Week 3 Reading Diary B: Ending the Ramayana

Today I read the end of Narayan's Ramayana. It started with Hanuman beginning the search for Sita in Lanka. He grew to a huge size to cross the ocean, which reminds me of the dog on Adventure Time who can change his proportions. Once in Lanka he searched everywhere and finally found her being tormented and about to commit suicide in a garden, but still holding strong against Ravana's advances. He conveyed Rama's message and ring to her and took a piece of jewelry from her to give to Rama. On his way out, he allowed himself to be captured so that he could warn Ravana to give up Sita and apologize or he would be destroyed by Rama. Ravana orders him to be destroyed but his brother says not to kill an emissary (this brother later deserts Ravana and joins Rama, then is crowned the new king of Lanka). Instead they set his tail on fire but he escapes and lights the whole kingdom on fire on his way back to Rama.

Next we have Rama's army figuring out a way to cross the ocean and the battle between the armies in which Ravana is constantly losing his best men and family members. I won't write much about this because battle scenes don't interest me much. 

Once Rama has killed Ravana, Hanuman fetches Sita and returns her to Rama, but he spurns her, thinking she has been unfaithful to him with Ravana. She is devastated and has a fire built, I think to kill herself. The fire spits her back out, however, because she is too pure, so Rama accepts her again as his wife. Dasaratha appears to his son Rama and grants him one wish, which is to un-disown his brother and stepmother. Then they return to Baratha and get crowned the king and queen and that's almost the end, though Narayan mentions that there is a sort of sequel that may or may not be legitimate in which Rama and Sita are separated again, have twin sons, and are rejoined in the afterlife. 

Image Information: Bharata and Rama; note also the sandals on the throne; by Raja Ravi Varma. 

Week 3 Reading Diary A: Rama's foolishness

Image source: Vali and Sugriva fight while Rama, Lakshmana and Hanuman watch from in hiding.

Today I'm going to write about my favorite (or rather the one I find most intriguing) story from this reading (pages 89-130, specifically pages 92-105). This story is the story of how Rama was very foolish to get involved in a familial dispute and actually killed someone who had never done him any wrong by shooting him from behind a bush! I just want to know who made him judge, jury, and executioner and what right did he have to take the life of a non-evil, non-demon king of another race?? At the beginning of the chapter, Narayan supports my belief that this was a foolish thing for Rama to get involved in by saying that even the greatest of men sometimes make mistakes. I can understand why Rama would have wanted to get involved in this because he felt that someone else had been done a wrong, but there were so many other ways to go about it. For instance, instead of just deciding that Vali was wrong and killing him so that his brother could take his place, he should have considered that there are two sides to every story and that Vali had every right to think that his brother had tried to de-throne him and bury him alive. He was wrong, in my opinion, to not listen to his brother's side of the story, but being rash and reacting badly to being buried alive does not necessarily warrant a death sentence does it? Instead of just killing him, Rama could have first tried to go to Vali and explain Sugreeva's position in the matter. Sure Vali won't listen to Sugreeva without trying to kill him, but the way he describes Rama to his wife shows that he has at least some respect for him and maybe would have listened if Rama had tried to explain. Failing that, he then could have either moved on and let them work out the family squabble on their own or gone back and aided Sugreeva in a more honorable way than just distracting Vali and killing him. But alas, that is not what happened. I can also understand why Rama would want to jump to Sugreeva's aid in order to get aid in return for defeating Ravana, but he could just as easily have asked for the stronger brother's assistance (sure Vali had tried to kill Sugreeva as revenge for feeling that Sugreeva had tried to do away with him, and sure he was an adulterer, but that doesn't mean he wouldn't have helped Rama because by the way he was talking about him to his wife, he doesn't hate him and thinks that he is an honorable man). I'm not sure yet how I will retell this story, but maybe I'll show Vali's side of things like I showed Thataka's side of things; maybe for this semester I will play the devil's advocate over here and just show everyone how wrong Rama was sometimes even though he was a reincarnation of the god Vishnu. 

Week 2 Topics: Continuing my previous storybook

So I'm pretty sure that I want this storybook to be a continuation of my previous storybook about a time travelling alien: Constellation Stories: Facts or Myths? In this storybook I have a time travelling alien who likes to experience the world by living in the sidelines of good constellation stories (or in this case, Indian epics). She meets a man and tells him all about some of her past lives and they fall in love and live happily ever after. In this storybook, I'd like to have her telling him more stories, you know, they're just walking along one day and he says "Tell me a story," to which she replies, "What kind of story would you like to hear this time?" Maybe they're on a vacation to India or something, or maybe that's where they live as the location of the story was never revealed in the last storybook, so he wants to hear about Indian epics. I'm not sure what kind of Indian epics I want her to tell him though, or how I'm going to work her into the sidelines of these stories, but whichever way I decide to go, he'll say something like "Oh I don't know, tell me stories like ours, about great loves in history," or maybe it will start out with a love story and morph into something different if I don't want to do it all about love stories.

image information: screenshot of my other storybook's title page taken 1/25/15

So the topics I am considering for this storybook are Love Stories, Animal Characters (in the last storybook, my character was a mermaid type so it wouldn't be unusual for her to assume the shape of a non-human), Karma, and Geography Stories (especially if I go with they're travelling around India when he asks for a story).

For love stories, the only one I know so far of course is that of Rama and Sita, which would definitely have to be included even though I'm not a fan of the ending. So further research would include finding more love stories to write about. On the course website about love story storybooks, there are several names mentioned including two other couples that I recognized from my reading thus far: Keikeyi and Dasaratha and Mandodari and Ravana. I haven't read these stories yet, so I don't know if they will catch my interest and go with the flow. I might also not want to do just love stories, I might start with the story of Rama and Sita and let it morph into another story about how Rama wasn't always right (killing the monkey king who had done nothing to him), or maybe even some of the other incarnations of Vishnu. At this point I'm not really sure but it certainly fascinates me.

For Animal Characters, she could be a monkey in the monkey kingdom and be watching as things unfold there, from Sugreeva's story all the way up to what happens with Rama and even thereafter if I can find stories from after the assassination. Or she could be a squirrel who just follows Rama around out of curiosity and tells about everything that happened to him, including my other story from Thataka's point of view. Maybe that's where the squirrel first encountered him, she'd been observing Thataka's misfortunes for some time and then decided to follow Rama around after he killed her?  There are many other animals she could be, she may be an animal even if all of the stories are about Rama, for example, or she may be an animal that is deeply embedded in the story, though that one would be a little tough to explain as she tries very hard not to get involved in the world's goings on.

For Karma, I'm not sure how I would insert her into the stories yet, perhaps she'd be an animal in one and a more vital character in another, as she was in the stories of her last storybook. All I know is that I would tell stories that, like her last storybook, illustrated how getting involved was bad for other aliens or maybe how not getting involved was bad (since now she believes that she should be living life to its fullest consequences be damned). I'm not sure which direction I'd go with this but it would require some research about the different stories and how they tied into the idea of actions and re-actions. 

For geography stories, I'd start the storybook right where I left the old one off, with them just leaving the cave in which they'd taken refuge from the storm. For this, I'd need to do some research on hilly or mountainous parts of India (if there are any, I have no idea) and rainy parts of India, then follow them on a journey around India, since he is showing her how to live he has to show her where he lives and has lived, etc. All the while, she is seeing the land through eyes that have seen it all before in the very very distant past and telling him all about what's different and what happened there to cause that particular feature (such as the story of the river Ganga's origin that we read about in the Ramayana). 

So far, I have no idea which of these appeals to me the most, so if you've read my other storybook (and if you haven't you definitely should!) and have a favorite from above please comment and tell me why that one appeals to you. Thanks!

EDIT: I've just thought of another great possibility by reading through other storybooks: she could be telling these stories to her and her true human love's kids as bedtime stories! But I don't want it to seem like I'm just stealing someone else's idea, so let me know if that's not okay!

Storytelling Week 2: Thataka's Tale

My name is Thataka and I am a royal princess, daughter of the great yaksha Suketha. I am also wife to Sunda, a powerful chieftain, and mother of the mighty Mareecha and Subahu, as well as mother of the beautiful Kaikesi, who is the mother of Ravana. As you can tell, I am quite an amazing demigoddess. I’m so powerful, in fact, that I’m quite sure you’ve heard of me and mine before this, but I’m here to tell you that if you heard your story from anyone who took Rama’s side in this whole affair, then you heard wrong. It’s okay though, I will set you straight just like Maleficent set everyone straight about why she cursed that charming princess, who woke said princess up, and how much love there truly was between them.

First of all, I was married at a very young age to the man of my dreams, who I loved very dearly - my husband Sunda, sometimes known as Sumali. I was his second wife and he had ten sons and four daughters by his first wife, Ketumati. As you can see, I had a lot to live up to. To please my husband, I started having children. Eventually, I gave birth to Mareecha, Subahu, and Kaikesi. When she was old enough, my husband and I arranged a meeting between Kaikesi and the Rishi Vishrava, who ended up leaving his wife to marry our daughter. They had Ravana shortly thereafter and you all know how powerful he became. I loved my grandson very much and was very pleased with how much he accomplished, if only he hadn’t thrown it away on that Sita girl he might have been happy forever, but I can see how he might have wanted to do something to provoke Rama and give him a reason to avenge my death.

Mareecha and Subahu were very strong and handsome, as well as very powerful and I do suppose I might have spoiled them from time to time because I loved them so much. They were lovely children, if a bit rowdy at times, and grew up quickly, as boys so often do. My husband and I noticed that they stayed rambunctious for a time when they were young men, rather than growing out of that, but we simply chalked it up to “boys will be boys” and moved on with our lives. My husband occasionally liked to spend time with the boys and they sometimes would get themselves into trouble with a particularly devious prank or two here and there, but they never did anything too terrible. One day, however, they pranked the wrong neighborhood and came to the attention of a very self-righteous and sanctimonious savant, Agasthya. Agasthya decided to teach them all a lesson and I don’t know if he planned it or if it was an accident, but my poor Sunda ended up dead. I, of course, was furious and distraught and I and my boys went after Agasthya for justice for his terrible crime. He was more powerful than we were, however, and he turned I and my precious lovelies into demons rather than the demigods we had been before!

I was devastated, to say the least. I had done absolutely nothing wrong and had been punished by it by losing everything I had ever held dear (my boys fled after being turned into demons and I never saw them again). I decided “to hell with it all” and began to be the demon Agasthya had accused me of being, after all, if I was to be punished for a crime I might as well commit the crime I had been punished for. This is where the famous Rama enters my story. I had been roaming around my desert home, doing just as I pleased whenever I pleased to do it, when up comes Rama and his entourage who encourage him to kill me simply because I was a demon. Nobody asked why I was a demon or if I had done anything wrong, they just assumed that because I was in this situation, I was completely evil and let me just say, who made him judge, jury, and executioner?! Who gave him the right to come into my home and slay me with no warning and no chance to redeem myself? Does it seem right or fair, the way I died? Some may say that I attacked first but I would say that that accursed Viswamithra is to blame as he is the one who discussed my impending doom with Rama right in front of me! So you see, you needed to know the whole story, not just the “hero’s” version of it.

Image Information: Image source: Rama battles Taraka

Author’s Note: I decided to tell this story from someone else’s point of view, because if you’ve ever seen the movie Maleficent then you know that sometimes the hero’s account of what happened may be a bit different from the “villain’s” point of view. Typically speaking, demigoddesses probably don’t often “turn to the dark side,” so I wanted to show the reader that perhaps Thataka was just a misunderstood woman who put too much stock into familial loyalty. Sure she was a powerful and maybe stuck up princess, but that shouldn’t necessarily mean that she was evil, just that circumstances made her appear that way. I didn’t make any major changes to the story, except mentioning that she was the grandmother of Ravana and pointed out that although in the story Thataka struck the first blow and Rama was only defending himself, she more than likely overheard his conversation with Viswamithra and knew that he was there to kill her, so she reacted to that by defending herself against him.

Bibliography:

Narayan, R. K. (1972) The Ramayana.

Wikipedia about Thataka

Wikipedia about Sumali (Sunda)

Week 2 Reading Diary A: Starting the Ramayana

pp. vii-53

I liked reading the introductions, though they weren’t technically part of the reading assignement since they were before page 1. I liked that it gave me an overview of what was going to happen, which I’ll put in here so I can look back at it and remember what’s coming next: Dasaratha gets his wives pregnant after a sacrificial ritual; he chooses Rama as his successor but his second wife is jealous and gets him to banish Rama and make her own son king instead; Rama and Sita, his wife, and his half-brother (from the third wife) Lakshmana travel away from their homeland and encounter many adventures; a demoness Soorpanaka tries to get Rama to marry her but he won’t so she tries to attack his wife out of jealousy but the half-brother stops her and wounds her; she goes to her brother the demon Ravana and complains, so he lures Rama and the brother away and kidnaps Sita; Rama pursues them and meets Hanuman the monkey, his greatest ally; eventually he kills Ravana and co., but suspects Sita has been fooling around with Ravana while in his captivity so forces her to undergo tests, which she passes, but he still isn’t entirely convinced; after he is crowned king he believes rumors that he hears about her chastity and banishes her, at which point she dies after childbirth and he is distraught and follows her into the afterlife. There, that was a pretty succinct version of the whole book which I believe will help me keep things straight while I’m reading.

I also like the first part of the story which is of Dasaratha getting asked by Viswamithra to give him his young son Rama as a guard for some religious activity he wants to perform. This reminded me of general themes in mythology and folklore when men had to give up their firstborns for great and terrible tasks to be named later, or else bad things would happen to their kingdom. It wasn’t said that bad things would happen here but I kind of got that impression when everyone would freak out that Viswamithra was leaving without getting what he wanted.

Viswamithra and the boys travel across a great desert, and when Rama asks why it is so barren Viswamithra tells him the story of Thataka who was a beautiful demigod who married a chieftan named Sunda. They had two sons who were arrogant and awful and liked to destroy everything around them. Their father took great pleasure in this, probably thinking something along the lines of “boys will be boys” and joined them in their destruction. The savant Agasthya lived in the forrest they were destroying and cursed them, killing Sunda and making the boys and their mother demons instead of demigods whenever they came for revenge for Sunda’s death. Thataka became a drain on the land, destroying everything living around her and creating a desert, so when Viwamithra and the boys came upon her, Viswamithra instructed Rama to kill her and end her terrible reign.

I will probably write about this story because I like that it is the first time that the young boy Rama gets to show his strength and morals by fighting the demon who is destroying the land. I will probably either do something from Rama’s point of view or maybe from Thataka’s point of view, because she wasn’t always evil and it might be nice to remember that things can go wrong in your life because of the choices you make in difficult times. Below is an image of Rama battling Thataka (who I guess is the same as Taraka?).

Image source: Rama battles Taraka

Week 1 Overview

I have never read anything about India including the epics, so I'm really interested in knowing more about the epics, but also quite intimidated by all of the long names that will be nearly impossible in my mind to keep straight. I think the stories will be interesting, but I'm worried the material will be much harder to read because of all of these long and confusing names and I'm a worry-wart so of course I think I will somehow get behind and confused and any number of terrible things; but not to worry, I will do my best to stay caught up and knowledgeable about what is going on! I'm also really interested in the Buddhism stories in the UnTextbook because I love learning about other religions and have never had a chance to study this one. None of the images are familiar to me, but I chose this one because it sort of reminded me of something familiar: the Christian portrayal of Hell; and I am all about gathering around the familiar in such unfamiliar waters.

Image source: Sita in the arms of Agni, the fire god;

illustration by Evelyn Paul

in W.D. Monro's Stories of India's Gods & Heroes.

Week 1 Storybook Favorites

One of the books I looked at was Law and Order: SSU, which is actually my best friend’s storybook from last semester. I loved the subject material, as Law and Order is one of my all-time favorite shows, and I loved that the design is so reminiscent of the show’s opening credits. I also think her stories are amazing! I love that this helps tie the stories to a current real-life type thing like Law and Order and I wish I could find a way to make my storybook make someone think of something in their ordinary life too, but I don’t know yet that that will be possible for my particular idea.

The next storybook I looked at was The Karma Times, which I loved on site when I first saw it on the pinterest board because the blue picture on the front caught my eye. It’s a great picture and I love the newsy background. The stories are fascinating and I love the set up of Karma being the one to tell the stories and how he “got back at” all of those who had done wrong.

The third one I looked at caught my eye because of its name: Yama’s Tattoo Parlor, and if I weren’t already mostly decided on how to do my storybook, it would be the winner for how I would proceed because I was thinking like tattoo parlor or coffee shop stories that are told while one is busy doing the tattoo on someone or drinking coffee. But, that’s probably not what I will end up doing, though it’s a fascinating idea: my tattoo artist telling me a story about the ancient indian epics and who got what tattoos and why, etc. in order to distract me from the pain (that’s not what Yama’s Tattoo Parlor is about, but it did give me the inspiration).

Overall I love these three storybooks and would like to somehow incorporate elements from them into my own book. Below is a copy of the picture that so caught my attention from the second storybook I looked at.

Image Information: Taken from The Karma Times Blog

Week 1 Storytelling: Jack and Jill

Once upon a time there was a little boy named Jack who had a little sister named Jill. You may have heard of them before but I bet you never heard this version of the story. Jack and Jill lived in a little cabin in the woods with their parents (as little boys and girls tend to do) and had to go to the well every day (sometimes more than once a day) to gather water for their mother as part of their daily chores. On this particular day, it was rather drizzly and dreary and Jack and Jill really did not want to go to fetch the water, but their mother insisted that they bundle up and do their duty so that she could fix the meals and clean the house and other chores that mothers like to do. Later, of course, she very much regretted sending the children to do the chore, as it ended so tragically.

So Jack and Jill got all bundled up nice and warm and each had their own cute little umbrella that they took with them along with their water pails. They started the long trek to the well out of the woods and up the hill from their house and were in quite good spirits all things considered as they had decided to make the best of the situation and have an adventure. They took the long route, to add to the adventure-ness of it all, and took longer than their mother expected. They also played little games along the way, including sword-fighting with their tiny little child-sized umbrellas. The ground was by this time quite slippery and muddy and the sky was still pouring rain. Worried about them, their mother walked to the edge of the woods and looked up the hill to see what was taking so long.

Well, what was taking so long was that Jack and Jill, after their long out-of-the-way journey through the woods had stopped halfway up the hill to have a vigorous sword fight. This irritated their mother, as she was trying to get on with her own chores and needed the pails of water to continue, so she shouted up to them to hurry along. This distracted the children at just the wrong moment, however, and ended horribly. At just the time when her shout distracted them, Jack slipped on a wet rock and might have caught his balance but his other foot slipped in a puddle of mud. At the same time, the two umbrellas somehow became entangled so that when Jack fell, Jill fell too. They both tumbled down the hill and poor Jack’s head was never quite the same again, much to his family’s dismay.


Author’s Note: I used the nursery rhyme Jack and Jill, which if you’re not familiar with it goes like this:

Jack and Jill went up the hill

To fetch a pail of water;

Jack fell down and broke his crown,

And Jill came tumbling after.

I didn’t like that it had no details, so I made up a reason for everything that happened.


Bibliography: Jack and Jill, The Nursery Rhyme Book, edited by Andrew Lang and illustrated by L. Leslie Brooke (1897).

Image Information: "Jack and Jill" by William Wallace Denslow taken from Wikipedia.

Week 1 Introduction

Hey guys! My name is Amber and I’m a senior at OU graduating in May! I took the Mythology and Folklore class a few semesters ago and I really loved it so I decided to take this class this semester. I’m taking a lot of classes this semester so that I’ll be able to graduate on time: capstone practicum class, ecology and environment, industrial psychology, physiological psychology, and this class - sixteen hours total. I’m also volunteering for the first time at a place in Oklahoma City called Calm Waters, which is a place where families with children can go to get grief support and divorce support groups. I’m going to be a grief support group facilitator for small children which is going to be awesome, I’m so excited!

Image Information: Calm Waters Flier from their website.

I have a roommate named Bria who took this course last semester and is in the Myth and Folklore class this semester and a dog named Lily (who was in the picture in my favorite places post). Let’s see, what else is interesting about me: I had to start school on my birthday (yesterday) this semester, which sucked because that hasn’t happened since I came to college. I also work at my old high school twenty one hours a week as a receptionist so I stay pretty busy.

Right now, when I have time, I’m reading Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor, which is absolutely amazing. I also like to binge watch series on netflix like Friends and Bones, which are both excellent shows.

I’m a Psychology major and I hope to become a counselor someday, after attending grad school of course, which is why I’m volunteering at Calm Waters because I think it will be a great experience for a future counselor. I plan to move to Kansas when I get out of grad school to live with my grandmother and work as a counselor in town but also work on her horse ranch because I absolutely love horses and all other kinds of animals. It’s going to be so great, just like this semester.

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I chose this image because I think I look really nice in it. It is a personal photo that I took right after I cut my hair in 2013 I think.

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Trans-Siberian Orchestra Carol of the Bells 11/17/2012 - Carol of the Bells!!

My Favorite Place

My favorite place in the world, though I haven't been to very many, is Medicine Lodge, Kansas. In my opinion, there is no place more beautiful or peaceful than that. One of the many reasons I love this place so much is that my grandmother and her animals live there and make it a terrific place to be:

Image Information: personal photo of my grandmother, her baby horse Chief, and my dog Lily from July 2013.

Aren't they adorable?? I will add another picture of the lake that I find so peaceful and beautiful later if I can find it but this will do for now.

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