Week 11 Reading Diary B: Pandavas

This episode starts off with the Pandavas running away. Bhima sets the house on fire, but Purochana built a tunnel so they were able to escape with few deaths. Once they left the tunnel, they were taken away by the boatman. They are disguised as Brahmins. Draupadi and her brother, Dhrishtadyumna, were born by butter melted into fire. Their father is King Drupada. Drupada set an archery test to the Pandavas where of course Arjuna dominated. He was actually the only one who passed. Because of this he won Draupadi as his wife. People were surprised, however, because no one knew that he was a Pandava; they were still disguised as wondering Brahmins. Draupadi marries all of the Pandava brothers. Arjuna meets Krishna in the forest and falls in love with his sister Subhadra. He takes her to be his wife. Arjuna and Krishna are approached by Agni who wants to eat the forest. They distract Indra. Maya seeks Arjuna’s protection from Agni and builds a palace for the Pandavas as a gift.

Photo of Draupadi found online.

Week 11 Reading Diary A: Intro to Buck's Mahabharata

In Buck’s version of the Mahabharata, he starts with an invocation of the story. In here Vyasa is the composer of the Mahabharata and Ganesha is the scribe who wrote down while he dictated. The elephant head of Ganesha comes from when Shiva got angry with him and tore of his real head. He ended up replacing his head with that of an elephant’s which is why he has a human body but an elephant head. There is a background of how certain people came to be. The ocean was originally milk and upon it’s churning, Rambha, Lakshmi and others appeared. It turned to poison and Shiva swallowed it.

Shantanu and Ganga fall in love along the Ganges river. She agrees to marry him only if he does not ask her questions of her actions throughout their marriage. Each child that she births she drowns in the river up until the 8^th child, Vasu. She gives Ganga that child and dives into the river where she disappears. That child is Bhishma. Satyavati is born inside of a fish. Her and Parashara have a child named Vyasa. Drona and Kripi had a child together. Drona came to King Drupada to ask for help because they could not feed their child. The king treated him with cruelty. Bhishma employed Drona (and Kripa) as a teacher for Pandava and Kurava princes. Arjuna is the best pupil of all the Pandavas.

Photo of Ganesha found online. 

Week 10 Famous Last Words

Wow, getting back into the swing of school after being at the beach for a week is difficult. With graduation quickly approaching, I find school work becoming a burden! Senioritis is truly hitting me. Luckily that dreaded post-spring break week is over and I am finally finding some motivation for this second wind before I graduate. Taking 19 credit hours my last semester of undergrad was not a wise decision.

This weekend was the Medieval Fair which is my favorite part of the spring semester! In the past, my mom and little sister have been in town and we went as a family. This year, knowing my family wouldn’t be with me, I got some of my friends together along with my boyfriend and his little sister. We all went and had a really great time! My favorite part about the fair is the food because I love every kind of food. Unfortunately, almost all of the food there is fried and my body didn’t appreciate that very much. However, I endured the pain and ate a funnel cake, corndog, and a spiral spud. A spiral spud is a whole potato that has been cut in one continuous spiral form and then fried.

In between binge eating fried foods, I played with animals at the exotic animal area. I held a tarantula, pet a large iguana, and cradled a baby kangaroo. I also almost got stepped on by a giant tortoise and took a picture with a ridiculously heavy snake around my neck. Overall, it was quite a success. I made sure to wash my hands with soap and water afterwards before returning to my food. If you haven’t been to the medieval fair, definitely go next year!

After such an exciting day, I went home for the evening and completed some homework. However, I was quite exhausted and ended up falling asleep. It was quite a successful weekend back in Norman! I will be sad to graduate and leave this fun town.

Personal photo taken this weekend at the Medieval Fair in Norman.

Storytelling Week 10: The Statue of Bhima

War can bring out the worst in people. We have seen this throughout many centuries of village raids. Bhima, a fine warrior, killed many people in this war. He killed the elephant Ashwatthama. He killed Duhshasana and after mutilated his body and drank his blood. Because Duhshasana is the brother of Duryodhana, he hides in despair because of the loss of his brother. “I cannot go on any longer” he says, “That was my best friend and I am too distraught to live life without him.” After coming to the realization that he was angry instead of sad, he decides to dual Bhima who ends up completely hurting him by wounding his thigh. He eventually dies.

Many people were upset by Bhima’s action because he is so brutal in combat. He is notorious for his behavior as a teenager and adolescent because of how he mutilated cats and other small animals in his back yard. His uncle, Dhristarashtra, was especially reluctant towards him. He took Bhima in at a young age because both of his parents were killed in battle. Although he tried to be as good of a father as possible, there was always something off about their relationship. After the end of the war, Dhritarashtra wanted to kill Bhima. For no particular reason really, he was just so upset and Bhima was usually who he took his anger out on.

Krishna was around the corner and heard Dhritarashtra talking in an angry stuper. “Where is my nephew?” He scolded,  “He no longer deserves to live after all that he has done!!” Krishna knew how important Dhritarashtra was to Bhima, regardless of how poorly he treated him. Bhima was always respectful to his uncle because he forever owed him for taking care of him as a young boy. Krishna built a statue with the same clothes and scent as Bhima. It was so realistic that even people who weren’t blind could have fallen for it!

Krishna placed the statue in the corner of the room ready for action whenever Dhritatashtra arrived. Eventually he did, and he came near the statue due to the familiar scent of Bhima. Just as Dhritatashtra came to attack Bhima, the real Bhima entered the room and saw the scene take place. He watched as his uncle attacked what he thought was him. Distraught, he ran out and never returned. He had known for so long that his uncle wasn’t his number one fan, but he had no idea how deep the hatred ran. He lived in the forest and died from a poisonous snake bite.

Bhima vs Duryodhana. Photo found online.

Author’s Note: I chose to write about the Statue of Bhima. I kept the same overall story line, but I added some random details of my own in there with regards to their family history. I wanted to add the dichotomous relationship between Bhima and Dhritarashtra to show that Bhima had respect for his uncle even though he wasn’t always nice to him.

Narayan, R. K. (1978). The Mahabharata.

Week 10 Reading Diary B: Pandava Lives On

Krishna arrives at Dhritarashtra’s emissary and he throws and elaborate reception for her although that is not what she wanted. He plans to take Krishna captive. Yudhishthira makes Dhrishtadyumna the commander of his troops. Bhishma is the commander of Duryodhana’s troops. The battle is going to be at the field of Kurukshetra. Drona escapes Dhrishtadyumna’s attemps at killing him. Bhishma assaults Krishna and it makes Arjuna super mad. But when Krishna went to go kill him, Arjuna pleaded that he don’t. Arjuna shot Bhishma. Arjuna attacks and kills Karna when his chariot wheel got stuck in the mud showing no mercy. After the battle is over, Pandavas go to Hastinapura. Dhritarashta wants to kill Bhima but Krishna puts a statue in his place and Dritarashta crushes the statue thinking it was him. Bhishma was still dying and Yudhishthira goes to speak to him. Eventually once he passed, he was cremated and put along the shores of the Ganges river. Krishna’s city was brought down by the people and he is eventually killed by a hunter who had mistaken his feet for birds. The Pandava line continues as Arjuna’s son eventually becomes king at Hastinapura.

Photo of Bhishma on his deathbed. Found online.

Week 10 Reading Diary A: Pandava quarrels

In this episode, we see the Pandavas are acquiring weapons. While they live in the forest, they chase after a dear that had stolen a staff from a brahmin. They were warned not to drink the water in the forest but they did it anyways. In their thirteenth year of exile, they are disguised as different average people.

Later on in the story, Uttara and Abhimanyu get married. The Pandavas make another peace offering. Here he asks for five villages for each of the brothers to be separated. If this were to happen then war could be avoided. Karna has the Brahmastra weapon. Bhishma tells him that he is conceited and this makes him super angry. War is imminent.

Photo found online.

Week 9 Storytelling: The Childhood of Bhishma

Once upon a time, there was a man named Shantanu. He fell in love with a woman who was very mysterious. Her name was Ganga. She only agreed to marry him if he didn’t question her. He was so lovestruck that he agreed. His wife had deep psychological issues and drowned all of their offspring except the last one. She had reasoning for why she did this, although she never told him why—and she didn’t have to since he agreed in the beginning to ask any questions.

The youngest son that was still living went by the name Bhishma. Bhishma’s parents never told him what happened to his siblings, although he had heard his mother speak of her previous pregnancies. He was a happy boy growing up even though he didn’t have any other siblings to play with. For the most part, he spent time with his mom—he was the definition of a momma’s boy.

The first day of school had arrived and Bhishma had to be separated from his mom 8 hours a day for 5 days a week. He dreaded it at first, but as time went on he began to gain some autonomy. One day, on his way to school, he ran into some classmates. They asked why his mother had drown all of his older siblings. “What?” He exclaimed, “My mother is a wonderful woman. She has always been there for me. There is no way she could ever do that!” Enraged by what they had said, Bhishma stormed home to tell his mother of the terrible rumours he heard.

When Bhishma asked Ganga about the drownings, she was speechless. She had completely forgotten about those tragic events that were suppressed so deep in her memory.  “Oh, son….” She explained, “I have wanted to tell you for many years, but there is no way you would ever understand. I didn’t want to hurt you.” Expecting her to tell him that it was all a lie, Bhishma ran out of the room in tears. He felt so betrayed by his mother that he decided to run away; after all, she was the most important person in his life and she couldn’t even tell him the truth!

Bhishma ran away into the forest where he was attacked by a rakasha. He screamed for his mother’s help but he was too far gone at that point. The next day, Ganga had to bury her son that would still be alive had she told him the truth from the beginning.  

Photo of Bishma brought to his father grown; found online.

Author’s Note: I decided to have Bhishma grow up in a normal community with his mother and father instead of  having Ganga return him to his father when he was grown. During this time he finds out about the drowning of his older siblings through other children at school. I made it seem more like a realistic story because tragic events like that would be talked about in a society like ours today. The moral of the story is that your past actions will always catch up with you if you choose not to face those demons or “skeletons” in the closet.

Narayan, R. K. (1978). The Mahabharata.

Week 9 Reading Diary B: Exile of Pandavas

Part B starts off with Duryodhana worried because he finds out the Pandavas are still alive. He invites them back and give them part of his kingdom. They build it into the city of Indraprastha. Duryodhana is extremely jealous but he warned not to do anything. Crystal Palace is built  to rival Indraprastha. Yudhishthira gambles away Draupadi. She refuses to come out but Duhshasana drags her out and she calls on Krishna for help. Once her robe is removed, her body is replaced with a different one. Yudhishthira loses again and this time him and the Pandavas are in exile for 13 years. Vyasa assures him that all of his enemies will be defeated in the future. This chapter ends with Arjuna meets up with the Pandavas five years later.

Photo found online.

Week 9 Reading Diary A: Intro to Narayan’s Mahabharata

Just as in the beginning of the Ramayana, I was a bit overwhelmed reading about all of these new characters with different identities and names. This reading starts off with Shantanu marrying a woman who is the Ganga river incarnate. She drowns their babies because she is giving birth to eight gods who are being punished. Shantanu then falls in love with another woman, a fisherman’s daughter (he must have a thing for women who live in water). Pandu cannot have children because of the curse that was put upon him when he shot a deer while it was mating. His curse was that he would die the same way--making love.

Purochana builds a house for the Pandavas. They esape through a tunnel after setting it on fire. While they were hiding, Bhima kills a rakshasa. He then marries one of the sisters of the rakshasa, Hidimbi. They have a son Ghatotkacha. Krishna, an avatar of Vishnu, realizes that the Pandavas are in disguise as brahmins. Arjuna wins Draupadi as a bride. Kunti tells the brothers to share what they won, so they shared Draupadi. Ironically, she had five husbands in a previous life. Wow, it would be exhausting to have 5 husbands!

Photo of Draupadi and her 5 husbands. Found online.

Famous Last Words Week 8

This past week has been quite crazy as I have been recovering from being stranded last weekend! With all the snow days and missed classes, I’m sure everyone has had quite a crazy week also. I can’t believe that D-Bo cancelled so much class! Thanks again pres!! With spring break just around the corner, I decided to take full advantage of the snow and went sledding with a bunch of my friends over at Griffin Park. We had so much fun! I think we went all out because we knew this would be the last snow storm we would get before the weather begins to stay consistently warm. We had a massive snow ball fight also. I felt like a kid on christmas morning.

Anyways, one of the things that everyone has been ranting about this week is the video of SAE on campus. In light of recent events, it is important that we as a society realize that racism is still alive. I feel bad for the men who are forced to evacuate their home in the middle of their mid-terms. But, it is really great that president Boren sends a message that racism WILL NOT under any circumstances be tolerated on his campus. One thing that has bothered me throughout this whole issue is the fact that students are posting statuses on social media saying that they are “ashamed of their alma mater.” For starters, one stupid fraternity does not depict this university as a whole. I’m confused how people can say that they’re ashamed of their school just because of a handful of people. Obviously this is heartbreaking to our university, but I feel that our President has made it clear his stance on the matter which should make all of us as students at his university proud. Anyways, hopefully everyone’s voices will be heard. All I have to say is thank goodness next week is spring break!

Personal photo taken March 2015.

Commenting Review Week

Everyone in this course is coming from different backgrounds and majors. Some of us have been in college for 5 years straight while others are just going through the second year or so. No matter what, everyone is at different stages of their academic careers and so we all have different styles and levels of writing. For example, I am not a very great writer and I know that. So having other students comment on my blogs really helps get a different perspective. I am always up for learning and I think we can all learn from each other in this course.  Having other students comment on my blog helps me make sure I’m on the right track and it helps me fix problems in my writing that I would not have previously noticed.

When writing a short comment, I usually focus on the author’s note and why they chose to write that way. When leaving a long comment, I start with the title and author’s note. From there I look at how they write, and try to relate it to what they are trying to get at. I think a title can really catch readers attention so if it is super original and catchy, then I always make a comment about it. The most important part of receiving and giving comments is to be critical but yet give positive reinforcement. It is really important on the receiving end to not take anything personally. After all, at least we don’t have to see these people face to face!

  

Photo found online. 

Writing Review Week

Upon entering this class, I didn’t know what to expect.  When I found out that we would be writing blog posts every week along with a project that included more writing, I was immediately overwhelmed. However, as time has gone on I think this class has helped me get over a “writers block” as some would call it. Because I am a science student, my courses have not required me to write like this. In combination with a couple other courses, this semester has required more writing than all of my undergraduate work combined. This class in particular has really helped me just flow. It also has helped work the creative side of my brain {which has always been lacking}. I usually am given information, memorize it, and the regurgitate it. This class has taught me to take information, digest it, and then put my own unique spin on things. I have learned so much because of it! 

For the second half of the semester, I’d like to bring more quotes into my stories. I have been avoiding a third person point of view because I dread the writing part with commas and quotation marks. It would be a disaster to critique! I have read many other students blogs that have included this type of writing so I think if I continue to read a few more I may be comfortable enough to do it myself. I really enjoy the feedback that I’ve received and given to students. Part of being a college student is to learn. Although we turn to our professors for guidance, it is amazing how much we can learn from our peers. This class has taught me to do so even more than before. I am truly amazed at what this class has done for me. I came in wanting to learn about some awesome stories (which I have ) but I also get to leave with a whole new appreciation for authors, peers, and of course my professors. This has been really rewarding because it is unlike any class I’ve taken. It will be wonderful to look back at the blog that I’ve been compiling for a whole semester. 

Image found online. 

Reading Review Week

The readings in the course thus far have been different versions of the traditional Indian epic, the Ramayana. We started with Narayan’s version, which is the first version I’ve ever encountered. In fact, I’ve never read any sort of indian epic until this class, which is why I took it! After two weeks of reading Narayan’s version, we turned to Buck’s version of the Ramayana. It may just be preferential because it was my first, but I preferred Narayan’s version, I felt that Buck’s version pointed more focus on parts of the story that I personally did not find quite as important. I really enjoyed the Reading Diaries because they help keep me on track with the readings. In retrospect, I forgot quite a bit of what I had read. One thing I have really enjoyed is the Pinterest portfolio. It gives me a visual to what these character are like because I am very much a visual learner. My favorite character from the Ramayana is Hanuman. Upon further investigation on Pinterest, many other people found him as a really strong, loyal, and cornerstone character also. The photos I found of him always depict him in a very loyal manner.

If I had one word of advice for future students, it would be to get your work done ahead of time. Although past students seem to have pounded that into our class, I couldn’t agree with them more. The assignments really don’t take very long but it is important to get ahead instead of behind because it can seem overwhelming. If you don’t understand the reading at first, read the the Reading Guides. They are so helpful! Also, if you can’t decide what you think about a character, make sure to look up the Ramayana online. There are many different websites talking about the story because it is such a legacy.

Photo of Hanuman and Rama found online.