Mikayla's Epics of India

  For these reading notes, I wanted to zero in on  The Lion in Bad Company . I have yet to focus on too many stories that feature lions, but this title really called out to me and I felt compelled to find out what this story was really about. Like I have said previously with my reading notes, I have determined what all of my storybook stories are going to be about so this one is just another bonus reading if I find myself needing it. With all of the other Jataka's, this story is packed full of morals, compassion, and fable-like stories. This story is shocking to me, however, because the lion actually dies. I have not encountered many stories in the Jataka tales where there is actually a significant death. There is usually more of a lesson to be told with the story. Despite the death of the lion, I really liked this story and would consider using it in my classroom or my storybook if I had room for it.  Image information:  Babbit's Jataka's

  For this reading of COURSE I wanted to do more of the Jataka's. They have been my favorite stories by far because they are the most easily digestible. The story I chose is  The Penny Wise Monkey  naturally because of the name. I really caught my interest so I had to know what the story was about. I have already selected my stories for my storybook project but if I need another story to fall back on I would love to use some of the money jatakas because they are so sweet and easy to recreate into something of my own. All of Babbit's Jataka's tell a very powerful story in a very short language. They are easy for young children to learn lessons from, as well as being very simple to put a twist on. I am definitely going to continue to explore the Jataka's further for the rest of my "free reading" because they are the most relevant to my storybook, as well as where my interests lay within the class. That said, I love the fable-esque stories from India and how they...

  The story that I have chosen to write notes about is  The Hermit Cat . This story is about a cat that has grown too old to catch his own prey. This story is from The Orient Pearls: Indian Folklore by Shovona Devi. This story is all about an old cat who has grown too weak to catch his own prey, so he pretends to be a pious, rule-following, and staunch pilgrim. He hopes that this will help him catch some mice to eat so that he won't have to work so hard. This story was a really good read even if it is not something I am planning to use in my own storybook. I really enjoyed reading this story, it was so fun and whimsical and a nice break from my regularly scheduled readings for the week. I am glad that I got the opportunity to read this story because it was a really good way to find more materials.  Image information: prayer beads

      For this week's choice of free reading, I went back to last week, which got messed up due to the ice storm and the election, etc. I went with the story that caught my attention the most, The Hypocritical Cat , because of the name to be honest. I feel like all cats would be very hypocritical if they could be. I wanted to dive into more of the Jataka tales because they have become my favorite stories. I almost wish that for my project I had chosen to make a portfolio of the Jataka tales, as opposed to just random animals. I think these stories encompass much more moral storytelling, rather than random bits of stories. I really enjoyed this story because it is about exactly what it sounds like. I want to use this story in place of the previous story that I figured I might want to use in my project. This is just a backup for now, but there is a good chance that this could be the story that I decide to go with. This story is very whimsical and tells a really good story t...

 I really liked using Babbitt's story of the "Very Timid, Foolish Rabbit" so I wanted to make sure I read more of the jataka's. I think that this story is supposed to symbolize people not understanding beings other than them. I think that this tells a tale of morality and about how one's presumed weakness may actually be to the perpetrator's fault. The story essentially features a group of being cruel to a turtle, and someone suggests throwing him into the river. The turtle realizes he has an opportunity to save himself, a tells the group that it would be a horribly dreadful thing for him to be thrown into the water. Little do the people know, he is actually much safer in the water than on land. I think that this story also encourages people to think outside of the box and to think of other ways to protect yourself that are not violent, but rather clever. Of course, the young prince's had never seen a turtle before so they did not understand that they were...

      This reading was very interesting! Although I am not sure how I will be able to incorporate this into my own storybook, I am still really glad I read this story. The story is interesting because oftentimes the king of the story isn't killed off in this manner. King Krishna was meditating in the woods when a hunter mistook him for a deer and gets shot at. The region descends into chaos after this happens, there is a great wave that swallows the city and everything is up in arms and uncertain. In his early life, Krishna was one of the greatest heroes of India so he left behind a great legacy, But of course, this is Indian mythology so nothing is really as simple as it seems. There is much more than meets the eye with Krishna's death and nothing will remain the same. I really enjoyed this story, overall, although it was not my favorite. I have enjoyed other stories much more in the past, but this one was not bad. I do not think I will write a story about it, but I stil...

  This week's reading is awesome! I really enjoyed reading the story of The Adventure of Prince Arjuna because it gives me more of a perspective on the things I have previously read that have featured him. The reading is chock full of adventure and insight, and I really enjoyed just diving into the story. It gave me a lot of inspiration for how to write my story this upcoming week, and how to incorporate more adventurous language into my writing. I normally stick to the same sorts of stories every week, but this week I would like to challenge myself to incorporate more dialogue and a more first-person perspective. I really hope that I am able to come back to this story later in the week for a bit of inspiration as to what to write about, and what style I should write it in.  Source information:  The Adventures of Prince Arjuna Image information: Burning of Khandava forest .

      Yay! A story that features an animal as an  integral part of the story. This story features starvation and how a starving family gave all of their rations of food to feed their guest. Even a small child gave up her food to their starving guest. After that, the guest finally arose and made it apparent that it was Dharma. Because of the families' sacrifice, they were blessed from then on. The mongoose had warned the family, appearing as such: "A mongoose, half of whose body was golden, appeared and said, "Ye kings, this great sacrifice is not equal to a little measure of powdered barley given away by a liberal brahmin of Kurukshetra , who was observing the unccha vow." I think that I could effectively recreate this story as a tale of good faith and giving those what you do not necessarily have. I think this story tells a very valuable tale that could easily be adjusted into being a fable for children to digest and learn to give to those whenever possible. Image i...

  This week's reading of part C of the Mahabharata was rather fascinating. I really have enjoyed all of the readings this week and really value all of the stories that are being told. Although there has not been a lot that I can use for my portfolio so far, there are certain elements of storytelling that I have found that I would like to incorporate into my project. For example, jealousy being a huge theme of the story is something that I could write about. I could retell this story from an animal kingdom's perspective. Rather than searching for animals myself, I could just rewrite the story to fit into the world of animals. For this specific story, I think that I could change the characters to the animal that best suits their personality. I think some people are loyal dogs, and some people are vicious predators. Each character should feel self-explanatory. Overall, I really enjoyed this reading.  Image information: Dhritarashtra and Duryodhana Source Story:  Duryodh...

  The story I liked this most from Part C of the Marabharata reading is  The Burning of the Forest  because of how eventful the story is, and based off of how easy I will be able to recreate it. I think that this story is a really good turning point for the story and really gives a good look into what the rest of the story will look like.  One of the most important sections of the story is the end: "A great battle ensued. Indra was defeated. When he poured down torrents of rain, Arjuna extinguished it with his arrows. Great multitudes of animals, uttering fearful yells and in great agony, perished in the flames. Only six creatures escaped: the snake Ashwasena, a son of Takshaka ; four birds; and the demon Maya , who was the son of a rishi . But the object was accomplished, and Agni became once more bright and vigorous. He had drunk rivers of fat and marrow."  I think that this story has a lot of potential to write about because I could go in a lot of different di...

  Alright, well here we go! Unfortunately I missed a lot from last week due to mental health reasons, but I am hoping that this week will be different. I am hoping to be a little less harsh on myself and give myself some more understanding, otherwise, I won't enjoy the readings. So far I have adored all of part A from the Mahabharata, it is such a riveting story. I really enjoyed the Ramayana but I feel like it got a bit redundant. The story I found most interesting was  Drona Trains the Princes . I am going to wind up writing my story this week about this story, I believe because it is such a classic style of training story. I think that I could write a really good tale of jealousy with this story, or create a good training scene type of story. There is a lot of direction that I could take with any number of these stories, but I particularly liked this story for the lesson it helps teach as well as the mythology and story behind it. Information: Arjuna meets Krishna at Prabha...

  This reading, although late, was really interesting. The entirety of part C is very fascinating. I really liked  Hanuman and Sita , although it may not be very useful to my storybook. Hanuman is a monkey-headed Hindu god so I could definitely find him a home in my storybook but he may not be necessarily integral. The story has a lot to do with modesty, and how Sita values her modesty. It also solidifies  Rama's affections and feelings for Sita, and vice versa. After this, Hanuman is captured and is described as a wiley monkey. This could be something symbolic to write about in my storybook, it seems like monkeys make several appearances in the Ramayana and this could mean something more metaphorical in the context of the storybook.  Image information: Sita fears Hanuman,1594. The David Collection

      Just like with part A of the readings, this part, part B is packed full of wonderful lore, stories, culture, and fun stories. My favorite story is where I retrieved this image from,  The Golden Deer . I had previously mentioned that I am really interested in the Epics of India animals, and the furry friends that they feature. I think that animals are a storytelling device and sometimes can act as an engine to move metaphors forward. I think that this story could be pretty useful for my own storybook. This story not only has some really good depictions and metaphors about the golden deer but also links to several other outside sources that could be super handy to my research in writing about the animals of Indian mythology. I also really liked that I am able to listen to all of these stories rather than having to read all of them. Some of the depictions of animals are as such: "I have witnessed in this jungle graceful creatures passing fair,  Chowri and th...

  This week's reading was super interesting! I tried to get ahead a little bit, but it is a lot harder than I give myself credit for. I think that part A of the public domain Ramayana is super interesting and packed full of some really good stories. My favorite story from this set was "Crossing the River". Although I do not have a distinct reason for why it is my favorite, it seems like it is packed with a lot of information and lore. The entirety of part A is very good and full of inspiration for my storybook, however, the taste of what I got in my Myth/folklore class, I do not remember it being my favorite of the stories. The stories are short, even though there are twenty of them in this section, they are a pretty quick read. My favorite part of all of the stories is that there are hyperlinks to each term if they are unfamiliar with our vocabulary. I think the fact that they are each link  contains more information about the topic really connected me to the reading eve...

  So, naturally, my favorite story from this anthology was   The Foolish, Timid Rabbit . Last semester in Mythology and folklore my favorite things to write about were the rabbits in the fables and tales. The chicken little style story was a lot of fun to read. The story explores the "what-if" of the sky falling and the world ending. Something I have definitely been exploring this semester for my own anthology and website has been animals, maybe specifically rabbits if I can find enough material. Although I have toyed with the idea of feminism in the Indian Epics, I think that I would have a lot of fun with the depictions of animals in the literature. That said, this story speaks to the unknown. The foolish and scared rabbit had no idea that it was merely a coconut that fell behind him which caused widespread fear amongst the other animals. This metaphor can be translated to be used in any life situation. When someone doesn't have all of the facts, when media blows things...

  Just for the ease of access and affordability, I have chosen to go with the free online PDF of the Ramayana to read.  The comics that I am interested in are: Shiva Parvati : This comic interests me because of what the summary had to offer. Although the summary is short, there is a lot packed into it. I feel like there is a lot that could be gained from this comic and I think I would really enjoy the full version. The story of "diving love" really intrigued me and I think that there could be some really interesting discussions surrounding this story.  Parashurama : I also chose this comic because of the summary that I read. I found the synopsis super interesting. I also found the attached image to be super interesting because of the artwork. I think that the lore of the story will be super interesting and could relate really well to the sorts of things I want to discuss.  The videos I am interested in are: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsuqbPda5uo&list=PLrWYQj...