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

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 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

Week 11: Reading Part A

The wise and foolish merchant: The foolish merchant was persuaded to poor out his water by a demon that said their was more water up ahead. He later found out that being in the desert meant there was no water and ended up getting taken over by the demon because he was weak with no water or food. The wise merchant did not trust the demon and kept his water for good reason.
The elephant Girly-Face: A very nice elephant was sleeping one night when it was woken up by some robbers talking about how they need to show no mercy and kill anyone that touches them. The elephant thought that it needed to do the same and killed men that got near it. Once the keepers figured out the problem then the king sent some men to talk about how it is better to be nice and not hurt anyone. The elephant heard this and was nice again.
The BanYan Deer: The king wanted to have a steady income of deer so he drove in two tribes and put them all in a pin. The deer were tired of dying so they started volunteering one at a time to die. When the volunteer fell on a mother of a young child she asked if she could wait till her child was grown. One of the kings didn't allow it but the other king said he would volunteer in her place. When the cook saw that it was the king he allowed them to be free for his act of valor.
The kings White Elephants: Their were carpenters that would cut down trees to use for lumber and one day they came across a elephant that had a splinter. The carpenters helped the elephant and he then helped them with their work after that. He later brought his son to also help with the carpenters and they learned to love the young elephant. One day the king saw the work and payed for the young elephant to have for his own and took great care of him.
The ox who envied the pig: The ox was jealous of the pig that got the good food to eat but they were just fattening him up for the wedding. The ox later realized that he was fed normal food and was able to live longer than the pig.
Grannies Blackie: The elephant worked hard for a day and earned money for the grannie.
The crab and the crane: the crane told some fish in a small pond that their was a bigger pond he could take them instead of dying in a small tiny pond. He tricked the fish and ended up killing them all for food. Later on a crab did the same thing but instead of lying on the back of the crane it rode with its claws around his neck. When he realized that the crane would kill him too he snapped the cranes neck and got away free in the new bigger pond.

The Deer that lived



Jataka Stories

Week 10 Readings

Monkey and the Crocodile: The monkey gets conned by the crocodile by getting a ride from the crocodile. The crocodile starts to kill the monkey by drowning him but because the monkey was quick witted he said that he had left his heart up in the tree and would need to go back to get it. He was able to trick the crocodile into letting him get back on land and safe his life.
How the Turtle saved his own life: He was able to save his life by tricking the people that going into the water would be worse than leaving them to die by the hands of the people. He would much rather be in the water and was able to escape his certain death.
The Merchant of Siri: The first merchant didn't want to buy the bowl for what its actual value was but the second merchant was honest and paid all he could for it and that ended up being great for him in the long run.
The turtle who couldn't stop talking: All the turtle had to do was not talk and hold on to the stick with its mouth but instead it talked and fell to its death.
The Ox who won the forfeit: The ox was very strong and could pull many pounds but whenever his owner bet he could win a bet he talked badly to him. The ox didn't like that and could not pull the load but the next day the owner talked nicely to the ox and was able to win double the amount of money for another bet.
The Quarrel of the Quails: The quails worked together at first but the catcher was able to get them whenever they weren't working together to catch them in his net and sell them for a good price.
The measure of Rice: The vaulor was able to set the prices of all the objects and to impress the kind he made a measure of rice worth 500 horses but it backfired when the king said 500 horses would be worth his whole city thus making the measure of rice worth a whole city.
The Foolish, Timid Rabbit: The rabbit heard a coconut fall out of a tree and gets scared and starts running. He tells people the world is breaking and other animals join in. IT is not until the lion says that it was just a coconut that the animals all stop running for no reason.

The lion stops the animals running

Jakata Tales

Week 9 reading: Part B

The Five Tall Sons of Pandu

The story is the same as it describes the life of Pandu and his five sons that he is father too. Once Pandu dies his blind brother Dhritarashtra takes over but is know to hate his cousins sons. Karna challenges Arjuna, one of pandu's sons to an archery duel as both are great at the act. Drupadi is the king of Panchala and he has a daughter thats name is Princess Draupadi. Arjuna disguised as a hermit is able to win the contest after draupadi says that she will not marry a low born husband and thus allowing Arjuna to win Draupadi. In this story however instead of having to share his wife with the five other Pandavas he must give his wife to Yudhishthira as this is a big change in the story. Through all this Yudhisthira becomes king and takes over the land of the Yumanu river. Dorydhana gets jealous of Yudhisthira new found kingdom and decides to trick him into a bet. He loses a gambling match against the famous gambler Shakuni, he loses his family and his freedom through this bet and they are sent into exile. They are sent into exile without Draupadi but after she is mistreated back at home she uses his one wish to go into exile with the Pandavas. They had to spend 12 years in exile and then 1 year in a disguise. They spend their year of disguise in the court of king Virata. Duryodhana is up to plans again and steals King Virata cattle. Arjuna and his brothers get together to win back their cattle with their special weapons thus revealing who they really are to the king. They win back their cattle for the King and realize it is now time to win back their kingdom.

Princess Draupadi

The five tall sons of Pandu, Wilson, http://iereadingguides.blogspot.com/2014/05/guides-guide-wilson-mahabharata.html

Week 9 Reading: Part A

This shows where the dynasty started and how Bharata was first to to pass down the crown to Vichitravirya who had two sons. These two sons names were Dhritarashtra and Pandu. Panda ends up becoming the new king and has 5 sons that all end up running in a pack. Their name were the Pandavas and are said to be the sons of gods. After Pandu dies the new king is Dhritarashtra. Vidura is helps the pandavas escape the death set up by Duryodhana but they end up escaping by going through a secret tunnel. The Pandavas have a set of different battles against different demons that lose along the way. As they travel they go to fight for the hand of the beautiful Draupadi and it comes down to the end but Arjuna wins the contest and the hand of Draupadi. He must share his wife with his 4 other brothers. The Pandavas take over half of Dhritarashtra kingdom that he passed over. After this Arjuna sent himself into exile. We move on to Yudhishthira and his story of how he is an obsessive gambler. Shakuni is a very skilled gambler and the two go into a gambling match of dice for very high stakes. His loses are very consequential and it forces the pandavas into exile. When the pandavas are in to exile Yudhishthira sends them with a  copper pot that is able to provide them with food for their time in exile.

Burning forest

Mahabharata: the princes of elephant city       http://iereadingguides.blogspot.com/search/label/Guide%3A%20Kincaid.%20Mahabharata   

Reading Notes: Part D

Drona takes over Duryodhana's armies and vows to take Yudhisthira under prisoner. It was a very well fought way from either side and it ended in many casualties from both armies. As more are lost it becomes time for one of the promising oaths of the Pandavas to come true and fulfill its prophecy. Bhima will finally take revenge over the treatment of Draupadi by Duhshana after the gambling match that had happened so long ago. The battle of Arjuna and Karna is the main climax of the whole war and the main scene that takes place in this story. Karna is dead and lost the huge battle. Just like any good story their is always a good twist and that comes when the pandavas are planned to be killed while they are sleeping by Ashwatthaman. After this twist we see a change in the leadership of the lands and Yudhisthira is now taking over the throne. A lot of things happen around the ganges river and Vyasa brings back the ghost of dead warriors. The Pandavas and Draupadi now decide that it is their time to go back to the heavens and ends with Yudhisthira taking over his new throne.


Mahabharat,Slavitt, David R., and Henry L Part D

(Pandavas and Draupadi)

Pandavas and Draupadi

Reading Notes: Part B

The pandavas were under pressure from many people as they were under fire about their recent marriage but a few of these people are scared because they know as a core set of 5 the pandavas are strong especially with their special weapons to go along with it. One of the ways they can see the demise of the Pandavas is by playing a game of dice and tricking the Pandavas. they can not pass down on a challenge. Yudhisthira is playing the dice game and starts to lose everything and will not stop till he wins. He eventually bets away his brothers and himself and even goes as far as to bet and lose his wife. The brothers and their wife are taken in and stripped completely all of their belongings. Yudhisthira and his brothers are let go but that makes Duryodhana furious and invites them all back for a rematch but this time the stakes are more steep as years of exile are involved in the punishment. Once again Yudhisthira loses and he and his brothers go into exile. they are given a copper bowl and a endless food supply so they are able to eat while they are away. Arjuna rejects a woman that falls in love with him and a curse it put on him but it will lead to benefit later in life. He also acquires weapons from the gods and this makes the Pandavas very happy.

Mahabharat,Slavitt, David R., and Henry L, Part B

(The five brothers and their wife)

Pandavas

Reading Notes: Week 6 part A

This story already starts off a little different because of how the women ins this story is killing babies by drowning them in a river. There is a lot of different people marrying others and switching throughout this first part of the story. A lot of the couples are summoned because one person does not want to sleep with someone so they tell someone below them in the hierarchy chain to sleep with that person. This continues all the way till a more important character comes into play named Pandu. Pandu is born looking very pale and is not allowed to have children because of a curse put on him. He has two wives though. Pandu is hunting one day and kills a deer as it is having sex but he is curse again that he too will have to die while having sex the same way. Panda ends up having 5 sons by the help of a God, Yama, but ends up dying while having sex later on. His wife Kunti has to take their 5 sons with her to Pandu brother house so that they will have a place to live. The 5 boys also known as Pandavas are loved by the new people and Pandu brother kids start to resent them for it. They want to have the Pandavas exiled from their land. Eventually they build a trap for the Pandavas in this house of joy built for them. It is made of very flammable material so it will catch on fire when they are in it. They narrowly escape but everyone else thinks they are dead. Through a contest in the woods one of the Pandavas is able to win and makes Draupadi the wife of Arjuna but Kanti always says that the 5 brothers must share everything they win. This means Draupadi is now the wife to 5 husbands. This was not the first time this has happened to Draupadi however as once in a different lifetime she was married to a sage that would make love to her through 5 different men. Once her husband left her she prayed to shiva that she would have those 5 men again.

(Pandavas and their wife)

brothers and wife

Mahabharat,Slavitt, David R., and Henry L, Part A

Reading Notes: Week 5

I decided to read another comic book for the part two reading and this one was Rama and his sons. This opens with Rama exiling Sita even though she was pregnant with their child. Valmiki helps raise the children that Sita gives birth too. She gives birth to twin brothers and they are raised in the image of their father and his accomplishments but do not know that Rama is their father. While Rama is the king of his country he is preparing for a sacred horse ritual that will sacrifice the fallen horse but not after his sons capture the horse. Rama sends a man to save the sacred horse but he is killed by the sons as well. Soon after Lakshama is sent to retrieve the horse but he is challenged to a duel and

Reading Notes: Week 5

I decided to choose the comic books for my reading and my first one was Rama retold from the Ramayana and it mainly focused on the Rama side of the story to the Ramayana. It talked through how Rama became who he was and it started out in his younger years. He was born with his brother and they continue to talk about the same story that we read last week. Rama and Lackshmana being training and fighting opponents that become no match for them. They are defeating many opponents and that starts to create some bad guys that don't like the pair. As they are making enemies of others that list keeps growing by talk amongst the people. This is where Ravana comes with the golden deer to sucker Sita into the trap by making Rama leave her side. Hanuman is guarding Sita but his tail is caught on fire making Lanka catch on fire. This forces the whole town to go into turmoil and making it possible for Sita to be saved after she was kidnapped by Ravana. Ravana refuses a peace offering sent by Rama and this leads to Rama coming in with full force to save his wife. Rama is finally able to kill Ravana by shooting him in his naval and thus killing him completely. Rama is finally made king after all and he has won his battles.

(Sita and Rama)

Sita and Rama


Comic Book Ramayana

Reading Notes: Part D

Ravana continues to use his special powers to one up Rama and hide Sita from him. This obviously still does not stop the pursuit of Sita by Rama. Garuda comes into the story and plays a big role for Rama being the healer. This could be huge of their group because he can help Rama's wounded soldiers gain their health again. Ravana continues to play mind games with Rama and make him feel like Sita has already been killed but Rama gets a tip from Vibhishana to find the right attacking point to find Ravana at his weakest. Ravana only wants to avenge his son's death in battle and will not stop till he finds Lakshmana. Rama and Ravana square off in the final fight but it has been plans the entire time that Ravana was gong to die at the hands of Rama. This would be a good story to write about as it was always in the destiny that Ravana was going to die and Rama got the help of the gods to do it. Rama finally becomes king after his fourteen years of exile. Sita is ended up in exile and it is weird ending to the story because she was why everyone worked so hard to gain in the first place. Rama realizes his time has come and he ends up going back heaven to be with his brother.

(Statue of Ravana)

Ravana

Kamban / R. K. Narayan, Ramayana: A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic Guide D

Reading Notes: part C

I completed the reading and published a blog post with my notes


Part three opens up with some new characters and the traveling of existing characters. Rama gets a leader of his fan club with the new leader Sugriva but has to wait for the right season to go after his wife Sita. Finally they start on their quest to find Sita but it obviously is not going to be easy. Sita is finally found but it will not be easy to regain her from Ravana as he is trying to pursuade Sita to drop Rama. Hanuman has to find a time to talk to Sita but Sita is weary to talk because she does not know if Hanuman is just Ravana in a different form. Hanuman used the things Rama gave to show Sita that Rama was looking for her. Hanuman gets caught by Ravana and his people leading to ways they would get rid of Hanuman. Hanuman finally gets away from Ravana and goes back to Rama to tell of the news and to get a group to return to save Sita from Ravana. This is tough for Ravana because he knows war is coming if he does not give Sita back and this leads to turmoil in his close knit group. His brother ends up leaving him to ally with Rama and now there will be war over the wife of Rama, Sita.

(Picture of Hanuman)Hanuman

Kamban / R. K. Narayan, Ramayana: A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic Guide C

Reading Notes: Part B

I can't imagine coming home to see your family and finding out that your father has died and then you have to perform a funeral to burry him before you get to see your brother that has been in exile. This would be quite the welcome home gift. The demons really do not like Rama and have tried to make it as tough as possible on him this whole time. A lot of the battle that Rama is in often brings the ones around him in trouble. Sita is often under stress that her husband is going to die and she will be without one. Maricha comes back to get back at Rama and I guess you can see how things from your past will always find a way to come back to the surface later in life. Whenever the golden deer is in play it brings me to think a little of Adam and eve and how she wanted something and the man ended up taking the fall in this. Sita fear of losing her husband was her demise whenever she thought he was crying out in pain. Sita knew that she was nothing without Rama and would rather die than live a life without him. Even though Sita was locked up by Ravana she was still able to show her love for Rama through the monkeys she left gifts to give to Rama. For how much Sita loves Rama, Rama loves Sita just as much and will not stop until he wins her back. Rama is profited by many people and he is known to be coming to the different towns by the people.

(the golden deer)

Golden deer

Kamban / R. K. Narayan, Ramayana: A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic  Guide B

Reading Notes: Part A

Rama was forced to be a leader of the group on their great journey and he began to gain a following after he killed Thataka. He didn't want to kill her because she was a female but knew if he didn't that he was going to die. It seems a little crazy to me that someone would give away their daughter if they could just bend a mighty bow. I guess it was just a different and more simpler time then and that is also just the way the culture was. You could guess that Rama was easily going to bend the bow and this story seemed a lot like King Arthur how it was just meant to be that he was going to be the one that was able to do the impossible task. Rama obviously had the magic tough because he did this to multiple bows in this story. Rama got what he was wanted and he was able to marry Sita because of his great act of bending the bow. Jealously and revenge was also always around and you can see a lot of it in this story because of how people would plan to get after Rama. Rama goes from a golden chair to getting exiled. He also has to leave his wife which would be harder than anything else. It starts to make sense where karma comes from now in chapter 19. The karma is that Dasharatha was going to lose his son because of his past. It shows that bad actions will lead to bad consequences in the future. Dasharatha was grieving so hard that it actually killed him because he couldn't see the son, Rama, again. He loved his sons and didn't want to have to face the guilt he had put on himself throughout his life.

Kamban / R. K. Narayan, Ramayana: A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic  Guide A

(Rama and the broken bow)

Rama picture