Epics of India

Image: Kanaka Durga Temple located where Arjuna met Shiva In "Arjuna and Shiva" Arjuna is chosen to live in austerity in the Himalayas until he sees a vision of the Great God and gains the power to defeat any enemy. This practice is a type of penance that involves meditaition or "tapasya." The place Arjuna found to conduct his penance was the Indrakeeladri hill where the Kanaka Durga Temple  is now. The hill is located in Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh about at the midpoint of India's east coast. Arjuna began his penance by not eating anything but fruit and leaves that had already fallen to the ground. Through his meditation and devotion he was able to reduce his consumption steadily until in the fourth month he did not eat anything at all. "He was able to live on air alone." Arjuna also bathed and cleansed himself so frequently that the skin on his head was very dry and covered in lightning bolt shaped cracks. He would also hold his arms ou...

A yajna where ghee can be offered to the fire.  Image by: Srkris at English Wikipedia via Wikimedia Commons In "The Burning of the Forest" the Pandavas were celebrating Krishna's visit with a picnic by the Yamuna a large tributary of the Ganges. Draupadi, the brothers' wife, and Subhadra, Arjuna's wife and Krishna's, sister had become quite drunk, and Krishna and Arjuna told stories about their travels. The festivities are interrupted by a brahmin that looked as if he had been traveling for a long time as his clothes were ripped up and he had the traditional dreadlocks of the holy hermits. The brahmin claimed to be Agni, the fire god, and asked Krishna and Arjuna to burn the forest of Khandava for him to consume. Agni had become weakened by his twelve years of fasting, so each time he had tried to consume the forest in flames, he was not able to stop Indra, its protecting deity, from putting out the fire with a giant rain storm. Krishna and Arjuna ag...

When "Bhima and the Nagas" begins the Pandavas and the Kauravas are living together in the royal palace and share a meal. Duryodhana, the eldest of the Kauravas, is a jealous and petty young man and carries a grudge against the Pandavas because they are better warriors and better liked than him and his brothers. The Pandava that Duryodhana hated more than the others was Bhima because he was the strongest. Duryodhana acted on his hatred at this meal by poisoning Bhima and dumping him bound into the Ganges. While under water Bhima is attacked and bitten by poisonous snakes called nagas. Their poison counters the poison from Duryodhana and he is able to break free from his restraints and fight off the nagas. Bhima ended up in the naga city located in the underworld, and the king of the nagas, Vasuki, wanted to meet the man that fought off so many monsters. Bhima's great-grandfather, Aryaka, was in the underworld and convinced Vasuki to give his great-grandson a g...

By Dalbera (https://www.flickr.com/photos/dalbera/2790476302/) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons After the Nina character receives the email from Dave, her boyfriend, breaking up with her there is an extended musical and dance sequence. There is one main female dancer that uses aspects of classical Indian dance, Bollywood dance, and Western dance. Some elements from classical Indian dance include the hand positions called mudras , and the characteristic body posture called  tribhanga composed by bending of the body into an "S" shape. There is also a segment when the Hindu gods cycle through the video replacing each other showing how they are essentially the same being. Fire is a common theme throughout the sequence as Nina's rage and grief burn after Dave's cruel breakup, and Agni, the fire god, can be seen riding his vahana the ram at various points in the sequence. The fire grows and envelopes more and mor...

"If I go to the grocery store around 11:00 I can take my time and won't have to rush. When I get home I should have some time, but I'll need to start prepping the vegetables around 12:30," I thought as I lay in bed trying to sleep. I've always enjoyed planning out how a meal will go. That way things don't get chaotic or stressful while I'm cooking because what's the point if it isn't any fun. "How should I cut the carrots? Rounds or chunks? I think the chunks will be better. It's going to cook for a while, and he likes carrots. Then it'll be about 1:00 or 1:30 when I'm ready to start searing the meat and sautéing the vegetables." "Do I have enough wine to cook with? I'll have to stop into the liquor store, too. Ok if I stick to this everything should be ready around 7." "Love you babe good night." Mise en Place by David Huang via flickr The next morning I woke up for a lazy Saturday. One of t...

Sita emerging from the test of fire with the protection of Agni and other gods Source: Sita Sings the Blues by Nina Paley via Wikimedia Commons In Nina Paley's  Sita Sings the Blues, after  Sita asks Rama to capture the golden deer for her we see her alone in their hut singing about her love for Rama. This scene focuses on Sita's devotion to Rama which is depicted with the song "What Wouldn't I do for that Man" by Annette Hanshaw. Sita is supposed to be the ideal devoted wife in the Ramayana, and the lyrics in the song are similar to her character in the epic. The song says "love was blind to me, now it's kind to me" just like Sita never loved another man before Rama. Also she says in the song "I'll be so true to him, he'll never doubt me." Sita is always true to Rama and believes that he will trust her even after she has been held captive by Ravana. She then vows in the song to "make his troubles [her] own" li...

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Indrajit attacks Rama and Lakshmana Source: Wikimedia Commons In the episode "Indrajit" Ravana's son enters the battle against Rama and his invading forces, and when the two forces meet the moral difference between Rama's honest warriors and the dishonest rakshasas is highlighted. When the two groups enter the battlefield the monkeys are organized into parties and shouting, "Victory for Rama and for Sugriva!" The rakshasas however suddenly charge out of their castle with raucous trumpeting. When night fell even though the rakshasas are stronger at night, Rama's forces are able to rally through their own will and push them back. Indrajit then reenters the battle after turning himself invisible so that none of his enemies except his uncle Vibhishana can see him or defend from his attacks. Indrajit is willing to use trickery and magic to attack an enemy that can't defend themselves while Rama and his allies fight their enemies head on with t...

Sugriva challenging Vali, via Wikimedia Commons In the episode "Vali's Death" Sugriva and his older brother Vali meet in combat outside Kishkindha. Both bothers are driven by their pride to face each other because they believe the other has greedily stolen their kingdom. In the previous episode "Sugriva and Vali," Vali's wife has begged him to avoid combat and quell his brother's anger by making him a regent and an the heir to Vali's throne, but he is too proud and believes he can successfully banish his younger brother again. On the battlefield it is Sugriva who launches the first attack which unsteadies Vali momentarily, but he recovers. The two brothers then begin their epic clash in earnest coming at each other like two unalterably opposing forces. Eventually, Vali's battle prowess overcomes Sugriva, and the younger brother is no longer able to fight back his brother's attacks. When Sugriva gives Rama a look pleading for him...

In this episode Sita is being kidnapped by Ravana and is desperately trying to find help from the animals in the forest and the forest itself. Since she and Rama are well loved by the forest for being good virtuous people, she seems to have faith they will side with her instead of Ravana. Sita asks Jatayu the great vulture to help her, and in response he tries to dissuade Ravana from taking Sita. Rama and Lakshmana's reputation as valiant and skilled warriors has already spread throughout the forest, and Jatayu tells Ravana that Rama will surely kill him in revenge. Image: Killing of Jatayu By: Balasaheb Pant Pratinidhi, via Wikimedia Commons Ravana does not head the vulture's warning, so Jatayu attempts to save Sita by force. While Jatayu successfully destroys Ravana's flying car and two of his bows and injures the rakshasa, Ravana was able to cut off Jatayu's wings. At this point Sita embraces her dying friend who is "motionless and silent like an ex...

I love exploring new foods and the way food is involved in culture and human interaction, so I've chosen to focus on the topic of food for my storybook. Story Idea 1: This story comes from a Jataka tale about a Brahman who intends to perform a ritual sacrifice of a goat for the "feast of the dead." When the goat is being prepared for slaughter it breaks out is laughter then in tears. When asked why the goat explains he was a Brahman, too, in a past life and as punishment for killing a goat as sacrifice has had to be born as a goat and die as a sacrifice 500 times. As this is his 500th life he is happy to be free of the cycle, but he is sad that the Brahman that will sacrifice him will be doomed to the same punishment. This story extolls the virtues of vegetarianism which is one of many culinary traditions in India that could be the foundations of a story. MATAKA-BHATTA JĀTAKA, On Offering Food to the Dead  from Buddhist birth stories: or, Jataka tales, Volume 1, b...

Image: Feedback by Gerd Altmann at  PublicDomainPictures.net I've always had mixed feelings about receiving praise. Of course it's feels good when someone acknowledges your hard work, but it usually doesn't start a conversation. It has been my experience (which is mostly in face to face discussions) that praise isn't usually followed up with a conversation going into detail about why something or other worked and how it affected the work as a whole. Instead simple praise usually leads to smiles and thanks, but not a lot of useful feedback for the future. Even though I feel this way about receiving praise myself, I still usually do it when asked for feedback by someone else, so I'm going to try to apply some of what I read this week in the future. Image by Tumisu at pixabay In both of the articles I read there was a focus on providing praise based on the process which I think is more constructive because it can be used to inform the process the next time a...

Rama breaking the bow to win Sita as his wife CRAAAACCCKKK! Wow! Is there no feat my good and virtuous brother cannot complete? He not only drew the sacred bow that many noble men have failed to budge but snapped the mighty weapon clean in two. We are both the sons of the great Maharajah Dasharatha, yet the mighty Rama is the only son for whom the poets write verse after verse. When I am gone will I be remembered less than the shadow cast by my beloved brother? Ah who's this entering the hall? A hermit? I guess my dear brother enticed another admirer to join the praise. But wait. This strange man is no admirer! His eyes are full of rage and fixed intently on ... Rama. Why would this man care that Rama broke Shiva's ancient bow, and how could that cause him to stare at Rama with such murderous eyes? I see now; the man has the marks of a worshipper of Shiva. He may worship Shiva but it is still nothing but an old bow. This man is going to try to kill Rama! I may n...