Reading Diary B:Public Domain Mahabharata

It would be a special feeling to read a mighty hero fails in a war.

I read Bhishma's failure in sorrow because I did not expect to see Bhishma died in battleground. And the reason he failed is his enemies knew Bhishma’s vow and they took advantage of it. In my opinion, this is a brazen tactic. However I read about Bhishma have the fate to die on that day. It might be normal in the setting of the story, but I dislike it. I think Bhishma is the hero who can control his fate, fight against his fate, and twist his fate.

I would write my storytelling beginning with Bhishma found he broke his oath. I would say Bhishma was unwilling to stop attacking, but he finally accepted his fate. Bhishma let himself killed to fulfill his vow, and his soul return to heaven.

Image source: Bhishma Falls

Reading Diary A:Public Domain Mahabharata

Draupadi and the Pandavas, her husband, in the forest.

(image source)

In today’s reading, two stories interested me. One is the Lifein the Forest, and the other one is The Battle Begins.

Firstly the battle is epic. Bhishma is like a sharp spear in the war. Moreover, he gains power from his continuous victories; wherever Bhishma goes, he wins there. Bhishma is unstoppable. I may extend the fights with other heroes. However I noticed the part B of this week’s reading has a topic of Bhishma Falls. I cannot wait to read it, but I do not think I will write the battle ends with failure.

Although I am a fun of wars and fights, I love the forest life more. It gives me a brand new way to understand how to live in a forest. The ways they got food, drink, and living space are amazing. I want to write details of how they get those resources. I think they need to pray prior to take those resources.

I will finalized my idea about storytelling after reading part B.

Thoughts about Comment

Comments on my stories are the most helpful because people are very friendly in my introduction page.

I honestly like to read those criticize comments in my story posts because they helped me to grow. I know my story is somewhat boring; but when I know how native speakers feel, I have the power to write better stories. Those comments did give me a lot of good ideas about story structure and some other useful skills.

Some of the comments I left to others are criticize comments. I gave them some idea about wording and paragraphing. The rest of my comments focused on praise because most people write better stories than I do; when I left comments, I would remind myself to learn from some writing skills such as direct dialogues and using fancy vocabulary.

I may not have big improvement on commenting since my writing skills limited my ability. I actually want to say a lot, but I cannot because I do not know how to express my emotions. Things will be better if I practice a lot!

Storytelling of Week5: Bhima Fighted Demon

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Bhima and his relatives escaped from the burning palace to a dangerous jungle. When they stepped in to the jungle, a man-eating demon sensed them and decided to eat them all. The demon traced their footprints and finally caught them at a night.

“So long have I waited! I almost forgot the taste of human flesh. You all will be my dinner today!”, the demon said.

“Brothers and sisters, protect you from sneak attacks. I can deal with it alone!”

Bhima has very skillful fight strategies and he has an amazing agility that allows him to dodge almost every strike from the demon. Moreover, Bhima can use his rapid fist to pierce the demon’s hard skin. However Bhima is not toughness in fight; if he is hit heavily, he probably dies for that.

In the other side, the demon has a very strong body, so every strike is deadly. Demon’s body is armored very well. The armor is almost unbeatable, but it does not cover every corner of the demon body; there are still some places are not protected. The demon nevertheless knows any fighting skills; incredible strength and toughness are demon’s weapons.

Demon laughed, “How dare you show your face here, weak human? Look at your flesh. I can barely kill you with one finger!”

“Then try it! I will let you bleed to death!” Bhima yelled confidently.

So the battle began. The demon became very wild in the fight; trees and stones were flying to everywhere. Bhima did not try to fight the demon with frontal assaults; instead, Bhima seized the gaps between the demon’s attacks, and he used his fist to hurt the demon’s unarmored skin. This made the demon to bleed all the time.

The demon suddenly realized Bhima’s plan, so it decided to roll the dice to twist the bad situation.

“You are a formidable, so you are very lucky to see my true power!” the demon yelled.

Then the demon stopped attacking and grew much larger. The armor was gone because the demon was now nearly invincible. Bhima tried few times and he found he could not hurt the demon any more. To protect his relatives, Bhima pretend to be in retreat and he ran into the jungle. The demon was very angry, so it ignored Bhima’s relatives and chased Bhima into the jungle.

Bhima thought that the demon’s transformation cannot last very long and it must have some side effects for such great power gained. Thus, Bhima was trying to buy time and wait for the demon’s exhaust.

The demon unexpectedly felt that power were vanishing from it body; that was a signal that the transformation’s side effect was coming. Therefore, the demon stopped attacking and tried to find an escape way. Bhima was waiting for that moment, so he grasped the valuable time and gave the demon a fatal wound to end its life.

Author's Note:

The story is expanded from the fight between Bhima and demon. I added a lot of setting and details into the fight scenes.

Bibliography:

PDE Mahabharata

Reading Diary B:Public Domain Mahabharata

Today's reading assignment started with a plot that enemies want to burn Bhima and his relatives. After escaping through the underground passage, they are in a dangerous jungle; the jungle is full of wild beasts and man-eater races.

I really enjoy reading the fight between Bhima and demon, but the story did not tell me too much about the details about the fight. I will add more fight scenes in my storytelling if I choose this one as my storytelling this week. Topic from yesterday is also very interesting, and I am not able to combine two stories because they are too diversified. 

I will focus on fighting for today's story and deceptive conversations for yesterday's topic.

Bhima fights with Hidimba

Reading Diary A:Public Domain Mahabharata

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Mahabharata is a completely new story to me; I have never heard about it until I enrolled in this course.

After reading several short stories; I found the Bhishma is a very interesting person. He did not do things following some guidelines; he broke rules to succeed. Bhishma is smart, or cunning in some others’ viewpoints.

For today’s reading, I personally like him especially the Bhishmaat the Swayamvara story. I probably do my storytelling based on this story. I will focus on how Bhishma abducted the three princesses in my storytelling; moreover I may expand the story by adding some more tricks that Bhishma used during his action.

Tech Tip Website: Project Style Done

My choice is the Storybook. My storybook web page is created.

Storytelling of Week 4: Sita's Return to the Earth Mother

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Sita is very happy since she just knows she is pregnant; having children with her beloved Rama is always her wish after getting married with Rama.

However, rumor was around. When Sita was out of the Palace and walking around, she was accused by a laundry man for questioning her loyalty to the King Rama. Sita was in grievance because she was already passed the fire trial and she knew she truly loved Rama. She explained that to the man, but the man was still criticizing her and yelling his thoughts to passing-by people. As a result, the rumor spread very fast and Rama heard about it finally. Rama found Sita and said to her.

"My Sita, I heard about some rumors recently. Most of them are about your purity. Although you are the Queen, I need an explanation."

"Both of us know those are just rumors, and you know my love is only belonging to you."

"I trust you, Sita. However my citizens do not trust you. I cannot just kill them to stop the rumor, or I would become a tyrant. Will you want me to become a tyrant, Sita? Would you prove your purity not for me but for everyone this time? "

“It is as you wish, my dear Rama. Send me to jungle and I will do the trial. Maybe it will be the last one." Sita spoke to Rama with hidden sorrow, and Rama did not feel it.

The fire trial could not be used again because Sita has passed it. The only option for her would be the trial of Earth Mother. Sita knew she was in purity, so the Earth Mother will take her back for sure. She knew she could not meet his husband and children anymore after the trial. However, for her and her husband's reputations, she decided to do that after giving birth.

Sita told her two children their father’s epic stories. Someday, Sita felt that her time had come because Rama was nearby. When she sensed that Rama was approaching her, she hugged her sons and said:

“Farewell, my dear sons. It is me who make this decision. Do not blame your father. He is a great man. We will meet again someday, but that day is not today. Take care!”

Then, Sita began to channel the spell of the trial. “The great Earth Mother, if I am truly pure, please takes me back to your womb!”

Suddenly, the ground where Sita stood opened and the avatar of the Earth Mother appeared. A light come out and Sita was shrouded by the warm light. Rama was running as fast as he could, but he was not able to touch Sita anymore, nor could he speak the last word to Sita.

Author's Note: 
I stayed very close to the original storyline from the film. The story in the film is slightly different from the Ramayana I read. The change I made is re-telling the old story in Sita’s view. I made the change because the original story has little description of Sita’s thought. After Rama questions her purity and loyalty again, what would Sita think about it? I thought Sita would be sad but her love of Rama will make her to prove her purity, even though the price is very high.

In the original story, there were rumors about Sita’s pregnancy; some people thought Sita was not loyal to their King Rama, so they gave a very big pressure on Rama and Sita. As a king now, Rama also requested his wife to prove her purity one more time. Sita agreed and went into a jungle; she was give birth to her children by herself and teaching children about Rama’s story. When the time came, Sita called the Earth Mother and she was taken back because she was truly loyal to Rama.

The image I selected is the scene of Sita’s return to the earth mother. I chose it because the very moment is significant for the story; and Rama was regretting what he had done to Sita.

I did the storytelling since I wanted my readers to know that Sita is a great woman and her love to Rama is unbreakable. It has some relation with my project because I will emphasize Sita’s love in my storybook.

Bibliography:Sita Sings the Blues

Reading Diary B: Sita Sings the Blues

After being rejected by her husband Rama for a second time, 

Sita is taken into the earth by her mother, the goddess Bhumi. 

Rama, his brother Lakshmana, his two sons, and two sages look on in shock.

Source

After watching the rest of the film, I learnt more about the story of Rama and Sita after Rama’s exile ends.

After the exile, Rama came back and become the king; Sita became his Queen. However Rama is not actually the perfect husband. He still questioned Sita’s loyalty after knowing Sita was in pregnancy. Rama wanted Sita to do the second trial to prove Sita’s purity. I personally think this is ridiculous because Sita had passed the fire trial and it should be convinced enough. I guess Rama might have changed after he became the king. Moreover, one thing I do not understand is how a laundry man can question the Queen Sita’s loyalty. I thought there should be some classes during that time’s India in the book; I thought a laundry man should had respect to the Queen.

I wish to read more about Rama’s two sons in the future. For this week, I may do the storytelling based on Sita’s thoughts when she heard Rama still did not trust her. Sita’s inner struggles will be very complicated. Sita truly loved Rama, but this was the last way, the only way that she could use to prove her purity. 

Reading Diary A: Sita Sings the Blues

I did get a better understanding after I watched the film Sita Sings the Blues. Honestly, I skipped some poetry part of the Ramayana reading and only focused on the stories I was interested in. As a result, I must have missed some characters’ backgrounds and some other side plots that are important for the main story. I will write down some missing information I found today.

I only knew Ravana is an evil king, but I never know his evil conducts. From the film I know kidnapping Sita might be the only evil thing Ravana did. And his kingdom is running very well under his rule; people are rich and economy is good. I think his reputation was brought down after he was defeated; history is written by the victors.

Another story I did not learn from the reading is Sita was dropping her jewelry when she was kidnapped and sent to the Lanka City. I did not read about Sita a lot, so now I know Sita is a very smart woman. The rest story is the same as in my mind.
To sum up, I did not get too much new information for my project, but I think I can write a new story from Ravana’s view; a brilliant tyrant’s thought would be very interesting.

Sita in Jungle

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Indian Epics Styles Brainstorming

Topic. My Storybook will be based on Rama’s life. I will talk about Rama’s epic life with four different kind of views. Those views will be from Rama, Lakshmana, animal gods, and other four gods. Only one view will be chosen as the final style. The stories I will use as references would be all the Rama’s stories from the Public Domain Ramayana. Moreover, I will use some gods’ stories to introduce those gods.

Bibliography: Ramayana Online: Public Domain Edition

Possible Styles:

Rama’s own view. This is the very common way to tell a main character’s story from his view. I will write Rama’s birth, exile, fights, death. I am most likely not using this style since this common style may not be interest for readers. I however save it as a backup style in case of the failures of the rest three styles.

Lakshmana’s view. This is the alternative way to tell Rama’s story. I will use Lakshmana’s view to tell the entire storyline. I will write Rama’s birth, exile, fights, death I will write Rama’s birth, exile, fights, and death again, but this time it will be from Lakshmana’s view. It will be very interesting to do this because I will think like Lakshmana think; I will be Rama’s brother fighting on his side. The room that I could imagine is very big. It will take longer time than Rama’s view, but it definitely worthy to do since this style will be new for readers.

Animal God’s views. To make the siege to the Lanka City, Rama decided to find four animals gods as his comrade-in-arms. However, those gods are hard to find. Furthermore, they are not that easy to convince. If I will use this style, I will write a lot of the animal gods’ thoughts in their minds. Maybe the Monkey King was looking forward to helping Rama, but the Snake King was not willing to help Rama at all. During the convincing, the Animal God’s psychological changes will be very important.

Four Gods’ views. This is currently my most likely style. To save his wife, Rama had to visit few gods to get their blessing for saving his wife. After the successful siege of the Lanka City, Sita was saved but she was in deep sleep that Rama could not wake her up. The reason would be cursed left by the evil Indrajit; the curse took away part of Sita’s soul, so Sita was in dead sleep. To make Sita awake, Rama must travel around the world to find lost Gods that could find Sita’s lost soul. Rama will visit four gods, but first three could not help him; they would give Rama the information of next god. Eventually, the Death God Yama, the fourth god Rama visited, helped Rama find Sita’s soul, but he warned Sita could only be saved by him this time since Yama had already broken the rule of death. The last god has been decided, which is the Death God Yama; however, it is hard to decide the first three gods Rama visited. I will keep on making the sequence of the first three gods; they must have some connections or I will make them connected. Those gods’ thoughts in their minds and talks with Rama would be the main part in this style.

Rama and Lakshmana builds a bridge

with the help of the monkeys;

they are writing Rama's name on the stones

so that the stones will stick together

Oleograph by Raja Ravi Varma.

Storytelling of Week 3: Siege to the Lanka City

Indrajit in Battle

(British Library: Mewar Ramayana)

Rama cannot assault a city just by him and his brother. He needs an army, so he went to the monkey king for help.

When Rama entered the monkey kingdom, Sugriva could sense Rama and Lakshnama come into his territory. However he did not know why they come here. Hanuman was sent by him to see if Rama is hostile to them.

Hanuman was trying to watch Rama at a closer distance, but Rama has a really sensitive sense of nearby environment. Though Rama did not feel hostility, he shot Hanuman eight arrows without shape heads.

“Ouch!” Hanuman said in pain. “What are you doing?”

When Hanuman noticed the arrow, he realized that Rama is not an enemy. And Hanuman asked. “You are not my enemy. Why are you here? What are you looking for?”

“I am the Price Rama. I am here because I need your help to save my wife.” Rama said.

Hanuman sent them to meet Sugriva. Sugriva decided to help Rama but he told Rama that Indrajit is not easy to be defeated because of Indrajit’s ability. If Rama wanted to win the war, he has to get help from the Bird King Garuda since Garuda is the very natural enemy of the Naga race.

Thus, Rama started going to the lair of Garuda. Few days after, he eventually found Garuda. However, he was worried about if Garuda was willing to help him.

“Enemy’s enemy is my friend. I will help you but only in my way” Garuda said immediately after Rama told him the reason, “Nagas are very tricky; I do not want to let Indrajit has a chance to escape, so I will try to trap him.”

And Garuda continued, “I will stealth beside the battlefield and wait for Indrajit come out. When you know Indrajit is attacking you, take defenses only until my spell is done. Remember, help me to capture Indrajit alive; I want to enjoy his flesh.”

Several days later, the war began. The monkey army was very brave though the deaths were around them; they all fight to the end. The situation of the war looked very good for Rama

When Rama brothers did not know what to do, the Garuda flied into the battlefield.

 “I am waiting for this moment so long! As promised, I will slay this dirty creature.” Garuda yelled.

“Our reinforcement has arrived! Fight back!” Lakshnama shouted.

Indrajit was very shocked to see Garuda because only the strongest one in his race can fight with Garuda. At that moment Indrajit was thinking about how to escape. However, Garuda will not let his easy picking to escape; he unleashed a powerful wave of light to heal the monkey army and Rama brothers. Moreover, the spell hurt enemies and make Indrajit become no longer invisible. As a result, Rama and Lakshmana used their exquisite precision of archery skills to capture Indrajit for Garuda.

Garuda was very happy; he ate Indrajit alive. And the army’s morale was sky high; soon, the siege to the Lanka City succeeded and Rama saved his wife Sita.

Author's Note:

At the very first, I thought I would write a lot about the Monkey King Hanuman. However I changed my mind after I finished the reading assignment part 2. The siege to the Lanka City is very epic and I want to write some about Garuda's performance during the war. Garuda will turn the tides of the war and helps Rama to win the war.


Bibliography:

Ramayana Online: Public Domain Edition

Source

Reading Diary B： Week 3

In today’ reading, Rama and his followers overcome a lot of difficulties to reach the Lanka City. They will take siege to the Lanka City and save Sita. The Monkey King Hanuman did have a lot much scenes. However, another animal god that I want to write in my project comes out. The mighty Garuda!

The siege is very tragic, countless monkey soldiers died during the day. The war looks good for Rama until night comes,  Indrajit, a Naga race guy, uses his ability to sneak attack Rama and Lakshmana. The condition of the war become worse and worse; Rama and his brother cannot see Indrajit because of Indrajit’s in visible ability. When they are going to lose hope, the Garuda comes and brings healing to Rama’s army. With the aid of the Garuda, the monkey army continues the siege to the Lanka City.

In my storytelling, I would change the setting. Rama will go to the Garuda and ask for help. Garuda says he will stealth beside the battle field because he want to assassinate Indrajit. Indrajit is a Naga race, which is Garuda’s enemy and food resource. Garuda will unleash a power wave of light right after Indrajit uses his invisible ability. The light will heal the monkey army and hurt enemies. Moreover, the light will make Indrajit visible to Rama and Lakshmana, so they could use their archery skill to hurt Indrajit. Finally, the Garuda will eat Indrajit as whole as his meal.

Garuda

(by Nanda Lal Bose, from Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists, 1914)

Public Domain Ramayana

Reading Diary A： Week 3

I like the reading assignment today because I could read about the very character I want to know about, the Monkey King Hanuman. I am very excited to read the story of Hanuman.

Their first meet is not very easy; Sugriva does not know if they are enemies, so he lets Hanuman to change into a human form and find out Rama’s purpose. Rama tells the disguised Hanuman their purpose. Hanuman passed some trials to gain more abilities, so he could assist Rama to find his wife. When Hanuman tries to find Sita, he however does not find her, so he thought Sita must have been killed or eaten. Hanuman eventually found Sita and he cannot wait to save her, therefore Hanuman went into the city and killing enemies. Nevertheless, Hanuman was captured by a Brahma scroll and his tail was burnt as punishment.

In my storytelling, I think I will make their first meet from a fight because of misunderstanding. Sugriva thought Rama and Lakshmana were enemies. Then they would yell to each other to know that they are actually not hostile. I will not change the trails part because the original story is good; I may change the ability Hanuman gains during the trials, such as stealth. In the following story, I will not let Hanuman become that impulsive. I will make him like a skillful spy who sneaked into the city, assassinated enemies, and rescued Sita successfully.

Ravana and Hanuman

Public Domain Ramayana

Week 2 Review

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I still upload the backup file to my Dropbox.

I decide not to do the extra credit for the Famous Last Words because I do not think 2 points is worthy to spend 300 words on it. And I think I will not do it in the future if the bonus points do not change. The rest of the assignments are all finished, but the Declaration for the reading feedback extra credit is troubled. I think it will be solved very soon.

Week 2 Tech Tip

This week I read the Blogger Design Templates post. I think it is good for someone who likes a wonderful look of their blog. However, I personally like the default template better because I like a neat blog. This is convenient for me and for other visitors.

Week 2 Curation: India Epics

It is hard to pick just three because I got a lot favorite things online.

The first one is a video named Dumb Ways to Die. I found it on the Youtube and bookmarked it. This is a really interesting video that reminds people to pay attention on their personal safety. And it really helps to reduce the death rate in the metro system of New York.

The next one is a landscape shoot I found on the 500px. I go to that site very frequently and I saw a lot of breathtaking shoots over there. I bookmarked it but I cannot save the picture due to copyright.

The last one I picked is a cosplay from the Twitter. This is a very nice one, so I want to share it. I liked it on Twitter.

Growth Mindset of Week 2:READING CHALLENGE

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For this week, I tried to read other students' posts in two ways. One way is just the holistic reading, which is the default way that everybody reads. The other way is the analytical way. It was very hard to read a story like that because I always be attracted by the story itself. To solve this, I read the story from the end back to the beginning. This way did help me to focus on the elements that I need to analyze.
To sum up, I learnt a new way to read a story through a challenge.

Reading Feedback: Week 2

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The most useful thing I found is the Reading Guide at the very beginning of the webpage.

I choose my reading in the following way. Firstly, I open all the reading stories. Then I will look at the format. If it is a poem style, I close the page instantly because I am not able to read the old language poem; misunderstanding can result in big mistake, so I avoid them. After that, I read all the Reading Guide and mark the stories I like. This is how I choose my reading.

I am happy with the choice since the strategy is designed by me, so it works perfectly for me.

Indian Epics Topics Brainstorming

1. Possible Topic: The prince Rama

The India epic I read is the Ramayana, so Rama must be the very important character in the epic. I think I am going to rearrange the whole storyline of Rama. During his 14 years’ exile, Rama, Sita, and Lakshmana overcame many difficulties together.

Research so far:

Rama is the main character of the Ramayana, so it is so easy to find a lot of information about him. All my work will be refine that information and use some of them to create my own storytelling. I think I will be focusing on fights scenes since I like those kind of stories.

2.    Possible Topic: Lakshmana, brother of Rama

Based on the stories I read so far, Lakshmana has a very close relationship with Rama. When he heard about his brother Rama is about to be exiled for fourteen years, he chose to be accompany with Rama during Rama’s exile time. They fight together and get hurt together. Those two brothers always help each other.

Research so far:

It is weird that I could not find much detailed information about the Lakshmana. I personally like this character very much because of his sacrifice to his older brother Rama. What I found is Lakshmana’s birth; he was born to the King Dasharasha and Sumitra, who is the third wife of the King Dasharasha. Lakshmana has a twin brother named Shatrughna, however, Lakshmana has a closer relationship with Rama. He left his wife during the exile of Rama, and he refused to become a crowed prince after Rama’s exile ended. In the following years, Lakshmana decided to spend his rest of his life on penance because he saved all of the Ayodhya from a curse.

3.    Possible Topic: The animal gods

Actually, there are few animal gods in the Ramayana. Bird, monkey, elephant, and some animals else I do not know yet. Those stories can be very attractive because an animal god will have its specific talent. During the exile of Rama, Rama would meet few of them and get helps from them.

Research so far:

The animal gods I found so far are bird, snake, monkey, and elephant. I may have missed some gods, but those minor gods are not important. These four gods are good enough for my storytelling. The monkey king in the Chinese novel Journey to the West is actually the Monkey King Hanuman in the Ramayana. Bird god Garuda and snake god Naga have a really bad relationship because the Bird god eats thousands of snakes very day as food. The Elephant God Ganesh is a funny god. He is very strong but he never fights; conversely, he is participating in conciliation to solve conflicts. Amazingly, his mount is a mouse! I think I may create a story that the elephant king tries to make the bird king and the snake king settled. For Hanuman, I might do storytelling for him with Rama’s exile.

Source

4.    Possible Topic: Yama, the death god

Life is a cycle. I am interested in the death god Yama because I like what Yama does in his position. To my knowledge, Yama is like a director who guides souls to their final rest places. Having the authority to regulate life and death is very cool for me.

Research so far:

In the Rigveda, Yams is the first human who experienced death; because of this, Yama masters the power of death and life. His appearance is fearful; he has a green face, red cloth, a buffalo mount, and a lasso to catch people’s souls. He is the judge of whether a person’s soul can go the heaven or the hell. The judgments are based on the merits in their lifetime.

5.    Possible Topic: Brahma, the god of creation

The mighty Brahma is one of the three great gods, Vishnu, Shiva, and Brahma. His birth is not usual; he was born in a lotus out of the Vishnu’s navel.

Research so far:

The Brahma is like the beginning of the world in the Ramayana. Brahma has four heads, four faces, and four arms. His life is eternal. This is a backup topic if I had trouble on the other four topics.

Vishnu and Lakshmi on Shesha, with Brahma

(illustrated Mahabharata)

Storytelling of Week 2: Rama's Battle with the Viradha

Ramayana’s wife, Sita, is kidnapped by the Viradha. Viradha sends Rama a message and asks Rama to bring him the most powerful feather in the world to exchange for the life of Sita. Moreover, Viradha has a strong city that Rama’s arrow cannot pierce and his soldiers are actually his avatars.

Rama knows he can find the most powerful from the mighty Garuda, who has a large gold body that can blind the sun, red wings, and a beak of eagle. Garuda tells Rama that he is will to help him, but Viradha is very deceitful; Viradha may not to let Rama go even with his feather. To help Rama, Garuda bless his bow, giving the bow the ability to be invisible. Rama thanks to Garuda and says he will use the bow wisely.

Rama request Viradha brings him his wife first, and he will give Viradha the feather he wants. Viradha makes another term that Rama must finish the trade in his city. Rama agrees immediately and enters Viradha’s city. Viradha inspects Rama to see if he carries a weapon, but Viradha cannot sense Rama’s bow because Garuda’s bless is very powerful.

Firstly Rama meets his wife, and he checks her to make sure she was not hurt. Then Rama gives Viradha the most powerful feather without hesitate. However, Viradha suddenly starts laughing and calling his avatars to capture Rama and Sita alive; Viradha wants to eat both of them to strengthen his own power.

Rama remains very calm because he has his bow with him. Rama let Sita stands behind him and he takes out his bow. The bow is blessed by Garuda and it now has a swifter shooting speed. Rama shoots eights arrows each time and those arrows pierce eight avatars’ hearts. Since Viradha’s avatars are killed very fast, Viradha himself is also wounded. Therefore, Viradha takes all his avatars back to his body. This is a fatal mistake; Rama now has only one target, so he can use his talent of archery at his best. Rama shoots eight arrows; those arrows pierce eight places of Viradha’s body, giving Viradha eight fatal wounds.

Yet, Viradha is not dead because he is cursed to be cannibalism and he cannot be killed by physical damages. As a result, Rama chooses to repress him under a holy tree, so time can remove Viradha’s curse and Viradha can finally rest in peace. His soul will belong to the heaven.

Source

Author's Note:
My idea is from two stories, Battle with Khara and  Viradha. I think those two stories are very cool, so I decide to combine them together and changed them to create a new battle.

Bibliography:

Ramayana Online: Public Domain Edition

Source

Reading Diary B: Battles

Today’s reading assignment is more interesting than what I read yesterday. The reason is that I love reading combat scene and imagine it in my mind; I really enjoy doing so. As a result, my favorite two stories are the Battle with Khara and the Viradha. These two combat stories really draw my attention.

In the story of the Viradha, Sita was kidnapped by a demon named Viradha. Rama and Lakshamana were chasing the demon to save Sita. The demon is a rakshasa, who is almost immune to physical damage. Indeed, Rama’s arrows cannot hurt the demon, so Rama and Lakshamana have to break the demon’s body piece by piece. However, the demon cannot die even though he is heavily wounded. When Rama finally killed the Viradha, the Viradha said his curse, the curse made him into a Viradha, is lifted by Rama and he was going to heaven.

The Battle with Viradha.

Illuminated Ramayana ms., circa 1700,

in the Huntington Archive

Source

The other story is more like a war. Khara was returning with an army for vengeance. But Rama are not afraid of them; by using the power if the great celestial weapon, Rama killed thousands of enemies and ignited Khara. He won in glory and protected his wife and brother.

In my storytelling, the current plan is to combine these two combats together. Maybe I combine the enemies into one super enemy. I will create a story that is very different from the original two stories.  I have starts doing the main structure of my story; I hope it will be another good combat story.

Public Domain Edition: Ramayana