Reading Notes: Ramayana Part A

Reading Notes: Ramayana Part A

King Dasharatha
Bibliography: Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie, Link

- Two kingdoms: Koshala and Mithlida
- Capital of Koshala was Ayodhya: It was very prosperous
- King of Koshala was Dasharatha
- Kingdom was great but King was sad because of lack of a son (he had three wives)


Dasharatha's Son

Bibliography: Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie, Link

- Dasharatha decides to preform a horse sacrifice so he could have an heir
- Queens were very excited about this
- Details of horse sacrifice given
- More than just the horse sacrificed (birds, beasts, and reptiles offered too)
- Kaushalya, the chief Queen, gets to make the sacrifice
- The gods promised 4 sons


Rama: Avatar of Vishnu

Bibliography: Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie, Link

- Brahma = creator god
- gods worshipping other gods
- Vishnu offers to divide himself and become the four sons for Dasharatha
- Rama, the son of the chief queen, most beautiful

Vishvamitra
Bibliography: Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists by Sister Nivedita, Link

- Vishvamitra is a seer who has favor with the gods
- He says that Rama is needed to take down Ravana but King doesn't want to let him
- But King Dasharatha keeps his word and lets Rama and his brother Lakshmana go

Thataka
Bibliography: Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie, Link

- Thataka is a misshapen women who ravages the country
- Princes didn't want to kill her because she was a girl, but they cut her arms off
- Rama ends up killing her at Vishwamitra's bidding
- Celestial weapons given to Rama
- They make an offering that Thataka's son tries to defile
- Rama stops him with the new weapons

Bhagiratha and Ganga
Bibliography: The Great Indian Epics by John Campbell Oman, Link

- A story within a story
- An old king and his wives go to the Himalayas to have sons
- Horse sacrificed offered again for fertility.
- One wife had 60,000 sons, the other just had one
- The god, Indra steals the horse from the horse sacrifice
- Sons go looking for it, but go missing. Grandson is sent to find them but they're all dead
- King reigned for 30,000 years
- Ganga allowed them all to go to heaven

Ahalya
Bibliography: Valmiki's Ramayana, translated by Ralph T.H. Griffith, Link

- In versus, so it's a poem
- Couplet is AABBCC
- Man comes by and tells him a story
- About Ahalya who falls in love with Indra in human form
- gods given human emotions like doubt and dread
-

Sita
Bibliography: The Divine Archer by F.J. Gould, Link

- The princes go explore the city
- Sita is the King's daughter
- They fell in love instantly
- Sita prays to Bhavani to marry Rama
- Flowers symbolize the prayer being answered

King Janaka
Bibliography: : Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie, Link

- "Majesty of elephants"
- Princes met the King and they show off their bows
- Whoever can use the bow can marry Sita

Rama Wins Sita
Bibliography: Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie, Link and Ramayana, The Epic of Rama, Prince of India, Link

- Rama able to use bow
- There's a loud crash and everyone worships the princes
- There's two different versions of the story: the poem and the shorter version

Parahsurama
Bibliography: The Divine Archer by F.J. Gould, Link

- A hermit comes angry Rama snapped the bow
- The hermit gets a lot of description to describe what he looks like
- He sees Rama have the bow and he changes his mind

Rama and Sita's Wedding
Bibliography: Ramayana, The Epic of Rama, Prince of India, Link

- it's in poem form
- everything is described as being elegant and beautiful
- they get married and are very happy about it

Rama the Heir Apparent
Bibliography: Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists by Sister Nivedita, Link

- Dasharatha wants his son to take the throne
- Rama is well liked by the kingdom because of his character

Manthara and Kaikeyi
Bibliography: Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie, Link

- Manthara hated Rama (she's the old nurse of Prince Bharata)
- Evil women are constantly called ugly and misshapen
- She gets into a fight with the Queen Kaikeyi
- She successfully convinces her that her son should be King
- Kaikeyi promises two favors by the King

Kaikeyi and Dasharatha
Bibliography: Ramayana, The Epic of Rama, Prince of India, Link and Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie, Link

- two versions of the same story: one poem and one story
- She requests her son be King and Rama gets banished
- Dasharatha so upset he faints
- Dasharatha very upset with her
- To prevent her from killing herself, he agrees to her terms

Rama is Banished
Bibliography: Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie, Link

- The city was decorated for Rama's arrival home
- Dasharatha extremely upset over what he has to do
- Men allowed to have "weak" traits
- Kaikeyi the one who tells Rama he is banned
- Rama is very calm about the situation.
- Rama "unmoved"

Rama Goes into Exile
Bibliography: Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie, Link

- Rama and Sita say their goodbyes
- Rama tells Sita to be obedient and help his mother
- Sita refuses to leave his side and Rama allows her to come
- Rama takes his banishing very well
- Never once says it's unfair
- Sita doesn't want the clothing of bark and she's allowed not to wear it

Crossing the River
Bibliography:  Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists by Sister Nivedita, Link

- Rama, Sita and his brother greeted by King Nishadha
- They dress as hermits
- "Swayed by a women's will" used
- Rama actually upset for once
-Lakshmana tells his brother how loyal he is

Dasharatha's Karma
Bibliography: Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie, Link

- Story starts by saying the Maharajah was doomed.
- When hunting once, the Maharajah killed a hermit instead of an animal.
- He was forgiven but the Maharajah had to tell the hermit's parents he died
- The hermit's father curses Dasharatha

Dasharatha's Death
Bibliography: Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie, Link and Ramayana, The Epic of Rama, Prince of India, Link

- Queen Kaushalya tells the King he broke his promise to her that her son would be his successor
- The King dies of grief

Life in the Forest from Source

Wikipedia Trails: From Indian Epics to Buddhi

Start: Indian epic poetry

I wasn't exactly sure where I wanted to start this week, so I figured just going with the name of the class was a good idea. I went with a search of "Indian Epics" and was taken to the page "Indian epic poetry."

Second article: Kamayani

This article I picked because when scrolling through the previous article it mentioned how this was a "modern Indian epic" so I was curious what the difference was. However, it was written in 1936 so it wasn't as modern as I thought, but I guess very modern in the grand scheme of Indian culture.

Third article: Chinta

The article about Kamayani talked about how it followed the story of a man who was emotionless and slowly started getting emotions. I was curious what was meant by this, so I followed the only emotion on the page that had a link. It also had the word anxiety beside it so I was interested to see Chinta meant meditation.

End: Buddhi

The Chinta page didn't have a ton of links to follow, so I decided to follow this one because it had the world intellect beside it and followed the emotion link from the last few articles. It took me to a page about the world in particular, but I also learned that in Hindu mythology Buddhi is the name of one of Ganesha's wives.

The only image that came up in my search, but it did come up twice

Source

Feedback Thoughts

Article 1: Silence the Critical Voices in Your Head by Sabina Nawaz 

Article 2: Why Rejection Hurts So Much - And What To Do About It by Guy Winch

The first article gave an example of a man named Rajeev who focused on the critical words of a critic and ignored the positive. That's frequently what I end up doing. I wouldn't see the things people said they liked about the things they're looking at for me, I just focus on what they want me to change. The article gave 4 steps of what to do to focus on the positive parts on review. I think if I did that, things would get a lot easier for me and I would be less frustrated after getting feedback. The second article pointed out how the hurt we feel when getting rejected is self-inflicted. What I found most interesting about the article is how in an MRI the same place the brain processes physical pain lights up when we think about rejection. I thought that was fascinating to read and it really made me reconsider how I look at rejection. The article proceeded to talk about stopping self criticism and having more self worth, which I think all people need to work on and also think it could help a lot of people feel better about themselves on a day to day basis.

A Quote on Thoughts from Source

Project Topic Brainstorm

Topic 1: Women of the Epics
Potential Source: Portrayal of Women

The reason I'm interested in studying women of the epics is because it always fascinates me how women are treated in ancient mythologies and ancient stories. I know a lot about Greek and Roman and more Western cultures myths and how women play into a lot of the stories, so I'd be very interested in how that varies or is the same in Indian Epics. I know absolutely nothing on the topic, so I think there's a lot of room for me to learn and find out new information. I'm hoping to find stories of a lot of strong women that I could tell either finding a theme to pull them all together or focusing on just one of them.


Topic 2: Elephants
Potential Source: Asian Elephants in Hinduism

My favorite animal is an elephant, so when I saw that I could potential do a project solely based on elephants in Indian Epics, I was really interested. I don't know much about elephants in cultures, but I'm hoping that there would be enough information for me to pull together a project about it. In western culture, elephants are typically portrayed as wise, big and gentle creatures, so I wonder if they would be true for a culture that is more accustomed to seeing elephants than we are.

Topic 3: Gods/Devas
Potential Source: Hindu Deities

My favorite part of mythology/stories is always the gods within them. Each of them has such a distinct personalities and character and makes each of the stories very unique. I would be very curious to see how the deities in Hindu culture behave and what the personality and mindset is behind each one of them. I would either focus on a common characteristic found among the most important deities in the myths or I would just pick one that fascinated me the most to do the project one.

Topic 4: Avatars of the gods
Potential Source: Dashavatar

The reason I picked this topic was because it's a unique topic to Indian Epics. When I started researching it I found out almost immediately that there's one god, Lord Vishnu, has 10 primary avatars himself. I would be very curious to see if the avatars the gods took ended up having a common thread between them, or if they're more random and just fit the story. I'd also be very curious to see what the avatars of the gods go and do. Most of the "avatars" from Greek myths only cause trouble for the human world and end up being a problem, so I wonder if this would be true for Indian Epics as well.

An Elephant from Flickr Images

Week 2 Story: The Hectic Recess

The Hectic Recess

New Version: https://sites.google.com/view/jess-indian-epics-portfoliolio/home

Billy the second grader was swinging on the playground, daydreaming. While he was day-dreaming, he remembered a conversation he overheard his parents had this morning about how the world was just falling apart. He started to wonder what they meant by that and what that would look like.

At that moment, the fifth graders’ kickball struck the swingset poles. There was a loud crash and the swingset shook. Billy, remembering his parent’s conversation earlier that morning, knew it was the world falling apart. He began to run towards the school for protection.

As Billy started running, he ran straight into Sara, who asked him what was the matter.

“My parents said the world was falling apart and it’s happening right now! I heard it just now!” Billy panted.

Sara joined him in his run. The more kids they passed, the more questions they asked. First the second graders asked what was happening, and once they were told they joined Billy and Sara. Then the third graders, then the fourth graders, and then even the fifth graders joined the mass of children running towards the school. 

Right in front of the school’s entrance was Mrs. Smith, the second grade teacher. When she saw the massive huddle of children running towards her, she whistled so loud it brought all the kids to a halt. 

“What’s wrong?” Mrs. Smith asked the fifth graders.

“The fourth graders said that the world was falling apart,” they declared.

When Mrs. Smith asked the fourth graders, they pointed to the third graders. And when she asked the third graders, they pointed to the second graders. And when she asked the second graders, they pointed to Sara. And when she asked Sara, she pointed to Billy.

Billy, out of breath, explained how he had heard the loud bang and how his parents said the world was falling apart and that was happening right now!

“Our kickball hit your swing set,” One of the fifth graders noted. “Was that the loud bang you heard and the reason the swing set shook?”

“And parents are sometimes dramatic,” Mrs. Smith reminded the children. “They don’t always mean exactly what they say.”

Billy gave this some thought and calmed down. The other kids considered it too, and they too began to calm down.

“Now, everyone go enjoy the end of recess,” Mrs. Smith said. “Before you must return to class.”

All the children ran back to where they were previously playing. Even Billy returned to the swing set to swing and daydream about life. Author's Notes: Whenever I read the story, I just imagined all of the animals running around acting like children, because they acted on so little knowledge and instantly just went a little crazy. So that's why I changed my story for the main character to be a second grader and for it to take place at an elementary school. The story was based on The Foolish, Timid Rabbit. Bibliography: "The Foolish Timid Rabbit" from Jataka Tales by Ellen C. Babbitt. Web Source

Swing Set from Flickr Images

Reading Notes: Week 2 Anthology

The Foolish, Timid Rabbit:
Story Source: Jataka Tales by Ellen C. Babbitt

- the story starts with the rabbits being the only ones worried, then progresses to much larger animals following suit
- all of the animals stop when they hear the lion, the "King of the Jungle"
- the other animals never shamed the rabbit for his mistakes
- the other animals even admitted they were just going based on rumors they heard

Two Turtle Jatakas:
Story Source: Jataka Tales by Ellen C. Babbitt 

- Both stories mixed talking animals and humans, making it seem like the turtle talking is very normal
- The 1st story seems to tell a message about not understanding what something is
- The 1st story makes the princes have emotions and be upset about things without shaming them
- The 1st story portrayed the turtle as extremely smart while the second story made the turtle seem extremely dumb.
- The humans made fun of the turtle flying with the geese simply because they had never seen it before.
- The turtle knew he was gripping to the stick for his life and yet let go.
- The second story did shame the turtle for not being able to keep his mouth shut.

The Cunning Crane and the Crab:
Story Source: The Giant Crab, and Other Tales from Old India by W.H.D. Rouse

- The story upfront says the crane was going to trick the fish
- The fish were actually suspicious
- Story is rather graphic about death of the one eyed fish
- Story deals with hunger clouding judgement
- Crab ends up killing the crane even though the crane does what he wants

The Crocodile and the Monkey's Heart
Story Source: Eastern Stories and Legends by Marie L. Shedlock

- Animals again have human characteristics and are married
- Lots of these stories are about trusting the wrong people and ended up in the wrong situation
- This case both animals get tricked, the crocodile loses the most
- This story included a poem

The Crocodile in the River
Story Source: Vanarinda Jataka, in The Jataka: Volume 1 translated by Robert Chalmers

- This story has the same set up as the previous story
- In this story, the crocodile tries to trick the monkey, gets outwitted and praises him
- There's another poem in the story
- There's a story within this story about The Master

The Monkey Who Gathered Lotuses
Story Source: Tayodhamma Jataka in The Jataka: Volume 1 translated by Robert Chalmers

- Same story of how Brahmadatta became a monkey
- Talks about a mother protecting her son
- Mythical creatures included
- Praises of this monkey for being clever
- Another stanza

Unruly Monks
Story Source: The Jataka: Volume 1 by Robert Chalmers

- Another story within a story
- It's a story about respecting your elders and attending. It doesn't go into deep detail about the unruly behavior though.
- Both stories have stanzas
- Both deals with unruliness and behavior

Goblin City
Story Source: The Giant Crab, and Other Tales from Old India by W.H.D. Rouse

- This one starts out with mythical creatures, which has only been vaguely touched on before now
- Story is the first one that touches on magic
- This story seems to be written differently than the other stories
- Fairies, goblins and flying horses
- Story is a little bit about believing your friends

Flying Horse from Goblin City

Image Credit

Week 2 Reading Overview

I think for the reading of Ramayana I'm going to use the public domain version of the book because I think the way it's pulled together will make it more interesting to read and I also like how I can read it online. I also think it will be interesting to read it in the old language and see the illustrations for it,=. As I was browsing through the comics and the videos these are the ones that caught my eye:

Vaishno Devi: Goddess of the Hills

I chose this comic because of the cover. It's a really powerful and strong looking woman but she's stated as the goddess of the hill, which isn't really something considered powerful in western culture, so I'm curious to read her story.

The Giant and the Dwarf: A Jataka Tale of Wit and Wisdom

I chose this one because there's a lot of stories across mythologies that have the same general principle and idea and moral. The story of the giant and the dwarf is a common theme, I feel like and something that I could probably see similarities to other stories while still enjoying the original story for it's differences.

Rama and Ramayana: Crash Course World Mythology #27

I choose the crash course because they really helped me in high school when learning about world history. It takes the complicated topics and puts it into bit sized pieces and makes them fun to learn about. I always try to watch crash courses on things when I can.

Powerful Women of Hindu Mythology

This video interested me because I always enjoy getting to read about powerful woman and what they've gotten to do in their times. I think figuring out who the powerful women are in this mythology will also help me get more interested in the myths.

Indian Epic from Indian Epics: Images and PDE Epics

I chose this image because I could tell there was a bigger story at play within it and I am very curious as to what the story is.