Reading Guide: Week 14

Dasharatha accidentally kills a young boy when he was also young and he has to tell the boys parents. The old man curses a young Dasharatha and says that he too will have his sons parted from him. Dasharatha has three wives but none of them produce a son so he decided to perform a sacrifice to the gods so they will grant him a son. When a celestial being arose from a fire he told Dasharatha that if his wives ate the payasa they would have sons.  That is when one of his wives gave birth to Rama who was  the kingdom favorite. Rama is sent to do battle and in the mean time he wins his wife Sita. Kaikeyi has two wishes from Dasharatha after she saved him on the battle field and she uses them to make Bharata the new king and send Rama into exile. Dasharatha tries to convince her otherwise but he has to stay true to his promise of two wishes. Rama goes into exile with his wife and Dasharatha remembers the curse and dies on Rama’s 6^th day of exile.

Dasharatha

The cover of the comic of Dasharatha

Reading guide: Week 14

This starts with a lot of the same how Draupadi is won by Arjuna and is taken as the wife of the five pandavas. Arjuna takes his punishment and goes into exile away from his brothers and wife and embarks on a pilgrimage. Arjuna visits the holy places and goes to find that Subhadra's betrothed to Duryodhana. He decides he will take her as his wife instead. He is instantly stuck by Subhadra's beauty and krishna tells him to run away with her. Arjuna takes Krishna chariot to find Subhadra and takes her off into the forest. their is a search party to get the wife of Duryodhana  but before they left they asked for the advice of Krishna. Krishna tells them of what happens and tells the party that subhadra would rather be with Arjuna and to welcome them peacefully to their village. Arjuna exile is over and wants to go home to the Pandavas royal city but is worried about what Druapadi will do. She is mad at first but ends up taking in Subhadra as a sister peacefully.

the Beautiful Subhadra

Subhadra

Story Week 13: The final play

It was the final play of the national championship and it was going to come down between two people. Alabama was known for having the biggest man in college football standing at a full 6'11 305 pounds but all muscle. He played outside defensive end and would wreck havoc whenever he was on the field. He had been a thorn in Oklahoma's side all night but they had somehow managed to keep the game close through great passing and running away from him. It was fourth and goal from the five yard line and it was going to won or lost on this play. The Sooners were trying to find a play that ran away from the big man but when they saw the defense that Alabama put out they were stacking the other side of the field. The Oklahoma quarterback called a time out because he knew they stood no chance with the play that was called. Once on the sideline the Oklahoma coach was thinking of a play when their star running back stepped up. He said that he wanted the ball and would run full on toward the big man and take him down. While a lot of the guys on the team thought this play would never work the Oklahoma head coach had faith in his star running back. He called the play so that the running back would get a pitch running to the left side and it would just be one on one with the big man. The center snapped the ball to the quarter back and sent the pitch sailing out to the left for the running back. The big man read the play just as they had hopped and started down the goal line to make the game winning stop. The running back had his plan all along that once they met up he knew the big man would lower his head and right at that moment he would make his move. The running back turned the corner and got to the 1 yard line when he say the big man lowering his head to make the tackle. The running back sees him lower his head and at that moment jumps as high as he can and hurdles the big man to fall into the end zone for the game winning touchdown.

Authors note: In this story I talked about Kumbhakarna, the big giant, and how he had to fight Rama after Ravana couldn't defeat Rama. Kumbharkarna is the biggest man in the world and was un beatable until Rama did. The big man is Kumbharkarna and Rama is the Oklahoma running back.

The Oklahoma running back winning the game

Kumbhakarna: the sleeping giant 

 

Reading Notes: Week 13 Part B

Kumbhakarna: the sleeping giant

Kumbhakarna is a giant that was know for being a great warrior and could even beat the god Indra in battles. Indra is worried that Kumbharkarna is going to become too strong so he has him make a foolish wish. This is part of the story where Rama returns to gain back Sita and he has to first confront Chasmalochana. Ravana himself then comes to confront Rama after the battle with chasmolachana. Ravana is unable to defeat Rama and so he brings in the help of Kumbhakarna and he wakes up very hungry. While Rama's army is terrified of Kumbhakarna their are two warriors that mount an defense agains him. Rama takes on Kumbharkarna in the battle field but is ultimately defeated by Rama. Once Kumbharkarna is dead Ravana knows that he is doomed by the hands of Rama and his army.

Kumbhakarna

Kumbhakarna: the sleeping giant

Reading Notes: Week 13

The Rustic and the Nightingale: The nightingale is able to help out the Rustic because he let it go and then the nightingale told the rustic where a pot of gold was lying.

The Partridge and the Hawk: the Partridge is scared of the flesh eating hawk and won't come out of his hole but once he does the hawk pounces and kills the poor partridge.
The king, the falcon, and the drinking cup: the king was thirsty so he found a stream but once he tried to drink his falcon would knock it out of his hand. this angered the king and he killed the falcon but he later found out the stream was filled with the poison of a dragon and the falcon was just trying to save it.
The hare, The fox, the Wolf: the wolf wanted to eat the hare but he instead directed him to the fox who tricked both of them into falling into a pit thus leading to the hare's death and the fox getting away.

The merchant and his iron: Two merchants in town try to mistake each other by not returning each others rightful property.
The lean and fat cat: The greediness of the lean cat led to its demise as it died by trying to get more food.
The king, the hermit, and two prince: Their were two princes and they were left a certain amount of money once the king died. One blew all the money and the other had it taken by the older prince but he learned to live and end dup finding all the rest of the kings treasure letting him take over the crown again.
The lion and the Hare: the lion made a mistake and did not trust his own reflecttion thus killing himself in the process.
The crane and the crab: The crane tried to trick the crab but the crab was smart by getting a ride on the cranes neck so when the crane tried to eat the crab he snapped the cranes neck killing him.
The crow, the jacket, the wolf and camel: All the animals in the kingdom wanted to kill the camel for food but the lion wouldn't allow it until the camel said he would sacrifice to save the lion and once this happened they all pounced.
The camel driver and the Adder: the Adder had no gratitude and believe he could fit in a bag but the fox knew he could but bet he couldn't forcing him into the bag thus leaving him trapped for death so the fox, camel driver, and camel could get away.

children stories

the camel in these stories

Week 12 Reading: Buck's Ramayana

Sauti and Saunaka are the two people that are in the Naimisha Forest and Sauti is telling the story of the Ramayana. He starts by telling the story of the times before Rama and how rama is born with his other brothers. He goes on to tell the battles of the Rakshasas and their battles with the brothers. The Rakshasas get stronger with time and are known to be great warriors from their leader Ravana. Raven was granted many powers by Brahma. Ravana goes on to have a son named Meghanada. Ravana continues to cause more and more discretion and forces the people to retreat to the mountains. Raven was strangled by Arjuna after he attacked him in the river while taking a bath and had to be saved by Pulsyte his grandfather. This part of the story is how Rama and Lakshmana become partners under the guidance of Vishwamitra. Rama breaks the bow of Shiva and doing so he is able to marry Janaka daughter Sita. Rama's brothers also marry daughters of the same household. Once married they return to Ayodhya

Part A Buccks Ramayana

Wedding of Rama and Sita

Week 11: story

The Boy and His Putter


We open up this story with a boy that was know to be a great putter. He was known worldwide to be one of the best but he used a very old and ugly looking putter that no one else would ever use. Everyone around was very envious of him because he was able to make putts and be clutch in pressure moments because of his love for this putter. One day the boy left his golf bag by the clubhouse and went inside to eat lunch. When he came back out to his bag he noticed something was missing and it was his putter. He immediately freaked out and started looking for it. He looked or days and searched for who would of stole his putter but he could not find it. He asked his coach what he should do and he suggested to try out some of the new putters that were just being released. While he liked the new putters they were still not HIS putter. He had a tournament coming up and was nervous about using his new putter. He was nervous for a reason as he putted terrible for the entire tournament. It was the worst he had ever putted and almost got dead last out of everyone. This was extremely crushing for the boy and he fell into a deep depression. Their was nothing that would make him happy or get him out of this funk he was in. The only thing that would help him is if he had his putter back. This continued for a couple weeks until he caught wind that his rival was the one that had stolen his putter. He devised a plan to get his putter back because that was the only way he could be great again. He talked to his rival to see if he could check out the trunk of his car. His rival seemed very sketchy so when he wasn't looking the boy stole his car keys and checked out the back of his trunk. As he was looking around he checked under a blanket in the back corner and underneath was his putter. He was so excited and couldn't believe he found his putter again. He immediately put the putter back in his bag and never let it out of his sight. He was back to being a great putter again and he couldn't be happier.

The boys putter

Author's Note: Their was an elephant that did everything with his friend the dog. The dog was taken away from the elephant by a farmer and would not eat or bathe or do anything without the dog by his side. The elephant keeper was worried so he sent out for the dog and when he came back the elephant went back to his normal ways. This story is slightly adapted as the boy and his putter is the elephant and his dog. When he loses his putter is the same as the elephant losing his dog.







Jataka Stories

Week 11 Reading: Part B

The monkey saved his troop: Their was a mango tree next to a river bank that the king of the land loved very much. He set up camp to gather as many as he could. The local monkeys also loved the tree and while the men were asleep they went up to gather as many as they could. their noised woke the men and the king ordered them to be shot when they came down from the tree so the chief of the monkeys made a bridge with his back so the monkeys could cross the river without getting shot. This made the king admire the chief and made a promise to always take care of them.
The Hawks and their friends: Their were some hunters that wanted to kill two young hawks but with the help of friends they were able to drive the hunters off and save their young ones.
The brave little bowman: Their was a small bowman that was a great shot but he needed someone big to get into the army. He got a big man and got into the army. He performed many task but the big man took all the credit. One day came that another land was attacking their land and the king sent the big man into battle. He was too scared to fight so the little bowman took his place and won the battle bringing great praise to the little bowman.
The Foolhardy Wolf: Their was a wolf that would look out for food for a lion to kill so they could eat. The wolf wanted to be the one to kill for food and had his eyes set on a elephant. The lion warned the wolf but he had his mind set. He found a elephant and lunged for it but missed and ended up getting killed by it.
The Stolen Plow: Their were two traders that were friends. One borrowed his plow but when asked for it back he said that mice had eaten it. The next day the trader had the other take care of his son but when he asked for him back he said that a bird had carried him off. This angered him and they went to court. The judge ruled that both give each other property back because of the ridiculousness of the story.
The lion in bad company: A lion befriended a wolf but the wolf led him to bad decisions. The lions father told him to not go along with the wolf but he did not listen because of the things they did together. This led to the lion dying because of the wolfs bad decisions.
The wise goat and the wolves: two wolves were trying to play a trick on the wise goat but he did not budge until he got his friends who were two large dogs to come with him. This scared off the wicked wolves.
Beauty and brownie: Both of these deers had a heard and were instructed to take their heard to the pasture by night time so the village wouldn't see them but only beauty listened and brownie got many deer killed from going by day.
The elephant and the dog: Their was an elephant that did everything with his friend the dog. The dog was taken away from the elephant by a farmer and would not eat or bathe or do anything without the dog by his side. The elephant keeper was worried so he sent out for the dog and when he came back the elephant went back to his normal ways.

The elephant and the dog



Jataka Stories