Reading Week 7: Marhabharta Part C

Life in the Forest
Source: Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie

- The princes and Draupadi wander towards the forest
- Yudhishthira is worried about his fate
- Surya gives Yudhishthira food

Krishna's Visit
Source: Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie

- Krishna visits the Pandavas in the forest
- Draupadi complains about how her husbands did nothing
- Yudhishthira tells Draupadi to stop being angry and weeping

Arjuna and Shiva
Source: Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists by Sister Nivedita

- A holy man tells the brothers that Arjuna won't be defeated if he goes to the mountains and obtains the vision of the great god
- He goes to the Himalayas
- Arjuna kills a boar in a strangely quiet forest
- He gets into a fight with a huntsmen, but his body absorbs all the arrows
- The huntsman is the great god and blesses Arjuna

Arjuna and Indra
Source:  Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie

- Arjuna also sees Indra, Varuna, Yama, and Kubera
- Arjuna sees a vision of the celestial Swarga and is trained
- he goes to the city of demons and giants (Huranyapura)  and wrecked the place
- Indra praises him and gives him gifts

The Himalayas
Source:  Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie

- Meanwhile the brothers are still in the forest
- Yudhishthira gets skilled in dice
- They go to Kubera and admire things
- Arjuna rejoins them

Bhima and Hanuman
Source: The Mahabharata, A Summary by John Mandeville Macfie

- Bhima finds a monkey
- He asks the monkey who he is and discovers it's Hanuman and hears about Rama
- He tells him tons of stories
- They embrace before leaving because they're half-brothers

Duryodhana and the Gandharvas
Source: Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie

- Karna sends Duryodhana to spy on the brothers in their exile
- Some of Duryodhana's men fight the brothers and lose
- He's embarrassed by this and decides to end his life
- The gods and goddesses don't want him to die so they care him away
- Karna swears to never eat deer or wash his feet until Arjuna dies
- Spies tell the Pandavas of this

Karna and Indra
Source: Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists by Sister Nivedita

- Indra becomes worried about Arjuna
- Indra asks Karna for his tokens of invincibility
- Karna agrees for the trade of one invincible dart called Vasava

Jayadratha and Draupadi
Source:  Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie

- Jayadratha takes Draupadi away in chariot
- Jayadratha is married to the sister of Duryodhana
- Bhima cutes off Jayadratha's hair except five locks and is declared a slave

Riddles at the Lake
Source:  Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie

- Nakula sent to find water and he does, drinking it without answering the riddle and dies
- Arjuna, Bhima, and Sahadeva also all die
- Yudhishthira answers the riddles
- The riddles were given by Dharma, Yudhishthira's father.
- Yudhishthira has two wishes and he brings his brothesr back and asks they get power to remain unrecognized for a year

The Court of King Virata
Source:  Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie

- The Pandavas go to Virata and find favor in the eyes of the rajah
- They bond with the royals
- Bhima becomes a great wrestler

Bhima and Kichaka
Source: The Indian Heroes by C. A. Kincaid

- Prine Kichaka falls in love with the serving maid Sairandhri
- He tries to love her but she escapes and ends up chasing her
- She goes straight to the King and complains, but the King ignores her pleas
- Bhima promises her he'll slay him
- He tells Draupadi to tell everyone Bhima caught them together and that's why he died

The Cattle Raid
Source: Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie

- Rajah of Trigartis plots to take over the city of Virata
- Duryodhana agrees to help
- They stop Uttara and claim that Arjuna was seen before his banishment ended
- Arjuna blows the war shell he was given
- Arjuna given Uttara as a prize

Preparations for War
Source: Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie

- Everyone is at a wedding
- Krishna praises Yudhishthira
- They all go around arguing about Yudhishthira and his banishment

Krishna and His Army
Source: The Story of the Great War by Annie Besant

- Duryodhana visits Arjuna.
- Arjuna asks for Krishna's army
- Shri Krishna says he won't engage in battle
- Krishna agrees to be his charioteer

Krishna's Mission to the Kauravas
Source: Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie

- Sanjaya sent to the Pandavas and is impressed by their army
- Krishna goes to the Kauravas to try and make peace
- They, instead, want to harm him
- An earthquake shakes the palace

Krishna and Karna
Source: Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie

- Krishna meets with Karna
- Karna talks about how bad this war is going to be
- Vidura asks Kunti for peace
- Kunti refuses
- Kunti tells Karna she's his mother
- Karna agrees he will only attack Arjuna, but either way one will die

The Armies at Kurukshetra
Source: Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie

- The battle begins
- Dhrishtadyumna leads the Pandavas army
- Duryodhana's army is larger
- Yuyutsu joins Yudhishthira

Bhagavad-Gita
Source: The Song Celestial; Or, Bhagavad-Gita by Edwin Arnold

- Arjuna and Krishna prepare for battle

The Battle Begins
Source: Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie

- The war shells and drums start the war
- Kauravas have the first advantage
- Fighting goes on for days
- By day five, the Pandavas are winning
- By day eight, the battle turns towards the Pandavas

Ghatotkacha from Source

Wikipedia Trails: From History of India to Yashodharman

Start: History of India 

Last week, I finished off on History of India because I liked the different places it could take me. I got to read about the general history of India and figure out what periods of history are the greatest and most important to it.


Next: Gupta Empire

I chose the Gupta Empire because many historians refer to it as the "Golden Empire of India". Many cultural developments happened in this period along with science and political developments. It was a cool era to read about, especially since the era was roughly 319 CE to 543 CE.

Next: Huna People

The Gupta Empire died out because of the invasion of the Huna people so I decided to learn more about those people. They were a Mongolian-Tibetan tribe and they were a great mix of people.


Finish: Yashodharman

The last page was the Indian King who allegedly stopped the Huna people. He was part of the Aulikara Dynasty. There are three inscriptions of Yadshodharman found in The Mandsaur

Gupta India 375 CE

Week 6: Story Laboratory

This week for my story laboratory I chose to look at the Writer's Write blog for different ideas of what to do to make writing better.

Here's my notes of what I found:

One of the articles I looked at was the puff or fluff article. The reason I chose it is because sometimes, when writing pieces with a word count, it's easy to try and add fluff into the story to make it longer and meet the goals. However, the article actually didn't say yes cut fluff, it said use it wisely. I liked that it was still an option on the table, you just have to use it when the mood is right.

The next article was about setting the mood for a story, which I think is very important when writing short stories. You don't have a lot of time so you have to try and set the mood quickly but effectively. It included a list of 140 words to describe the mood in fiction. I think that if I pick one of the words before writing a story and then work to set the tone based on that word, I will be able to effectively set the tone for my short stories.

Another article I read and liked was about a plot. In my opinion, you can't have a good story without a good plot. I just don't get hooked and interested without it. So I think it's always a great idea to consider the overall plot of your story. It talked about how characters need to have a worthy story goal and how it's important to know all the parts of your plot (Inciting Incident, Climax, Rising Action, etc.) so I think for future stories I'm going to give that a little more thought.

Writing Meme from Source

Reading Posts: Mahabharata Part B

The House of Fire
Source: The Indian Heroes by C. A. Kincaid

- Prince Vidura guessed Durodhana's plot
- His mother was a slave
- Prince Yudhishthira sees everything is coated in oil and warns his mother and brothers
- The mother and brothers escape and Bhima goes back to get revenge on the man planning to set the house on fire
- The neighboring house caught flame and the mother and 5 sons that the princes had let stay there died
- The people saw the bodies and assumed it was the Pandavas
- King Dhritarashtra and them rejoice

Bhima and Hidimba
Source: Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie

- Bhima carries them all through the forest
- A rakshasa women falls for Bhima
- Bhima defeats his angry brother

Bhima and Hidimbi
Source: Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie

- the Pandavas awake up
- Arjuna offers to help but Bhima turns it down
- The brothers debate killing the rakshasa
- Kunti convinces Bhima to take her as his bride
- the women has a son named Ghatotkacha, who grows fast

Bhima and Baka
Source: The Indian Heroes by C. A. Kincaid

- The group leaves Bhima and goes to Ekachakra
- Family they are staying with arguing over who is going to leave
- Baka is ruining the town
- Bhima comes to help
- Bhima kills Baka

Birth of Draupadi
Source: Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie

- The Pandavas study the Vedas
- The story of Drupada's son being born
- The Queen wasn't ready for the sacrificial rite for children so asked the to stall
- When they couldn't, a son was burst from the flames and was fully clad in armor and then a beautiful daughter
- Draupadi is the daughter, Dhristadyumna is the son
- The Pandavas go to try and win her

Draupadi's Swayamwara
Source: Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie

- Drupada wants Arjuna to be her husband
- he sets up a competition rigged so that Arjuna would win
- Arjuna wins and wins Draupadi

Wife of the Five Pandavas
Source: Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie

- Kunti makes the boys share their winnings, even though it is the girl
- everyone allows her to be shared

The Story of Nalayani
Source: Notes of a Study of the Preliminary Chapters of the Mahabharata by V. Bentatachellum

- Drupada is concerned with his daughter having five husbands

- Vyasa explains that she was made to have five husbands

Indraprastha
Source: Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie

- Duryodhana finds out about alliance with Drupada
- He demands war, the elders demand peace and the elders win
- Dhritarashtra splits kingdom between his sons and nephews
- The princes make a city called Indraprastha

Arjuna and Ulupi
Source: Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie

- Arjuna breaks compact between them to get his weapons to stop a cattle robber
- Because of his he says he needs to be exiled for 12 years, even though Yudhishtra says its okay
- He wanders, finds a wife, and they have a child

Arjuna and the Apsaras
Source: The Indian Heroes by C. A. Kincaid

- A gator bit his leg and he began to drown
- He takes the gator to shore and presses his hands into it's eyes
- It turns out to be a nymph
- She tells the story of her curse and Arjuna and her go and free all of them


Arjuna and Chitra
Source: Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie and Chitra by Rabindranath Tagore

- Arjuna finds another girl, marries her, gives her a son so her father can have an heir and then leaves

Arjuna and Subhadra
Source: Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie

- Subhadra is another girl he marries but abducting her
- This upsets Balarama, her father, because she was going to be given to Duryodhana
- Balarama is calmed and invites them back for a real wedding
- Subhadra and Draupadi make friends

The Burning of the Forest
Source: The Mahabharata, A Summary by John Mandeville Macfie

- The wives get drunk and give things away
- Agni approaches the princes and asks them for the forest
- They agree in exchange for celestial weapons
- There's a big war with Indra, which Indra loses and the forest burns and few animals escape

Maya's Palace
Source: The Mahabharata, A Summary by John Mandeville Macfie and Vyasa's Mahabharata translated by Kisari Mohan Ganguli

- Maya is so thankful to Arjuna for saving his life he builds him a beautiful palace that would make the gods jealous

The Pandavas Victorious
Source:  Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie

- The Pandavas become more powerful and eventually the over taken Yudhishtra
-Kishna kills Sishupala
- they all swear to peace

The Gambling Match
Source:  Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie

-Duryodhana jealous again
- He defeats Yudhishtra in dice
- Draupadi won by Duryodhana in the dice match
- Vidura is extremely upset

Draupadi Lost
Source: Mahabharata, Epic of the Bharatas by Romesh C. Dutt

- Draupadi is upset that she was gambled and refuses to be gambled away
- This upsets him
- Doyradhana scares her

Draupadi in the Assembly Hall
Source:  Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie

- Draupadi begs for protection
- Her husbands get vengeful
- Duhshasana wants to strip her naked in front of everyone
- The brothers all rally together to get their revenge and protect their wife

The Second Match
Source: Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie

- Draupadi's father is angered
- The Kauravas worried the Pandavas will wage war because they are so upset
- Draupadi sent away and swears to not touch her hair until Bhima brings his revenge

Duryodhana in the Palace from Source

Reading Notes: Mahabharta Part A

Vyasa and Ganesha
Source: The Mahabharata, A Summary by John Mandeville Macfie

- Vyasa is the author and arranged the Vedas
- The god Ganesha is the scribe to the book because it contains everything man should know
- Ganesha agrees but his pen isn't allowed to stop
- Vyasa is the composer and a character
- Uparichara is devoted to asceticism to the point the gods fear him
- his semen fell in the river and were swallowed by a fish and two kids were created
- The king takes the son, but leaves the daughter for the fishermen who found him
- Satyavati was the girl and she was beautiful but smelled of fish
- she gets pursued by the rishi to "yield to his embraces" because she'll remain a virgin and she'll no longer smell of fish
- Vyasa was born and he was called Dwaipayana

King Shantanu and Ganga
Source: Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie

- King Shantanu married the goddess Ganga and she was beautiful
- Ganga makes a promise to the rishi's celestial beings but has to swear while she's a human she doesn't get married or have any kids
- Ganga agrees to marry the King, but she'll leave if he's ever mean or stopped her from doing what she wanted
- She gave birth to a son but threw him in the river as promised. The King was horrified but said nothing
- This happens seven more times, but the King stops her the eighth time
- She disappears but comes back to leave the son, Devavrata

King Shantanu and Satyavati
Source:  Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie

- Shantanu wants to marry a young beautiful bride
- He finds Satyavati
- Vyasa grew very quickly and left fast too
- He wants to marry her, but the fisherman refuses to let it happen unless he disinherits his son, Devavrata so he leaves.

Devavrata's Vow
Source:  Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie

- The King tells Devavrata his problem and Devavrata goes to talk to the fishermen
- He promises to never marry or have children and not take the throne
- He was then called Bhishma
- Satyavati has two sons, Chitrangada and Vichitravirya
- the King dies and Bhishma follows his vow
- Chitrangada was King but only for three years because he was killed in battle
- Vichitravirya next King, but since he's too young, Bhishma rules for him

Bhishma at the Swayamvara
Source: Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists by Sister Nivedita

- Bhishma goes to find a wife for his half brother
- King Benares has three daughters and promises them to the bravest night
- Bhishma wins and takes the trees princesses to Satyavati

Amba
Source: Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists by Sister Nivedita

- Amba, the eldest, tells Bhishma she was engaged to another king
- She is taken to the King, who pretends he doesn't know her
- She's mad and returns to the city humiliated
- She goes to an ashram
- She withers away until Shiva asks what she wants. She answers the defeat of Bhishma
- She's told she will slay him
- She goes onto the funeral pyre to end Bhishma

Dhritarashtra and Pandu
Source: Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie

- Vichitravirya dies and Satyavati asks Bhishma to marry his widows
- He says he can't
- Satyavati thinks of Vyasa, who appears
- Ambika closed her eyes and she had a blind son, Dhritarashtra
- Ambalika was pale and her son was Pandu
- Satyavati wants a grandchild without defects
- Ambika sends a handmaiden and she has a son named Vidura
- Vidura was Dharma's human incarnation
- Pandu becomes King

Kunti and Her Son
Source: Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie

- Pandu has two wives, Kunti and Madri
- Kunti is a celestial origin
- She has a son, Karna who is the son of Surya
- She sends the baby away in a river in her shame
- Radha and Adhiratha finds him

Pandu and His Wives
Source: Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie and Mahabharata translated by K.M. Ganguli

- Pandu hunts down two deer and they turn out to be a holy brahmin and his wife
- He cursed Pandu to die in the arms of one of his wives
- Scared, he takes a vow of celibacy and went away to live in a solitary place with his wives

The Sons of Pandu
Source: Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie

- Five princes were born, but all of them had gods for parents, none were actually Pandu's kids
- Pandu dies in Madri's arms
- Madri killed with Pandu after her and Kunti fight about it

Gandhari and Dhritarashtra
Source: Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie and The Five Brothers by Elizabeth Seeger

- Dhritarashtra takes over the throne and marries Gandhari
- She's blindfolded whenever she goes to him
- She has hundreds of sons and the eldest is Duryodhana
- When Duryodhana was born, he upset the animals
- Advisors beg them to kill him
- He is favored instead, so he grew up proud, jealous and evil-minded

Pandavas and Kauravas
Source:  Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie and The Five Brothers by Elizabeth Seeger

- Kunti returned to Hastinapura with the five sons
- Young princes are protected and trained
- Bhima was the most powerful son and Duryodhana is jealous of him

Bhima and the Nagas
Source: Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie

- Duryodhana posions Bhima and he is presumed dead
- Nagas attack him but the posions counteract each other
- Bhima finds himself in the underworld
- He gets returned
- He tells his brothers what happened and they tell him not to tell their cousins

Drona
Source: Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie

- Drona found to train the princes
- Drona has no mother
- He was close friends with Drupada and this turns out to be
- Drona married Kripi and has son Ashwatthaman
- he received heavenly weapons and the ability to use them
- He shares them with his friend
- Drupada upsets Drona

Drona Trains the Prices
Source: Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie

- Bhishma welcomes Drona
- He says he'll train the princes if when they are warriors they help his defeat Drupada
- Ashwattanman trained with the princes
- Drona prefers teaching the Pandavas and gives special treatment to Arjuna and this makes Duryodhana jealous

Ekalavya
Source: Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie

- Ekalavya wants to be trained as an archer but Drona says no
- He gets turned away from Drona but trains on his own, worshipping Drona and is later accepted.
- All other Bhil's trained for archery

The Contest
Source: Mahabharata, Epics of the Bharatas by Romesh C. Dutt

- Bhima and Duryodhan fight
- Arjun battles too
- Arjun wins

The Arrival of Karna
Source: Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie

- Karna arrives, the son of Surya and Kunti
- Arjuna, Kunti's youngest son
- They don't know they're brothers
- Duryodhana likes that Karna is better than Arjuna
- The two are close friends
- Bhima says something that upsets Karna

Drona's Revenge:
Source: Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie

- The princes are now accomplished warriors so they go to attack Drupada
- The Pandavas rush forward to attack
- Drupada turns the tide of the battle
- Drupada is sent to rule somewhere small
- The Pandavas wage war for their king to grow his kingdom

Duryodhana's Jealousy
Source: The Indian Heroes by C. A. Kincaid

- Duryodhana is now angry at life
- He convinces his father to not have the heir he chose be King
- He burns down the palace

Duryodhana from Source

Wikipedia Trails: From Bhakti Movement to The History of India

Start: Bhakti Movement

Picking up where I left off last week with the Bhakti Movement, I was still interested to learn how many communities it impacted. Some cool things I learned while reading about the movement are that it really helped women and "Untouchables" get a path to spiritual salvation. This would've been a huge thing in medieval times.

Next: Untouchability

After reading about the untouchable community in the previous post, I wanted to get some more information about that. It's essentially the idea of ostracizing a group of people. The Wikipedia page even compares it to slavery in the United States, though it is a less violent and harsh idea.

Next: Historical Vedic Religion

The untouchables article said that upper castes in this religion started the touchable caste because they were angry they changed religions to follow the Buddha, so I figured I should learn a little more about it. The religion is said to be an older type of Hinduism and one of the religions that lead to Hinduism,.

Last: History of India

The last place I ended was the History of India. I can't really sum it up in a few sentences but the reason I chose to go here is to learn a little more about the History of India and also because I think it'll be a good starting point for next weeks Wikipedia page because I'll be able to go so many places.

Image from History of India Wikipedia Page

Week 5 Story: A Rash Choice

A Rash Choice:

Hunger was all that I could think of. After days of wandering the forest with very little food, all I wanted was a decent meal and some water to drive way the thirst that consumed my thoughts.

After walking for what felt like miles, I finally stumbled across a women sitting on the verandah of a hut, admiring a ring on her finger. Without another thought or hesitation, I slowly crawled towards her.

"Please, beautiful women, spare me some food and help a starving man out," I said.

The women never batted an eye at me, so I spoke again, fearing the hunger made my voice too quiet to hear.

"Please, kind women, help a hungry man out." This time I was basically next to her as I spoke, but once again she completely ignored me.

Starving and upset, I lost my temper at the women. "How could you be so cruel to ignore someone in need directly in front of you? I hope whoever you're thinking about forgets you ever existed."

The women still didn't hear me, but I felt better after cursing her. I hobbled away only to be immediately stopped by two very distressed girls.

"Please sir," they were begging me. "Please don't curse our friend. She was only thinking of the one she loves who she is separated from."

"She ignored me, a beggar in my time of need, even when I was inches from her face. How could I ever forgive her?"

"We'll help you," the girls offered.

They lead my to their well and gave me water and some bread to eat. I sat beside it and savored every bite of the food. The girls let me sit for a moment before they resumed their begging. The hunger and the thirst gone, I suddenly felt bad for my rash choice. I had been in love once and I remembered how hard it was to be separated from her. However, I couldn't just go back on my curse. I sat for a minute and pondered what I could do.

It struck me like lightning.

"If the man she was thinking of sees a token of their love, he'll remember her."

The girls thanked my profusely and I continued on my walk, feeling better and refreshed.


Bibliography: Nine Ideal Indian Women by Sunity Devee

Author's Note: While reading, the part where Shakuntala gets cursed is what I liked the most so that's the part I focused on for my story. I didn't do too much to change it, just changing around some names really, but I chose to write it from the perspective of the mendicant that curses her to get his thoughts on the story. This story is from a section of Sakuntala from the Ninde Ideal Indian Women by Sunity

The Beggar from Flickr Images