stealing from men. The master then told the rest of the pupils that is the lesson he intended to teach.

Bibliography

"Twenty Jataka Tales". Retold by Noor Inayat. Found Online at this link

Week 9 Story: Parikshit's Family History

Parikshit settled into his chair next to his young son, Janamejaya. Parikshit had a saddened look on his face, and Janamejaya knew that they were settling in for a serious conversation.

"Son," Parikshit said, "It's time that you learn about our family history."

Janamejaya was intrigued. He had never learned much about his family. He hadn't met his grandfather, aunts or uncles, or cousins. He had always wondered who his family was, and how his family was royalty in Hastinapura. 

"Yes, father," Janamejaya responded with an eagerness that he struggled to contain.

Parikshit slowly began to tell the story, though it was clear in his voice that he did not want to tell it, "So the story begins long ago with your great-great-great-grandfather, King Vichitravirya. I never even met Vichitravirya, he was gone before my time. But he was a very noble man."

Janamejaya was leaning in, visibly eager to hear more. Janamejaya wondered why Parikshit had waited so long to tell him stories about their past and wondered if maybe it was just too uneventful to tell. However, Janamejaya could not have been prepared for how wrong he was.

"After Vichitravirya passed away, his grandsons, Dhritarashtra and Pandu both became kings. Pandu, your great-grandfather, was king first. He had five sons named Yudhishthira, Arjuna, Bhima, Nakula, and Sahadeva. Together, they were known as the Pandavas. Dhritarashtra was blind but that didn't stop him from having plenty of kids - he had 100 children, including your cousin Duryodhana."

Janamejaya was confused. How could he have at least 100 cousins but he's never met them? Why hadn't he met his grandfather or any of his great-uncles?

"Well, starting early on, Duryodhana had severe jealousy issues with the Pandavas. In fact, this jealously lasted all his life. When Duryodhana was a young man, he tried to kill the Pandavas. He attempted to light their house on fire with their mother, Kunti, in the house as well. Thanks to a half brother of the Pandavas and Kauravas, the Pandavas were alerted to the plan and escaped to the forest. While the Pandavas were outside of Hastinapura, they met Draupadi, a beautiful princess. They all married Draupadi. And, eventually, Yudhishthira got a new kingdom."

Janamejaya was shocked. But now he understood why he had never heard of Duryodhana.

"However, Duryodhana was not satisfied with his evil deeds yet. He knew Yudhishthira had a gambling problem, and he exploited this issue. Yudhishthira lost everything while gambling. Dhritarashtra was not pleased with Duryodhana's trickery and forced him to return everything to the Pandavas. However, Yudhishthira made one last deal, and he lost. The Pandavas were forced into 12 years of exile and 1 year of disguise."

Janamejaya couldn't believe what he was hearing. But why hadn't he met any of the Pandavas or his Kaurava cousins?

"Following the Pandavas's exile, there was a great war between the Kauravas and Pandavas. Yudhishthira led the Pandavas, and Duryodhana led the Kauravas. During the beginning of this war, all of the Kauravas except Duryodhana and a few others had been killed. During the night time while Pandava forces were sleeping, the Kauravas went to their camp and slaughtered all but a few of the Pandava forces. The Pandavas went to find Duryodhana who, at this point, was hiding in a lake. Once they found Duryodhana, Bhima challenged him to a fight and broke Duryodhana's thigh, which killed Duryodhana slowly. At this point, your only relatives that were alive were your great grandfather, Arjuna, your great-grandfather, Uttara, your grandmother, Bhima, Yudhishthira, Nakula, Sahadeva, Draupadi, and Dhritarashtra. But this was the end of the story for almost all of them. After the war, Yudhishthira was the king, and Dhritarashtra passed away shortly after the battle. The Pandavas then left for heaven, and I was named king. And you will follow me as king. Any questions?"

Janamejaya was shocked. His family history was messy, bloody even. He couldn't force himself to ask any more questions if he had any, and he told his father he had heard plenty. He knew he could never live with as much jealousy as Duryodhana, and aspired be a noble, peaceful ruler when he became king.

Pandavas meet their grandfather, Vyasa. Image from Wikimedia

Author's Note

I adapted my story from C.A. Kinkaid's telling of the Mahabharata. I was left wondering what Parikshit must have felt like, and how he would tell the story. So, I did some research on Parikshit and learned that he had one son, Janamejaya, and made the story as Parikshit telling his son the family history. I retained many of the major plot points of the Mahabharata, but was able to tell the story from a new point-of-view and show how I think a descendant of the characters of the Mahabharata would take in the story.

Bibliography

"Parikshit". Wikipedia. Found Online at this link

"The Mahabharata". C.A. Kinkaid. Found online here

Reading Notes: C.A. Kinkaid's Mahabharata, Part B

• The Pandava brothers have finished their 12 years of exile and now have to do their one year of disguise in King Virata's kingdom
• Yudhishthira becomes a gambler
• Bhima becomes a cook
• Arjuna becomes a dancing teacher
• Nakula works in the stables
• Sahadeva becomes a cowherd
• Draupadi becomes Queen Sudeshna's maid
• Kichaka, the queen's brother, tries to rape Draupadi
• Bhima dresses as Draupadi when Kichaka comes to rape her, and he kills Kichaka
• Draupadi tells the queen she has a celestial husband that killed Kichaka
• Duryodhana learns that Kichaka has died, and launches an attack on King Virata, taking King Virata captive
• The Pandavas' year of disguise ended right after Virata was captured, and the Pandavas decide to retrieve King Virata
• The Pandavas are victorious in getting King Virata back, and they then reveal their true identities to Virata
• Arjuna's son, Abhimanyu, marries King Virata's daughter, Uttara
• Yudhishthira tries to make peace with King Dhritarashtra, but Duryodhana forces King Dhritarashtra to decline the offer
• Duryodhana tries to force the Pandavas to spend another 12 years in exile
• Pandavas do not want to spend more years in exile, so they do battle with the Kauravas
• Bhima once again vows to break Duryodhana's thigh and drink his blood
• The Pandava army is much smaller than the Kaurava army
• Arjuna kills Bhishma and attends to Bhishma as he dies. There is a small ceasefire at this time
• Arjuna slays Karna when Karna's chariot becomes stuck
• Duryodhana, Aswatthaman, and Kripa and Kritavarman only Kauravas left
• Duryodhana hides under a lake from the Pandavas
• Duryodhana agrees to come out to fight Bhima in single combat
• Bhima breaks Duryodhana's thigh
• Kaurava survivors go kill all of the remaining Pandavas except the brothers and Krishna
• Arjuna's son. Abhimanyu among those who was killed
• All of Draupadi's sons had been killed
• All 100 of Dhritarashtra's sons have been killed so Dhritarashtra tries to kill Bhima but accidentally crushes a statue instead as he is blind
• Dhritarashtra and Kunti go to a forest to escape the rule of the Pandavas and die in a fire
• Yudhishthira becomes king of Hastinapura
• Uttara, wife of Abhimanyu, has a child named Parikshit
• Krishna dies after being shot after he was mistaken for a deer
• Arjuna took all five of Krishna's wives north to rivers but the wives are captured by barbarians
• After hearing of the Krishna news, Yudhishthira decides to leave the world with all of the Pandavas and Draupadi
• Parikshit named king of Hastinapura
• Bharatas are all reunited in death
• Each of the Pandavas and Draupadi die while hiking the Himalayas
• Yudhishthira was the last to go, and was tricked multiple times
• Indra told Yudhishthira to go to heaven but Yudhishthira would not leave his dog - he passed the loyalty test
• Yudhishthira and his dog went to heaven, but his brothers were not there so Yudhishthira asked to go to hell and found his brothers there - this was passing another test so all of the Pandavas, Duryodhana, and Draupadi returned to heaven.
• Duryodhana and Yudhishthira embrace and are, once again, brothers that love each other. Duryodhana has no more jealousy

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ab/Duryodhana_found_in_the_lake.jpg/657px-Duryodhana_found_in_the_lake.jpg

Bibliography

"The Mahabharata". C.A. Kinkaid. Found online here

Reading Notes: C.A. Kinkaid's Mahabharata, Part A

Family Tree

For each family, an indent denotes a new generation

• Vichitravirya - King of Hastinapura
• Dhritarashtra - Blind son of Vichitravirya, King after Pandu dies
• Duryodhana - eldest son of Dhritarashtra and Gandhari
• Pandu - King of Hastinapura
• Yudhishthira (son of Kunti) - becomes leader after Dhritarashtra
• Bhima (son of Kunti)
• Arjuna (son of Kunti)
• Nakula (son of Madri)
• Sahadeva (son of Madri)

Other Information

• The sons of Pandu are known as the Pandavas
• Dhritarashtra and Queen Gandhari have 100 sons
• The sons of Dhritarashtra are known as the Kauravas
• All of the Pandavas and Kauravas are long descendents of King Bharata
• Drona is the teacher of the Pandavas and the Kauravas
• Leads attack on Drupada, and Drupada prays to the gods for revenge on the Bharatas
• Draupadi is born from Drupada's sacrificial fire
• Duryodhana decides to kill the Pandavas and their mother, Kunti
• The half-brother of the Pandavas and Kauravas, Vidura helps the Pandavas escape the planned fire
• Karna is the secret child of Kunti and sun god Surya
• Draupadi is going to be married away
• Karna and Arjuna compete in an archery contest for Draupadi
• Karna was winning, but Draupadi announced she will not marry Karna because Karna was raised by a charioteer
• Arjuna wins Draupadi and they are to get married
• Kunti mistakenly tells Arjuna that he must share what he has gotten thinking that Arjuna had received food
• Kunti can not take back her word, so Draupadi must marry all five Pandava brothers
• The Pandava brothers all had weddings with Draupadi, one immediately after another
• The Pandava brothers became allied with King Drupada after they married Draupadi
• Bhishma is the uncle of King Dhritarashtra
• Bhishma urges Duryodhana to forgive the Pandavas and make peace
• Duryodhana invites the Pandavas to have half his kingdom and the Pandavas name the kingdom Indraprastha
• Arjuna is exiled from the kingdom after he enters Draupadi's room uninvited while Yudhishthira is in Draupadi's room
• Arjuna is son of Indra and has done favors for Agni, the fire god and received celestial weapons from Agni
• Arjuna meets Subhadra and marries her
• Subhadra is the sister of Krishna, who likes Arjuna immediately because Krishna knows who Arjuna truly is
• The Pandava brothers get a palace from Maya, an asura who Arjuna spared while killing all of the nagas
• Yudhishthira declares himself emperor of the palace
• Shakuni - Duryodhana's maternal uncle
• Shakuni urged Duryodhana to exploit Yudhishthira's gambling problem to gain the palace
• Duryodhana does so
• Yudhishthira loses everything to Shakuni in games of dice
• Yudhishthira even gambles and loses Draupadi
• Duryodhana taunts Draupadi by showing his thigh
• Bhima vows to break Duryodhana's thigh in battle
• King Dhritarashtra gives everything back to the Pandavas and Duryodhana is outraged
• Duryodhana once again challenges Yudhishthira to a game of dice and Yudhishthira wages 12 years in exile and loses
• Vyasa is the grandfather of the Pandavas
• Vyasa urges the Pandavas to send Arjuna in search of celestial weapons
• Arjuna gets the weapons
• Bhima captured by a snake in a cave
• Snake tells Yudhishthira that he will free Bhima if Yudhishthira answers enough questions correctly, and Yudhishthira does so

Draupadi as she is being gambled away by Yudhishthira. Image courtesy
of  Wikimedia

Bibliography

"The Mahabharata". C.A. Kinkaid. Found online here

Week 8 Comments and Feedback

Feedback In

Overall, I think the quality of comments I've gotten from my classmates has been very good. On most of my stories, someone has commented with a way to make my story better. On the comment wall, I got some very good suggestions that I think have really improved my storybook. I definitely find critical comments the most useful. I know I am not a great creative writer, and getting any critical feedback helps me improve my creative writing.

Feedback Out

I think I have left good feedback for my classmates, but sometimes I do struggle to leave feedback. Sometimes I read stories and cannot think of any way to improve upon what the original author had already written. I've found the WWW strategy for feedback to be the most useful for me. Using the WWW strategy, I have a good method to lay out the positives of each story and then mention what I think could be good potential revisions. Through reading other people's stories, I've found some interesting ideas for future stories, and I hope to get to try these ideas in one of the coming weeks.

Blog Comments

I think that I have some sense of getting to know some people in the class, but I do not feel like I know anyone super well. It seems that the blog comment randomizer typically sends me to the same blogs over and over again, so I am trying to start branching out more without the randomizer to visit more people's blogs. I do think that my introduction was a pretty good introduction to me - it summarized me pretty well. I've gotten some good comments back on my introduction.

Looking Forward

I'm not sure what I could do to improve my future feedback for others and myself. I think that the more stories I give feedback on, the better I'll get at offering feedback. For now, I think it is best to focus on the content within each comment and maybe check back to see if authors accepted the advice or not as a sense of whether my feedback was good or not.

Image

I've chosen the following image because I think listening skills are some of the most important professional skills there are. Without being capable of listening well, you cannot possibly grow as a professional or grow your skills.

Image by Tanmay Vora

Week 8 Reading and Writing

Looking Back

Overall, I think I have learned a ton about Indian mythology this semester. Two months ago, I couldn't have named any gods/goddesses, and I definitely could not have told anyone anything about the Indian epics. I think the writing assignments force me to critically review the reading assignments I've completed so that I can adapt the story from its original story. At this point in time, I am very happy with my project. I feel like I have a topic I am interested in and a plan that is solid. I am learning a lot as I research for my stories. I am mostly happy with my blog, but I feel that I struggle with stories quite a bit. Most times, I have problems thinking of stories to write for my blog. I want to write something interesting, but I am not a good creative writer. I tend to like highly technical papers; I typically only read and write technical reports. On that note, I think my biggest accomplishment to date is my WWE Mahabharata story. I was able to make a creative story without any problems, which is not typical for me. I do think my reading notes are the only reason I'm able to come up with stories. If I took worse notes, writing a story would be nearly impossible. I think my favorite reading strategy that I've found is researching as I read. If I'm interested in something, sometimes I'll hop over to Wikipedia and get more information about the topic. My favorite reading so far has definitely been the Ramayana. It was super interesting to start learning so much about Indian mythology so fast and I enjoyed the plot more than I enjoyed the plot of the Mahabharata. I can recall a lot more information from the Ramayana as well.

This picture of a temple in Vijayanagara has been my favorite picture from
any of my reading notes. I was amazed at the beauty of the architecture and
stone-working in the temple. Image from Wikimedia

Looking Forward

Going into the future, I think I need to take more time to digest stories and research the background information so that I can get more out of the readings. If I get more out of the readings, writing will be easier and I will learn more about each topic. I also should experiment with more note-taking strategies going forward with the class. 

Week 7 Story: Duryodhana's Battle

Here I sit, in heaven, reflecting on the battle where I eventually lost my life. The whole time, I knew what destiny had in store for me, but I did not want to accept it. I knew the twelve years of exile were soon to be up for the Pandavas. I dreaded their inevitable return to me. I knew that the Pandavas would want the kingdom, and I was not willing to give it up. When the Pandavas finally showed up, asking for the kingdom, it was time to go to war. Krishna tried to peacefully settle the situation, but we all knew that this wouldn't work out. I was not ready to make peace with the Pandavas, and they weren't ready to make peace with me. Once Krishna returned to his kingdom, I knew my best chances at winning the war were to get him on my side. Krishna was always so powerful. I showed up at his kingdom, and Krishna was asleep. Then, to my disbelief, Arjuna came strolling in too. It was only fair that I got Krishna's help since I was first. However, Krishna defaulted to Arjuna for advice first. However, Arjuna turned down Krishna's army and instead took Krishna. This was the first time I felt confident in our chances. I thought Arjuna was foolish for neglecting to choose the army. Oh, how I wish I would have known better...

In a last-ditch effort, Krishna came to my palace and assumed the All-Form of Indra to threaten us to make peace with the Pandavas. I thought that he knew that the Pandavas would lose the fight, and was trying to get us to accept peace. I was wrong.

The battle broke out soon after. At first, our forces seemed level with the Pandava forces. I thought we would pull ahead. We had the numbers, and fierce warriors in Bhishma, Karna, Drona, and others. However, we soon fell behind, thanks to Bhishma. Bhishma was not aggressive enough. He failed to exploit the weaknesses of the Pandavas. I'm sure we would have made more progress if he had been a better warrior. I tried to pressure Bhishma into letting Karna take over, but Bhishma denied. Eventually, Bhishma decided he would make a push. I was happy to hear this, but knew a quickly planned battle would not go well for our forces against Arjuna. However, I didn't mind to see Bhishma relinquished from duty. Sure enough, Bhishma perished at the hands of Arjuna - as I expected. Bhishma was not a strong enough warrior or leader to win a fight with Arjuna. Then, I put Drona in charge. In retrospect, I wish I had put Karna in charge. Drona followed in similar footsteps as Bhishma, and faced the same fate. Around the time Drona fell in battle, we also lost many other formidable soldiers. At this point, I knew my forces were doomed to lose. We had hardly anyone left, and the Pandavas still had great forces. Arjuna slew Karna in a cowardly way, but what else could I expect from a Pandava? However, I couldn't live to see my kingdom in the hands of the Pandavas...

I went to hide in a lake - I thought that the Pandavas would assume I fled and would not hunt me down. However, Bhima found me. Bhima had it out for me. Sure enough, we did battle. I thought I would surely crush Bhima. However, he cheap-shotted me in the knee with his mace. What a cowardly way to end a battle. This was my fate. I'd rather be dead than see the Pandavas in power.

In the end, I do not regret doing battle with the Pandavas. I only regret not electing more powerful generals. Bhishma and Drona cost me the war. I should have taken Krishna on my side, he was more powerful than his entire army - even when not fighting. I should have won. The kingdom should still be mine.

Me and Bhima fighting to the death.
Image courtesy of Wikimedia

Author's Note:

Instead of rewriting one small story from the Mahabharata, I decided to rewrite the battle from Duryodhana's perspective. Throughout the story, I wondered what the story would be told like if told from Duryodhana's point-of-view. Would the Pandava's be cast as the bad guys? I wrote the story of the war from Duryodhana's perspective, and I felt that he was quick to cast blame to others and was excessively confident. He was quick to throw both Bhishma and Drona under the bus when things went south, and I think that he would blame the loss on the two of them. I felt that Duryodhana and his forces generally did not recognize their wrongdoings throughout the Mahabharata. For example, Karna did not hesitate to ask for safety while he fixed his chariot but fired upon Arjuna while he restrung his bow during their fight. I hope to have captured a sense of arrogance while accurately retelling events from the war from Duryodhana's perspective.

Bibliography:

"Indian Myth and Legend" by Donald A. Mackenzie [Online]

"Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists" by Sister Nivedita
"The Story of the Great War". By Annie Besant 

 

Reading Notes: PDE Mahabharata, Part D

Characters

Information

The Conclusion of the Mahabharata

In the previous reading part, I wrote about the beginning of the war between the Kauravas and Pandavas. I left off with Duryodhana trying to relieve Bhishma of his duties, and that's right where we pick up. Once again, Duryodhana tries to get Bhishma to let Karna take over, but Bhishma denies the request. However, Bhishma also announces that he will either die on the battlefield or defeat the Pandavas that day. Ultimately, Bhishma ends up fighting with Arjuna, and after hours of battling, Bhishma is slain and both sides of the battle are at his side as he passes away. Following Bhishma's death, Drona takes over for the Kaurava's side. Drona promises to capture Yudhishthira and Arjuna promises to defend Yudhishthira. Then, Arjuna's son, Abhimanyu, was brutally killed by the Kaurava forces, and Jayadratha was the killer. Arjuna vowed to slay Jayadratha in the next day, or Arjuna would not have gone to heaven. The Kauravas became aware of Arjuna's vow, and did their best to hide Jayadratha. After going through many of the Kaurava soldiers, Arjuna eventually located Jayadratha right before nightfall. After some strategic planning with Krishna, Arjuna tricked the Kauravas into thinking it was already night and that Jayadratha would be safe. Arjuna then killed Jayadratha. Then, Bhima's son, Ghatotkacha, was slain by Karna, using Indra's dart. The next day, Duryodhana was wanting Drona to hand over the army to Karna. Like Bhishma, Drona stated that he would either slay Arjuna the next day or die trying. However, the Pandavas tricked Drona. Drona's power came from his son being alive. The Pandavas slayed an elephant named Ashwatthaman, Drona's son's name, and stated that Ashwatthaman was dead. Drona fell for the trick, and ultimately perished. Next, Arjuna and Karna fought. An arrow of Karna's struck the bowstring on Arjuna's bow, and Karna would not wait for Arjuna to restring his bow. However, Karna's chariot wheel got stuck and Karna requested a ceasefire for the time being. Krishna then stated that Karna had killed Arjuna's son, and Arjuna immediately fired an arrow that killed Karna. Then, one by one, the Kaurava army was decimated. Soon, Duryodhana and Ashwatthaman were the only two notable warriors left. Duryodhana was slain by a blow to the knee from Bhima. The war starts to wrap up with Arjuna killing Ashwatthaman and grief being everywhere. Nearly everyone has lost a family member in the war, and some had family members on each side of the battle.

Arjuna slays Karna as Karna fixes the wheel of his chariot.
Image found on Wikimedia

Bibliography

"Indian Myth and Legend" by Donald A. Mackenzie [Online]

"Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists" by Sister Nivedita

Reading Notes: PDE Mahabharata, Part C

Characters:

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Information:

War between the Pandavas and Kauravas started in this section of reading. The reading started out with the Pandavas, once again, wandering through the forests since they had lost possessions due to gambling. However, the time spent in the forest was worthwhile as Arjuna became more powerful while on a journey where he met Shiva amongst many other gods and received many gifts. Soon, the Pandavas' twelve years of exile were up, and they returned to wage war with the Kauravas. Krishna wanted the argument to be settled peacefully, and Krishna retreated to his kingdom peacefully and asked to be left out of the war. Then, Arjuna and Duryodhana set out to ask for Krishna's help. Duryodhana arrived slightly before Arjuna, but they arrived on the same day. When they arrived, Krishna was asleep. Both Arjuna and Duryodhana sat by Krishna's bed, and when Krishna awoke, he offered to grant one his army, and one himself. Arjuna got first choice because he was younger, and Arjuna chose to have Krishna, who was not allowed to fight, be on his side. Duryodhana was pleased to get the full army. Arjuna asks Krishna to drive his chariot, and Krishna agreed. While armies were being put together and getting ready for war, the Pandavas tried one last time for peace. When no immediate answer was given, Krishna went to the Kauravas to attempt to get the Kauravas to agree to peaceful negotiation. When Krishna became aware that the Kauravas were plotting to capture and harm him, Krishna showed his true form as Vishnu, in the All-Form that contained many other gods as well, all of the Kauravas and their men except Duryodhana trembled in fear. Krishna then tried to negotiate Karna to the Pandavas' side by telling Karna that he is the brother of the Pandavas and that the Pandavas would proudly elect him king as the eldest brother. However, Karna politely rejects by saying that he wants to stand by the Kauravas, his friends, even though it is certain to fail. Karna says Arjuna and he must meet on the battlefield as destiny intended. Kunti then tells Karna that he is her son, and begs for him to join the Pandavas. Once again, Karna declines. However, Karna promises to only do battle with Arjuna, and to spare the other four Pandavas. As the battle begins, the Kauravas and Pandavas trade-off with victories, eventually the Pandavas take the upper hand. Bhishma, the leader of the Kaurava forces, tells Duryodhana that they will surely lose, and Duryodhana wants Karna to take over as leader. However, Bhishma is not yet ready to relinquish his duty as leader of the forces.

Arjuna and Krishna ride in Krishna's chariot. Image from Wikipedia

Bibliography

"The Story of the Great War". By Annie Besant 

"Indian Myth and Legend" by Donald A. Mackenzie [Online]