Week 10 Reading Diary Continued: The Five Tall Sons of Pandu Part B

So far I have like the small changes that this story has made to the original story. I think it is interesting to see this story from multiple perspectives.

• Duryodhana and Yudhishthira prepare for war because Duryodhana will not give up his chance at the throne without a fight
• Drona wants peace because he does not want the Pandavas to fight
• When the battle begins Arjuna is hesitant because he does not want to fight but he is commanded to.
• Even when things look bad and he knows the Gods are not on his side, Duryodhana still pushes forward with the fight out of hate
• Bhima is a very strong warrior and kills a lot of Duryodhana’s brothers.
• Bhishma is killed by being approached by a fighter who used to be a girl and refuses to fight her. Then the Pandavas shot an arrow at him. This seems a little unfair because he was just trying to do the right thing.
• On his death bed Bhishma asks Duryodhana to make peace and of course Duryodhana says no because he is evil
• Karna and Arjuna face each other in battle but they are too evenly matched. They fight again and this time Arjuna kills Karna after a long battle
• The battle is over and the brother mourn all the losses of war including their own brother Karna. Arjuna did not know that Karna was his brother until after he was dead.

The Pandavas and Draupadi.

The Five Tall Sons of Pandu by Richard Wilson

Week 10 Reading Diary: The Five Tall Sons of Pandu Part A

This week I have chosen The Five Tall Sons of Pandu by Richard Wilson mainly because it is a free online book which is most convenient to me. I also enjoy the articles or books that professor Gibbs has created a reading guide for. It makes it easier for me to follow the story or if I get lost the reading guide it a good reference point.

• Pandu is the father of five sons
• Yudhishthira, Bhima, Arjuna, and the twins Nakula and Sahadeva.
• Dhritarashtra is the king once Pandu dies because he is Pandu’s brother and Dhritarashtra has many sons but they all hate the sons on Pandu.
• Duryodhana hate Bhima and they fight physically a lot while they are being taught by Drona

• Drona trains the princes.
• Arjuna is amazing at archery which I have already made a story about
• Arjuna and this new character, Karna, Battle and they are equally matched. Karna is revealed to be the son of someone low in society but it doesn’t matter because he is as good as Arjuna.
• Duryodhana seems like a very hateful man
• He traps the Pandavas and their mother in a burning house of wax to try to kill them. I do not see how this would help him in anyway other than he just hates them.
• Arjuna wins the hand of Draupadi but she is given to the eldest brother to marry. So in this story Arjuna does not get to marry her at all which could cause some major anger in Arjuna.
• Yudhishthira is challenged to a gambling game and loses everything including himself and his brothers. This seems a little outrageous of a gamble.
• They are saved by being sent into exile.
• Duryodhana goes to the forest to taunt them every once and while
• Finally the wait is over and it is time for the brother to win their kingdom back.

The Five Tall Sons of Pandu by Richard Wilson

Week 9 Reading Diary Continued: The Divine Archer Part B

So far this story has been very similar to The Ramayana in a lot of ways but there are distinct differences. There is also a different writing style in the story.

Rama shoots Vali with an arrow

Hanuman goes and talks to Sita after he finds her. It confuses me as to why he didn’t just take her back right then

Ravana sets Hanuman's tail on fire after he is captured but the fire catches the whole town on fire.

Ravana does not listen to any of his counsel and decides to get ready for war with Rama

Rama makes his grand entrance to the battle by shooting an arrow into Ravana's court and knocks off his crown. This seems like symbolism to me.

Lakshmana is hurt in battle but Hanuman gets herbs to heal him

The God Indra sends Rama a Chariot that helps Rama end the battle by riding it to shoot an arrow through Ravana

Rama then questions Sita's faithfulness because he is rude

Sita gives birth to twins and Rama sends them to exile because he believes they aren’t his

Sita calls to Mother Earth to be taken because she is faithful to Rama

The end.

Sita goes into the earth.

The Divine Archer by F.J. Gould (1911)
Reading Guide

Week 9 Reading Diary: The Divine Archer Part A

I have decided to read The Divine Archer mainly because it has a detailed reading guide which is extremely helpful in understand the story. I am excited to see what this story is about and I also like the way that we have the freedom to explore different stories.

The story begins similarly to the Ramayana because Rama is set up to be the best and most loved of his brothers.

Rama is able to change forms even as a baby. This is abnormal

Rama and Lakshmana go to help Vishvamitra defeat the demons in the forest which relates to the original Ramayana because the brothers are together.

Sita is the daughter of King Janaka and Rama sees her when they visit his kingdom and they fall in love immediately

Rama not only bends Shiva's bow but makes it snap so he wins the hand of Sita

Parashurama gives Rama the bow of Vishnu

Sita and Rama get married

Rama is supposed to be the first in line to become king but the queen demands that Bharata becomes king

Sita, Rama, and Lakshmana
Flickr

Rama is exiled and Sita and Lakshmana go with him

Bharata is a good brother and the slippers rule the kingdom

In the forest Rama meets many sages and demons. He gets divine weapons and protects his brother and wife.

Ravana decides to attack Rama because of his demon wife

Ravana captures Sita. Sita drops hr scarf instead of jewelry in the story which makes more sense to me.

Rama and Lakshmana meet Sugriva and Hanuman 

The Divine Archer by F.J. Gould (1911)
Reading Guide

Week 7 Reading Diary Continued: Epified Mahabharata

So far the video has been good. I do not like the way it is cut into episodes to but I am looking forward to hearing the end.

• Karna learns he is a solider instead of a farmer
• Drona will not teach Karna because he does not tell him he is a fighter
• Karna has not become king of a smaller kingdom by out doing Arjuna in everyway
• He is a king so he is now able to fight The Pandavas
• Drona wants to get revenge on Durpada
• The Pandvas' cousin wants to kill them by setting their house of fire but they find out about his plan and they escape
• They escaped the fire by digging a tunnel to safety in the forest
• One of The Pandavas killed a beast that was eating people in the town
• Draupadi marries all five of the Pandavas because Arjuna won her hand with archery
• The Pandavas then return to Hastinapura
• A new kingdom is made for the Pandavas
• The Pandavas realize that Draupadi will break them apart so they decide that they will each marry her for a year at a time.
• Arjuna breaks this rule so he is sent to exile for twelve years and in his exile he has many adventures
• Arjuna fell in love with another woman while in exile.

Arjuna
Wikimedia

This film of The Mahabharata was made by Epified

Week 7 Reading Diary: Epified Mahabharata

This week we are revisiting The Mahabharata in a different version. I have chosen the video option because it helped me last time in getting a better understanding of The Ramayana. I hope that this film will help me understand both the plot and characters better.

• The film is split into short episodes verses one big film.
• Queen Ganga seems brutal
• Ganga and Shantanu's either son does not die and he is trained in the art of war
• After Ganga leaves him Shantanu falls in love again but he cannot be with her.
• The video remind me of a draw my life video (a popular video on YouTube)
• Devavrata vows to never marry
• I struggle with the way this story is told in the videos. The names are said very fast and I am not able to understand what the narrator is saying much of the time
• Bhishma brings three princesses to his king
• I do not recognize the Umba 
• I now realize the narrator is saying Amba
• After being taken with two other princesses, Amba is rejected by both kings and she is angry at Bhishma for taking her
• Sage Parashuram fights Bhishma for Amba but they are too evenly matched and Bhishma wins because of his will
• Bhishma finds out he has a brother named Vyasdeva
• Vyasdeva is ugly but he has three sons with three different women: Dhritharashtra, Pandu and Vidu
• Gandhari marries Dhritharashtra after blindfolding herself



Kunti and Pandu
Wikimedia

• Kunti can summon Gods and had a son with the sun God
• Pandu will die if he gets intimate and doesn’t return to the kingdom 
• The Pandavas are born 
• Margery kills herself after Pandu dies
• It ends with Dorna teaching the Pandavas own to fight and we learn about

This film of The Mahabharata was made by Epified

Week 6 Reading Diary Continued: The Mahabharata Part D

The most helpful part of the public Domain version of The Mahabharata is that Professor Gibbs puts a reading guide at the top which allows you to remember characters from the past reading and how they will connect with the upcoming readings. This is especially helpful when the names of characters are closely related such at Virata's son and daughter.

• Bhishma dies and Drona takes command of Duryodhana's army
• Arjuna is a good brother and will defend his brothers to the death
• Arjuna's son dies during the battle but seeking his vengeance drive Arjuna forward with more power
• Bhima losses his son
• The name of the battle is the Battle of Kurukshetra which I did not catch before
• The Pandavas trick Drona and that is how their defeat their old instructor. It seems to be a reoccurring theme to have a moral dilemma with the heroes.
• Karna takes control of army
• Karna and Arjuna's battle is the peak of the battle and Karna dies
• Duryodhana is hiding underneath a lake and I feel like these characters get different supernatural powers in almost every episode
• Yudhishthira will now become sovereign king.
• Vyasa brings up the ghosts of the battle
• Since Krishna is dead The Pandavas decided it is time to leave earth and leave the kingdom to Arjuna's grandson, Parikshit

Krishna, Uttara, and baby Parikshit.

All accounts of The Mahabharata are found in The Public Domain found below
Mahabharata Online: Public Domain Edition

Week 6 Reading Diary: The Mahabharata Part C

For the beginning of this week I had to go back over the reading diaries I wrote last week in order to catch up on where I left off and refresh my memory of what happen at the beginning of the story.

• We left off with the Pandavas back in exile
• Exile seems to be a reoccurring theme is Indian epics as well as sages
• Krishna visits the Pandavas
• Arjuna is the son of the God Indra
• The four Pandavas brother go to the Himalayas and are joined by their brother Arjuna who was out looking for weapons
• Bhima is Hunama's brother
• Karna has pledged his allegiance to Duryodhana and swears to kill Arjuna
• Indra is worried about his son, Arjuna, because Karna has armor of gold and invincibility earrings so he goes and steals them from Karna.
• The last years of exile must be spent in hiding
• Arjuna disguises himself as a dance teacher.
• Duryodhana attacks King Virata and his cattle. The Pandavas come to his aid because Kind Virata has been kidding them
• Virata has a son named Uttara and a daughter named Uttarā
• Pandavas exile is over. Yay
• Krishna and Arjuna are very close and he chooses Krishna over an army
• Krishna's divine form is Vishnu
• Karna never knows that the Pandavas are his brothers
• The characters prepare for war. Some old characters return and some new characters are introduced
• Most famous part of this story is the Bhagavad-Gita, or "Lord's Song"
•  

• 
  
  Arjuna and the celestial beings.

All accounts of The Mahabharata are found in The Public Domain found below
Mahabharata Online: Public Domain Edition

Week 5 Reading Diary: The Mahabharata Part B

So far this week's reading has been very difficult because of the names. I have had this problem more than once in this class. This story has a lot of characters and learning all the names in the first couple sections become difficult for me. It is helpful to write the characters name and relations as I read

• Vidura is the brother of Pandu and Dhritarashtra and he is smart 
• Pandavas brothers are living in the wild again. I feel bad for them. 
• Arjuna wins a battle and Draupadi is his wife and now all five Pandavas are her husband's which is weird. 
• Yudhishthira becomes a king 
• Arjuna is exiled because he broke one of the rules of marriage with his wife and her other five husbands and this is starting to sound like sister wives but with husbands. 
• Arjuna marries Krishna's sister Subhadra 
• Kshatriya is a warrior that cannot refuse gambling' 
• The story ends with the Pandavas brothers back in battle

Draupadi and the Pandavas sent into exile.

All accounts of The Mahabharata are found in The Public Domain found below
Mahabharata Online: Public Domain Edition

Week 5 Reading Diary: The Mahabharata Part A

I have chosen The Public Domain option as my reading option because I enjoyed the way The Ramayana was set up in the public domain option. This option is set up exactly the same and it is easy to follow since I am familiar with the links.

• Vyasa is sort of like Valmiki from The Ramayana but this time Vyasa is a main character in the story which is different than Valmiki. 
• There is an elephant-headed god Ganesha 
• Devavrata is the son of King Shantanu and Ganga but is he called a different name later on in the story which is confusing. 
• Devavrata has the powers on a God named Vasus. 
• Devavrata= Bhishma, the way he got this name is very strange and dark but shows that he loves his family 
• Satyavati is the mother of Vyasa and she is a flirting with King Shantanu 
• Bhishma gets three women of the King Kashi through battle 
• Bhishma brings the wives to his brother but he dies before he has any sons to carry on the famile name but Satyavati has a plan. 
• Dhritarashtra and his brother (half-brother) Pandu are important characters to know as well as Vidura 
• Kunti, wife of Pundu has a son named Karna and he is important. 
• Pandu gets sons even though he is curse. It is unfair that he is cursed because he was hunting and the sage was a deer so how was he supposed to know. and Pandu's son is named Pandavas 
• Pandavas and Kauravas are enemies which stems from the feud of their fathers 
• King Dhritarashtra raises all five of Pandu's sons 
• Drona is a guru and pandavas is really good so Duryodhana, King Dhritarashtra's eldest son, begins to grow is jealous 
• Ekalavya is an outcast that wants to be taught by Drona

Arjuna the archer.

All accounts of The Mahabharata are from the Public Domain found below Mahabharata Online: Public Domain Edition

Week 4 Reading Diary Continued: Sita Sings the Blues

I am glad I have chosen the video so far. It is fun to watch and I think it will be easy to write a story about this video, although I don’t think my humor will be able to stand up to theirs. This video can be found on YouTube.

A Screenshot of Rama sending Sita into exile
Sita Sings the Blues

• ·         It starts back with Nina (the back story girl) receiving an email from Dave saying to not come back to India which is sad
• ·         I still don’t understand the point of t he back story
• ·         I now understand that Rama exiled Sita in order to have respect from his people but he did it in a shady way.
• ·         Also I have not see Lakshmana in this story
• ·         Sitas children praise Rama even though he cast sita out
• ·         Rama is in the forest and he finds his sons and he lets them all return to the kingdom except for sita because she has to do another purity test
• ·         Sita dies?
• ·         In the back story Nina reads the Ramayana and I think she relates it to her life a little bit
• 
  

Week 4 Reading Diary: Sita Sings the Blues

I decided to watch the video on YouTube for week 4 reading because it seems interesting and kind of a change of pace which I like every once and awhile. I am hoping that watching this film will be a good way for me to have a better understanding of the Ramayana story. This video can be found on YouTube.

A screenshot of Rama and Sita
Sita Sings the Blues

• ·         It is a little hard to follow and I am thankful for the footnotes at the bottom
• ·         It is really funny and random
• ·         The story is told by three shadow figures, the narrators of the story
• ·         The way the cartoon is drawn changes frequently throughout the story.
• 
  
• ·         There is also a background story that I don’t understand. It is a couple with a cat moving to India for a job
• ·         This story is mainly told from sita's point of view
• ·         The story line seems to follow the one of last week's version.
• ·         It's getting funnier as it goes on. It's actually making me laugh a lot
• ·         Sita is captures again
• ·         I feel like the monkey god came in earlier in this version then the other or maybe the demons where just fought quicker
• ·         The three characters that are narrating the story are nice because it makes the story more relatable and I can understand it better with more modern language
• ·         Ravana is defeated very easily
• ·         Rama is not happy to see Sita because she has lived in another man's house and he is skeptical of her loyalty
• ·         Part A ends with Rama forgiving Sita for whatever he thinks she has done

Week 3 Reading Diary Continued: Ramayana Part D

Ravana.

I like being able to do the reading diary is very helpful to me because it helps me keep track of the names that come up in the story. Since the names are not ones that I hear in everyday life it is good for me to type them out and who they are associated with while I am reading the story.

All accounts of Ramayana Part D are from Ramayana Online: Public Domain Edition

• In this section the battle has begun 
• Gaurda comes and heals all of Rama's soldiers from the 
• Antoher on of Ravanas brothers is named Kumbhakarna and he is a great fighter but he is asleep and when he wakes up he is super hungry
• There is another attack by Indrajit and the army is almost wiped out but Hanuman is still able to fight
• Ravana and Indrajit try to trick Rama into thinking that Sita was dead but luckily ravana's nice brother tells Rama what is happening 
• Lakshmana kills Indrajit 
• Since the God's want Rama to win from the beginning one of then sends a chariot to help him 
• Rama defeats Ravana
• Sita is going to go through a fire test 
• Rama tells Sita about everything that has happened to him
• The scene when Rama returns before his brother kills himself is called Bharat Milap
• Rama becomes King, 
• Sita is sent to exile again by Rama 
• After Lakshama dies Rama decided to become Vishnu once again ( This part is really confusing to me )

Week 3 Reading Diary: Ramayana Part C

Going into a new week I refreshed on the previous sections because I had gotten the name of Rama's Father mixed up. After reviewing I feel I have a better understand of section A and B and am now ready to continue on with the story. All accounts read from part C have come from

Ramayana Online: Public Domain Edition

• One of my interests for a portfolio or a storybook is animals in Epics and in this story we are introduced to a monkey-God named Sugriva and learn of his brother Vali
• Sugriva needs help from Rama in battling his brother 
• Monkey God Vali has human characteristics such as emotion and also has a wife
• In the battle between the monkey brother the reader gets their first distaste for Rama when he dishonestly kills Vali. It reminds me of gorilla warfare ( no pun intended )
•  After Vali is killed the whole monkey kingdom is in morning even Sugriva, this doesn't make sense to me because Sugriva was the one who wanted Vali to die
• Rama has to sit and wait with his brother ans Sugriva but he is impatient
• After the rainy season ends Rama becomes eager then Sugriva sends 4 armies to find Sita 
• The nice bird tells the army that Sita is at Lanka
• Sampati is Jatayu's brother ( the bird )
• Hanuman is the one to find Sita
• Hunaman is captures in Lanka by Ravana's son Indrajit
• Ravana and Rama are going to war. Ravana's army generals names are Vajradanshtra and Vajrahanu (Vajra-Toothed and Vajra-Jawed)
• Ravana has a younger brother named Vibhishana who is opposed to the war and joins Rama
• I like the picture of Rama and Sugriva below because the monkey God 

Sugriva and Rama

Week 2 Reading Diary Continued: Ramayana

I took a couple days between reading part A and part B so I had to go back and review what was happening in the story before I moved on. I will know for next week that it is easier to just read both sections at the same time. One thing I would change about this story is the format in which it is set up. I do not like having to click between links to find one story. This creates a lot of clutter in my tabs and makes it difficult to find where I am in the story. Another thing that has helped me in reading this is giving the characters nicknames that I can pronounce in my head.

• Rama's brother, Bharata, is loyal to him and he promises to not sit on the thrown but instead save it until Rama got back.
• Bharata is a good brother and good son because he does a proper funeral for his father but still plans to help his brother 
• Bharata cannot convince his brother to come back wth hm so he takes his sandals to represent him which think is kind of strange because how would the people know that they were rama's shoes but I guess they would just know the fact that they are golden
• 
  Bharata, Rama, and the golden sandals.
• 
  
• Rama and Lakshmana fight demons in the forest who have special powers
• Ravanas sister ( Shurpanakha) Falls in love with Rama but rama love sita
• Shurpanakha fights dirty and goes after sita 
• Sita is mesmerized by a golden deer and begs Rama to go get it
• Maricha is evil and can disguise himself and make himself sound like Rama
• Sita is strong in her will against Ravana when she is captured 
• It ends with Rama and his brother still on their voyage to find sita

Public Domain: Ramayana

Week 2 Reading Diary: Ramayana

It took me a few minutes to become comfortable to the way the stories are told. The language is different than most books. The names are also hard for me to read so I find listening to the audio book very helpful and even then it is hard for me to remember the names for later on in the story. This story also reminds me of The Odyssey.

• The city was filled with happy people but Dasharatha, the king, was not happy because he did not have a son
• Wives were embarrassed that they could not make the kind happy 
• The Gods promised not only one but four sons after the offering 
• Ravana is an evil God and the people seek Brahma 
•  support the evil God - rakshasas, Maricha and Subahu,
• Vishvamitra needs Rama (the beautiful son of Dasharatha) to do bad things
• Rama and Lakshmana are the heros of the story 
• Vishvamitra tells Rama a story inside this story

Sita Vanavasa: Sita in exile; Ravi Varma Press.

(L0021787 Credit: Wellcome Library, London)

• Rama is n love with Sita there is a large poem like story about Sita.
• Ramas choice weapon is a giant bow that others cannot even lift
• At the end of this section the king died but before he died he tells a story of hunting. 

Link to Public Domain Edition of the Ramayana