Storybook Plan: Demon Brothers

The plan here continues from my project research post with a few additions or changes to the story ideas.

Two Themes:

• No one is born evil
• Fear of monsters creates monsters (aka evil is born in the minds of men)

Characters:

• Ilvala and Vatapi - can't leave these guys out of the story
• Agastya 
• Some rakshasas - possibly Kabandha and Vibhishana and others
• Some brahmins and some townsfolk

Story Style Ideas:

• Told as collection of stories that start with daring readers to learn the truth of the brothers whose end is so we'll known
• Told as journal entries of a journal found in the Badami Cave Temple
• Told as a story that is passed down through generations

Some Setting Info:

• A forest (probably Dandaka Forest)
• Badami (used to be called Vatapi)

Bhutanatha temple on the edge of Agastya lake in Badami - image source

Bibliography/Sources of Info:

• Ilvala wikipedia page
• Agastya Lake tourist info page
•  Brahmin wikipedia page
• Rakshasa wikipedia page
• Ramayana, Public Domain Edition by M. Dutt, R. Dutt, Gould, Griffith, Hodgson, Mackenzie, Nivedita, Oman, Richardson, and Ryder.

The Story Outlines:

1. First will be the story “A Promise Made” where the two brothers come home to a hut in the forest and find their parents gone. When the parents never return the brothers decide to leave the place and swear an oath to let nothing separate them from then on. They run into different rakshasas while traveling and different humans as well and they determine that the two are not that different from each other.

2. Next is the story “Respect Grown” where the brothers are attacked for being rakshasas but they refuse to attack back and end up saved by a brahmin. The brothers stay for awhile and gain a ton of respect for brahmins and decide to always help them if they are in need of it. (They may be granted a boon while staying with the brahmin). Before leaving they end up helping a lost human child (through Vatapi transforming). They decide they want to unite the worlds of human and rakshasa. Ilvala talks to rakshasas and Vatapi talks to humans while transformed.

3. Last is the story “Evil is Born” where after the brothers have worked hard to get a position of power to work on their goal they are refused the boon of a son who could continue their work. And then the brothers snap, end up killing many brahmins and then are eventually defeated by Agastya.

4. A bonus story “Hope is Found” is several years later. Agastya comes across a half-rakshasa half-human child and takes him in. Agastya teaches the child all he can so that this child could be the bridge between the humans and rakshasas.