Mikayla's Epics of India

  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...

Arjuna and the Arpsara's : This is a pretty neat little story that Laura lead me to from the last email full of revisions. I think this tale of women turning into crocodiles. When I think of the animals depicted in Indian mythology I think of monkeys, tigers, elephants, of course, my favorite, rabbits. I do not typically think of crocodiles as being a symbol of Indian lore but this story is incredibly interesting. There is nothing in mind that I can particularly tie this to but it is useful as a frame of reference. I could definitely link this back to the Monkey and the Crocodile story, however. I think it could be something really cool to explore.  Indian Epics Blog Spot: Animals Section This is a good selection of the Mahabharata that has quite of few mentions of horses, mongoose, animal sacrifice, etc.. This section also leads to several other readings on traditional Indian animals and folklore of that nature. I am really interested to read about the horse stuff because horses s...

  Here is a link to my website:  The Animals of Indian Mythology Image Information:  Madhubani Painting

      The bridge between the Mainland and Lanka is a magical sight. This is Rama's bridge. Although it has been thousands of years since the creation of the bridge connecting the two regions, the bridge is still used by many. People say it used to connect what is now Sri Lanka and India, the gorgeous limestone meets the rock and the earth so wonderfully. It is mostly a tourist spot now, but peoples say that the rocky islands were constructed by Nala, son of  Vishwakarman , the "divine artisan," in order to allow enemies to cross the ocean. This was allegedly demanded by the God of Ocean to keep things fair and reasonable. This small series of islands that create a land bridge between the two countries serves a special purpose in my life, however. I grew up along this land bridge, and I know more secrets of the bridge than many. I know what wars have been fought and won because of this bridge. I know of what Rama and Sita faced during the creation of this bridge, and ...

      This week has not been one of my best weeks. Obviously, hence why I am having to do extra credit to make up for the reading assignments that I missed. This week has been rather emotional for me, and I think I am feeling the full extent of senior burn out. I am been working non stop at two jobs while taking 16 credit hours and holy crap has it been way too much for me to handle. I am so grateful for the people in my inner circle but sometimes I just need a nap. But I also can't help but wanna kick myself for napping, like yesterday I slept all day. Literally. I woke up at 6am to go to work, got off at 1pm, and slept until 7pm. Then I woke up, drank some wine, and went to bed at 10pm. Today I am being productive, however. I had to put it into overdrive to make up for all of the assignments I have missed. This upcoming week I need to make sure that I actually go to my zoom classes, make an effort to show up in person, and actually put in genuine effort into my classes....

  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