Week 3: Brainstorming Storytelling Styles

I have decided to make my story book all about the god Indra. Through my research I have found that Indra was once the supreme god, but somewhere along the course of history he was almost entirely replaced by gods such as Vishnu and Shiva. I think it would be interesting to make a story explaining Indra's fall into obscurity. I also found that Indra was a very unpredictable god that would indulge in his favorite drink, soma, and would go on a rage or do something do wreak havoc. A completely fabricated tale could be made where Indra becomes intoxicated off of soma and causes a natural disaster or does some other mischievous act that causes him to be disliked by his fellow gods and the humans. The most important story that Indra was a part of was his slaying of the demon Vritra, who caused a drought by hording all of the Earth's water for himself. Indra defeated Vritra with the help of his beloved soma and restored the Earth's waters, thus making him a great hero and savior of the Earth. I will most likely make a story that highlights this battle and Indra's rise to fame. There were not very many references to Indra in the Ramayana, but from what I can tell he plays a pivotal role in the Mahabharata. I already created a story about Hanuman's encounter with Indra titled Indra's Sun that I based off of Hanuman's Leap from Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists by Sister Nivedita (1914) in the PDE Ramayana. I will most likely use this story with a few changes since it was one of the only references in the Ramayana.

Image source: Indra on his elephant Airavata.

Image Source: Wikipedia. Kali with Indra, Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. Walters Art Museum page.

Bibliography:
PDE Ramayana, Various Authors
Hanuman's Leap from Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists by Sister Nivedita (1914)
Mark Cartwright. “Indra,” Ancient History Encyclopedia. Last modified August 08, 2013. http://www.ancient.eu /Indra/.

Possible Styles:

Indra As The Storyteller. I think this style will be interesting because it would give Indra the chance to show that he's not such a bad guy after all. It seems like everyone says he is unpredictable and kind of crazy, but he hasn't gotten the chance to defend himself yet. I could make Indra very narcissistic or I could make him a genuinely nice guy. I like that this style would provide for a completely new way of looking at Indra. 

Therapy Session. This style would sort of go hand in hand with the Indra as the storyteller style. I was thinking that I could use this style for Vishnu or Shiva as the therapist. I could then make Vishnu or Shiva leak the information about Indra's confessions to the public, which would be a reason for Indra falling out of favor in history. 

Characters Grown Old. By using this style I could show what happens to Indra after he is replaced by Vishnu and Shiva. There could be a lot of resentment that Indra holds for Shiva and Vishnu and he could be planning his revenge against them. 

Twist the Ending. I really like making up my own endings to stories. This style would go very well with my writing style because it lets me use a little more creativity. I usually like to make endings that go against what people think would happen. I could use this style as the last story of my storybook and have Indra be killed off, or maybe have Indra kill Vishnu and Shiva but use his godly powers to divide and disguise himself as Vishnu and Shiva. Now that would be interesting!