1. Possible Topic: Weapons. I have always had an interest in historical battles and weapons and my time in the military has only strengthened that interest. I love that there are so many weapons that have fantastic powers and how the various gods gifted them to worthy individuals. I remember the story where Rama broke Shiva's bow and I could see a possible story where Shiva seeks revenge for Rama breaking his favorite weapon. As for the battles, I was particularly interested in the battle between Ravana and Jatayu (I already wrote a story about this titled Murder at the Office, but I think I can expand it into something even better).
Research so far: I found that there are a great number of weapons that are used through out the epics. Many of these weapons are bows, but there are some interesting ones like the Sudarshan Chakra. This weapon is a disk with serrated teeth that is used by Vishnu.
2. Possible Topic: Ravana and other Rakshasas. I noticed there were many stories about Ravana in the epics along with other Rakshasas. I thought it would be interesting if I could make a story with the Ravana as the main character, making him being the protagonist and have him and the other Rakshasas being terrorized by Rama. I feel this would be an interesting twist and a little bit of a challenge to try and promote sympathy for such a hated character.
Research so far: Ravana seems to be the equivalent of the devil or satan in the Christian faith. He has ten heads and twenty arms, which I thought was terrifying to think of. By looking at the demons topic page and Wikipedia site about rakshasas, I found that there are tons of characters to choose from, but Ravana still seems to be the most interesting just because of his central role to the epics.
3. Possible Topic: Karma. I think most of us are familiar with the word, but I did not know exactly what it meant, so I needed some research to get a better grasp on the concept. I did know that karma was loosely a principle of “what comes around goes around” so I thought this topic could be a fun way to show how an action could cause unwanted repercussions.
Research so far: From the Wikipedia site on Karma, I saw that it is a principle of cause and effect. The most striking thing that I found was karma’s role in rebirth. There has been an underlying theme so far in the epics of living a virtuous life and this could be because the mortals would not only like to ascend to heaven, but to be reborn into a better situation. Referring back to how I wanted to make Ravana the hero in one of my stories, I think I could have him redeeming his evil ways by performing a heroic act and being reborn as a virtuous god with even more fantastic powers.
4. Possible Topic: The god Indra. Not much has been covered in my readings so far of the Ramayana about Indra, but I do remember that he was a god of rain and thunderstorms. In the story about Rama breaking Shiva’s bow there was a reference to the sound that the breaking bow made sounding like Indra’s thunderbolt. I would like to explore more about
Research so far: I found from the Wikipedia article that Indra is like the Norse god Thor. He was said to be the one that holds up the sky and he released the waters of the world from the grip of the serpent Vrtra. Also, he was prone to commit acts of mischief that he would be punished for. I think a good story could come from Indra planning on doing something mischievous and being found out by one of the other gods or even Rama.
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