Week 12 Reading Diary B: Siddhartha becomes Buddha

Siddhartha speaks to his horse, Kanthaka to take him away from his father in search of beatitude. The horse took him as far as he wanted to go so they stopped. There he let Chandaka have the horse because he was a true friend. He gave Chandaka a necklace to give to his father and told him that he doesn’t want anyone to ever be unhappy. He is going into hermitage to make the world a better place, not to spite anyone. Chanda had an extremely hard time dealing with this. The Gods came and presented Siddhartha with the robe that he wished to wear.

Chandaka returned and told Siddhartha’s father about what he hoped to accomplish. His father wept but was also very proud of his son’s strength. Siddhartha went to the city of Rajagriha. The king was informed of a God begging and so he offered him riches and even half of his city, but of course Siddhartha could not accept. At one point, people thought he was dead. His mother descended and wept but he assured her that he would not die. He stayed on the banks of the river for 6 more years in the wilderness. He realized he was malnourished and went to a village nearby. His disciples left him because he needed nourishment. He had a dream that told him he would become a Buddha.

Photo found online.

Week 12 Reading Diary A: Life of Buddha

King Suddhodana’s wife had a dream. She went to the forest and called for him. There she told him that she wanted her dream interpreted by a brahman to determine if it was good or bad. The brahmans told her that a son is to be born unto them. He will be live the life of a monk and deserve great praises. The king and queen were overjoyed to hear the news. The king gave to the poor and Maya cured the ill.

Finally, the day came for the birth of Buddha. The queen insisted on having her child in the innocence of nature. The king had the servants prepare the gardens with precious decorations. He had the servants use pearls and precious stones and rare perfumes. Upon Buddha’s birth, everything in the world became beautiful and pure. The kind named him Siddhartha. The hermit Asita further verified the extreme glory to come with the life of this child. Only seven days after the birth of this child, Maya passed away. The child was to be looked after by her sister, Mahaprajapati.

One day Mahaprajapati put jewelry on the young prince. However, it was hard to tell he was even wearing any because of how radiant he was. Siddhartha finally came of age where he was assigned a teacher, Visvamitra. Visvamitra was in awe and he told the prince that he could teach him nothing, in fact, the prince should teach him instead. After that, he had his first meditation. Hermits who passed him bowed as he quietly meditated under a tree. The shadow of the trees had all moved except the one the prince was under.

The prince traveled to a city where he saw and old man and became extremely upset. He could think of nothing other than old age. He decided to return to the city where he had two more encounters. The first was a man afflicted with disease. The second encounter of the two was the corpse of a man. He was continually amazed at how man continue day by day with the knowledge of death.

Photo found online.

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 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 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.

Week 7 Reading Diary B: End of Buck's Ramayana

The final battle took place where Ravana eventually died. Rama finds Sita and discovers her innocence. Part A for this week ended with Rama’s coronation where Hanuman and many monkeys came to watch.  Part B starts off with the journey to Ayodhya where Rama shows Sita the place that him and Hanuman first met. I found this to be very sweet because it shows how much Rama values Hanuman as a friend as well. I love seeing friendships that have reciprocity. Rama finally returns to Ayodhya where Bharata puts his shoes on him that he had promised to save for him so long ago. Many years later, Sita wants to go visit that Ganges river because she is pregnant. Apparently there had been many bad things said about her and it got under Rama’s skin. The people were talking about how they think he was stupid for taking her back even after she had been with Ravana. Despite the fact that it was proven she was loyal to him, he decided to have her abandoned at the Ganges river. I am truly shocked that he did this because it seems so out of his character. I thought it was a bit of a downer on how Buck ended his version of Rama and Sita. The end of Buck’s story talked about Hanuman ripping open his flesh that bore Rama’s name. This finally explained to me why so many pictures of Hanuman have Rama and Sita embedded on his chest. One can only dream to have such a strong, loyal friend as Hanuman. 

Photo of Hanuman found online

Week 6 Reading Diary B: War in Lanka

This episode is all about the war between Ravana and Rama. It begins with Rama building a bridge to cross over the sea to Lanka. The Water King assures him this can be done. Vibhishana makes Ravana mad and so he ends up becoming allies with Rama. Once again, Ravana tries to perform magic tricks on Sita. He had his magicians create an illusion that looked like Rama had been killed. Sita was distraught but someone unaware of the trap came in and announced Rama’s arrival to Lanka so the trick failed.  Sita realized that Rama was still alive and there to rescue her from Ravana. Rama sends a messenger to speak with Ravana but he is outraged and only wants war (typical for his personality).  

Ravana sends demons to attack at night but they are killed. He next sends his giant brother who is eventually killed by Rama. He then asks his son for help. It continuously amazes me how selfish Ravana is in how he will send all of his loved ones out to battle for him but he won’t do it himself. Rama sends someone to get medicine from the Himalaya mountains and this is how Sita knew that Rama was still alive with the help of Hanuman of course. This episode ends with Ravana finally realizing that all the people he sent to battle have been killed. He knows now that he must go battle Rama himself.

Photo of Ravana's younger brother who was defeated by Rama. Photo found online. 

Week 6 Reading Diary A: Hanuman in Lanka

The first episode for this week starts off with Hanuman coming to find Sita. The monkeys decide that he is the one to go to Lanka. This journey is much more detailed in Buck’s version of the Ramayana. Hanuman rests on a mountain while journeying to Lanka. He also gets swallowed by a demon, but he escaped from her by crushing her heart. When Hanuman arrived to Lanka he is approached by lanka herself. Lanka realizes this is Ravana’s curse coming to him finally. Hanuman discovered that Ravana was still trying to seduce Sita; luckily she was still loyal to Rama!

Hanuman finally finds Sita in the ashoka grove where he tells her about his alliance with Rama. She gave Hanuman a gift to give to Rama when he returned. Before Hanuman leaves Lanka, he goes a little crazy and destroys gardens and such. Ravana captured Hanuman where he ordered to set his tail on fire. Once he did, Hanuman escaped and flew away where he set Lanka on fire! He finally returns to Rama where he informs him of Sita’s safety. At the end of this episode they party a bit.

This is a photo of Hanuman crossing the sea to get to Lanka. He first had to pass through the Demon that was protecting the island. Photo found online.

Week 5 Reading Diary B: Abduction of Sita

In the beginning of part B for Week 5, Sita is abducted by Ravana.  I did not understand why he had not forced himself on her before, but I now understand that it is because of his curse. This makes a lot more sense now because Ravana definitely seems like the kind of character that would force himself upon a woman no matter what. So now I understand why Ravana has been trying to woo Sita into liking him—so she will give in and he can bed her.

Here we see the forces setting up with Hanuman and Sugriva to go find Sita. This is where all of the build up happens because it is exciting to know that there is an army of men and Hanuman that are about to set out to find Rama’s love. Rama gave Hanuman Sita’s ring so that when he found her, she will know that it is someone she can trust. In here, we see symbolism with the ring that Rama gives to Hanuman because a ring is a symbol for eternity. I did not catch that in Narayan’s Ramayana.  The episode ends with them finding Swayamprabha in the underground world.  Although they end up staying there for a month, they are now more determined than ever to go find Sita. Again, I am continuously amazed at the loyalty shown by Hanuman.

I chose to post a photo that showed Hanuman with Rama and the earth in the background. Also, his chest shows Rama and Sita, because his heart and loyalty remains with them. I love that he is on what looks like clouds or heaven. 

Photo of Hanuman found online

Week 5 Reading Diary A: Rama in the Forest

Today’s episode is setting the stage for Sita’s kidnapping. In here, I learned that Kaikeyi was one of Dasharatha’s wives, specifically Bharata’s mother. I was unaware of that when reading the Ramayana from last week. Bharata goes to convince Rama to come back, but of course he is reluctant to return to Ayodhya. Again it is mentioned in Buck's version that Bharata set Rama's shoes on his throne while he was gone. This version of the Ramayana gives  bit more detail of the life of Rama in the forest. It talks about the fourteenth summer so I am wondering how long his exile is supposed to last. I also like that his version of the Ramayana gives more detail into why Ravana kidnapped Sita. It tells the same story but I think the details are much easier to understand.  The readings from part A this week were not very long! Beginning with part B will be the beginning of the abduction of Sita.

Photo found online of Bharata asking Rama for his footwear

Week 4 Reading Diary B: Buck’s Ramayana

The start of diary B readings for Buck’s Ramayana starts off where Narayan’s Ramayana begins. I like having some background information on Ravana. This part of the reading was much shorter than that of part A, the opening address. The exile of Rama in Buck’s epic seems a bit downplayed in comparison to Narayan’s. I was a bit underwhelmed with how he was forced to leave Ayodhya because of Kaikeyi, however, it does mention again that Rama tells his father not to be angry with her. Once again, we are able to see how great of a character Rama is. This epic gives more detail of Rama and his arrival in the forest. 

The reading part B ends with the death of Dasharatha which was of course sad to read again. I felt that this was moving a lot faster with much less detail than Narayan’s epic. I feel that if I read this epic before the other one I may not feel quite as strong of a connection to the characters. I am hoping that in the Week 5 readings we will get into more depth with the characters. I look forward to reading about the Hanuman again and the exile of Sita! 

Photo of Dasharatha found online 

Week 4 Reading Diary A: Buck’s Opening Address

At the start of Buck’s Ramayana, I am reminded of how overwhelmed I was at the beginning of Narayan’s Ramayana. There are so many different characters and so many different backgrounds that I feel it is nearly impossible to fully keep up with the story. However, because I now have somewhat of a background on SOME of the characters I was able to keep up (barely). In here we read about the birth of Ravana. He is a destructive person from the beginning which isn’t surprising at all. In here it also talks about his curse by Nandi, Shiva’s bull. We learned from the first version of the Ramayana that he was cursed and that it was said in his curse that he would be killed by a monkey so it was interesting to learn about that curse in retrospect! There was also a large battle that took place between Ravana and the god of death and it supposedly took place one year before the birth of Rama. I was glad to get a timeline of how Rama and Ravana come into play. This also included the wedding of Rama and Sita which I was happy to read about because Rama is my favorite character! This also clarifies that Rama and Sita are married throughout the whole abduction by Ravana. As ridiculous as it may seem, I was unaware that they were married throughout the whole epic (embarrassing, I know).

Photo of Rama and Sita's marriage found online

Week 3 Reading Diary B: Hanuman Finds Sita

Hanuman, after he turns into a giant monkey and crosses the sea, eventually finds Sita. She is in a garden feeling pretty low. He showed her Rama’s ring to prove he was there for her and so she agreed not to hurt herself.  Ravana is angry and so he tries to hurt Hanuman and burns his tail. In return, Hanuman burns down Lanka.  Hanuman eventually comes back and tells Rama that Sita is in Lanka. Because Rama cannot make himself big enough to step across the sea like Hanuman did, he has to make a bridge. He orders the sea god to help him cross.

What I liked about his episode is the way that Ravana went about to try and scare people. This shows his true character—dishonest. He attempted to make it look like Rama was dead by showing Sita a decapitated head just after discussing his men as monkeys. Eventually, after giving him a chance to surrender, Rama finally defeats Ravana. The end of this episode is my favorite because it shows Rama’s true character. Not only does he question the loyalty of Sita while she was away, but he throws a grand funeral for Ramaya. I am looking forward to seeing how different authors depict Rama as a character because he is definitely my favorite character from these episodes!

I chose to post a picture of Hanuman and Rama because Rama can finally marry Sita and he could not have done it without Hanuman. The loyalty of a friend is truly remarkable. 

(Photo found online)

Week 3 Reading Diary A: Ravana Abducts Sita

The reading for Diary A starts out with Sita’s abduction by Ravana. He had disguised himself as an old man and flew away with her. When Rama returns, he sets off to find her immediately. What I enjoyed about this reading is that it is a bridge between Week 2 reading and Diary B of week 3 because it is about the journey that Rama has endured in order to find Sita.  It begins with Sita’s abduction and shows the endurance and loyalty that Rama must face in order to get help to find her.

Rama agrees to help Sugriva for his help in return to find Sita. I liked that Rama agreed to help him out of empathy since Sugriva had his wife stolen by Vali after his exile. So, Rama agrees to help Sugriva defeat Vali. Hanuman also agreed to help Rama in his search for Sita. Sugriva becomes king after Vali is killed by Rama.

A few seasons later, Rama sends Lakshmana to find Sugriva and Ramana to help find Sita as he had promised. He sends out large search parties and armies. They encounter a nymph that told them the last place she saw Sita. Part A ends with Hanuman growing so large that he can step across the ocean to Lanka where they believe Sita may be located.

(Photo of Rama and Hanuman found online)

I chose a picture of Hanuman displaying his loyalty to Rama. In this episode Hanuman has shown his loyalty to Rama by helping him in his journey to find Sita. 

Week 2 Reading Diary B: Rama's Exile and Sita's Abduction

This part of the episode starts off with Dasharatha dying, which is devastating, however, I have a feeling it will make Rama that much of a stronger character. Rama’s brother is outraged about Rama’s exile, as any brother should be. Although he begged Rama to return, Rama insist on fulfilling his exile. I admire the fact that Rama chooses to live in a life of solitude. Being exiled from the throne would be devastating so I imagine almost anyone would prefer to live out in the woods away from the crowds instead of returning to Ayodhya.  Bharata decides to go back to where he ruled in Nandigram and refused to return until Rama did. I love that they show the determination and loyalty in Bharata.

Shurpanakha, the sister of Ravana declares her love for Rama. I’m guessing out of loyalty for Rama, Lakshmana decides to hurt her to stay away from Rama because of her family background. I was a bit confused on this part to be quite honest. Another love story occurs where Ravana wants to abduct Sita (who was actually Lakshamana’s rival with Rama). He asks his uncle for help to reel in Sita and abduct her for himself.

The two love stories, or as I would call them, obsessions, are a very intetesting part of this episode. It reminds me of soap operas that we see all over TV today, only they include numerous Gods that have amazing super powers to deceive others. This episode was just a more culturally in-tune reality show!!

(Photo found online depicting the abduction of Sita by Ravana)

Week 2 Reading Diary A: Starting the Ramayana

Wow, this is going to be an exciting Indian Epic to read! There is so much going on here, it was a bit overwhelming at first. However, when I stopped trying to pronounce all the names out loud it became a bit more bearable. This episode so far starts out in Ayodhya where Dasharatha is king. He has no children but he performs a sacrifice that allows him to get ahold of a special rice which he feeds his wives. They eventually get pregnant and he ends up with numerous children!

My favorite character in this episode is Rama. For starters, he is the child of Dasharatha and Kausalya which I’d like to believe is his favorite wife. Rama accompanies Lakshmana where he kills the demon Thataka. Finally, when Dasharatha relalizes he’s ill, he names Rama as his successor. When Kooni persuades Kaiekyi to oppose this, Rama does not protest.

Rama seems like he is going to be a very important character based on the episode so far. His name caught my eye because he was the first child to be born. It then talks about his defeat of the demon Thataka. Although Dasharatha has many children, Rama is the most talked about. Not only did he defeat a demon, but he didn’t even protest when someone opposed him as being the successor. That takes true wisdom and patience. I am looking forward to seeing the character of Rama develop once Dasharatha passes. I also thought it was really awesome that they threw in the origin of the Ganges River into this episode!

I have included a photo of Rama who is the avatar of the God Vishnu.

(Photo of Rama found online)

UnTextbook Reading Diary A: Life of Buddha

King Suddhodana’s wife had a dream. She went to the forest and called for him. There she told him that she wanted her dream interpreted by a brahman to determine if it was good or bad. The brahmans told her that a son is to be born unto them. He will be live the life of a monk and deserve great praises. The king and queen were overjoyed to hear the news. The king gave to the poor and Maya cured the ill.

Finally, the day came for the birth of Buddha. The queen insisted on having her child in the innocence of nature. The king had the servants prepare the gardens with precious decorations. He had the servants use pearls and precious stones and rare perfumes. Upon Buddha’s birth, everything in the world became beautiful and pure. The kind named him Siddhartha. The hermit Asita further verified the extreme glory to come with the life of this child. Only seven days after the birth of this child, Maya passed away. The child was to be looked after by her sister, Mahaprajapati.

One day Mahaprajapati put jewelry on the young prince. However, it was hard to tell he was even wearing any because of how radiant he was. Siddhartha finally came of age where he was assigned a teacher, Visvamitra. Visvamitra was in awe and he told the prince that he could teach him nothing, in fact, the prince should teach him instead. After that, he had his first meditation. Hermits who passed him bowed as he quietly meditated under a tree. The shadow of the trees had all moved except the one the prince was under.

The prince traveled to a city where he saw and old man and became extremely upset. He could think of nothing other than old age. He decided to return to the city where he had two more encounters. The first was a man afflicted with disease. The second encounter of the two was the corpse of a man. He was continually amazed at how man continue day by day with the knowledge of death.

(Image of Buddha)