Epics of India - Vinay Kalvacherla

Vamana  Brought sense to King Bali (Balichakravarthi)  Asked Bali for three steps of land; managed to get the entire universe in that land  Dwarf Brahmin incarnation of Vishnu  Parashurama  Killed all the corrupt peoples Rather violent incarnation  Rama  Read an entire epic on him, wrote several stories on him  Krishna  Story is depicted in the Bhagavatham, but his story is sort of depicted in Mahabharatha, as well  Is one of the most worshipped incarnations  Killed Kamsa, was behind the enlightenment of Arjuna, brought dharma to the Earth  Buddha  Contested ninth avatar of Vishnu; some dispute Buddha the ninth avatar Annulled the cast stratification that was happening  Kalki  Yet to come; will be the "messiah" figure riding on a white horse and bringing about the end times  Interesting parallels to second coming of Jesus/messiah in Abrahamic religions  An image de...

Matsya - the fish form of Vishnu Kurma - the turtle form  Behind the churning of the ocean story; helped both gods and demons churn the mountain to look for the nectar of immortality  Interesting to examine Kurma's role in helping the asuras  Varaha - wrote a story about him  Saved Bhumi by defeating Hiranyaksha Was the boar-headed avatar of Vishnu Narasimha - half-man, half-lion form of Vishnu  His ardent devotee is Prahalada, son of Hiranyakashapa Hiranyakashapa does not approve of his son's devotion and tries to kill him several times to no avail  Hiranyaksha has a boon that makes him essentially immortal; Narasimha finds a loophole in that boon  An image showing Narasimha viciously killing Hiranyakashapa. Source . Bibliography :   Dasha Avatar: The Ten Incarnations of Lord Vishnu, an Amar Chitra Katha publication

Sati was happy with Shiva. Her road to marriage was difficult and laden with obstacles. She had fallen in love with Shiva at a young age, and had fixed her eyes on him for marriage. Her father, Prajapathi Daksha, was a strict devotee of Vishnu, and would not accept Sati's proposals. At the end, Shiva himself had come to take Sati as his bride, and Daksha had no choice but to accept. He did not confer his blessings on the marriage, but Shiva and Sati were satisfied nonetheless. And now news had just come to Sati that her father was holding a yagna , a holy sacrifice, and had invited all the gods and celestials except Sati and Shiva. Sati felt a little embittered about it, but decided she would go uninvited anyway. "A daughter can go to her own father's house uninvited," Sati replied when Shiva tried to object. "I'm sure that's why my father didn't extend an explicit invitation to us." But the reality was vastly different. Shiva stayed behi...

Shiva is described to keep mostly to himself - he is an introvert who lives on Kailash  Sati is described as the perfect wife - her martyrdom is something I'm already familiar with  Could easily write this story from the perspective of the Goddess and dramatize it Uma was born to Himavantha, and is also the pious wife of Shiva; she is Sati reborn to a more accepting father  An image of Goddess Sati immolating herself upon hearing her father slander her husband. Source.   Biblography:  "Cradle Tales of Hinduism," by Sister Nivedita.  Source. 

Shiva refers to Vishnu as "child," and he is the God of Gods Sati wanted to marry Shiva, but her father Daksha was a strict devotee of Vishnu She goes to her own house for the sacrifice after Shiva was uninvited - but to her doom  Next story should be written on Sati  Sati immolated herself, angering Shiva, who wreaked havoc on the world and on Daksha Sati was reborn as Uma (Parvati) Tiger-Foot: a pious saint who prayed to have hands and feet of a tiger from Shiva  Shiva danced in the forests of Taragam and beat the heretical gurus in their acts The churning of the ocean: the gods and asuras worked together to try and retrieve the nectar of immortality; many obstacles came out of the ocean in the process, but Shiva helped overcome them  He drank the poison that came out of the ocean, causing his throat to turn blue  Birth of Ganga: wrote a story in my Storybook about this  A picture depicting the churning of the ocean by the Gods an...

Ideas of male superiority are present throughout many of the tales  A lot of tales are about males trying to take over traditional "male" roles  Women are the trophies of masculine rivalry; men were valued by what they had, including women  Shift from matriarchy to patriarchy happens in perception of goddesses Even brings in Rama - Rama rescues Sita to protect his family's dignity For a long time, even in Hinduism, respect was paid to gods over goddesses A picture depicting the Supreme Goddess, Adi-Parashakti, with the renown Hindu trinity at her disposal. Source. Bibliography:  Seven Secrets of the Goddesses, Pattanaik,  Link to source. 

As human civilization advanced, the status of women declined; God worship overtook the idea of Goddess worship  This seemed to change; Bronze Age - groups of women worshipped alongside a male  Connects the Virgin Mary to the pantheon of old goddesses discussed; raises tones of masculine hierarchy Discusses how women became commodities in trading communities  Different "vivahs" describe the commodity nature of women here  Could be interesting to pull in the Supreme Goddess's perspective on this  A picture depicting the ferocious Goddess Kali. Source . Bibliography: Seven Secrets of the Goddesses, Pattanaik, Link to source. 

Arjuna was born to fight wars. No, literally - he was born into the Kshatriya caste, which constituted the warriors and rulers. He had been preparing for battle and warfare since he was born. He had been the most astute warrior ever known, never faltering with his bow and arrow. And, today, he was faced with the hardest battle of his life. He stood in the Kurukshetra Battlefield, facing his cousins and teachers. Drona, Bhishma - the whole crew. He didn't know what to do. He stood and stared at everyone sharpening their weapons and preparing for battle before leaning in to his charioteer, Krishna, and whispering, "I don't think I can do this anymore. I've fought the toughest of wars in the world, but this is tougher than those. I cannot bring myself to kill my cousins and teachers, Krishna." Krishna immediately grabbed the reins and steered the chariot into the middle of the battlefield. Everyone on both the Pandavas' and Kauravas' side froze and st...

Krishna reveals himself as the origin of all things - including the Devas Interesting parallels to other religions here; Krishna says he "gives knowledge to those who come to him;" similar to the concept of God in Islam, in which God has the ultimate power over all and can will anything  Krishna shows Arjuna the Vishwarupa - his Cosmic form  It would be interesting to write a story just describing this alone  Arjuna is moved by the Vishwarupa  Krishna reveals the bhakti yoga  - path of devotion, which is far more accessible to laymen  Krishna also establishes the fate of people in the afterlife - who goes to heaven, who is reborn, and who goes to hell  He describes what are "good" and what are "demonic" qualities  Another parallel to a different religion is made in the chapter about nirvana through renunciation - this time, Buddhism  How did the rest of the battlefield play with this dialogue? How was it possible to fight aft...

Story told in the form of Sanjaya relaying events to Dhritarashtra  There are a lot of warriors out on the field; this is interesting to note that it's more than just the Pandavas and Kauravas present  Arjuna breaks down at seeing his family members across the battlefield; this would be interesting to write yet another story from he viewpoint that he doesn't question the fact that they are his family members  What if he is filled with so much anger that he doesn't care who's there? He also says it would be better if the Kauravas just killed him while he was unarmed - it would save him the burden of having to fight  Krishna tells him about karma yoga: doing one's duty as if one is worshipping, so to speak  Also talks about asceticism as another path; interesting parallels to Islam here  Path of attaining knowledge is another one  Krishna then describes the all-power Brahman - smallest of the small, largest of the large It would be cool...

Elephant with the sore food - could have symbolism of Vishnu there A recurring Hindu theme is that strangers/guests tend can be God in disguise The elephant was nice and decided to pay the carpenters back with service Elephant passed down the tradition to his younger elephant son (the white elephant) Cultural elements present here King buys the elephant  Expected a sad ending here for some reason, but instead it was happy; moral is that doing good for others will have its own reward  Good story to write here is what would have happened had the elephant decided to stay with the carpenter's kids  Could also bring in divine aspects - what if the white elephant was an incarnation of Vishnu? Could he have given the carpenters a material reward that way? A picture of a white elephant. Source. Bibliography : Jataka Tales. "The King's White Elephant." Link to story

The sand made the terrain very hot; only at nighttime could people walk They were eager to get out of the sand/desert  Would be interesting to see what they would do if they were completely stranded in the desert  The driver of the oxen fell asleep; when he awoke, he found that all the water was gone  Interesting to pull in perspectives of the Devi in here in orchestrating all of this; goes well with my stories  The villagers looked for a place where the grass grew - because they knew water was beneath it Boy heard water beneath the rock; people drilled into the rock and water gushed up, filling the well  The cool water allowed men to drink well  Men cooked their rice with the water, and they felt better for the day; they set up a flag  Next morning: they sold their goods, and returned home An image depicting a man who had thrown away his water and had no water left.  Source.  Bibliography : "Jataka Tales," The S...

The jungle is a hard place to live. The bugs are after the grass, the insects after the bugs, the lizards after the insects, the birds after the lizards, the mongooses after the lizards, the bobcats after the mongooses...it's a competitive world, and the cost of losing is death. At every moment in time, everything - and I mean everything - is about survival. One slow step under the eyes of a leopard or tiger and you're dead. The lions lived in their own den on one side of the jungle, the tigers on another side, and the monkeys high up in the trees. Everyone lived segregated, and creatures rarely interacted with animals outside their species. You never know who's the predator and who's the prey in any situation. Even at common-ground water holes, no one went for a drink haphazardly or alone. I like to think of it as a war. A tense, prolonged war that began at the inception of the universe and which will never have an ending. It's the war of life. This war had...

Telling the story of how Brahma decided to mess with Krishna from the point of Brahma would be interesting  Perhaps some kind of interesting drama between Brahma and Vishnu can be cooked up in the story  Describing Krishna's sadness through his point of view at him learning that he was the savior of Dharma would be interesting  Could delve into the inner workings of Vishnu here The sadness is vividly apparent when Krishna leaves the Yadavas; Akrur sees Vishnu in his true form  Krishna healing Trivakra is very interesting...nice story to tell from here. Could even add in Harry Potter elements  Krishna brings about the end of Kamsa  Krishna moved Mathura to Dwaraka to avoid attack - thinking of alternates here would be interesting  An image depicting Krishna in his kingdom of Dwaraka.  Source. Bibliography:  Krishna by Epified, Link to Story

Crafting the story to make it seem as if Kamsa ruled harshly because Krishna had planned for it to be that way - the deaths of the first six of Devaki's children would have been predestined  A story about the celebrations as people realized that Vishnu was coming to Earth (as Krishna) would be interesting to explore  Comparing Vasudeva's experience with the Yamuna to Jesus's experience walking on water would be very interesting  An interesting take on the interactions of the Goddess and Vishnu: talk about Maya's interactions with Kamsa The perspective of Putana would be interesting - perhaps writing a story making it seem like a predestined fate (like was expressed earlier in the idea about Kamsa) would be worthwhile  The universe is seen in Krishna's mouth - would be cool to incorporate the Goddess into the power of Krishna here The love between Radha and Krishna could be compared to that of Rama and Sita - perhaps written from the view that Krishna knew ab...

A possibility for a story or exploration is to tell a story from the point of view of Gandhari, who, according to some legends, chose to blindfold herself in order to emulate her blind husband's day-to-day life  What is Karna's point of view on all of this? As the son of the Sun, doesn't he have an elevated demigod status? Writing a story from the point of his view and giving him a degree of omniscience would be interesting - it would make it seem like what happened was all predestined  Dhritarashtra has 100 sons (the Kauravas), but some stories say that of those 100 children, 99 were sons and there was actually 1 daughter. It would be interesting to explore that  Drona is a very interesting character throughout the Mahabharatha as a whole - he is involved with both the Kauravas and Pandavas, but also has that side story of Ekalavya. And, he chooses to fight for the Kauravas in the final war. Why so? Perhaps that could be the source of future exploration Artwork...

'Twas a joyous occasion. The three contenders for the throne of Hastinapur were born: Dhritarashtra, Pandu, and Vidura. The throne would not go unoccupied! The people of the city celebrated with music, drink, and food for three days and three nights straight. They thanked the gods for their generosity in ensuring that Hastinapur's royal legacy passed on. However, there were problems. Prince Dhritarashtra was born blind, and Prince Pandu was always sickly thin and pale. Of the three, the wisest and healthiest was Vidura. This persisted even as the three princes grew up. Dhritarashtra was always fair and just in his judgment, using his sense of hearing to make up for his lack of vision. Pandu was a good warrior, but got tired very easily. Vidura, however, was both just and valiant. No one beat him in the warrior training grounds, and even the court elders looked up to his fair judgment. The people absolutely loved him. The time came for one of the princes to be crowned King...

What if Queen Ganga decided not to drown their children, but instead made them denizens of the river? Since she herself is the Goddess of a river, then that adds a new twist to the story  One possible plot twist could be making the story of Devavrata similar to that of Karna, in which he fights against his own kin, Shantanu, bringing interesting parallels/foreshadowing  The story of Shantanu and the fisherman's wife could be twisted into a story of a "test" for Shantanu A thought question: what if Devavrata never took the vow of celibacy that made him become Bhishma? What if he just chose to subdue the fisherman? A potential story line could also be one in which Amba and her two sisters fight back against Bhishma, or agree to his commands with the goal of usurping all the power for themselves Amba also goes to Parushurama - another avatar of Vishnu - to resolve her issue with Bhishma  I could also write a story from the perspective of Vyas, the loyal son of Saty...

I think, looking back, that I have made good progress so far and that I am happy with my level of learning and growth. I have a pretty set weekly routine as far as finishing the assignments goes, and I really enjoy the storytelling option the best of all of them. However, I think my grade points-wise is lower than I want it to be because I had to skip a few assignments in the second week to take the MCAT and just haven't gotten around to doing enough extra credit to make up for it yet. I did do some of growth-mindset extra credit last week, though, and really enjoyed it, so I am planning to do more of those this week to help me. Looking forward, I think I want to be more proactive on finishing the blog comments and project comments so that I have more time for the extra credit. A meme depicting Shia LeBeouf yelling "just do it," borrowed from one of his YouTube videos. Source.

I think the comments that I am receiving from other people in the class are rather constructive, and I appreciate the "human" aspect of these comments. Realizing that it may be difficult to connect with others in the class, since this is an online class, I like that I get to see some new comments each week on my introduction. I think the quality of feedback that I have been giving out has also steadily gotten better as I have gone through the class. Reading other peoples' work and giving them feedback helps me understand areas where I can improve my own writing, and realizing what kind of feedback I would like for myself helps me improve the feedback-writing process process. As for blog comments, as I mentioned before, I am quite happy with receiving new blog comments each week, and like that I get to meet new people that way. To make feedback assignments more useful to me and for others in the future, I think I would try spending more time on each piece that I am offerin...