Indian Epics by Reid

Arjuna and Karna : Arjuna and Karna meet in battle. After all that Karna has done, Arjuna is restringing his bow and Karna is ready to kill him. Arjuna reminds him that it is not allowed in the rules of battle to strike down someone with a disabled weapon. Karna ignores the rules and proceeds to fire more arrows at Arjuna. Badly wounded, Arjuna restrings his bow and Karna's chariot has a wheel sink into the ground. Karna begs that Arjuna wait for him, but Arjuna recounts all the bad and dishonorable deeds done by Karna before ultimately deciding to fire on him while he's stuck. Arjuna's arrows cut of Karna's head and he falls dead on the battlefield. The Raid : Much like before, it was time for the Pandavas to be assaulted in their sleep again. As Ashwatthaman was being blocked entry by none other than Shiva, he left for the night to worship Shiva. He had nothing to sacrifice, so he sacrifices himself into his fire, and Shiva saves him. Shiva says that it is not time

Arjuna and Shiva : Arjuna take s a solo adventure to the Himalayas. After slowly limiting his living supplies over months at the base of the mountain, he was able to sustain himself on only air. Mid-worship, a boar charges him, and as he shoots it with his bow, another arrow comes in at the exact same time. A large huntsman matches his anger as Arjuna claims they should fight for the kill. After loosing all his arrows into the huntsman to no avail, he offers to wrestle instead. A hand felt his heart and he immediately went to worship instead, and his offerings landed on the large huntsman. He quickly realized it was Shiva he had nearly come to blows with, but Shiva was pleased. Arjuna is granted a full set of celestial weapons, but he is not allowed to use them on weak enemies and may only use them when he is out of normal weapons. Riddles : After a long chase pursuing a stag, the Pandava brothers look for water. One by one, they approach a pong and a mysterious voice warns them no t

Many years ago, a little boy named Timmy's family got a big, new house, and with it came a big, new pool! Timmy was of the age of peak curiosity, just old enough to know how things work, but not quite old enough to think into his decisions. Moving into their new home in mid November left Timmy sad that he wouldn't be able to use the pool because his parents said it was far too cold. Timmy had other plans, one winter night, he stealthily made his way outside and began to run the hose to the fountain. Unbeknownst to him, pools can and will overflow without the right controls in place, so in leaving the water running overnight, it spilled out everywhere near the pool and forming an icy sheet by morning. Excited to show his parents that it's never too cold to swim, he quickly ran outside and tried to make it to the pool. In his speed, he didn't see that the water was in fact frozen! Slipping onto his butt, his parents looked on in horror at first, but quickly saw he hadn

Changing my notes for this week, I want to focus on a few stories that stick out to me so I can break them down in my own stories later. Bhima and Hidimba : When the Pandavas escaped, they were forced out into the wilderness. Thankfully, they had grown up living in the wilderness already so they were somewhat prepared. In the forest, they encounter Hidimba, a rakshasa. Perfect for them (not), this was one extra hungry rakshasa, and what do they eat? Humans of course. Much like the rakshasa in the Ramayana, this one fell in love with one of our characters, Bhima. The rakshasas brother got irritated at his denial of his sister and his boasting of power. In the fight, Bhima actually drags him away from his sleeping family so he doesn't wake them up with the screams of battle! The Burning of the Forest : Krishna and Arjuna were having a nice picnic by the forest when a brahmin who turned out to actually be Agni, the god of fire approaches them. He wants to consume the forest in fla

Vyasa, the writer, is also a character! That's interesting. Vyasa originally wrote this to the god Ganesha. Vyasa was able to tell the whole story without stopping, quite a feat. There are many many many characters in this epic. Again, an important character in this story Devavrata is a human, like Rama, but with the power of not one, but eight gods. He is one of eight children, all the others slain, but now he has all the powers. Vyasa's mother takes interest in King Shantanu, the main King we're focusing on so far, Devavrata's father. Devavrata's father vows that he will give the throne to his new sons instead of him if his new girl bears them. He does and Devavrata is now known as Bhishma. Instead of winning women like Rama, Bhishma instead won them in battle after defeating many people by himself with one arrow each. Of the three women he wins, he is only able to marry two, but the third will reincarnate later. She loved another man and was allowed to

Unlike before, this story start off with the birth of the four sons, not before. Even as a baby Rama already has powers There is more exposition on Rama meeting Sita in this version. After love at first sight, it takes him time to actually be able to snap the bow to win Sita's hand in marriage. After a small outrage, Rama is awarded for his success with the bow of Vishnu. Parashurama who awards him is also an avatar of Vishnu. All four of the sons are married with their father there. Same as the other version, Rama is forced into exile after Bharata's mother forces Dasharatha to make him king instead of Rama. Losing Rama was a curse all along, and that helps set Dasharatha's mind at ease in his death. Bharata comes home to a dead father and is angry at his mother, so he tries and fails to get Rama to return. He places Rama's sandals at the throne for him to return to years down the road. Whereas before, the main trio seemed much more mobile, in this versio

Rama and the others can't jump like Hanuman. Rama uses his celestial weapons to threaten the god of the sea. Nala, a divine artisan is called to make a bridge. Ravana fakes Rama's death to Sita, but she learns it was fake. Rama's army is heavily injured, but healed by Garuda. Ravana's brother did not see this coming! Now we meet Kubhakarna, one of my favorite characters. He must be awoken, but for that he needs food. LOTS of food. Rama still killed him. Ravana's son Indrajit is still causing problems with his special weaponry. Hanuman takes LITERALLY THE TOP OF A MOUNTAIN back to the army and is able to heal them with the herbs that grow on it. Now Ravana tries to fool Rama into thinking Sita is dead, but he is told of the rakshasa tricks. He is then informed where Lakshmana will go to battle Indrajit. Lakshmana kills him, but that just makes Ravana angrier. Ravana ALMOST kills Lakshmana, but Hanuman again goes to the mountain and is able to heal Laksh

Most of my stories will be modified version of the stories we've seen in The Ramayana . The stories will be influenced by some articles that talk about portraying Ravana as the hero of the story. Here is one such article . And here is another one . My story ideas are as follows: Rama returns as King after the pardoning of his Exile so that he never crosses paths with Ravana or the other rakshasas. Ravana is able to use previously undiscovered rakshasa magic to defeat Rama. This could make canonical sense as Rama does fear rakshasa magic. Sita, as an avatar of a goddess, falls prey to greed and decides that staying with Ravana, who is immune to even the Gods, will grant her even more power. This eventually leads to both her and Ravana fighting against Rama. In a final twist, Rama, unwilling to spill any blood where not necessary, forms an alliance with Ravana to create the most powerful group in the world. A happy ending for all, but the most unrealistic. The most intere

Here is a link to my Storybook! Here's the picture I'm using for my Storybook Banner!

Rama and Laksmana go in search of Sugriva an exiled monkey-king. They are greeted by Hanuman, who becomes a devoted follower. Because Rama and Sugriva have both been exiled and lost their wives, Sugriva will help. We learn of how Sugriva was exiled and even though Rama was seeking his protection, but Sugriva ends up asking him for help. Tara, wife of Vali (Sugriva's brother) warns him that he should not fight against Rama. Rama has never been beaten (other than losing Sita) to this point. Instead of facing him head on like the rest of his fights that gave others a chance, Rama kills Vali in an ambush. This has caused a lot of discussion around it being a dishonorable fight. This could be a fun story to revisit and turn it into an honorable fight. Sugriva assumes the throne, but it is not without grieving his lost brother. Though he wanted the throne, he understands what he has had Rama do. Sugriva says he will help find Sita, but they must wait. Rama laments about what Si

Here are the articles I found most helpful about providing constructive criticism. How to Give Bad Feedback Without Being a Jerk : This was an easy read that helps you figure out some key pointers in giving better feedback. While there are others that go into more detail, this provides a nice overview of the process. It breaks better criticism down into a few high-level pointers. Explain why you're giving feedback, take yourself off a pedestal, ask if the person wants feedback, and have a transparent dialogue, not a manipulative monologue. By taking these alone into account, you'll already have a better idea of how constructive criticism can be done. From my experience, being able to have a conversation about feedback instead of just having it told to me has helped that criticism really make an impact on me. The Difference Between Praise and Feedback : One common trend I've noticed throughout college when it comes to peer reviews is that sometimes it's hard to find

Ravana appears throughout many stories as I've been researching him. Here are just a few I think could be interesting stories to tell and that others could read to learn more about him. Ravana in the Ramayana : We're all reading the Ramayana, so this is a go-to for anyone who would like to learn about Ravana as a villainous character. His part in this story follows the capture of Rama's wife Sita and his attempts to make her his. Ravana is shown as being incredibly powerful and evil. One way I may take this is a sort of alternate history story where Ravana is the one who wins, and how that would affect the world. Ravana as a Hero : While this article is not exactly a story I could rewrite, it was shared to me by Laura Gibbs and present another view of Ravana in the Ramayana where he is the hero of the story. Aspect of this could be taken into another plot-line with a focus on Ravana and his side of the whole story. This controversial article describes how people in t