Epics of India

This story has been added to my portfolio project. Read the most up to date version here . Josh was walking home from school with his older brother Jacob on a beautiful, breezy spring day. It was one of those perfect days. The sun was shining, the temperature was lovely, and Josh was starting to feel excited for his tenth birthday which, as of today, was exactly one month away. The brothers turned the corner onto Hickory Lane and walked one block. At the intersection of Hickory Lane and 4th Avenue they crossed the street to walk on the north side of the road to 6th Avenue. All the children in their small town walked on the north side and never on the south side of Hickory between 4th and 6th Avenues to avoid The Hickory Lane Terror. Image Source: pxhear On the corner of Hickory and 5th there was an old dilapidated house. The decades old white paint that hadn't already peeled off was gray with age and the windows were so dusty someone on the street could barely tell if an...

Krishna playing his flute Krishna's brother, Balram, wants to get stronger so he can kill the violent and aggressive bull Hastin with only one punch. Hastin is the root of the family tree for all the cows in Vrindavan and therefore all the cows come from him similar to how Krishna is the entire cosmos. Hastin terrorized the village and everyone there was afraid of him. In Epified's " Krishna rides Hastin ," Krishna shows Balram and the other gopis how killing the bull is unnecessary by taming the bull with kindness and generosity. Krishna vows to ride Hastin on the next full moon to demonstrate his success. Krishna implements his plan by visiting Hastin every night. During the visits Krishna plays his flute for the bull and feeds him tasty treats like jaggery , a type of cane sugar. At the beginning of the plan Krishna keeps his distance, but each night as his plan progresses he moves closer and closer to the dangerous bull. At the end of the month, on Purnima...

Statue of Krishna When Krishna was born his father, Vasudeva, found a way to protect Krishna from his Uncle, the king Kamsa, who had killed all of Vasudeva's other children. While the rest of the kingdom slept, Vasudeva took his son to the village of Gokul, a village of gopis, or cowhearders, and switched him with the newborn daughter of a gopi couple named Yasoda and Nanda. Vasudeva then returned to the jail where he and his wife, Devaki, were being held with the newborn gopi girl.  Krishna was raised by Yasoda and Nanda in their village. As he grew up he was loved by the villagers, but he and his friends also played pranks on them constantly. Their favorite prank was to break open the containers of butter and curd that women carried on their heads. This activity earned Krishna the nickname maakhan-chor or the butter thief. One day Krishna's older brother, Balarama, informed Yasoda that Krishna was acting up again by eating mud. When she went outside to find out ...

NOTE: This story has been revised and added to my portfolio, here . Please read the most up-to-date version in my portfolio. Arjuna is troubled. Overcoming obstacles has never been difficult for him; in fact, he's known for being exceptionally talented at slaying any problem with apparent ease. However, a seed of growing unease about the future took root in the pit of his stomach and began to flower. Arjuna's fear of this looming unconquerable challenge never seems to fully leave his subconscious, but he still cannot think of what the challenge might be or what he can do to prepare himself to face it. Arjuna has spent his entire life confident in his abilities, so experiencing any doubt at all that he will inevitably overcome all future obstacles obviously rattles him, and he grows more and more distracted from his day-to-day activities. He also starts to worry every opportunity he encounters could lead to his insurmountable task and avoids them, thinking he can t...

Ekalavya removing his thumb. By Ramnadayandatta Shastri Pandey [Public domain], via  Wikimedia Commons I'm continuing to summarize the characters and their interactions in the Mahabharata because I found it difficult to keep track of them all when reading the other version. Kunti was nice to and engaged the Sage Durvasa who most people were afraid of.  Durvasa gave her a mantra to summon any god Kunti tried it out on the Sun god, Suryadev, and accidentally bore his child She could not keep the child so she sent him down the river in a basket. Pandu along with his wives Madri and Kunti traveled the wilderness for a break accidentally shoots a hermit couple making love and kills them. Before dying the hermit curses Pandu so that the next time he has sex he will die. decides to stay in the forest and take up sannyasa , and Madri and Kunti stay with him died when he forced himself upon Madri who followed him to death. Pandavas - sons of Kunti and variou...

Bhishma taking his vow  This week while watching Mahabharata: Karmic Revolution I decided to take notes on all the characters to help me keep track of who is who going forward. Shantanu - Bhishma's father, great-grandfather of the Pandavas and Kauravas Ganga - Bhishmas's mother and goddess of the Ganges Bhishma - originally Devavrata, was the eighth Vasu cursed to be born a mortal to the goddess Ganga and Shantanu, and the only one not to be immediated drowned and freed from human life by Ganga.  Granted the ability to live as long as he wishes after taking a vow of celibacy so his father could marry Satyavati Satyavati - Daughter of a king and a nymph but adopted and raised by a fisherman.  Married Shantanu when Bhishma made his vow to relinquish his claim to the throne and to be celibate for his entire life.  Mother with Parashara of Vyasa.  Mother with Shantanu of Chitrangada and Vichitravirya.  Great-grandmother of the Pandavas and...

Image: That Sweet Summer Feeling by Rudy van der Veen via skitterphoto.com As far as progress towards my grade I'm a little behind where I'd like to be but not much. I will have to do some extra credit in the next couple weeks and over spring break to get caught up. My routine has been kind of all over the place because of time consuming group projects every week in other classes, but I'm hoping now that I've gotten into a better routine in those classes they won't interfere as much with my other work. I've used the extra credit reading option, but I'm planning to explore other extra credit possibilities in the next couple weeks. I've enjoyed working on my portfolio a lot. It's been nice getting helpful feedback on my writing and working on stories I'm proud of. For the rest of the semester I would really like to get better at doing the reading earlier in the week. Even though I like the readings, I don't read quickly and the reading ...

( cheezburger ) The overall quality of the feedback I've been receiving has been pretty good, but there are a few that are more helpful than others. Those comments are the ones that present a very specific observation. I like having a clear idea of what the commenter thinks can be improved. When I've given feedback I try to give specific suggestions since I've found comments like that the most helpful. Sometimes it is hard to find something really catches my eye like that to comment on and I revert to posting somewhat general comments about their writing.  The blog comments work better than I was expecting based on my experience with other classes discussion boards. I think this process works better because we see more of the work that other students are putting in and read more personal stories instead of very forced interactions about a limited topic. It has been fun to find some students who's blogs I look forward to reading each week. I think it w...

So far I've enjoyed the reading assignments, but I feel like it takes me much longer to finish them than necessary. I don't know why it takes me so much longer than an hour each for the reading assignments, but it makes it more difficult for me to stay on schedule. I've found that for the PDE versions of the epics listening to the audiobook helps me keep moving along while still understanding what I read, but there are still some sections that I need to read/listen to more than once to get what's going on. As for the notes, I've found the most helpful notes have been plot summaries because it gives me something to reference without looking at the source when I start my writing. After a plot summary I have been adding research on interesting cultural aspects from the story that I might want to work into my storytelling. I'm actually very happy with the state of my portfolio right now. I like the two stories included so far and that they are told in different ways...

An updated version of this story has been added to my portfolio project here . Image Source: By E. A. Rodrigues [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons I, Agni the god of fire, spent the past twelve years secluded in the forest fasting and performing the rituals to show my virtue and devotion to the gods. During these twelve years I consumed nothing but the ghee offered to the gods by other devoted followers' yajnas or fire rituals, and I am now very weak from malnourishment. The radiance with which my flames usually shine has dulled and I can barely stand from hunger. I need to eat, but what could be so satisfying as to fulfill the hunger of a twelve year fast? There! Nothing could possibly satisfy this hunger better than the Khandava Forest! This will not be an easy task. This forest is protected by Indra, my twin brother, and he will surely do everything he can to prevent me from consuming it. We are equals in strength and power under normal situations, but in my curr...