Week 5 Famous Last Words

This week, or really yesterday, has been worse than any I could possibly imagine. My grandmother, who has been estranged from our family for over a decade, is in the hospital dying of bone and lung cancer. She can't have chemotherapy, because that's what put her into the hospital to begin with and what has made her health (already a precarious thing) decline so rapidly. They were going to move her home for hospice comfort care, but have actually decided not to move her because she couldn't survive the trip, so it's only a short matter of time before we have to say goodbye for good. Also, she's not very lucid, is sedated and restrained most of the time so that she doesn't pull her tubes out, and is generally uncomfortable and in pain when she is awake (which has only happened once while I was there on Sunday). Then, yesterday my mother called to tell me that night before last she had to take our cat to the vet and have him put down because he had gotten a blood clot in his lungs and was partially paralyzed and having trouble breathing. Then, last night, my other grandmother (who I spend every summer with and is in my picture for my introduction thing) had to take our best horse, our only stud, and the best and friendliest and sweetest stud you will ever meet, to the vet because he had ripped off his horse shoe and that had taken most of his hoof with it so he was bleeding profusely. The vet ended up not being able to do anything and had to put him down. So, it's been a hell of a week and it's only Wednesday. On a good note, I found out this week that I get to go to Africa this summer to study abroad! I've set up a link to the page that describes my trip as well as lets people donate to help fund it on the right side of my blog page. I hope you all have had a better week than me and I hope that my next week goes better!

Image Information: Personal photo of Pepper taken February 2015. 

Week 5 Storytelling: Narayan and Garuda

     This is the story of how Garuda became the mount of Narayana, though it has quite a story that leads up to it. Once upon a time the gods granted a man named Kashyapa a huge favor. Kashyapa really wanted kids so he worshiped the gods and they gave him two seeds to feed to his two wives. His wives were pretty nice people up until this time, though one was a little more vain and prone to queenly behavior. This wife's name was Kadru, and the name of the nicer wife was Vinata. So Kashyapa fed the seeds to his wives and they became pregnant, just as the gods predicted they would. Vinata's seed split into two eggs and she eventually had two sons. Her eggs took a really long time to hatch, however, and she became worried so she decided to open one. Her son Aruna was in the egg and he told her that he hadn't been quite ready to hatch yet and that she should wait to open the other egg for another five hundred years.

     Kadru's seed, on the other hand, split into one thousand and she gave birth to a whole slew of eggs who later were born and became known as the naga race. Kadru then thought that she was even better than Vinata because of the number of children she gave birth to and that her children hatched so much quicker than Vinata's did, so she tricked Vinata into losing a bet and becoming her slave. When her son Garuda was born five hundred years later, he found out about why his mother was a slave to Kadru and asked what ransom would be needed to free her. Kadru and the nagas decided to ask for the elixir of life from Indra's palace.

     After a fierce battle involving Garuda swallowing up and spitting out thousands of rivers to quench the fires of the guards to Indra's palace, Garuda stole the elixir of immortality and continued on his journey back to Kadru and the nagas. Even though he had the elixir of immortality, he didn't drink from it during his journey to give it to his mother's enslavers. Before he gets to back to them, however, he meets Narayana, who grants him immortality because he is so impressed with the lengths he has gone to in order to save his mother from captivity. As repayment for immortality, Garuda offered to be Narayan's mount. Garuda then got Kadru to free his mother forever by presenting her with the elixir, but when she was out of the room, Indra stole it back before she was able to drink it.

Image Source: Wikipedia. Vishnu on Garuda.
Author's note: The only changes I made to this story were to elaborate on why one woman would have made the other woman her slave and why Narayan would have given anyone immortality, everything else is basically the same as it was in the original story, just told from an omniscient point of view so that you can see the motives of the people. 
Bibliography: Buck, William (1976). Ramayana: King Rama's Way.

Week 5 Reading Diary B - Sita gets stolen again

Once again, Ravana manages to convince Maricha to help him capture Sita, so he turns into a golden deer and lures Rama away. Before he dies after being shot, he calls out for help in Rama's voice, luring Lakshmana away and leaving Sita alone to be captured. Once at the palace, we learn more about why Ravana can't rape women anymore - he raped the wrong woman once upon a time and a curse was laid upon him that would make his heads explode if he did it again. Rama and Lakshmana return to find Jatayu dying and set off after Sita and Ravana. We learn more about why Rama decides to be friends with Sugriva in this version of the story - Savari tells them to before joining her husband Matanga in death. We also learn more about the monkey's origins and about Hanuman trying to reach for the sun/mango and why Hanuman can take different forms. We also learn about Vali (the monkey king) and the buffalo and why Vali and Sugriva are at odds.

Image source: Hanuman and the sun (thinking it is a mango)

Week 5 Reading Diary A: Continuing the Ramayana

This week we're reading pages 110-161. This reading begins with Bharata returning to find his father dead, then following Rama into the forest and takes his sandals back to wait for Rama's exile to end. My favorite story from this reading that I will probably use for my storytelling is the story about Kashyapa's two wives and their children. Kashyapa really wants kids so he worships the gods and they give him two seeds to feed to his wives. Vinata's seed split in two and she gave birth to two sons. Kadru's seed splits into 1000 and she gives birth to the naga race. Kadru thinks she's better than Vinata because of the number of children she has so she tricks Vinata into losing a bet and becoming her slave. When her son Garuda is born and grown and finds out about why his mother is a slave to Kadru, he asks what ransom is needed to free her. Kadru and the nagas want the elixir of life from Indra's palace so Garuda steals it from him and brings it to them. Before he gets to them he meets Narayana, who grants him immortality. As repayment for immortality, he offers to be Narayan's mount. Garuda tricks Vinata into freeing his mother forever in the end. After this, Virhada tries to abduct Sita and Surpanakha propositions Rama, tries to kill Sita, and is mutilated and flees. Rama defeats the army of 14000 that she sends after him, and Surpanakha starts Ravana's obsession with Sita by telling him all about her and Rama and begging for his help.

Image Source: Wikipedia. Vishnu on Garuda.