Indian Epics

For this story lab assignment, I actually just did revisions for a story I've already posted to my portfolio. I did the comma challenge, as I tend to get very comma-happy. I noticed that almost all of the sentences in the story had commas and was able to remove quite a few. Sometimes that took reworking a sentence, but most of the time I just had to rearrange a couple words. I also took the notes from Laura and applied them to the story. Here is the link .

For this reading , I read: The Divine Brothers, Snatched from Death, and By Itu's Favor. The Divine Brothers was my favorite, maybe just because it was the first of this type of story I've read. It was fascinating for all three of the stories to read the traditions they address. I didn't know, for example, that during the rainy season there are unbearable infestations of snakes in all the villages. This was the supposed origin story of the worship of the snake gods and their iffy alliance with man. Although they are rash and violent creatures, this story seems to say that if you're a good enough person, they won't mess with you, and might even reward you. I couldn't find any images that were directly related to the story of The Divine Brothers, which was my favorite, so here is some jewelry in the shape of a snake to symbolize the riches that were poured on Lahana for being so good and obedient.

This reading was the story of Shakuntala as interpreted by Richard Wilson. His title is "Shakuntala and Dushyanta." This tragic but ultimately happy story was told so poetically - I am sad that I did not discover Mr. Wilson or Ms. Devee's interpretations earlier on in the semester when I had more time to mull over them. I've bought both books though, so hopefully in the future I'll be able to enjoy them like they deserve. This story of Shakuntala is a bit different from the one in Ms. Devee's book, but still essentially the same. While she had more detail than the others I had read before her, Mr. Wilson really turns it into more of a novel, which I appreciate. The story moves a lot more smoothly in the way he tells it.  I can't imagine the despair Shakuntala had to have been feeling at first of all being left behind for so long, and then knowing for sure that the love of her life had forgotten her. Her strength throughout all of it and her graciou...

I loved this picture, and wish I had seen it sooner! It's got so many awesome character ideas that I never would have even thought of. Definitely saving it for future creative writing endeavors. For my video, I watched Brene Brown's video about Empathy.   I really liked what she had to say, because although I knew that empathy and sympathy are vastly different and have different effects, I did not know that sympathy actually causes a disconnection. I had always thought of it as just having less of a connection than empathy. She said there are four elements:  1. Perspective taking - seeing something from their perspective 2. Staying out of judgement - making sure you don't pass any judgement onto the person 3. Recognizing emotion in other people - you're not the only one who feels things 4. Communicating - letting them know that you know they're going through something, and you're there to listen. It stuck out to me that the point of every conver...

This class has been surprising in so many wonderful ways, but I think the best of all for me as I reflect on the stories I've written in this and past weeks is that I discovered I can write creatively. I took writing classes throughout high school, but only a Business Writing class in college. I definitely more readily enjoy more analytical writing, but I think that's only because I haven't had very many creative writing outlets. With Laura's encouragement, I was somehow able to relate Wonder Woman, a modern superhero (and quite frankly a most deserving icon) to ancient Indian folklore. And it was fun! And I was kinda good at it! No one was more surprised than I was. I had major writer's block at the beginning of the semester, but reading so many creative, interpretive stories by our classmates showed me that you can really do whatever you want with creative writing and it turns into something fun to read once you start having fun writing it. Choosing to write abo...

I chose this topic for two reasons: 1. It's crunch time at the end of the semester so it seemed like a good point to try new things for time management. 2. Pomodoro is just a fun word. I decided to try an app called Focus for the Mac (not sure if it's available for other computer types), and I really like it! You can set different lengths of time for alternating work and break sessions, and I especially like it because it has the option to extend either one, sort of like a snooze button. So if you're really in the zone with work and don't want to stop the momentum, you just hit the snooze and it pushed back the reminder to take a break. This has been really helpful, especially when things for lots of different classes are due in one day. It's a good way to remind yourself to make sure you pay attention to everything and don't get completely lost in one assignment, neglecting the others.  I do want to buy a little tomato timer, though. I think that would ...

I read: A New Study Explains the Right Way (and the Wrong Way) to Praise Your Kid I chose this article because I have young siblings, and am so very proud of them for pretty much just existing. I want to make sure that when I praise them, it's constructive and doesn't lead to any unhealthy mindsets, but actually contributes to their health and growth as the wonderful little humans they are. This is a picture I took of the two BEST and CUTEST humans on this Earth. Otherwise known as my little siblings :)  While the article did not go into as much detail as I would have hoped as far as practical ways to praise children constructively, I have to assume that it's because each child and each situation is unique. The gist of it was that praise should be reflective of reality, not exaggerated or withheld for motivation. Children can sense when praise is being intentionally overdone or withheld, and both have a negative effect on their academic performance, as well as thei...

I decided to do the Tech Tip about a Featured Post because I haven't done that much to really personalize my blog at all, and I thought it might be helpful for people finishing up the semester and trying to find new Introductions to comment on if I had my Intro featured. I'm still not super comfortable with navigating Blogger and setting up a customized layout, but the one I have has been working pretty well and has a clean and navigable feel, so I'm not too unhappy about it. Otherwise, I really like navigating with Blogger - the creation process is pretty straightforward.

I started this trail by trying to see if I could get from the general topic of Hindu Mythology to one of the specific stories I wrote about, or maybe even Wonder Woman. I couldn't quite get there in four clicks, but I still got to read some pretty interesting things. First, Hindu Mythology : The article recognizes that a predominant characteristic of Hindu (or Indian) Mythology is how all of the stories have so many different manifestations and are influenced by so many different things. The dominant school of thought at that point in history, who translated the story, whether it was written or passed on orally - all of these are factors in the sometimes wildly different stories about the same characters. These were some pretty sketches of unnamed stories on the Hindu Mythology page.  Next, I got to Proto-Indo-European Mythology : This page gave a very interesting history of the origins of mythology that Western-raised people might be more familiar with. It does a good...

Visvametra refusing to give up his asceticism, despite a beautiful goddess being sent to try and convince him to enjoy life. The gods feared that his determination would eventually give him power over them. The first of the stories for this reading was "Sabala, The Sacred Cow." Not to start out too critically, but the story begins with a very generous and successful king being unhappy because his life and kingdom were too peaceful, and he didn't have anyone to fight with. Of all the silly things. And then when he tries to put together an army, everyone flocks to his side and he actually has to go and try to find someone to pick a fight with. I really liked one piece of wisdom from this story, said by the stage with whom the cow lives: "There is no credit in virtue which is not assaulted by temptation." While it is said in the context of the king trying to come up with reasons for the sage to give up his holy cow, it still holds a lot of wisdom. Another ...

Update: This story has been added and edited to my portfolio site here . Diana landed over the wall, her bracelets up and ready to protect her from the bullets of the many guards she thought would be patrolling the grounds. But as she looked around, there was no one to be found - where was everyone? She warily started towards the mansion, an uneasy feeling in her stomach as she got closer and closer. This was too easy.... All of a sudden, right as she got within about ten feet of being able to peer into one of the mansion windows, alarms started blaring! She looked around to see where they were coming from and to find a point of entry so she could find Steve before the guards got to her. The less fighting necessary, the better. Jumping behind some bushes under a large window, she was just about to walk around to the back of the house to find a door, when she saw a man running as fast as he could down the hill away from the house. One second later, she realized it was Steve. Sprinting...

This will be the last of my reading notes on Nine Ideal Indian Women, so I'll be going over the last stories about Damayanti and Uttara, but mostly just talking about the book as a whole and wrapping up my thoughts about it. Damayanti was the miracle daughter of a maharajah who had not had children for most of his life. A phrase that I really loved in the beginning of the story that described his happiness all blighted by this one sorrow of being childless:      "A crumpled leaf lay in his bed of roses, and whichever way he turned he felt it, for no child had come to bless his manhood and his whole being yearned for the joy of hearing the name of father fall from baby lips" (page 175). I loved that quote because it was the most poetic and graceful way of showing the sorrow of being childless I had seen out of all of the multiple instances in the stories I've read throughout the semester.  This story was also more poetic than most of the others throughout. It remin...

The story of Sita is the longest in this book at 43 pages, so this post will be solely about her story. As of the first page, I already have a few thoughts. First, this is the first story in this particular book that is broken up into sections, and from what I can tell, they're all indicative of the author's breakdown of the phases in Sita's life. Second, I had no idea what Sita's origin was. All of the stories I've read about her so far only tell her story relative to Rama, so I'm glad I found this book so that I could read about her in her own story. In this version of her origin, her maharajah father found her in a golden pitcher while plowing a field, which I thought was quite fascinating. All of this and I'm only through the first paragraph... It also makes me happy that in this story, Sita was the first child, essentially adopted, and then three sisters were born who were the biological children of the king and queen, but there was no bad blood. The ...

Edit: This story is now listed on my portfolio site. Diana stood outside of Herr Schneider's estate, pondering her options. Steve had said that this was a crucial diplomatic mission, and breaking into the compound would put all of his hard work in jeopardy, but she had to get in somehow. He had spent so much time and energy just getting Schneider to agree to meet, and Wonder Woman causing a scene on the German's estate with multiple witnesses and would break the already fragile peace negotiations. Diana, Princess of the Amazons, Daughter of Hippolyta, and the Pride of Themyscira, had been posing as Steve Trevor's secretary for three years now. Had her mother found that her cover in the world of men was essentially an aide, she would have been disappointed and indignant that the heir to the Amazonian throne was taking meeting notes and fetching coffee. It had turned out though, that the only way to stay close to Steve and be privy to all the missions he went on was to be hi...

I read the stories of Shaibya and Promila. This is a depiction of Shaibya with her child.  The story of Shaibya seemed to have a lot more references to modern day locations than many of the other stories. I appreciate when authors include the old and modern names of places because it creates more of a connection to the stories. It also stood out to me that this story had a personified Debt - it made it much more similar to modern fables and tales, and even reminded me of the Christian allegorical book A Pilgrim's Progress. This is the first time I have noticed that a vice was named and interacted with a character directly, rather than just being described as coming from within, or being a main characteristic of another character. A depiction of Promila. This story stood out to me because it was the first one where the main female character is glorified for NOT being docile and quiet. She was worried about her husband, so she donned armor and went and told Rama tha...

I read the stories of Sakuntala and Savitri, both incredible women. A depiction of Sakuntala in the river. I found the story of Sakuntala interesting at first because, unlike the others, the story goes on for a few pages without even mentioning her. This is of course because she had not yet been born, but in the other stories the main character appears much sooner. I thought also, how heartbreaking it was that her mother left her as a baby to die, since she could not go back to heaven with a human child. The story of Sakuntala is much closer to some of the modern fairy tales we have today, and seemed to me to be told in a similar fashion. The way she's described as blushing and being teased when the Maharajah first comes and talks to her, and her interactions with the world seems more familiar than many of the other stories I've read. I love when these stories talk about the origins of something we still see today, whether or not they are accurate. This story held the...

This is Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, deliverer of the TED Talk that opened my eyes further to dangers of only reading one story.  The first TED talk I listened to was "The danger of a single story" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. This story hit me hard - she talks about how only telling on story and stopping there, or only reading and looking for stories told from one perspective is not only dangerous, but generationally destructive. Especially in today's world, where it is so easy, and often encouraged, to surround yourself only with perspectives that support what you already think, it is too easy to only tell one story. And when only one story is told, it leads to the subject of the story fulfilling it, sometimes in small ways, but more often in major ones. She gives a personal example, talking about how the issue of immigration in the US became so closely tied to Mexicans, with the pervasive images portraying dejected, broken refugees, detainees at the border trying t...

For the second set of readings this week, I've elected to move on from Jataka tales briefly and talk about two tales by Maharanee Sunity Devee. I came across this book earlier in the semester and immediately ordered it. I was curious to look into the ideal woman according to these old myths, and wondering whether their standards for women are consistent in any way with our current standards. These tales I'll be working through come from the book Nine Ideal Indian Women,  and as they are considerably longer than the Jataka tales, I'll only be doing two or three at a time. These stories also have more complex timelines and more characters involved, so I think having more detailed discussion is appropriate. A depiction of Sati being decorated for her visit to her father that would ultimately be her mortal downfall. This is an original print from the books illustrations. The first story I read was that of Sati, the beautiful daughter of a wealthy king, who married the ...

For this week's reading, I'll be going through Twenty Jataka Tales by Noor Inayat Khan. Although I have done many of my reading notes on Jataka tales, each author's interpretation of them is so different that I learn new things from them each time. The first ten stories are The Monkey Bridge, The Guilty Dogs, Banyan, The Tortoise and the Geese, The Fairy and the Hare, The Golden Feathers, The Young Parrot, The Empty Lake, The Swan Kingdom,  and The Master's Test.  Right off the bat, I loved Inayat's interpretation and story-telling style. Her stories have a flow to them that was missing from some of the other versions of the Jataka tales I've read, which could sometimes tend to be more brief. Hers take on much more of a poetic sound, turning the stories into tales rather than short fables to learn from. This, to me, makes them more memorable and enjoyable to read. Another thing I enjoyed greatly was her attention to detail. They add to the reader's abil...

NOTE: This story is now published on my portfolio site, here . Hippolyta held her little Diana, finally asleep after a long day of learning from all of her aunts. The angelic looking 7-year-old had a slight smile on her face, resting with her head in the lap of her mother. Looking down at her, Hippolyta reflected on the mystery of her child, formed from clay and given breath by the gods, who had scarcely interacted with humans or Amazons for centuries. She wondered what was awaiting Diana; what would her destiny be? The pride Hippolyta felt over her daughter and her incredible abilities at such a young age and her adoration for the child were tempered by a constant uneasiness at the thought of Diana's destiny, still unknown. The Amazons were a proud race of women, all as fiercely loyal to each other as sisters, and all more accomplished in every way than even the most powerful of men in the world outside of Themyscira. Isolated on their island for centuries, the women had spent t...

Part A begins with The Birth of Krishna and ends with The Lifting of the Mountain. I so greatly enjoyed the descriptiveness of Sister Nivedita's writing. She is masterful, not only with helping the reader envision the surroundings and setting of the story, but also with eliciting the desired emotions in the readers regarding the characters, especially that of the new arrived earthly incarnation of Vishnu. Even in the very beginning with that brief moment when they saw their new-born as the powerful celestial being he was, the reader is caught in the same moment of breathless rapture as the parents in the story.  I love that even from the very beginning of the history, the baby has to experience the real struggles of living on earth, but his apart-ness is ever present. He is not exempt from trials, but the way in which he faces them, and those working to help him face them, is set apart. These old stories also do a great job of incorporating the inner workings of the chara...

For this first Week 11 Reading, I'll be going over the fourth and final group of the Shedlock Jataka tales. These include The Crow that Thought It Knew, The Well-Trained Elephant, The Judas Tree, The River Fish and the Money, The Dreamer in the Wood, The Rice Measure, The Poisonous Trees, and The Wise Physician.  This is a photo of a modern White Elephant , which is still used in royal Asian families as a symbol of power.  The Crow that Thought It Knew is yet another of the stories that seems almost incomplete involving the Bhodisat - so many of them involved grand actions on his part but this story does not. In the rewritten stories, I think I'll keep a more grand tone when involving the Bhodisat. The Well-Trained Elephant had that more traditional grandeur associated with the lesson to be learned from the Bhodisat's incarnation. I like in this story and others that not only is the wicked character punished, but the power and virtue of the Bhodisat is given to bene...

I was studying with a friend in my apartment while doing the Jataka Part C readings, and decided to read the stories aloud to her as I went. I have two younger siblings to whom I've read aloud in the past, and it's not something new to me, but this was the first time I had done it with stories that I would later have to write about. Reading aloud caused me to pay more attention to the details of the story, rather than just the overall theme and characters. It especially focused my attention on the dialogue and the important role it plays in story telling. Saying something in a certain tone or with certain inflection can totally change its meaning in the story, or at least have some influence over its perceived impact in the story. Reading aloud also forced me to slow down and enjoy the story more, as I had to go much more slowly than if I were just reading silently to myself. I really enjoyed reading the stories out loud, and will probably continue to do it in the future.

How to Turn on the Part of your Brain that Controls Motivation: This article was fascinating. It talks about a study that was done that stuck people in an MRI and asked them to motivate themselves, lighting up the part of the brain that controls our motivation. When they were just laying there and told to get themselves psyched up, they were not able to do it. But once they were shown some sort of meter that helped them to visualize the part of the brain being activated, they were better able to motivate themselves as they saw their successes.  This seems consistent with what I already knew about humans - we tend to be more successful and encouraged when we see signs of success, even if they're very small. We have a strong ability to latch onto even the smallest of things and using them to push ourselves to a goal.  It seems consistent with the reasoning behind having mantras - we can self motivate if you try something often enough, and really think it's working. Ma...

I made this using AutoMotivator , and came up with my own title and text. I just wanted to make something to remind myself of a life lesson I'm currently learning.

I started this journey by being interested in the execution by elephant suggested in the Jataka story of the elephants who refused to take part in the execution of the group of virtuous men who had been falsely accused of crimes. Execution by Elephant: This means of execution was normally used by rulers in Asian and East Asian countries. The ruler's display of power, wealth, and authority through using elephants was effective over many centuries. It is thought that it came into practice because although they have the power to squish us, elephants are very docile and trainable. The practice was used to reinforce the idea of divine right to the throne, as any ruler using elephants was seen to not only have power over men, but given the ability to control beasts as well. Here is a representation of the public execution by elephant.  White Elephant:  I came to this article because many of the elephants used by royalty in recorded history were white, or albino. Originall...