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
Monday, November 24, 2014
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
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
Wednesday, November 19, 2014
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.
Tuesday, November 18, 2014
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.
Wednesday, November 12, 2014
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.
Tuesday, November 11, 2014
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.
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