Story: Sita the Eternal Flame

Note: This story takes place when Rama captures Lanka and retakes Sita. He is questioning her loyalty, and considering throwing her in a great pyre.

Source: PDE Ramayana http://ouocblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/pde-ramayana-sita-is-tested.html

Now Sita, hearing all of Rama's foul accusations about her and Ravana, was publicly shamed and tired and wondering what she could do to recover from this. No matter how much she begged or pleaded with Rama, he stood by his views that it would be unfit for a king to take a queen that has lived so long in the house of another man. Rama then suggests giving her a trial by fire- if she is indeed pure, she should be unharmed.

His army of bears helped put together a great pyre for Sita, and when it was all finished, practically the whole city was gathered to watch what was to unfold. Sita looked positively radiant as she made her way up to the great pyre. All that looked upon her were marveled by her beauty, except Rama. He has already come to terms with Sita's demise; he knew in his heart she wasn't loyal

As Sita was situated on the pyre and ready to light, she said a few last words. She looked directly at Rama, and spoke to him, "Rama, my once beloved. You will come to regret these actions. Know that." And with that, Rama gave the command, and the pyre was lit.

Sita began screaming louder and louder as she lit up, until, suddenly, she cried out to the god of fire, Agni, and immediately burst into ashes, and was never seen, in her human form again. For when she called out to Agni, it was not to save herself, but to put a curse on Rama, Agni could see that she was pure and did not deserve such a harsh death, so he had allowed Sita to avenge herself in some way. From now on, whenever Rama lit a fire near him or there was a fire near him, it would be Sita's face he saw in it, and Sita's voice he heard in it. He could never escape her, if he wanted light and warmth for the rest of his life.

Sita on the Pyre

And with this knowledge, Rama grew regretful in his hasty and harsh actions against Sita, and he begged her and the gods forgiveness. But none was given.

Author's note:

I wrote this because after I read about Sita being almost burned alive in Ramayana, I thought of all the ways it could have gone worse, and wanted to test out an idea I had,

Reading Week 6 Part A: PDE Mahanharata

These reading notes are taken from reading PDE Mahabharata found here: http://ouocblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/mahabharata-online-public-domain-edition.html

As always, I will just be taking notes on things I can find interesting or things I can use for my upcoming stories.

I like how it was two godly figures that created both Ramayana and Mahabharata, it gives them a more mystical feel.

How did a king's semen just happen to fall in a river??

Devavrata is an interesting character since he is a human but has godly powers.

That fisherman asked A LOT from King Shantanu in return for his daughter.

Bhishma sacrificed a lot just to get his dad a pretty young bride, I wonder why he wanted to do it.

It is a little ironic he is doing all these things just to secure the throne for his little half-brother, who took the throne from him.

Bhishma seems similar to Rama in that they are both seemingly the best archers to ave ever lived.

This image of Bhishma fighting for the brides was my favorite from reading A:

I'm interested in seeing the story of Amba unfold throughout the story. Her transformation is pretty dark by today's standards, I like it!

I wonder if Pandu will be as great of a king as Rama. The story of how Karna came to be is not unlike greek mythos of gods having children with mortals.

I just realized the hunting accident in Ramayana is just like what happened to King Robert in Game of Thrones!

At least Pandu wasn't killed like King Dashartha.

Lots of curses involve things of sexual nature in India, Epics...

It's silly that the wives are arguing over who gets to burn to death.

The main thing that differentiates this epic from Ramayana so far is that there is more time covered. It has already been 50ish years from the beginning of the story, and I am only halfway through part A.

I bet something crazy will happen between the Pandavas and the Kauravas. Of course Duryodhana would use posion. What a bad person.

Drona seems like a nice guy, I hope he helps out the Pandavas/

Comment Wall

Here is my Comment Wall for my Ravana storybook project.

You can find the website here : https://sites.google.com/view/ravanastorybookbr/home

Week 4 Reading Notes: Ramayana Part D

For the last part of this version of Ramayana, Part D, I will continue taking notes that I think will help me for the story.

Source: PDE Ramayana

It's interesting how even Rama performs sacrifices to gods, it shows how common it was back then. Also like the mention of his celestial weapons.

All the gods respect Rama so much they build him a bridge to attack Lanka.

I like how crafty Ravana keeps proving to be , if only that messenger wouldn't have come in and made Sita realize the battle was still going on. I can probably write a story where sita is fooled.

It is interesting how quickly they add new characters to the story, but it does make sense since it's an epic. It's kinda cheap how Indrajit could just make himself invincible.

Rama didn't seem too upset from his brother's death..

Garuda is a great guy.

That picture of Kumbhakarna from the blog is awesome, so I went and found another one here:

If Rama wouldn't have been there to stop Kumbhakarna, everyone would have died.

It is crazy how many celestial weapons both armies are using.

I like how even back then the Himalayas were renowned for their size and beauty.

It is a little silly that Hanuman actually picked up a mountain and set it on top of Lanka, although it is very creative!

I liked the cunning of Lakshmana to set up the ambush and kill Indajit.

I am actually feeling a little sorry for Ravana, since his most beloved son was slain.

So now that Lakshmana seems to have died for real, Rama seems distraught. But wow these Himalayan herbs are quite powerful.

I like the prose describing the weapons given to Rama from Indra.

The wise-man giving timely advice is a very common trope, but it works out in this epic.

These celestial weapons are really the key to everything in Ramayana, if you have some, you are unbeatable! I like how Rama was named king of Lanka, where at least he can rule.

It's been so long since Sita has even seen Rama, I wonder what will happen!

Wow that was an interesting decision Rama made to decide not to take back Sita. You can see how back when this epic was put together, the culture still put a great deal of value on a woman being "untainted". I like Sita's answer to all this though.

It is kind of ridiculous Sita had to have fire vouch for her.. and Rama wouldn't believe her on her own. I like the little narration Rama tells when they are flying to ayodha.

The reunion of brothers was a little touching to me, because I have two brothers.

I was really expecting the story to end with Rama's crowning, this Sita exile situation is a real twist I don't like how Rama still questions her purity, even after the fire said she was pure. What's up with that? Also, why is he so sad that she ascended into heaven, even though he exiled her for 16 years

The ending was nice, with Rama and his brothers returning to a heavenly state, even though I felt like Hanuman got a little slighted by not being allowed to join,

Feedback Strategies Thoughts: Week 3

For Week 3 Feedback Strategies, we are reading articles on giving feedback. The two articles I read are:

• Be a Mirror 
• Specific Feedback that Helps Learning

I picked these two because they look interesting and helpful, and I wanted to learn a little more about giving specific feedback, because at least I've noticed before that that seems to be the best kind of feedback to give.

For the "Be a Mirror" article, I learned that people can often progress at different paces because of theri beliefs in their own abilities. And when they believe they can grow those abilities, instead of remain static, they often use more problem solving and other tools to do the best they can. Soa  big takeaway I got from the article is when giving feedback, focus on what the person is doing instead of what they are not doing, so you can give better specific feedback in a growth positive framing, and they won't feel bad, and instead, hopefully, lke they are on the right rack.

For the Specific feedback article, I learned that it is important to give feedback that is goal-oriented, so the student feels like your feedback is actively helping them get to some goal they are trying to achieve, instead of just thrown out there as a general criticism. I think if you frame most feedback in that way, people would be more receptive of it, because most people are trying to reach some goal, and if your feedback acknowledges that and tries to see how they can get there, that is actually helpful feedback!

I found an image of Sugriva asking for feedback! Make sure it is specific. (Link)

Project Topic Brainstorm Week 3

Last week, I looked at 3 options for my project that seemed viable. This week, I will focus in on only one of those options::

Ravana.

I decided to go with Ravana because even though I am not done with my Ramayana reading, I am still liking his character, and how he isn't wholly good or wholly evil but a good mix of both, and I think he could make an interesting project.

To get more research done on him, I clicked on the page you put together that acted as the hub for sources for him here. I looked at past projects and I want to look at Ravana: Roar of the Demon King, along with prior knowledge of Ravana from Ramayana and wiki articles I've already read to brainstorm possible stories.

For my first idea, I have thought about a type of origin story with Ravana. Since the gods seemed to have a great interest in Ravana, I think it could be interesting to explore his early relationships with those gods (like how Ravana has that curse on him from Brahma that only allows him to have consensual sex), and explore his time before Rama.

For a second Idea, I think I could flip the story in Ramayana around a little bit, and have Ravana bow down to Rama, and then when Shurpanka gets her ears cut off, instead of Ravana getting angry and going after Rama, he decides to side with Ramam since he is wise and can see that he would be no match for him. I think there are a lot of ways I could go with this story, I would just have to be creative and descriptive and give good reasons for his actions that still are true to his character.

For the last idea, I've thought about changing the story to where after Ravana takes Sita away from Rama, he is unable to get her back for a long long time because of reasons I will think of later, so she ends up reluctantly liking Ravana more and more until she eventually shares mutual interest with him, and she becomes Queen of Lanka. This story would be pretty crazy, because there are a lot of ways I could go with the story.

This is how I think of Ravana; How could Sita not want this?

Storytelling Week 4: Sampati and Jatayu Spot Rama

My story doesn't really have a source story because I am completely making up an event that happens, but the characters would be pulled from PDE Ramayana.

This story takes place before Sampati loses his wings trying to shield his brother Jatayu from the sun, and before Rama was exiled.

Sampati and his brother Jatayu were young adult birds, and just now learning to hone their abilities and prowess in battle and in the air. Their father, the personification of the Sun's red glow, Aruna, instructed them to leave the nest and spend some time hunting and exploring to grow stronger.

Things were going well, with the two natural born hunters thriving out in the wild world, hunting whatever they pleased, and simply flying away if they ran into anything they couldn't handle. They ventured farther and farther from their nest until they came across a great jewel of a city, Ayodhya. They had never seen a city as large and spectacular as Ayodhya, and decided to fly closer to take a look.

As they got closer, they could see there was some type of commotion going on. In the city center, there was what looked like an archery exhibit going on. There was a great crowd of people, commoners and highborns alike, and their singular focus was on a young, handsome man with skin the color of the sea. The brothers decided to perch atop a guard tower to get a better view, their curiosity now piqued. They watched intently as he let loose seemingly impossible amount of arrows at the target roughly 100 meters away. The birds and the crowd alike were astounded by his accuracy, as the hundreds of arrows he fired all hit exactly where he intended; some arrows even hitting other arrows already lodged in the target, splitting them down the shaft.

The birds were in awe of this incredible display, and their first reaction was to fear this incredible warrior. But once the display was over, the brothers watched as Rama displayed his penchant for grace: talking joyously to everyone in the crowd alike, blessing babies, and generally being a humble guy. They heard the crowd mention his name, "Rama." Sampati spoke to his younger brother Jatayu, letting him know his feelings for this man,"Jatayu, we must be ready to fight for this young warrior when the time comes. With his power and gifts, no demon would be able to hold him. We must remember this day, and prepare. Let us return to the nest and speak to the others what we have learned."

Jatayu agreed with his older brother, and added, "I'll race you home, brother" and took off towards the sun.

Here is a picture of Sampati I like because it depicts him as being HUGE.

Author's note: After doing reading C of Ramayana, the story of Jatayu and Sampati really stood out to me because I always liked large, friendly, fierce mythical creatures, and the two brothers reminded me of the great eagles from Lord of The Rings that save the day at the end. So I decided to write more about them, and include this event that could have possibly happened, and give another reason for why Jatayu would have helped Rama in getting SIta back from Ravana.

Week 4 Reading EC Notes: Ramayana Part C

As always, I will continue to just write down things that I feel are interesting or something I could use/alter in a story.

From  Rama and the Monkeys by Geraldine Hodgson (1903)

I like the character of Hanuman, and how he was introduced into the story with a "heart overflowed with gladness." I could possibly change him from a monkey to some other creature. I really like this picture of Sugriva and Rama together because I think it personifies Sugriva's character by making him a humanoid monkey.

I thought it was interesting that Rama sneakily killed Vali, when he was an accomplished and honorable warrior that should have been able to take him head on. 

Rama showing that he is kind of whiny, because after all, it was his decision to honor the exile.

But then again, he has been without his wife for a long time.

Also, didn't know sita was raped, that is kind of dark for this epic. 

I really like the sampati Jatayu story, and how they flew too close to the sun.

I'm glad Sampati got his redemption, I could see myself writing a story about the bird brothers before Jatayu ran into Ravana and before Sampati's wings were burned.

The espionage mission Hanuman undertakes is entertaining. He really is a devoted follower, I could write more about his exploits.

Its kind of silly that Sita can just pray and the gods will answer her whims.

The twist where Ravan's own brother leaves him to join Rama is a nice touch. I could expand more on that in a story.

Feedback Thoughts: Week 2

The articles I read for this assignment were:

• Silence the Critical Voices in Your Head
• Overcoming the Fear of Feedback

I choose the first article to read because I feel like I often do have critical voices in my head when I am writing, and often hampers my ability to because I am constantly wondering if what I am writing is good enough for others to read, or even myself.

It was interesting to read about how Rajeev, even though he was wildly successful, was only able to focus on the small criticisms, and how that overwhelmed him. Sometimes I feel like Rajeev, where even though I know those criticisms are small in comparison to the successes I've had, I can't help but to focus on and languish over the small mistakes.

The things I can take away from this article are to focus more on the positives, and how I can keep doing them, instead of the negatives, and how to prevent them. Because I believe that if I can focus on the positives, I can make them outweigh the negatives, at least in my mind.

For the article about the fear of feedback, I chose it because while I personally have no qualms giving feedback (and I even think I'm pretty good at it), I still find myself sometimes angry at the feedback given to me by others. Sometimes, I think the feedback isn't very good because "if only they could see the behind-the-scenes" or " they just don't understand what I'm trying to say!" And while maybe sometimes these concerns are valid, the truth is probably that either I didn't explain something well enough, or something was unclear.

 Overall, I think I am better at giving valuable feedback than receiving it, so I think I need to focus more on looking at feedback from others more objectively, and seeing the point of view from the person giving the feedback.

My reaction(sometimes)

                                                                      Image Link

Week 2 (3 actually) Topic Brainstorm

Some possible topics I could use for my storybook project:

Weapons of the Gods:

This topic stood out to me because ever since I was young, I was intrigued by the weapons used in combat throughout history. I remember being maybe 9 or 10, and receiving a book of every tank that had ever been made, and loving it. Since this brainstorm is really my first one, I will for now use the wiki list of all the weapons just to be able to browse and narrow down what I want to use. List of Weapons. The weapon that immediately stood out to me is the Arrow of Brahma, which was used by Rama to kill Ravana. I like this weapon because I had just written a story abut Ravana, and could see myself exploring that arc more.

Creation Stories:

This topic interested me because I was raised Lutheran Christian and was in Sunday school so of course I knew the most famous western creation story. I would like to know more about Indian creation stories, so this topic could satisfy that curiosity. To start researching this, I first looked at the wiki articles for Hindu cosmology and Hindu evolution. If I decide to go more in depth with this topic, I will continue to read more stories (the one of the first man sounds interesting, as does the one about Brahma). I am especially intrigued by Hindu evolution, because the concept is very unique and mind-blowing to me.

The Avatars of Vishnu:

What stood out to me about this topic was just the concept of a god using a mortal body as an avatar. Coming from a christian background, the idea is familiar to me, but I really like the way it was implemented in Ramayana (from what I have read so far). I'm sure once I do more and more of the readings, it will help me understand more about how the avatars work and how they are supposed to fit into the overall epic. I read the wiki article on Dashvatara, the Ten Avatars of Visnhu. If i decide to go more in depth with this topic, I think I'll read the comic books about the avatars. Also it makes me think of James Cameron's Avatar. (Also they are blue like Rama is usually pictured!)

Ravana:

Lastly, this topic grabbed my interest because of my past storytelling blog where Ravana was the main character. After reading some about Ravana in reading A and B of Ramayana, I really like his character because he isn't decidedly evil or good; just powerful and looking out for his family. I read the wiki article on Ravana to star my research brainstorming, and if I decide to go more in depth with this topic, I will be sure to read more about his people, the Rakshasas and his family members,

Storytelling Week 3: Ravana, the New Rama

The following story is meant to alter the events in Ramayana reading Part B, where Ravana comes up with a plot to capture Sika from Rama. ( Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie (1913).

Rama and his brother  Lakshmana, along with Sita, sat alone in a cave deep in the forest, deciding what their next move was. They had only just earlier narrowly avoided death by the hands of Khara and his army of Rakshasas.

Sika was absentmindedly gazing into the forest while Rama and Lakshmana went over possible strategies to counter a possible attack from  Ravana, great king of Lanka and powerful rakshasas. Suddenly, a flash of gold caught Sika's eye. "Rama, see that radiant gold stag in the clearing over their? I want it, would you take it as a trophy for me, your beloved?" Rama rolled his eyes, growing tired of his wife's seemingly ignorant and aloof nature toward the potential danger at hand. However, he did love her dearly, and wanted to put her at ease. He agreed to go out get the stag for her, and be back soon.

Not 5 minutes later, Sika and Lakshmana heard Rama cry out from the woods, "Help Lakshmana !". Knowing Rama could normally fend for himself Lakshmana was hesitant to leave Sika alone, but Sika couldn't handle knowing Rama might be in trouble. He assured Sika he would go out and make sure Rama was ok, and be back shortly. He walked out to where the stag was first spotted, and saw Rama sitting on the ground holding his leg.

He approached Rama, and asked, "Brother are you ok? We heard you calling out for us." Rama replied, with a strange look in his eyes, " Yes brother I am fine, I just tripped and needed some help getting up, would you help me?" As Lakshmana bent down to help him up, Rama took advantage of  his off-balance position, and pushed him into a camouflaged pit that sit right behind him. Now in the pit, he noticed Rama was in there as well, and suddenly realised what had happened. He had been fooled by Ravana. Ravana had not only mimicked Rama's voice, but had also taken his guise. He said to the two brothers in the pit, "You fools, now rot here until the end of time. Now, I'm going to enjoy a little alone time with my wife, Sika."

SIka eagerly awaited the return of Rama and his brother, and was relieved when Rama strode back through the cave entrance. Now Ravana's plan was to get back at Rama by laying with his wife, but Brahma had put a curse on him, so that if he ever try to rape, or lay with a woman that didn't want him, all his heads would fall off. So to get around this, he had taken the form of Rama.

His plan was going perfectly, and Sika agreed that some alone time was nice, and maybe they should think about having an heir. But just as things were about to start, Brahma appeared, and struck down Ravana, revealing his true form. "Oh Ravana, you really thought you could get around your curse through imitation? If they don't want Ravana, in his true form, then the curse is active. Your heads will now be torn asunder." Ravana stood powerless as Brahma ripped off his heads, and banished him back to Khara. Before he left, he helped the brothers out of the pit, and warned them to be more careful from now on, for many would try to even more sinister things in the future.

Author's notes:

I decided to rewrite the part about Ravana decieving in kidnapping SIka because I saw lots of potential in the scene. I wanted to go with making Ravana able to take the shape of Rama, not only his voice, so that he could try to seduce sika, like he does after he kidnaps her in the story. I hope you guys liked it.

                                                            Ravana with Sika. (Link)

Week 3 Reading B Notes: Ramayana

I enjoy how Part B of Ramayana opens up with Bharata returning to Ayodhya, it reminds me of the storytelling trope of the prodigal son returning.

Kaikeyi is a very unsavory mother and widow, and it doesn't seem like there is much reason for her to be. This part of Ramayana is getting political, which surprised me because I didn't expect it to be as nuanced.

The excerpt from Valmiki's Sanskrit Ramayana  is much different that the previous readings. The language used is much older in style and reminds me of reading King James translation of the bible. It really gives a full description of the funeral ceremony for Dasharatha.

I admire hoes steadfast Rama is to being a truthful and "holy" man. It still brings to mind parallels with Jesus.

Bharata either really loves and believes in Rama, or he doesn't want the throne. Or both.

Tumburu is very frightening.

The poetry is powerful and I enjoy listening to it most.

A Rakshasi woman falling in love with Rama was not what I expected to happen. Ramayana has many twists! Expecially because Shurpankha actually offers to consume Rama's wife and bother. How could she think that would've worked?

14,000 men after Rama! Wow. I'm amazed  Also amazed at how resentful Shurpankha is.

Lakshmana knew what was up with the fake voice, but Sita guilted him into going.

I like the overarching story of the gods and how you can see their plan come into action through Rama.

It's interesting how Ravana has a curse so that he could not rape.

Kabandha is a very good character. Lots of imagination really went into Ramayana.

Ramayana keeps getting more and more engrossing; I love the idea of a town in time warp.

For my Image, I chose the image of Bharata reuniting with Rama, because it made me think of if that happened with my twin brother, and how I'd Feel. (Link)

Reading Notes: Ramayana Part A

Having never heard of Ramayana or really having exposure to any Indian Epics, I didn't know what to expect for this first real reading assignment, but I was pleasantly surprised.

I read through Part A pretty fast, and found it to be very interesting, and I especially liked all the parallels it drew to other old fairy tales and myths. I kept thinking how much Rama was like Jesus, being an "Avatar" for a god, and having many gifts and abilities.

I also thought the focus on magic weaponry was interesting, many times in old myths and legends their isn't much thought given to those types of things.

King Dasharatha was one of my favorite characters so far until he died, because he seemed like a very fair and wise ruler, who had distinctly human qualities, like making the mistake and killing the hermit's son in a hunting accident.

Overall, I really liked Ramayana Part A, and I actually look forward to reading part B soon. I like the format of the Public Domain version you have up, it's nice being able to click between the stories, and the "Reading Guide" cleared a few things up for me that wasn't immediately apparent.


Here is my favorite picture from Part A; Rama fighting the demon women. I like the art style, and how grotesque they look. (Link)

Week 2 Story: The Cunning Crane and the Slipper Eel

     This story is a remake of "The Cunning Crane and the Crab" taken from The Giant Crab, and Other Tales from Old India by W. H. D. Rouse.

The slippery eel watched from his little hole carved out among the wall of the small pond, once filled with many fish. Day after day, for the past few weeks, he watched as the cunning crane took fish after fish from the pond to somewhere far away. He had heard them whispering about some big lake paradise, full of fat insects but no fish to eat them. He doubted that the crane actually took them there, because he knew exactly what the hunger was like. But he was powerless to stop the crane, so as he watched the last few fish fall into the Crane's trap, he knew that something had to be done, or else he would starve.

Finally, the day came where there was no life in the pond besides his own and his old friend the Crab. The crab knew something was up too, and assured him that if the crane was to try to take him to the lake, he would not let him get the upper-hand. Hours pass, and lo and behold the crane sticks its slender beak into the pond, and asks if the crab would like to join the rest of the fish in the lake. The crab says yes, but he slyly added that he was too heavy for the crane to carry like the fish, so he would have to allow the crab to grab on with his claws. The crane didn't like this, and looked around for any other more suitable menu item that could be transported with less risk. Spotting the eel, he questioned, "Would you like to go to my big lake, eel? There are plenty of fish there now, more than you can eat, and much more space to move around then this derelict pond." The eel had been waiting for this opportunity, and conceded, only warning the crane not to drop him because he was a bit slippery.

The trip was going smoothly, and the crane couldn't help but smirk. Soon enough he will be feasting on the eel, and a meal that would last him for weeks. But once the eel could see the bones of his old pond mates littering the base of a tree, he knew what the crane intended. As the flew in above the lake, the eel knew what had to be done. The crane had underestimated his strength, and he squirmed his body intensely to get the crane to loosen his grip, and plunged toward the water. But the crane had to be taught a lesson, and the eel always wanted to know what crane tasted like. The eel wrapped the end of his long body around the crane's wing, and crushed it, dragging him into the depth of the lake, never to resurface again. The eel also found that this lake was perfectly suitable, it had plenty of fish; they were just too big for the crane to catch.

It goes to show, no matter how cunning or smart you are, don't get too confident. For there is always someone more cunning or smart then you.

This is a picture of an eel like I like.(Link)

Author's Note:

I remade "The Cunning Crane and the Crab" story because I felt like there were a lot of different ways I could make it different. I decided to change up the story by making the Crane reluctant to carry the crab in this remake, and instead opt for choosing a slippery eel he thinks he can overpower. I also tried to alter the takeaway platitude that was ingrained in the original story.

Bibliography

The Giant Crab, and Other Tales from Old India by W. H. D. Rouse.(Link)