Week 3 Storytelling: Indra's Sun

It was just another day for Indra, as he mounted his great white elephant and headed to the sky with the sun in tote. Indra has carried the sun into the sky each and every day since the creation of the Earth in order to give light to all of the Earth’s creatures. He took great pride in his responsibility and inevitably developed a strong connection with the sun, which he considered to be one of his most prized possessions. He would polish it every night so that it would never lose its radiant glow.

This day, nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary as he meticulously placed his magnificent orb in its proper location except he couldn’t help but feel that he was being watched. After a careful scan of the Earth below, Indra caught the gaze of a spry young monkey.

This young monkey was Hanuman, who would grow into the king of all monkeys, but that was to be many years in the future. Hanuman marveled at the splendor of this massive golden sphere. He looked longingly at the sun, for he had come to the conclusion that this was a gigantic mango. Hanuman’s mouth began to water with anticipation of the sweet juiciness that a mango of this size would provide. Indra realized that the young monkey had been deceived into thinking that his sun was a fruit and laughed at his foolishness for thinking he could ever jump that high.

Just as his hearty laugh was subsiding, Indra’s amusement turned to shock. Hanuman had taken a great leap several thousand leagues into the sky! Indra could not believe the power this young monkey had, but was even more amazed at the audacity of Hanuman’s attempt to steal HIS sun!

Image source: Hanuman trying to steal the sun

The furious god conjured up an ominous cloud formation and let loose a jagged lightning bolt straight at the impious monkey. Hanuman never saw the bolt since his eyes were transfixed on the glowing mango-like globe. With a thunderous crash, Indra sent Hanuman screaming back to Earth.

Dazed by the strike and with singed fur and a broken jaw, Hanuman finally came to his senses. He looked back into the sky to see a seething Indra, ready to send a second bolt if Hanuman made any further attempt at a theft of his precious sun. Hanuman acknowledged his error and begged for forgiveness from the rightfully furious Indra.

Hanuman’s tear filled words were candid and, although known for his temper and rash judgment, Indra went against his normal ways and forgave the young Hanuman. Indra realized that this was just a youthful mistake and believed the lone lightning strike to be a sufficient punishment.

 Hanuman never forgot his encounter with Indra and never dreamed of crossing him again.

 

Authors Note:

I chose this story as an expansion of a brief reference made about how Hanuman was able to jump a great distance and should be the one to make the jump to Lanka in order to gather information. This reference was from Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists by Sister Nivedita (1914) in the PDE Ramayana. I wanted to show why Indra intervened at Hanuman's attempt to take the sun, which he thought was a fruit. In this story Indra believes the sun is his and furious that Hanuman tries to steal it. I also, wanted to paint Indra in a more positive light because I have noticed that most sources say that Indra couldn't control his temper. I made Indra a more rational god that was capable of forgiveness without being forced. 

Bibliography:

Hanuman's Leap from Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists by Sister Nivedita (1914)

PDE Ramayana

Week 3 Reading Diary, continued: PDE Ramayana

From this weeks continuation of the reading of the PDE Ramayana I have to say that I was shocked by what happened.

The whole Ramayana seemed to have been revving up to the final battle between Rama and Ravana in Lanka. There was a great battle and then the gods sided with Rama to help him destroy Ravana. After Rama claimed victory, he was able to take back Sita. This is where I was completely blown away. Rama denies Sita because she had been living in Lanka with Ravana for a long time! He completely rejects her and doesn't listen to her pleas of innocence. This forces Sita to go through drastic measures to prove her innocence (she decides to have a funeral in fire for herself). Sita is unharmed by the flames, thus proving her innocence. It was later said that Rama knew Sita had done nothing wrong while in Lanka, and that the flames would do nothing to her. He only allowed his love to do this because it was the social norm to do this to your wife if she was suspected of being unfaithful. I was on the edge of my seat just wondering what in the hell was happening and why Rama would act this way if he knew Sita was innocent.

Image Source: Sita being protected from the flames.

I was also really intrigued by the giant battle between all the forces of Rama and Ravana. The part with Rama severing all of Ravana's heads, just to have them grow back, seemed like a great story topic. I could just imagine the shock of Rama as he saw his best shots not being able to vanquish his foe. There was also mention of various weapons being used by both Rama and Ravana, but many of them were not specified.

Week 3 Reading Diary: PDE Ramayana

Here is a list of some of my favorite moments from this week's reading of the PDE Ramayana:

I really liked the story where all the monkeys in Sugriva started talking about how far they could jump. Then there was a short background of Hanuman where he once jumped 3,000 leagues when he was a child in order to get to the sun, which he thought was a fruit. Indra (one of my possible storybook topics) was said to have cast Hanuman down and then proceed to through a major fit. Indra is eventually calmed down and gives Hanuman the ability to choose his own death. I would like to expand on why Indra got so angry at Hanuman for trying to steal the sun and what his tantrum caused on the Earth. 

Image source: Hanuman atempting to take the sun 

I also really liked the part where Hanuman goes on a rampage in Lanka. It would have been quite a sight to see a mountain sized monkey with its tail on fire just trampling and burning everything in sight. This reminded me of the cartoon Dragon Ball Z (I was obsessed with this show as a kid) where there is an alien race that would transform into giant apes at the sight of a full moon. I think it would be interesting to tell the story of the giant Hanuman through the eyes of Ravana as he watches his kingdom being burned and trampled to the ground. 

Both of these stories were taken from Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists by Sister Nivedita (1914)

Tech Tip: Weather Widget

Hey everyone, I know it's convenient to always know the weather so I just added a Weather Widget to my blog.

Possible Storybook Topics

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.

 
Vishnu holding the Shudarshan Chakra

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.

Ravana, The Demon King

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.

Indra Riding His White Elephant

Week 2 Storytelling: Murder At The Office

It was late spring at the law firm of Ravana, Jatayu and Rama. These three had been working separately for the past twenty years, but had recently combined their talents into a shared law firm and had built quite the reputation in their competitive city. The firm started out with just Rama and Ravana, with the newest partner being Jatayu. Rama, a very skilled lawyer, is renowned for his likability among juries and has astonishingly never lost a case. Rama’s reputation started to make Ravana, the oldest of the three outstanding lawyers, stew with jealousy. Ravana had graduated Summa Cum Laude from Harvard and built the frame work for what the law firm had now become. Ravana was getting tired of his prospective clients always asking for Rama to represent them and simply ignoring his abilities as a lawyer. Needless to say, Ravana has an unhealthy grudge on Rama. Jatayu is the newest partner to the law firm and is a quiet and deliberate man. He has a hooked nose, almost like a beak, and very dark eyes that make him seem intimidating to some, but he is actually a very kind and thoughtful man. Jatayu and Rama quickly developed a friendship even though they had only briefly known each other.

Late in the day, Ravana came to Jatayu and Rama explaining that he had given his younger sister, Shurpanakha, a job as his secretary and that she should be welcomed with open arms. The two agreed and went on with their days. After many weeks Sharpanakha turned out to be very rude with all of the other employees at the firm, but would magically put on a sweet appearance whenever her brother was around. Many complaints about Sharpanakha were brought up to Ravana, but he always ignored them because he never saw his sister act any way but nice. One day, Rama and Jatayu observed Sharpanakha belittling an intern and decided to intervene. When confronted by the two lawyers, Sharpanakha began to run away, but tripped. As she was falling, the hateful girl knocked over a freshly brewed pot of coffee that spilled onto her head. Sharpanakha screamed in agony as the hot coffee scalded her face. Ravana heard the screams from his sister and rushed from his office to see what was going on. Once on the scene, Sharpanakha told her brother that Rama had pushed her down, causing her to be burned and disfigured by the burning hot coffee. Rama and Jatayu were in disbelief of these wild accusations and quickly tried to disprove these statements by Sharpanakha, but Ravana was unmoved by what Rama and Jatayu, or anyone else in the office for that matter, had to say in retort. He was sure that the disfigurement of his sister happened exactly how she had explained it. Ravana, engulfed by the flames of rage, lunged at Rama to avenge his sister, but Jatayu stepped in and tried to mediate the situation. Ravana’s rage then switched to Jatayu for having the gall to keep him from vengeance. A fight broke out between Ravana and Jatayu with Rama standing by in shock. Ravana grabbed Jatayu’s throat and started landing blow after blow to Jatayu’s body and head. Jatayu fought back with a flurry of fists of his own but was no match for Ravana’s superior size and strength. Eventually Ravana landed a thunderous blow to the temple of Jatayu that caused him to fall into a heap on the ground. Rama rushed to Jatayu’s aid, but as he checked for a pulse, he could not find one. Ravana had killed Jatayu in cold blood right before him. Ravana then quickly raced out of the office, barely escaping the grasp of Rama. Rama could not believe what had just happened, nor could he believe that he Jatayu had defended his honor like he did. Rama, stricken with grief, vowed to track down Ravana to make him pay for his evil deed. He then took off out of the office as quickly as he could in search for the evil that had taken his friends life.

Rama Scolds Sharpanakha 

Image Source

Authors Note:

My story makes use of a collection of stories from three sources from the PDE of the Ramayana that are listed in the Bibliography below.

In the original story, Sharpanakha goes to Ravana after Rama's brother cuts off her nose and ears because she was trying to trick Rama. Ravana then abducts Rama's wife, Sita, but Jatayu, the bird/vulture king, intervenes and a battle ensues. Jatayu is killed in the battle and Rama is in hot pursuit to take back is wife and avenge Jatayu. I kept the names the same and the plot mostly the same as the three sources, but I chose to make the story take place in a more realistic setting (a law firm). My main goal was to make the story as realistic a situation as possible, but that proved to be quite difficult for me with keeping the plot intact. 

Bibliography

1) Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie (1913)

2) The Iliad of the East: The Ramayana, by Frederika Richardson Macdonald (1886)

3) Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists by Sister Nivedita (1914)

Week 2 Reading Diary, continued: PDE Ramayana

As a reminder, I am reading the Public Domain Edition: Ramayana. My favorite moment during this reading was the battle between Ravana, the demon king, and Jatayu, the vulture or bird king from Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists by Sister Nivedita (1914). The description of the battle was very short and I think I could expand it into quite the epic scene. I really like that Jatayu comes to defend the honor of Sita, and swears to protect her for Rama, even at the cost of his own life. Jatayu is a very interesting character to me for the simple fact that he really had no cause to be involved in the abduction of Sita. The bird king nonetheless vows to help Sita because he believes in Rama's virtue and wants to help. I also really like the character of Ravana. When I was younger I liked a cartoon called Samuri Jack, and the main antagonist was a character by the name of Aku. Like Ravana, Aku is a demon king that is bent on destroying a virtuous being. Aku, has his origins partly tied to the Hindu god Vishnu, along with various other gods from different cultures, so there is a strong tie between him and Ravana from the Ramayana. I believe I could expand on this character and maybe intertwine the tales of Aku and Ravana to make them a completely new character. I was even thinking of making my storybook from the point of view of Ravana. This strategy would be a complete role reversal, making Ravana the hero and Rama the villain. Overall, I've come to realize through reading these stories that I am particularly interested in the battle scenes and I will most likely have my storybook's main focus be centered around the various battles in the Ramayana.  

Image Source: Ravana abducts Sita and a

battle with the bird king, Jatayu, ensues.