Hannah's Indian Epics Blog

Image Credit. Gandhari. Source: Wikipedia .       It was around noon as Gandhari was walking through the castle of her new husband Dishtra. She was practicing walking with the blindfold that she had put on the moment she and her husband were married. It was new to her always seeing the blackness but she had known the sacrifice she was making. She heard someone approaching and turned towards the sound.  "Mistress, what are you doing out of bed? You and the baby need rest," said Lakriti her handmaiden.  You see, Ganhari was 9 months pregnant and was supposed to be in bed. However, she had grown restless and wanted to explore the castle so that she was completely familiar with it when the baby was born.  "I am going back to bed Lakriti. Do not worry about me."  As Gandhari walked back to her room her water broke. She had delivered the baby by the morning, but was silent the rest of the day. The king and her handmaidens had star...

Image Credit. Kunti. Source: GoogleImages .       One morning a visitor had come to visit the kingdom that was home to young Kunti. This visitor was a sage who was known around the world for cursing those who cross him. Kunti, however, recognized how lonely this must make life for the sage. She set out to be a friend to him. He was sitting outside in the courtyard on the edge of the largest fountain when she first approached him. "Hello, sir! I am Kunti. How are you this morning?" The sage was taken aback by her friendliness and carefully said, "I am well, Kunti. Why are you speaking to me? Are you not afraid that I may place a curse on you like all the others?" Kunti realized that the sage knew his reputation but let his intimidation roll off of her. "No! I am kind, clever, and fun! I do not set out to cross you at all and now that you know my intentions you have no reason to curse me!"    The sage agreed that by knowing she only had good inten...

Image Credit. Sita Sings the Blues. Source: YouTube .        I love the Epified videos so when I saw another opportunity to watch a illustrated version of an Indian Epic I decided to go for it. After watching part a I know that I will want to watch part b as well. The animations of this film are so fun. All of the little animated characters are so cute and fun.  I love that there are narrators in this film. I remember reading the Ramayana for the first time and it was hard to keep all the characters and places straight. Not only that but it was also difficult to remember all the curses that were going on in the story too. The whole movie has an adorable look to it and the characters all were designed with so much personality. I also like the backstory of Nina and her friends. It really gives the story a more modern take on the retelling of Sita's part in the Ramayana and all the interesting events surrounding her.      The first portion of ...

Image Credit. Sun. Source: GoogleImages . I decided to watch more of the Epified videos covering the topic of the Mahabharata. I will be watching the Mahabharata part b portion of the videos for Tuesday's free reading as I have already watched part a. The Mahabharata was definitely more my favorite than the Ramayana. I enjoyed the characters, scenery, and storytelling much more. When I saw the chance to revisit the Mahabharata I knew that it was something that I wanted to do. The Epified videos are the best way to rewatch or look again at an Indian Epic. The illustrations add a whole new element to the story. It makes it very easy to pay attention to and it is very fun to watch the story unfold.      I really loved the story of Kunti giving birth to the son of the sun god. This story reminded me a lot of a bible story I used to read when I was growing up. This story has a lot of elements that I like. I like Kunti's courage to talk to the sage and keep him company. ...

Image Credit. Tech empowers, Tech Polarizes. Source: GoogleImages .  I did the tech tip about using other browers such as firefox. I thought that the instructions to download this browser were very user friendly. They made installing extremely quick. I usually just use safari, but I do think that having multiple browsers on your computer is a good idea. For example when I was doing the writing portion of my LSAT safari would not run the program so I had to use another browser. I think that this tech tip is very beneficial for everyone to try out!

Image Credit. Ulupi. Source: GoogleImages .       This comic book was one of the best things that I have read so far in this class. There were so many beautiful illustrations that were very compelling and made me want to continue reading the comic book. There were bright colors, blues, pinks, yellows, oranges, and greens, that made the story come to life. Uloopi is one of my storybook characters so I had read about her before but this story I really enjoyed. I like how she lives in an underwater kingdom as a princess. This has a Disney princess air to it and I hope she gets a happy ending that would make a Disney princess jealous. So she meets Arjuna who is not very good to her. He is definitely not as invested in the relationship as she is.       At first, I was mad that Uloopi decided to follow Arjuna and then mad again that she decided to live with his other wife and their son. However, I think it shows Uloopi's big heart. She is not extremel...

Image Credit. Elephant Species. Source: GoogleImages . The white elephant was roaming through the forests looking for some good bamboo to eat. He had finally found some that looked delicious but then was frightened by the ground shaking. Then he looked up the hill and saw thousands of people walking down it. He was not frightened after he saw that these people looked very harmless. He saw that the people in the front of the line were walking very slowly and did not seem healthy at all. He walked up to the people and noticed that their leader was in the front of the line. The elephant approached the people cautiously seeing what they would do before he spoke.  "Hello, I am the white elephant in charge of this part of the forest. What are you doing here?"  The leader spoke up and said, "We have traveled far to escape an unfair leader in our land. However, we did not plan accordingly and are dying along the trip." The elephant was distraught for the pe...

Image Credit. Attracting Quails to Your Yard. Source: GoogleImages . The stories that really stuck out to me were the Great Elephant and The Quarrelsome Quails. The Great Elephant was a very inspirational story that really made me emotional. It was a very tough call for the people to either eat the elephant or continue on the way knowing that they would die. The elephant's sacrifice was extremely noble. I really like his character. He did not let the people know that he was going to save them. Which makes me like his character even more. I also like the attitude of the people. I was glad that they were conflicted about whether to eat him or not. It shows that they truly appreciate his sacrifice. I was happy that there also seemed to be a mythological element to this story. The energy that the people felt after consuming the elephant seemed to be a bit supernatural. I enjoy the elements of supernatural in the Indian Epic stories.      The Quarrelsome Quails caught m...

Image Credit. Krishna HD Wallpaper. Source: GoogleImages .      This week is the first week of free reading. I am extremely excited about getting to pick what I want to read over the next few weeks. I liked the Mahabharata better than the Ramayana. So, I thought I would pick something along the lines of Mahabharata. However, I came upon the Epified version of Krishna's tale. It caught my eye with it's illustrated version of the story.      I enjoyed watching Krishna's birth story come to life. It was deeply saddening to me when Kansa killed six of his sister's children. This was extremely cruel to Vasudev and Devaki. I hated that part of Krishna's birth story the most. If I was to retell this part of the story I would want to change this part of the story. I thought the setting of the castle and the dungeon was interesting. I really liked the tone it gave to the story. It also added to depth of cruelty Kansa put Devaki and Vasudev through.   ...

Image Credit. ORRA Diamond Necklace. Source: ORRA .      There were once two jewelry stores in the town of Seri. One owner was very humble, kind, and gave fair prices to all his customers. All of his customers returned and bought more jewelry from him because he had become their friend. The other jeweler was a spiteful, wicked man who always tried to get the top price he could for each of his jewels and never tried to form relationships with his customers.     A woman whose name was Maureen entered the spiteful jeweler's store hoping to get an appraisal on her favorite necklace. Maureen was a woman of few possessions. Her necklace was one of her prized possessions. However, it was Maureen's oldest granddaughter's 18th birthday and she wanted to make sure that the day was incredibly special for her granddaughter. The spiteful jeweler took one look at Maureen's diamond necklace and could tell that the woman did not know the worth of it. He quickly told her,...

Image Credit. Are You an Owl or are You a Crow? Source: Steemit .       So I was more intrigued by the titles of the reading b but I now for the second reading of the week I am going back to part a of the Babbitt Jataka Tales. The merchant of Seri was a good read in this group of stories. I like how the grandmother, even though they were poor and that the bowl had special meaning to them, agreed to trade the bowl so that her granddaughter could get something. The greedy merchant was a fool to throw the bowl on the ground and then walk away. I was glad that it was the happy merchant that got to profit from the gold bowl. I also like how the story ended. It was yet another happy ending in the Jataka Tales. I think that these stories are so short that they will be easy to recreate and add in some detail that I think the original stories lack.    The story called "Why the Owl Is Not the King of the Birds" was interesting to me as well. It was so short I think...

Image Credit. White Elephant. Source: 999thepoint .       For this week's reading, I decided to read some of the Jataka Tales instead of more Krishna. I really liked the Jataka Tales when we read them at the beginning of the semester and all of the stories in part b I really enjoyed. The first story that caught my eye was the story of "The Princes and the Water-Sprite". This story was very engaging and while there was not much detail it was still a well-rounded story. The brother's attitudes caught me off guard. Even though the mother preferred the youngest son the older brothers were not angry with him for being the favorite and for being the reason that they were banished. It is also interesting how common banishments are in Indian mythology. The water-sprite is a tricky character who is able to change shape. This ability makes all of his encounters different. I like that the oldest brother chose the younger brother to save but also got to save the middle bro...

Image Credit. Pegasus. Source: GoogleImages .         One day Krishna was sitting in his lovely palace admiring the countryside when he was visited by the God Indra. Indra was seeking help in order to recapture his home: the palace Pragjyotisha. Indra's home had been taken over by the demon Muru who was very fearsome and clever. Muru had placed large walls 10 feet thick surrounding the perimeter of the city. There was also a large moat filled with alligators and venomous snakes. Muru made sure to conjure up an army that could match his ferociousness. There were over 50,000 foot soldiers, 10,000 archers, and a calvary of 5,000 horses and men. Krishna knew the terrible odds he would be facing but agreed to help Indra get his home back.      Krishna immediately called for his pegasus, Myriad, and explained to him that they were headed to recapture the city of Pragjyotisha. Myriad was a loyal pegasus and flew as fast as he could to the city he knew...

Image Credit. Krishna. Source: Pinterest .  Part B starts with Krishna as a man who has obviously grown in power. I think that it is interesting that Indra came down to ask Krishna for help. This just shows to me that Krishna is powerful and wise and that he can be trusted to help when called upon. I like that the author of Krishna's story included this tale of Indra coming to him to ask for help. It is a clever way to show Krishna's power aside from all the heroic battle tales and mythical powers he possesses.      When Krishna fights the demon Muru is probably one of my favorite parts of his tale. This demon reminds me of the Hydra from Greek mythology. I love Greek mythology so this story was right up my alley. It is interesting to me that Muru is gifted in fortification. I like that even though he is gifted in this area he is no match for Krishna. I think this is just another way that the author shows Krishna's power without directly saying it.   ...

Image Credit. Krishna. Source: GoogleImages .      The origin story of Krishna is very intricate and there is lots going on. I like how they switched the babies so that he would be the one who was beside Devaki. I really liked how when King Kansa picked him up he was not able to kill Krishna and he evaded him. King Kansa's plan to try and kill all the children in his country is quite harsh and unnecessary. King Kansa seems like the typical villain in the story. I really think that the ending of Putana's story is also unnecessary. Why should she attain salvation for suckling Krishna even though she did it meaning to kill him? She had done so much evil in her life time and killed so many innocent babies I do not think that she should have gotten to live.       Krishna has true power and I am interested to see how his story will end. He is quite the troublesome infant but I am happy that he had the parents that he did. They are very patient and kind to ...

Image Credit. 5 Nagas and Their Role in Hindu Mythology. Source: Google Images . One day a man was swimming along in a river when a group of snakes attacked him. They did not bite him but wrapped around him and pulled him into very deep waters to drown him. The King of the snakes saw what they were doing and commanded them to let the poor human go. The little snakes obey his command and released the man. When Bheem woke up he looked around in awe of what he saw. He was in an underwater castle and was surrounded by snakes and he could breathe under the water. His memory came rushing back to him and he sprang to his feet. He knew that these snakes were a threat and did not plan to be caught by surprise again. "Calm down Bheem. I am Vasuki, King of the Snakes, and they have been commanded not to harm you." "Vasuki? King Vasuki I mean. Thank you so much for sparing my life!" The king threw a feast in honor of Bheem. He had a wonderful time at the feast and...

Image Credit. Bheem. Source: Wikipedia .       So for this week's reading, I have continued watching the online video version of the Mahabharata. one of the stories that stuck out was the one where Bheem was in the water and was attacked by the snakes. I really liked the imagery that this video gave me. The snake fight with Bheem was really cool to see illustrated. I like that Bheem was able to fight them off and show his strength to the snakes. Then when the fight is over I thought it was so cool that he ended up being in the very deep water. This was a part of the story that I really liked and was interested in. It really gave the story a new and interesting setting. I really liked the change of pace in the story and thought it flowed well.    Bheem's walk through the palace and finding Vasuki. I like how they clearly explained his backstory and how Bheem and Vasuki were connected. I think it is really cool that one minute the snakes are attacking ...

Image Credit. Goddess Ganga. Source: Pinterest .       This week we are exploring the Mahabharata in a different light. I chose to watch the Epified online film version of the Mahabharata. I really enjoyed listening and watching to part of this film. The graphics that the author creates to narrate his stories are very fun. I really like watching the illustrations take shape. They give a new dimension to the story that makes it more fun for me to listen to and watch. I think that the narrator is very talented because his characters are drawn so well. Another thing I loved about the Epified version was being able to tell if I was pronouncing all the names in the Mahabharata correctly.    Again the parts of this story that stuck out for me were the story of Shantanu and his wife Ganga goddess of the river Ganga. This story is one of the most interesting to me that is in the Mahabharata. I really like the Epified take on this tale. It really encapsulated...

Image Credit. Continuous Improvement and Innovation. Source: Giveffect .       Looking back at past assignments and my blog overall I am very pleased with the progress I have made so far. In the beginning of the semester I had blogged very little and had not written creatively in like five or six years. I was a little rusty in the beginning but I think I have gotten in the swing of things finally. I am happy with how the blog looks and is laid out. I am also pleased with the writing and content in the blog posts and storybook.      The class assignment that I enjoy most are the storytelling posts and the storybook posts. I do not enjoy the notes assignments much because it is simply reflection of what I have read. This class gives me a creative outlet and I really enjoy coming up with my own, original stories. I have not used many of the extra credit options but have missed a few assignments so I will be using the extra credit to catch up eventual...

Image Credit. Classic Indian Epics. Source: Weebly .        I have received some very helpful, detailed, and encouraging feedback from my classmates so far. I really appreciate the feedback, especially for my storybook. I feel as though the storybook is a very important part of the semester and I want it to be something that I am very proud of. The feedback I am getting from classmates is helping me make sure that I am changing or altering things that I missed when I reviewed my storybook personally. I do think that by incorporating the classmates feedback my blog, storybook, and overall writing is improving.      I hope that other students think that I am leaving good feedback. Firstly, I try to comment on the things that I see them doing really well. Then, point out some things I have noticed that could be better with a few tweaks. Finally, I try and give them some alternatives or what ifs to implement if they think it would work well. I try a...