Portfolio Introduction

Here you can find links to each of the stories I have chosen for my storybook. Each story is random and has nothing to do with another. However, they are all based on the stories we have read in this class and explicate my writing journey throughout this course.

Intense Envy
http://avi-natha.blogspot.com/2014/09/week-5-storytelling-intense-envy.html

Rama Defeats Ravana
http://avi-natha.blogspot.com/2014/08/storytelling-for-week-2-rama-defeats.html

Revenge Gone Wrong
http://avi-natha.blogspot.com/2014/10/week-10-storytelling.html

Through Arjuna's Eyes
http://avi-natha.blogspot.com/2014/10/week-11-storytelling-through-arjunas.html

Through Arjuna's Eyes Part 2
http://avi-natha.blogspot.com/2014/11/week-12-storytelling-through-arjunas.html

Week 12 Storytelling - Through Arjuna's Eyes Part 2

Before I knew it I was being carried off in a beautifully crafted chariot to my father's heaven. Matali steers the chariot higher and higher into the sky and soon I see but tiny specks of the earth below. Soon the sky changes colors from blue to black and then a beautiful lavender. I now know we have entered into my father, Indra's realm, Amaravati.
Soon the chariot begins to descend and we land in a massive green plain outlined with dense forests. My father's world is absolutely gorgeous. It is full of lush greenery and beautiful skies. Matali leads me through the plains and informs me that we are heading through Nandana Grove in order to meet with my father.
Nandana Grove is one the most spectacular places my eyes had laid upon. There is lush greenery, and giant ripening fruits in surplus hanging from the large bountiful trees. The grove feels fresh and alive, yet still have great harmony with the many historic relics in honor of Indra and the ancient atmosphere.
Matali tells me that the beautiful women made of clouds and water are called apsaras. They are some of the most elegant women I have ever seen. They dance and sing in such mesmerizing manner, my senses begin to tingle as I intently watch a ceremonial dance in honor of my father deep in the grove. Throughout the grove also live large hybrid males that resemble both a horse and bird. The all possessed large bird beaks and the four legs of a horse. Matali tells me that they are called gandharvas. They too are quite elegant and dance and sing with as much dexterity as their female counterparts.
Matali notices my interest in the deities as we navigate through the grove and tells me that they often visit the palace of Lord Indra and perform many performances in his court.
Soon we reach my father's palace. It it one of the most beautiful creations I have ever seen, larger and grandiose then I could ever imagine, the gold and silver hues of the palace reflect my father's powers and truly makes me shiver upon seeing it. Matali leads me through the palace and into a grand hall where two massive beautiful thrones sit adjacent to each other. In the right throne sits my father's beautiful queen Indrani. No apsaras' beauty compares to that of my father's wife. She is truly one of the most beautiful women I have seen as befits of somebody as noble as my father. Behind her sits my father's elephant beautiful, white elephant Airaveata. It too gazes intently at me from behind the two thrones and radiates a celestial power. My father sits in the grand throne next to Indrani and his power  also radiates throughout the grandiose room. His gold hue shines and as I look into his eyes I can see the fiercest storm I could ever imagine.
My father speaks with such presence the whole room's attention focuses onto him. He explains to me that I have a grand destiny awaiting me. Now I know that I have been called here for a true purpose.

Author's Note: Arjuna is my favorite character in the Mahabatra and I enjoyed telling a story from his point of view last week that I thought I would do it again. It was really easy for me to write a story through his eyes since I was struggling with character development and bringing my characters to life. I decided to take Dr. Gibbs' advice and use characters that were already established and it has proven to fare much better for me. In this part of the story I have chosen to recount Arjuna's journey  I decided to detail his initial arrival to Indra's heaven and put my own twist on the details. I kept the general idea of the story very similar. I just outlined what Arjuna would be experiencing firsthand while entering his father's great realm for the first time. I felt that Indra's heaven would be a very grandiose place and wanted to have the opportunity to use my creativity and fabricate some of the details of Amaravati. The aspect of Nandana's grove and the Gandharvas living there really intrigued me and getting to do some research on that in order to retell it properly was a nice addition in process of writing this story.

Bibliography:
Narayan, R. K. (1978). The Mahabharata

Matali takes Arjuna to Amarvati

Week 14 - Reading Diary B

I completely forgot that Sauti was telling this story to another person. The way Bhishma died was very honorable compared to Duryodhana. I think Bhishma is my second favorite character from this epic. Like Yudhishthira, I would also feel a lot of guilt and grief over the loss of so many lives. I didn't like Yudhishthira much at first because of his idiotic gambling decision, but he ends up saving his brothers a lot and turns out to be a character. The huge difference I noticed between the two versions of this epic is that this version has a ton of epilogue like sequences. There are even more attempted assassinations after the major conflict ends. I felt like I missed the big message behind Yudhishthira's dream sequence. In the end, I'm glad he got to ascend to heaven and made the ending of the story more satisfying in comparison to the others we have read.

Week 14 - Reading Diary A

I really enjoyed the extra fight scenes that were added on after Duryodhana was about to die. It was sad to read that Ashwatthaman's night raid cause so many deaths in the Pandava's camp as well. I enjoyed reading the final battle scene between Ashwatthaman and Arjuna. I like that Arjuna honors his fallen master Drona by placing the jewel between his eyes.

Week 13 Storytelling - Through Arjuna's Eyes Part 3

It is now the tenth day of war and the battles still appear to be evenly matched. Although many have died, there are still many powerful warriors to defeat. Bhishma, is the best warrior the Kaurava camp has and is essentially the barrier to their impending defeat. Bhishma and I have clashed many times on the battlefield, however I can sense that he shares the mutual feeling of not wanting to have to end each others' life. However, I'm sure after today, that there will be a conclusive ending to this war. 

On the ninth day of war and after my ninth failed attempt at killing Bhishma, Krishna offered a suggestion to my brothers and I. In order to end this stalemate in war, we all visited Bhishma in order come to a solution. Bhishma explained to us that he knew in his heart that we brothers were good men with good intentions. In turn, Bhishma explained that in order to be defeated he must be faced in battle by the opposite gender. 

As I look out across the massive expanse of war torn fields, I ponder what Bhishma must be thinking about on his last day. I feel an immense amount of shame and guilt for bringing a woman onto the dangerous fields of battle in order to kill a man that I never wanted to. 

As I leave my tent I see that Shikandhi has already manned the chariot and soon we are racing off into the center of the battle. I quickly see Bhishma. He is fighting as fiercely as a lion, and is wiping out our soldiers with ease. Shikandhi begins to steer the chariot towards Bhisma. I ready my bow and aim it straight at Bhishma's heart. As we near Bishma's chariot, I close my eyes and feel immense feelings of guilt, and shame. I am so confused at a time where my senses should be completely aware. How foolish of me, I brush the tears out of my eyes and let every arrow in my inventory fly towards Bhishma. He sees Shikandhi and immediately becomes immobilized and drops his weapons. My rain of arrows envelopes and pierces Bhishma's entire body. He falls off of his chariot. Hundreds of arrows lay embedded in the grand, old warrior's body and creates a bed underneath him. 

The many various battles going on across the large expanse of battlefield suddenly stop. 

Suddenly, the skies clear and beautiful white lotus flowers float down across the battlefield. A truly beautiful sight, and an amazing way to honor the death of such a respectable man as Bhishma. 

Author's Note: I felt like I was having such success writing stories through Arjuna's point-of-view that I would revisit the concept for a third time. I wrote this story through the eyes of Arjuna before the death of Bhishma. I left mostly all of the plot the same, and simply added what I think would be going through Arjuna's mind during the events of this part of the the epic. I also personally enjoyed writing the story through Arjuna's eyes so I thought a third time would not hurt. 

Bibliography:

• Buck, William (1973). Mahabharata.  

Bhishma tells the Pandavas how to defeat him

Week 13 - Reading Diary B

Reading the whole story about a gender transfer was something that I would least expect from this type of epic. Especially since Hindu values have very distinct lines and role for men and women. I really like the way that the Pandavas handles themselves and how respectful they are. Also I too would feel guilt fighting my elders like Arjuna felt. There were a ton of deaths, as expected. It was a bit ridiculous that Arjuna shot Jayadratha's head all the way into his father's lap in order to avoid the curse. But all the other powers such as the naga mantra were cool to imagine. I feel like tricking Drona into thinking that his son was dead and then killing him from behind was kind of a let down. I wish there had been an epic duel between pupil and master. The epic battle between Arjuna and Karna was my favorite part of this section and having the god Krishna as your charioteer would be awesome I feel like.

Week 13 - Reading Diary A

This section of the reading felt like a a build up to the great war that is coming in seven days. I enjoyed reading about Bhima squashing Kichaka in a ball of flesh. I didn't even really know how to imagine that but thats what he gets for trying to rape Draupadi. The part where Arjuna takes over for the cowardly prince Utarra was a fun part to read as well. All the cool weapons that Arujuna has at his disposal are awesome. He makes everyone fall asleep which was pretty cool. And then he gladly claims UtarrA. Also it was cool when Krishna cuts off Duhshasana's head. But I didn't really understand why his energy entered Krishna's body. Conservation of energy? Haha, I've been studying too much physics lately.

Week 11 Storytelling - Through Arjuna's Eyes

As my four brothers and I walk into the great King Drupada's palace I feel quite nervous. I know that all of my brothers are quite skilled and one of us should be able to complete this simple archery test for his daughter Draupadi's hand in marriage. I look around and I see multiple seats lining all corners of the great hall where Draupadi's swayamvara is to take place.
My four brothers and I wait in line as many kings and princes have come as suitors to partake in this challenge and take the young and beautiful Draupadi's hand in marriage.
King Drupada sits in his grand golden throne just off center of the grand hall alongside the beautiful Draupadi. She is veiled, but her stunning facial features can still be seen through the translucent material.
Many princes and kings attempt the trial before me, all of my brothers and a man named Karna is the last to go before me. The challenge looked quite simple but after seeing so many fail I begin to feel a bit nervous.
Finally the man named Karna partakes in the challenge and is able to lift and string the bow however fails in the end to shoot through the eye of the fish.
A million thoughts run through my head and I quickly conclude that this test is made for purest of archers. This test requires concentration, a sense of timing, and precision. All things that I believe my great teacher Drona has taught me. It is almost as if Drupada has created this test with me in mind. Karna fails and it is at last my turn.
As I walk to the center of the grand hall, I can see disbelief in many people's eyes for I am still in disguise and dressed as a simple brahmin, alongside my brothers. I close my eyes and focus. I tune out all of the doubt and negative feelings coming from the crowd and am ready to prove myself. I focus all of my energy to lift Krishna's great bow, Pinakin, and readily aim it. All the murmuring and talking amongst the crowd are tuned out of my head and I gaze deeply into the reflection of the beautiful golden fish and ready my bow. I do the same routine, as Drona had taught me: I inhale a large breath, stand upright, draw the bow and let the arrow fly. It pierces straight through the fish's eye and gasps of disbelief are heard throughout the crowd.
I know that many are thinking, "How could a simple Brahmin perform such a test many kings and princes could not do?" I do not listen to such negativity and stand tall and proud. Krishna approaches me and tells me of our past lives together. I truly think hard and try to recall any such memories from my past life but it is to no avail. Krishna looks at me with an expression of understanding and congratulates me on completing this difficult task. Prince Dhrishtadyumna takes my brothers and me to King Drupada and there we reveal ourselves to him and claim Draupadi's hand in marriage.

Author's Note: I picked this story because it had to do with my favorite character: Arjuna. Also this was one of the only parts of the story I found I could add my own spin to for the reading sections assigned this week. I haven't done a story through first person in a long time so I wanted to revisit it. Adding my own details to the story made it fun to write, overall an enjoyable experience. I think that Arjuna is a difficult character to understand and undertaking the task of creating his thoughts and feelings was a challenging task. It was challenging, but rewarding as well because he is such an integral character in the epic that their is no limit to the creativity you can use with his character and encounters. I didn't want to change anything up from the original story because I was already satisfied with the way things went. I figured I would do this part of the story an injustice if I tried to spin it my own way in the end and write a completely unsatisfying ending. I think my strengths are sticking to the original plot and simply adding more detail. I think this story and my story about Rama vs Ravana are my two best stories.

Bibliography:
Narayan, R. K. (1978). The Mahabharata

Arjuna during the test

Week 12 - Reading Diary B

Overall, this section had a ton of mini stories within the epic. I liked getting to read about how Indra taught Arjuna how to use divine weapons and am excited to read about the battle to come. Once again we have another weird birth, by a deer swallowing a hermit's sperm from a lake and creating a human with horns. I really liked reading about the part when Arjuna comes back down from the heavens, and brings all the cool stuff. It was also really nice of him to bring jewels from Draupadi since nobody seems to respect women in these epics other than Nala. The story of Savitri is also a great example of how much indian women will do for their husbands. Savitri gives half her days of living just  to be with her husband longer. I really feel like women should get more respect in these stories since they do so much.

Week 12 - Reading Diary A

In this section, we get to read about how Yudhishthira gambles away everything like a bumbling fool. Then gets a second chance and ruins that too. I figured rereading this part of the story in Buck's version wouldn't make me as frustrated but it ended up doing so anyways. The part where they try to embarrass Draupadi still makes me sad, but I'm glad Krishna saves her or else I would have felt really really bad for her. I hate when obnoxious men mistreat women. I liked getting to read about my favorite character, Arjuna, and his travels to see his father and his heaven. I really really liked reading about the story of Nala and Damayanti. Nala seems so caring and this is one of the better love stories I have read in these epics. Most love stories end with some sad ending. Like when Sita abruptly gets taken into the earth by her mother in order to be saved from all her mistreatment from Rama and others. Nala, leaves his wife because he is no condition to support her and so she can be happy with her father. Damayanti is similar to many wives in these stories, in the fact that she is completely devoted to her love and goes out to such extreme measures because she loves him so much. This is one thing I really appreciated about the Hindu culture is that wives are so caring, loyal, and love their husbands to the end. I would say my mom is like this with my dad as well. This story also reminded a tiny bit of a bollywood movie called "Veer-Zaara". If you like bollywood movies you'll love this one just like the rest of the world did!

Week 11 - Reading Diary B

Most of this section of the reading was a bit boring although i did enjoy two of fthe major fights that occurred. I loved how easily Bhima destroyed Vaka. He tore him apart with is bare hands. I fee like this is a great example of how truly strong the pandavas are especially the wind god's son. There is another example of how weirdly children are conceived with how Draupadi and her brother are born. I feel like no children are born through direct sexual intercourrse, but by way more weird measures. I liked that some of the focus on this section of the story was on Arjuna, my favorite character. I find him quite awesome and cool when he show his mastery of the bow to earn Draupadi's hand in marriage. He is quite the team player in letting his brothers marry her as well. The imagery for agni created a very scary image in my mind. The fight to ward off Indra seemed epic and I really have a fascination with architechture so getting to read about the Pandava's palace was nice.

Week 11 - Reading Diary A

Reading through the invocation was a bit boring. I didn't really care much for the background information. Although, it was great to read about one of my favortie gods: Ganesha. I also liked the story of how the ocean was formed. It was interesting to find out that Shiva gained his blue hue from drinking up all the poison from the churned ocean. I like how caring and sefless Bhishma is when he gives up his throne. This version of the epic has made me start to see the characters with different feelings. The story of how Satyavati was born was really weird.. Also the part where it says Vyasa cuts the flesh ball into 100 sons and one daughter was relatively weird as well. Dang, and third times the charm because the origin of Drona's name and how he came to be are also weird. Overall this version of the epic seems much more sexual however more descriptive and interesting in comparison to Narayana's version.

Week 10 Storytelling - Revenge Gone Wrong

This story is about a very rich man. As a boy he came from nothing. Left as an orphan with no family, he was taken in by inhabitants of the village and supported immensely. The village he hailed from was called Sisodra. It was a quaint, rural village in almost a remote area of India. Although this village did not have many quality things to offer, the quality and generosity of  the people was no less than marvelous.

As a boy, the rich man ventured off to the city and worked his way to riches. He always promised to come back to his village and give back to his community. The village he came from was small and impoverished. Along his travels, he planned and built many establishments to help the village. Soon he decided to return for one major project that would be truly beneficial for the small town of Sisodra.

He decided to build a large factory on the outskirts of the village in order to create job opportunities. The factory would be a state-of-the-art facility, like none that had ever been built before. The main product manufactured there would be textiles in order to create an equal opportunity of employment for both males and females. The factory would be complete in one year and in the meantime the man decided to live in the village for the time being as the factory began development.

The man had no sense self-entitlement. He came from nothing, and sympathy and empathy were both traits he could best be described as having. He also came from nothing, so he never felt as if he was better than anyone. He was one of the richest and most respected men in the land and yet decided to live in the small home he grew up in. Day in and day out people would come to him for help, and his generosity never wavered. He built introduced proper plumbing, more reliable electricity and many other facilities to make the lives of the villagers much easier. Many women would walk miles on end everyday to reach the nearest source of clean. He built a small water treatment plant in order to assuage this problem. Along with these many projects he also spent his days overseeing the factory and nights helping the people of his village.

There also was a young man, about ten years younger than the rich man. He too, came from the same orphanage and was raised by the village. As he grew older, he decided not to venture out, as the rich man had done, and instead came seeking help directly from him but was turned away. He was seeking a monetary investment in his business. He wanted to build a large shopping center near the town and have various vendors rent out the open units. However, the generous man saw no beneficial qualities to the village and saw that it would solely take advantage of the village's resources. He also felt that this would drive the villagers off the path that was so characteristic of Sisodra. Sisodra was a a special place because almost all the businesses there helped the community in some way. The young man would not hear the generous man's explanation and began to despise him. His spite manifested in him a drive to become successful in any way possible.

Both the young man, and rich man came from very similar backgrounds and yet the young man felt less love, and support from his village. He felt as if winning the hearts of his village would lead to his happiness and the main object in his path was the rich man,

The young man left his village and did whatever it took to become as rich as the generous man. He took advantage of many people, and conned people through lying about his intentions.  His motivation was his hatred for the generous man, and he dreamed one day of shaming him.

Years passed, and soon the young man came back to his home village to exact his revenge. By this time, the generous man's textile factory was doing quite well, and it provided a significant amount of job opportunities to inhabitants of the village.

The young man's plan was to build a factory. A factory very similar to the generous man's, however with more state-of-the-art technologies. It would be located right next to the generous man's factory. The young man hoped to take all of his employees and run the factory to the ground.

However, the building process was slow and encountered many delays. The young man grew impatient and put his entire savings into speeding up the process. His drive to spite the generous man over being rejected was quite ridiculous but the young man was blinded by rage and hatred.

Soon his factory would be opening and he began recruiting villagers to work in his factory. He talked to many families that were given jobs by the generous man and offered them lavish benefits. However, they could see through the young man's intentions and their loyalty and that of many other families still lay with the generous man for he had done so much for them already. This left the young man with no workers and an empty factory. The young man's plan to bring the generous man's amazing factory to the ground backfired and he was left bankrupt with no money. His factory remains vacant and never saw a plume of smoke exit its chimney.

Author's Note: This story is based off of Duryodhana's plan to make an extravagant camp next to the Pandavas to shame them. Duryodhana's plan, however, backfires when he ends up being saved by the Pandavas which is quite embarrassing for him. In my retelling of this story the generous man is the Pandavas, and the young man is Duryodhana. Similar to Narayan's story, the young man (Duryodhana) builds a factory (his camp) next to the already existing one (the Pandavas camp) in order to ruin the generous man (the Pandavas). However the plan backfires, just like in the epic. I decided to exclude a part where the generous man would save the young man's factory (similar to how the Pandavas save Duryodhana) because when I read the epic I really wished they had not saved them since he was such an evil person. Since this was my version of the story I got to let the young man receive what he rightfully deserved. This was a major reason why I chose this story. In order for me to be able to control the ending in the way that I thought was best fit. I think the Pandavas are much nicer than I would ever be and my track of thinking would be to simply let Duryodhana or in this case, the young man, learn his lesson.

The young man's empty factory and the generous man's factory

Bibliography :
Narayan, R. K. (1978). The Mahabharata

Week 10 - Reading Diary B

I feel that is rightful karma that Duryodhana died at the end of this story. Obviously for all the many bad things he had already done but also to be foolish enough to try and capture Krishna after he is trying to make one last peace effort. Duryodhana is truly a foolish character, his actions strike me as almost as absurd as Yudhishthira gambling away his life and his family's. I really wish I would have gotten better imagery of Krishna's divine form. For some reason, I'm extremely fascinated with the various transformations the characters in these epics undergo. Finally, the war begins and all the interesting battle scenes take place. Once again, I wish I could have a better image in my head of Krishna's cosmic form. All the various individual battles during the war were all a very fun read. Although, Arjuna's bouts are my favorite. I am really confused as to by Bhima mutilates and drinks Duhshasana's blood. No wonder why Bhima never made it to heaven. I really liked how Krishna justified their enemies' deaths through Karma to Yudhishthira. It made me feel better about all the deaths after reading about Yudhishthira being sad about it. I feel like all of these epics have such unfulfilling endings. I don't like the way that Krishna dies and that his people destroy each other. I wish that these epics had more happy endings!

Week 10 - Reading Diary A

Overall, I found this portion to be quite boing and more of a tease than anything. I feel like all the preparations for war are being way to drawn out and I'm just ready for the war to begin so I can read about some more amazing battles. The only thing that I gave a lot of thought to was Krishna letting the Pandavas choose between him and his one million person army. If I was a soldier in Krishna's army the last thing I would want to do is fight against my own leader. On a more funny note, I'm suprised that Yudhishtira was smart enough to actually answer the questions since he was dumb enough to gamble literally everything away. I think out of all the Pandavas that Arjuna is my favorite. I enjoyed reading about his 5 year journey to find weapons and prepare for battle.

Week 9 Storytelling - Beginner's Luck

There once was a man who loved to play by chance. Everything he did was decided by a mere coin flip. Decisions were simplified to two choice decisions. As a child he stumbled upon a deer with its leg stuck under a fallen tree. He managed to set the deer free and it ended up being Lakshmi in disguise and she granted him amazing luck. What once was a young innocent boy became a sly and calculative man. His blessing had changed him completely. A boy, who came from nothing, conned and swooned many out of their goods and soon became a powerful man in the underground. His reputation as a gambler became infamous across the land. He was the master of all games and could never ever reject an offer. Eventually he grew powerful enough to hold large gambling events in his mansion. They were massive upscale parties with bands and merriment. All the richest and best players came to take their shot at the man. At the man’s very last party, many came to challenge him. As the night drew on, it became a giant drunken frenzy and the musical entertainment became the center of all interest in the grand hall. One young gambler sang along with the band, he sang and danced until he became dizzy and fell to the floor. Everyone laughed; the man led the laughter and drew it on through the crowd for quite some time. The young gambler was enraged and vowed to seek his revenge on the haughty man. One day the young gambler challenged the man to a simple game. Of course, the man accepted, like any other challenge. The young gambler got the man quite drunk off of his favorite wines and decided to challenge him to a coin flip. The young gambler waged his eternal servitude and that of all his family for the man’s fortune. The man, although drunk, haughtily accepted the simple coin flip. The young gambler flipped the coin, and the man called tails. Like he had for the past twenty years. The young gambler revealed the coin and it indicate ‘heads’. The man was defeated. Lakshmi had blessed the man with amazing luck, but not perfect luck. The young gambler had simply used a same-side coin and just like that – the man had been undone.

Author's Note: This story is based off of Yudhishthira and Shakuni's gambling story. The young gambler is Shakuni and the man is Yudhishthira. Similar to Narayan's epic, the young gambler (Shakuni) is embarrassed by the man (Yudhishthira), and then seeks revenge on him by waging his servitude. 

A gambling event in the man's large mansion

Bibliography:

• Narayan, R. K. (1978). The Mahabharata.

Week 9 - Reading Diary B

From readings part A & B I have yet to find any positive feelings towards the Pandavas. Most of the things they have done so far are things I don't really like. Sharing Draupadi as a wife is weird to me, even though she prayed for it in a past life. I don't like that Yudihishthira is crowned, and he makes me like him even less when he gambles away literally everything like a giant moron. I don't understand how somebody could be allowed to gamble away other peoples' lives. Especially Draupadi and the brothers. Also it made me so sad when they were demeaning Draupadi. And then they are given a second chance by Dhritarashtra but Yudihishthira ruins that by having them all exiled for 13 years. My favorite part of the story so far is Arjuna's excursion to find weapons and be trained. I am curious to see how Arjuna's curse turns out to be a blessing.

Week 8 - Reading Diary

I really like that we are doing diary posts this semester. I heard before that there were quizzes over the readings, and I would not have liked that as much. I noticed that my diary posts vary in many aspects. Some were very long and others were quite short. Some get a little off-topic and others delve strongly into the subject matter. Overall, I wouldn’t say my work has been consistently the same, I think this had to do with a lot of things. It seems like I wrote more on sections of the story that I liked, rather than some I found a bit boring. I loved writing diary posts about sections of the book with a lot of battles. I liked looking back at my old diary posts, because through the diction I can kind of tell what kind of day I was having that day as well. Overall, I love the readings in this class because they hit so close to home. I’ve grown up hearing about all these stories and I’m glad I get the opportunity to critically think and use my creativity for Indian Epics. I remember a lot about the stories we have read. Some of the things are a bit blurry, because I found them boring. However, most of the readings I can remember, and going back and reading my diaries helps to fine tune and refresh my memory of the subtle details. My number one tip to others about reading diaries is simply, to just do them. They help you out in the long run and are very simple to do. Getting the chance to reread my old diaries gave me a few ideas for my Portfolio, which was an added bonus. I hope to keep learning a lot through the use of reading diaries, and cannot wait to read our next epic.

Week 2 Storytelling - Rama Defeats Ravana

As Rama tears through the forest in high pursuit of the Golden Deer, he begins having conflicting thoughts about pursuing this deer. "Why should I enslave this animal because it is beautiful? Is it not a crime to not let it be free? Something is amiss. Sita would never have such materialistic pursuits. A dark force is in play. I must figure out the truth from this deer before it's too late!" Rama shoots the deer in the leg and it suddenly changes back into Maricha. Rama instantly recognizes Maricha. He recalls his fight with Maricha and Subahu many years ago. Rama forces Maricha to tell him of Ravana's plot to kidnap Sita.

Immediately, Rama is off at racing speed to where Sita first spotted Maricha disguised as the Golden Deer. Rama is traveling at such high speed he is able to travel from tree limb to tree limb and dart through the giant expanse of forestry. He quickly finds where Sita was but only sees signs of a struggle and he instantaneously concludes that Ravana has already captured Sita. Rama looks within himself to figure out a way to stop Ravana before he reaches his impenetrable fortress in Lanka.

Rama knows if he can reach Sita’s thoughts, he will be able to find out which direction they are heading in. Rama sends out his thoughts in every direction and frantically searches for Sita’s thoughts. He suddenly reaches them but they are faint and he can only make out feelings of fear. Sita is far away and getting even farther by the second.
At once, he rushes in the same direction, pursuing Ravana at the same racing speed as before and readies his bow and arrow for one final blow to end his evil reign. Rama is now able to read Sita’s thoughts as he narrows the distance between them and assures her that he is on his way but to not alert Ravana in any way of this. Sita keeps calm as Ravana carries her off into the distance.

Soon Rama spots Ravana with Sita in tow and quickly engages him into battle. Ravana suddenly grows through a process of metamorphosis. Ravana begins to grow even more heads and grows to over twenty feet in height. Ravana dashes toward Rama with multiple arms bearing different weapons such as tridents, conches, and chakras. He swings his arms with blinding speed and his whole body turns into a cyclone of spinning weapons. Rama knows he cannot engage Ravana directly in hand-to-hand combat and pulls out his trusty bow to defend himself. Rama keeps his distance from Ravana’s twister technique and strafes from a safe distance. Rama focuses his aim on Ravana’s many flailing arms and begins shooting arrows through each of his hands. Rama shoots an arrow through each of Ravana’s eighteen arms and soon Ravana shrinks in size and brandishes his favorite sword Chandaras. He charges Rama in a blind rage. Rama breathes in a deep breath, stands firmly upright with his chest out, draws back the arrow and lets it fly. The arrow flies with pinpoint precision and hits Ravana between the eyes. Instantly, Ravana turns to dust. All is well again for Rama and Sita.

Author's Note: This story is an alternate and quicker ending to Rama’s battles with Ravana. In this version he foils Ravana’s plans much sooner. I removed Lakshmana completely from the story because his role would be very minuscule in my retelling of the story. I used most parts of the original story. The only major change I made was killing Ravana much sooner. Also I had Rama find Sita through his own powers, instead of having her drop a piece of her jewelry.  I added a long intense battle scene between Rama and Ravana into the story because I have loved all the epic battles we have read about in the past seven weeks in this class. All the intense battles between the characters, especially the wars between Rama and Ravana’s armies, are what inspired me to write this little battle scene into my short story. I am extremely fascinated with the various weapons all the characters use and hope to include some in my forthcoming stories as well. I also just wanted to share that the image I used for this story is my favorite. Although this is a picture of Kumbakarna, I like that it shows Rama with his bow and it's the best representation I could find of the final scene in my story.

Rama shoots Ravana with an arrow

Bibliography:

• Buck, William (1976). Ramayana: King Rama's Way.