Reading Notes: Babbitt's Jataka Tales Part B

Jataka Tales by Ellen C. Babbitt Web source found here

The Wise and the Foolish Merchant:

• One group lead by foolish Merchant gets tricked by demons to empty water jugs and then they are all killed
• Next group realizes there are demons and refuse to be tricked

Granny's Blackie:

• A woman raise an elephant from when he was a baby and then later when she is old the elephant helps her with hard work

A big kind elephant - image found here

Ideas:

• What if instead of an elephant, the woman raises a demon who is good because of how she raises him?

Reading Notes: Babbitt's Jataka Tales Part A

Jataka Tales by Ellen C. Babbitt Web source found here

How the Turtle Saved his Own Life:

• Pretending to be unable to swim and acting like that is the worst thing they could do is what saved the turtles life.

The Sandy Road:

• Group of travelers carelessly throws away water only to find that they needed it because they got turned around in the desert.
• Determination to find water wins out and they survive.

The Quarrel of Quails:

• A group is stronger when acting as one (duh).
• A group divided won't survive.
• Group of quail could save themselves by flying away with a net over them until they begin to fight and refuse to work together.

A couple of quails - image found here

Reading Notes: The Five Tall Sons of Pandu Part B

Bibliography:
The Indian Story Book: The Five Tall Sons of Pandu by Richard Wilson found here

Plot Points:

• The war is the majority of the second half.
• Arjuna's bow breaks in the war fighting Karna.
• The 5 brothers learn of Karna being their brother after the war is over. (What would have happened if the brothers had met Karna at the beginning of their exile?)
• Ends with the kingdom united through mourning Drona and Bhisma and Karna.

Archer and Driver on Chariot 

image found here

A Story idea:
Wanting to prevent full out war, the brothers issue a challenge in one on one combat to determine the winner.

Reading Notes: The Five Tall Sons of Pandu Part A

Bibliography:
The Indian Story Book: The Five Tall Sons of Pandu by Richard Wilson found here

Plot Points:

• No magic or divine weapons are in the story.
• Duryodhan is still trying and failing to kill his cousins.
• Each brother has their own special bow. (Who creates these bows? How are they given to the princes?)
• Draupadi asked for boon to accompany her husband and his brothers.
• Ends with the brothers revealing themselves after Duryodhan's attack to steal cattle.

Five bows for five princes

image found here

The bows:

• Tall and stately and gold tipped (told this one is Arjuna's)
• Stout and heavy with elephant carvings in gold (elephants are symbols of intellectual strength - Yudhishthira)
• 3rd "fit for a giant warrior" (heavy duty, strong/thick limbs - Bhima)
• "A fourth and fifth, mightier and more beautiful" (twins in shape but slightly different design? - the twins Nakula and Sahadeva)

Style

• Plot focuses on the 5 brothers.
• The reader finds out things along with the brothers.

A Story idea:
For the protection of the five princes, a craftsman carves five mighty, beautiful bows so that they can fully put their skills to use.

Reading Notes: Mahabharata (PDE) Part D

Story: Part D of the Mahabharata by Arnold, Besant, Devee, Dutt, Ganguli, Kincaid, Macfie, Mackenzie, Nivedita, Seeger, and Tagore.

Plot Points

• Battle lasts many days till Bhishma can no longer fight and then Karna comes to the battlefield. At the end of the battle many sons are dead and there are many who mourn. 
• The Pandavas took the kingdom but at a high cost and Yudhishthira decides on a horse sacrifice to get rid of his sins.
• Elders who survived the war (king and queen etc) go to live in the jungle, visit the dead from the river when the Pandavas visit but then die in a fire. 
• Krishna dies and then the Pandavas with their wife travel to leave the mortal world as well. Yudhishthira falls last and sees horrors before being reunited with his family.

The Pandavas back on the throne (image source)

Reading Notes: Mahabharata (PDE) Part C

Story: Part C of the Mahabharata by Arnold, Besant, Devee, Dutt, Ganguli, Kincaid, Macfie, Mackenzie, Nivedita, Seeger, and Tagore.

Plot Points

• Pot that stays full of food after praying to sun god
• Arjuna goes to mountain and prays and meet by God in the disguise of a Huntsman and given Divine weapons then on his own fights against sea monsters and demons
• The brothers encounter a god in disguise at a lake and he gives Yudhishthira riddles and then 2 boons
• Duryodhana gets captured and then saved by the Pandavas who then decides to starve to death but is promised help from demons against the Pandavas
• In final year of exile the brothers and their wife are hidden from being recognized and end up serving at a King Virata's court where a prince tries to get his hands on Draupadi but she runs to Bhima and he kills the prince
• Exile over, the Kauravas attack Virata's kingdom but the Pandavas help defend them, then the Pandavas and allies prepare for war against Duryodhana who will refuse to give the brothers their kingdom back and the battle begins
• Karna is told who his parents are and that the Pandavas are his brothers. He says it's too late to change sides but (of his brothers) will only fight Arjuna to the death

The armies face off before the battle 

(image source)

Reading Notes: Mahabharata (PDE) Part B

Story: Part B of the Mahabharata by Arnold, Besant, Devee, Dutt, Ganguli, Kincaid, Macfie, Mackenzie, Nivedita, Seeger, and Tagore.

Plot Notes

• Rakshasi turns against her brother to save a man she fell in love with (Bhima) and later they get married and have a son.
• Town "protected" by a rakshasa (but at a high cost) gets defeated by prince Bhima and the town celebrates.
• The 5 princes (who had helped take over half of Drupada's kingdom) are each married to Drupada's daughter. r and then they are given a portion of their home kingdom to rule over but loose everything in a game of dice and then are exiled.

Draupadi's swayamvara (image source)

Character Notes

• Draupadi - the Pandavas' wife, princess born as a boon to Drupada

Reading Notes: Mahabharata (PDE) Part A

Story: Part A of the Mahabharata by Arnold, Besant, Devee, Dutt, Ganguli, Kincaid, Macfie, Mackenzie, Nivedita, Seeger, and Tagore.

Plot Notes

• Heir gives up his right to the throne for his father's happiness, but when his father passes, the older half brother gets killed in a war and the younger is too young to rule.
• A scorned princess fasts and makes penance to ask for a boon which is granted by Shiva in the form of being reincarnated as a man to defeat her enemy.
• Jealous prince (though not heir) plans the death of his cousin who is also a prince but it fails and then he comes up with another plan to get rid of all his cousins and their mother in a fire.
• Two close friends get separated because Drupada takes over his father's kingdom. Drona becomes a brahmin who teaches warriors and then had them take over half Drupada's kingdoms because he turned his back on their friendship.

The Pandavas (image source)

Character Notes

• Bhishma - original heir to throne, son of a king and a goddess, honourable, superior bowmen
• Amba - scorned princess, sees Bhishma as the cause of her situation and wants revenge
• Duryodhana - (Duru for short?) jealous and proud prince, oldest of his brothers, hates his cousins Bhima and Arjuna, will lie to further his own plans

Reading Notes: The Divine Archer Part B

Story: The Divine Archer by F. J. Gould

Plot

• Rama helps Sugriva get his kingdom back from tyrant brother Bali
• Hanuman finds Sita in Ravan's city with Vibhishan's help
• Female demon tells of a dream where she sees the city on fire and Ravan dead with Vibhishan on the throne
• The battle 
• Sita's test by fire
• Return to Ayodhya where Rama becomes king but then exiles Sita due to listen to the people
• Rama meets his sons and watches Sita swollowed by the earth

Character Note

• Vibhishan does not wish to be in Lanka with his brother. He dreams of leaving to go to Ayodhya and being a comrade to Rama

Vibhishana meets Rama (image source)

Reading Notes: The Divine Archer Part A

Story: The Divine Archer by F. J. Gould

Plot

• 4 princes born and city celebrates
• Grow learning archery, manners, scriptures
• Rama and Lakshman given task to help brahmins
• Rama meets Sita and breaks Siva's bow to marry her
• Devotee of Siva comes and tests Rama with Vishnu's bow
• All 4 princes get married
• Dasharatha decides to pass on the throne but Kaikeyi asks for the 2 boons
• Rama, Sita and Lakshman leave, receive weapons from Agastya on the way and end up building a hut to live in over the winter
• Dasharatha dies and Bharata returns home with other brother
• Rakshasi wants Rama but he refuses so she goes to Ravan who steals Sita from Rama
• Rama finds Jatayu and then two monkeys, Sugriva and Hanuman, find him
• They decide to help each other out

Style Note

• Parts of the story are as if the writer is talking to the reader

Rama breaks Shiva's bow (image source)

Reading Notes: PDE Ramayana Part D

Story: Ramayana Part A, Public Domain Edition by M. Dutt, R. Dutt, Gould, Griffith, Hodgson, Mackenzie, Nivedita, Oman, Richardson, and Ryder. Web source


Main Plot Points

• The battle begins and many are injured and killed
• Hanuman gets herbs from a mountain to heal allies
• Lakshmana defeats Indrajit and Ravana mourns
• Rama and Ravana battle til Rama wins
• Vibhishana becomes king of Lanka
• Rama and Sita are reunited but Rama tests Sita to prove her purity
• After exile over, Rama, Sita and Lakshmana go back home
• Bharata welcomes them home and Rama is crowned king
• Sita is banished, gives birth to Rama's sons
• Rama meets her again and asks if she would prove herself again, she does so by being swallowed by the earth
• Rama lives on for a thousand years more before passing on and joining her

Characters

• Indrajit - beloved son of Ravana, fierce warrior 
• Kumbhakarna - brother of Ravana
• previous characters - Rama, Lakshmana, Sita, Bharata, Hanuman

Sita's test of purity - aka Rama's an idiot

(image source)

Reading Notes: PDE Ramayana Part C

Story: Ramayana Part A, Public Domain Edition by M. Dutt, R. Dutt, Gould, Griffith, Hodgson, Mackenzie, Nivedita, Oman, Richardson, and Ryder. Web source

Main Plot Points

• Hanuman meet Rama and Lakshmana and bring them to Sugriva
• Rama helps Sugriva get his throne and wife back from his brother Vali
• Monkeys search for Sita and Hanuman finds her to be in Lanka after meeting Sampati
• Hanuman reassures Sita, who has been told she will be killed in 2 months, but gets caught and his tail set on fire
• Hanuman escapes, sets Lanka on fire, and returns to report
•  Rama and Lakshmana with Sugriva and an army of monkeys and bears march toward Lanka
• Vibhishana warns Ravana not to fight Rama and is exiled so he joins Rama

Story of Sugriva and Vali

• Vali was king and had Sugriva watch the entrance to a cave while he went in to fight
• Sugriva believed Vali to be dead and seals the cave shut
• Vali gets out but feels betrayed and banishes Sugriva

Story of Sampati and Jatayu

• one day decided to fly far but Jatayu fell
• Sampati shields Jatayu but also falls and looses wings
• Jayayu and Sampati both help Rama find Sita

Characters

• Sugriva - monkey king and younger brother of Vali
• Tara is Vali's wife
• Sampati - a large vulture, brother to Jatayu
• Hanuman - monkey friend and son of wind god
• Vibhishana - younger brother of Ravana
• previous characters - Rama, Sita, Lakshmana, Ravana

Cinereous Vulture - I imagine this is what Jatayu and Sampati would look like

(image source)

Reading Notes: PDE Ramayana Part B

Story: Ramayana, Public Domain Edition by M. Dutt, R. Dutt, Gould, Griffith, Hodgson, Mackenzie, Nivedita, Oman, Richardson, and Ryder. Web source

Setting:

• Dandaka jungle

Plot:

• Bharata comes home and is upset at his mother
• Goes to find Rama and offer throne but denied on account of father's honor
• Bharata decided rule for Rama till returns
• Rama, Lakshmana, and Sita come across rakshasi who wants Rama as a husband
• The boys beat her away and fight others who come to revenge her
• Rakshasi goes to her brother Ravana and asks him to take Sita from Rama
• Ravana and a brother come up with a plan to separate the boys from Sita and it works (the rakshasa as a deer plan that Lakshmana felt was off)
• Ravana decides he wants Sita as a wife and take her to his kingdom where he tries to woo her but her heart will always be Rama's
• Rama reacts strongly to Sita missing and Lakshmana tries to comfort him
• The boys find the king of vultures who tell them Ravana took Sita
• A rakshasa (cursed spirit) told them to look for the ape chief Sugriva

Characters

• Ravana - rakshasa king of Lanka, arrogant but is strong
• Shurpanakha - sister of Ravana, spiteful
• Jatayu - king of vultures, protective of Sita who calls him friend
• Bharata - brother of Rama, son of Kaikeyi, loyal to his brothers, did not desire throne for himself
• Those already in previous post: Rama, Lakshmana, and Sita

Historical Picture of Ravana (image source)

Reading Notes: PDE Ramayana Part A

Story: Ramayana Part A, Public Domain Edition by M. Dutt, R. Dutt, Gould, Griffith, Hodgson, Mackenzie, Nivedita, Oman, Richardson, and Ryder. Web source

Setting:

• Ayodhya in Koshala kingdom
• Jungle filled with rakshasas
• Videha

Plot:

• King Dasharatha sacrifices a horse to ask for a son and gets 4
• Sage Vishvamitra comes for a favor and takes Rama and Lakshmana to battle rakshasas
• Rama defeated a rakshasi and gains divine weapons
• Rama and Sita meet and Rama declared worthy after breaking Shiva’s bow and then they are married
• Rama gets the bow of Vishnu when a follower of Shiva comes to see what happened to the bow
• Rama and Sita go back to his home
• King Dasharatha decides to declare Rama his heir but is stopped by Kaikeyi who wants her son to be heir and forces the issue
• Rama is exiled and Sita and Lakshmana go with him
• Dasharatha dies from grief of losing 2 sons

Characters:

• King Dasharatha - ruler of Koshala, living in Ayodhya
• Rama - son of Dasharatha and Kaushalya, avatar of Vishnu, strong and honorable 
• Lakshmana - son of Dasharatha and Sumitra, younger brother of Rama, loyal and strong
• Sita - daughter of Janaka, princess, kind and humble, sheltered
• Kaushalya, Kaikeyi, Sumtra - Queens of Koshala
• Brahmins - “priests, teachers and protectors of sacred learning” - wikipedia page
• The hag - ugly, jealous, hateful

Possible Changes:

• Telling the story from either Rama or Lakshmana's POV

Rama, Lakshmana, and Sita

(image source)

Reading Notes: Week 2 Anthology

Story: "Goblin City" from The Giant Crab, and Other Tales from Old India
Author: W. H. D. Rouse

Setting

• City on the island of Ceylon that is solely inhabited by man eating she-goblins
• There is a prison in the city
• Can infer that the city buildings and layout look normal
• Can infer that there is farm land or pasture outside the city

Main Plot Points

• Crew of 500 men are shipwrecked near the city
• She-goblins convince men to marry them
• The captain discovers the truth and warns the crew
• The crew that believe him are saved by a fairy sending a flying horse
• The crew that didn't believe him are eaten

Characters

• She-goblins: have magic used to deceive the men and desire husbands that they will then eat
• The captain: cares for his crew and wants to save them
• Crew: possibly veteran sailors

Style

• 3rd person point of view
• Story is a telling of events
• Reader is told the truth if the she-goblins from the start
• Little to no dialog and details of the environment

Possible Improvements/Changes

• More descriptive details
• Point of view focused on a single character (the captain)
• Add more dialog

Old Map of Ceylon - source

Week 2 Reading Overview

For the Ramayana story I will read the Public Domain Edition. I decided on this because of the convenience of having the story on a website I can read on any device and the ability to choose whether to listen to the story, read it or both.

For the two Comic books I choose the following:
Ganesha - This one sounds interesting to me because it seems to be an origin story of how Ganesha gets an elephant head. It also may have some family elements and family has always been very important to me.
Konark - This one sounds interesting because it is a history of a temple over some time and also seems like it also has some family elements.

For the two videos I chose the following:
Ancient Technology - Atlantis and India - I chose this one because I have always found technology interesting and I am curious to see how the video ties Atlantis and India together.
Symbols of Divinity - I chose this one because I am curious to learn about the different symbols and see how they compare to symbols I know of growing up here in the US.

Lord Shiva - source

This is a picture of a statue of Lord Shiva outside a temple. I chose this one because the angle the picture is taken really makes the statue look impressive.