Spring 2018 Indian Epics

Suvannamaccha I started here because I am working on a story for my project dealing with Suvannamaccha and Hanuman, who became an item during the bridge construction in the Ramayana according to Thai folklore. Mermaids and Suvannamaccha in particular are strongly associated with luck in Thai culture, and banners of her can be found in many public places in older towns. Macchanu Macchanu is the son Suvannamaccha had without Hanuman's knowledge. Many years after their dalliance, Hanuman and Macchanu are fighting on opposite sides of a battle and see and recognize each other even without having met. Macchanu is described as a half-fish, half-monkey with serious battle skills. Here's an image of what he supposedly looks like. Macchanu Image Source: Detechter Matchanu-class Submarine The Thai Navy actually used Matchanu (an alternative form of Macchanu) as the name for a submarine, and there were a whole category of mythical-name vessels used way back in the late ...

Flow is defined as a state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter. Absolute attention leaves no leftover worry space, and knowing you're accomplishing something eats up all those little doubts and nagging voices in the back of your head. A FLOW balance chart, between challenge and skill, allows for maximum immersion in the FLOW state. Anything too challenging will cause anxiety, and anything too skilled will cause boredom if the skill is undeveloped. Image Source: Youtube I remember taking my very first art class and feeling completely absorbed in tracing out every tiny vein and crinkle of an autumn oak leaf; three hours went by and and I realized the room was empty and I was alone. That's probably my best ever FLOW memory, and I have cultivated many hobbies over the years which yield that same feeling of total immersion. I have never before considered the balance between challenge and skill providing the FLOW "sweet s...

Matsya's Secret: Only humans can empathize, and exploit Part 1 Manas give humans the ability to imagine, and therefore humans are called Manavas. Manu, the first man, was engaged by Vishnu in fish form. This is a reference to jungle law (the big fish eating smaller fish eating smaller fish mentality). The entire natural world lives by this creed, save humanity. Might is not always right, so we judge. Manu saves a small fish from a larger predator, and in doing so transforms nature. The pot he keeps the fish in represents culture, that which we have changed and created from what would have been only nature. Dharma represents the thought that creates the secure world, and is an artificial construct. Adherence to jungle law brands us or animals as pashu, while rising above, and living beyond the "might is right" mentality brands us purusha, or humans. Pashu could be a potent insult. The pot the fish is stored within brings the concept of property, namely Man...

Expansion of Lord Vishnu (energy) into every component of the universe First video These are quick notes from the first video of 7 Secrets of Vishnu. The symbolism of Vishnu, Mohini, and core ideas of Hinduism are discussed generally. Spiritual growth need not exclude material growth. Central theme of Vishnu lore: spiritual reality (purusha = human) wrapped in material reality (prakriti = nature). Only humans have ability to reflect, imagine, choose (not sure I agree with that) their paths. Both material and spiritual realities are intertwined and complementary, shown frequently as a human couple (dampatya adorning temple walls). Common nouns become proper nouns: purusha becomes Purusha (God). Vishnu (spiritual) and Lakshmi (material) are the yin and yang of reality. Adi-Ananta-Sensha The serpant Narayana sleeps upon Adi - one, waking, first perception of time Anantna - infinity, fully woke, ultimate sensation and full awareness of time Sensha - zero, sleeping, nothingn...

So far, I have not had serious difficulty with completing core assignments each week. However, I work every weekend (usually doubles), and I would very much like to get more done earlier so that I don't come home exhausted to remember my project assignment is unfinished. I get my best work done after school is finished Tuesday and Wednesday (my off days at work), and find I enjoy this class much more when I am not rushing to meet a word count at the last minute.  I have chosen to use some of the audible choices instead of the reading options simply because I do spend about 1.5 hours in the car each day I drive to school (MWF), and that time sure does add up! As it stands now, I am 64 points from completing the course with an A, and I am resolved that I will finish early. I am also planning on completing one comment (blog or project) each weekday, leaving me with only one or two leftover to process during the weekend. If I feel ambitious, I might do two each day and use that EC M...

Krishna I used Epified - The Krishna Story this week for my reading assignment, and was rather surprised to note some of the similarities between Krishna's birth and childhood and that of the story of Jesus. This prompted me to do a little digging to figure out who today worships Krishna, and what the differences were between the two men. Vaishnavism As Krishna is the avatar of Vishnu, those who worship him are referred to as Vaishnavas, and believe in numerous human incarnations, including Rama, Govinda, and Jagannath alongside Krishna. The parallels in Krishna's life to that of the biblical story of Jesus brought me to Kersey Graves' book, The World's Sixteen Crucified Saviors, boasting of no less than 346 parallels between the life of Jesus and Krishna. The World's Sixteen Crucified Saviors Messiah-types from Egypt, India, Nepal, Syria, Persia, and Rome are just a few of the locations. The biggest takeaway from this book (without reading it, mind you) is t...

There seem to be numerous similarities with the story of Krishna and the story of Jesus, which is impressive considering the serious contrast of Hindu faith with Christianity / Judaism. However, just as many great epic stories have roots in cultures around the world, this is perhaps not as surprising after all. Beginning with events prior to their births, both King Herod and King Kans were warned of the birth of a boy child who would destroy them. No virgin birth happens in the Hindu Krishna tale, but the killings of thousands of baby boys following or preceding the birth of baby occurs. They are both reared among the common people, and multiple tales of miracles accompany each throughout their journey to adulthood. The story of the elderly and disabled woman of faith is very nearly identical to both, as her healing occurs as a byproduct of her faith in their power. Neither marry, as Krishna's realization of his true nature (and responsibilities to the people of this age) preve...

Backup I have completed a new backup of Blogger, and my Wix site used for the project has been duplicated. Check-up The EC assignments are becoming easier to knock out each week, and if all goes well I will finish late Week 12, early Week 13. Which will be so nice to have more time to focus on finals! I am really enjoying this class, and the flexibility for assignment deadlines and self-structuring is amazing. Review I chose to watch a TedTalk: How did English Evolve? This is a great review of how we came to speak "our" English today, with some nice history and very pretty graphics, animation, and typography. There are also some imagination questions which I found very useful when trying to figure out how best to state events occurring in my stories. This picture was too funny, and is of course a great reminder of the importance of proper punctuation. Image Source: WritingWithAesop This is an easy week for me; exams were last week and I am spending a litt...

I haven't done this yet on Blogger, and I did have a little fun seeing what the actual html looks like for each of these pages. So, here's a video from the activity stream this week: How did English evolve?

Mathura's king, Kamsa, was cruel, and his people longed for change and peace. The marriage of king Kamsa's cousin to Vasudev brought a heavenly announcement of his doom. The voice explained that the eighth child born to the couple would kill Kamsa, so he threw them into prison and killed six of their kids over many years by dashing them to the walls of the prison cell after their birth. Seventh child was miraculously transported out of the mother's womb to another woman's, and when the eighth child, Krishna, was born, the guards and Kamsa all fell asleep and the prison doors unlocked. Vasudev took the child, leaving his wife behind, and arrived at the Yamuna. Asking the mighty river for help, a beautiful serpent appeared, and protected the father and son through the river. They found a pack of gypsies, the Nana people of cowherds, dwelling on the other side (this was far from Kamsa's kingdom). Listening to an unnamed voice in his head, he found Yashoda and her ne...

The Theft A priceless pearl necklace, belonging to the queen, is stolen by a girl monkey when the queen's attendent is not watching. The Blame A peasant flees the guards when a large search party combs the city, and his actions are interpreted as guilt. Apprehended, he chooses to accept the charge in hope that he will not be beaten or tortured, and he names the guildmaster as the plan initiator. The guildmaster in turn passes the blame along to the priest, then he to the chief musician, and finally the chief musician states that it was actually a courtesan who held the pearl necklace. The Plan Realizing that each of these prisoners are unlikely candidates, the Bodhisatta (who is the king's minister in this story) deduces that the culprit must reside within the palace and that they never left. He chooses to leave bead necklaces around the palace grounds, and each of the girl monkeys residing are carefully scrutinized. The monkeys begin to wear the beads, and the thief can...

The Great Dreams This story was really a set of prophecies regarding the coming doom of humanity, disguised in the form of sixteen great dreams experienced by a reigning king and interpreted by the Bodhisatta. The Converted Miser This story involves an older father who masquerades as his miserly son in order to teach him a lesson about generosity. Felt more like a prank than anything else. The Valiant Dwarf Bodhisatta, a dwarf in this life, lives vicariously through the puppet archer he uses to cement his place within the King's retinue.   The Stolen Jewels A monkey secretly snatches the queen's pearl necklace, and the blame is passed from one to another of the court retinue. The Too-Clever Merchant This was an adorable story about two merchants: Wise and Wisest. Wisest decided he deserved two shares from their venture (because with names like that, they'd be fools not to work together), and arranges for his father to hide in a log and pretend to be the voice o...

Pour you a drink, kid? Who, that? Why son, don't you know that picture there's the Honorable Judge Goodness? He rid this town from Black Bennett and his gang... This was back in, oh, '85 or '87 I suppose. Before the century turned, at any rate. Bennett had began rustling from a few of the north side pastures come early fall, and the ranchers were pissed. Horace Goodness, not a judge yet then, was working deputy part times. Sheriff Dugan was getting up there in years, and Horace was the one you came to if you had a problem.  I'm sorry? No, he didn't kill them! He was the kindest son of a biscuit you ever met, and I don't think he so much as swatted a gnat in all his days. No, son, what he did was much smarter than that. See, the Bennett gang had grew considerable over the last few years, and bolder too. A firefight was out of the question.  It was after they raided the Gunter's homestead; that was messy business and left the whole tow...

For the first half of this week's reading, I chose to categorize each of the short Jataka tales into The Shapes of Stories. While this was fun, I think there are quite a few tales so short or even so different as to not fit precisely into a specific story "shape." So, for this reading I am going to focus on my favorites and why I enjoyed them. The Stupid Monkeys This story reminded me so much of the children's book series featuring Amelia Bedelia , a woman whose good intentions always led her astray. I loved that series, and read them as a kid quite often. One of my favorite stories was when she decided to boil and salt the potatoes before planting them in the garden, so that they would be ready to eat when they finished growing. This story talks about practicality and foolishness in much the same way, using foolish monkeys so concerned with saving water they uproot each plant to check the root size before watering. I also think that the monkeys are more concerned ...

I've decided this week to use The Shapes of Stories , as described by Kurt Vonnegut, to classify each of the Jataka readings. I chose the Francis and Thomas Jataka Tales because I wanted to continue comparing each of the ancient Hindu stories with those of other cultures (it's insane how many of them are similar, or even spring from the same source), and their collection contains more than each of the others, giving me several weeks worth of reading. Web Source:  The Shapes of Stories The Little Guildmaster This is a delightful tale of pulling one up by one's bootstraps. Shrewd, skillful business and trade is used by the little guildmaster, beginning with a mouse and ending with a fortune and a family. I'm pretty sure I've read other stories along the same lines, but this is always a fun story concept. This falls strongly under the "Creation Story" shape (life quality very poor initially but steadily increasing, and ending with near maximal quality...

I haven't checked my typing speed in a while, so this was a great refresher on exactly where my speed slows down. The KeyHero was more challenging, as the sample to type from included lots of punctuation and characters besides alphanumeric (which probably makes it a better test), while the TypingTest was more literature and less dialogue.  I'm happy with my typing speed. It was faster when I was younger (reflexes do seem to deteriorate with age), and I would like to thank AOL instant messenger for all the practice I got in my early formative years, as that program did more for me than any speed typing software, haha.  I'm also pretty happy with the accuracy too, although that's not such a big deal anymore now that we use word processors and not actual typewriters. I will probably come back to both of these in a few months and see if I'm deteriorating or improving with All. These. Senior. Papers. Due.... Typing results - KeyHero Typing Results - ...

I knew I needed to do a little research on some of the characters featured in my storybook for Rama's Bridge, and I decided to look a little harder at the Vanara brothers this week. Nila, the brother of Nala, was my starting point. Nila  (Ramayana) Both of the brothers have some amazing credentials, but Nila is no less than the commander-in-chief of the Vanara army, while Nala is the architect of the bridge. Sources vary explaining precisely who built the bridge and who carried the rocks for it, but Nila has a rich military history and is regarded as a legendary general, as well as the son of Agni, the fire-god. Both of the brothers apparently have the ability to make stones float on water, which is related to Rama by Varuna during the Ramayana pre-bridge effort. Varuna While the sea-god Varuna has a brief mention in the Ramayana, he is one of the oldest known deities associated with Hinduism, and he is also associated with Buddhism and Jainism.  Rama conducts a three-da...

The stories I read this week both dealt with the grief from losing a spouse. Uttara becomes a widow when her husband Abhimanyu is killed during the great war in the Mahabharata. She is consistently referenced as child-like and innocent, which is honestly somewhat creepy throughout the story. The child-bride is widowed still carrying a child, and she ages considerably throughout the events of the story. This was a horribly depressing story. Her life ends only after her mother convinces her to stay alive and not immolate herself quite yet, as she needs to raise her son first. Siva-Mahadeva, known also as the Shiva, ultimately loses his wife Sati through an elaborate culmination of in-law drama. I liked this story much better, and there were several elements I found very interesting. Sati was very devout for a child; her piety and worship of Siva caught his attention early in her life, and she grew up knowing that they were meant to be together. Over her father's protests, they ...

I chose to continue my reading of Sunny Devee's Nine Ideal Indian Women, and found myself in awe with Sati Savitri. Quick facts: Daughter of Maharajah Ashwapati, ruler of Abanti Fell in love with a man doomed to live for one year Left her home, family, and life of luxury Lived in total happiness with her husband in poverty Story breakdown: Savitri accepted her husband's mortality, and was aware she was marrying a man with an expiration date. Their life is idyllic but shadowed in doom; she is present at his death. When Yom, the God of Death appears to take him, she pleads that he will take her too. After arguing for hours and walking to the very edge of the underworld, she traps Yom into realizing he has no choice but to restore her husband. This is cleverly accomplished via a series of boons he grants in hopes of sending her away.  He inadvertently "blesses" this widow with sons, which cannot be called a gift for a woman whose husband is dead; her virtue woul...

So far, I am managing to balance out this course's time needs fairly well. I don't feel rushed when I complete the reading assignments, as I try to knock all of that out early on in the week. I also feel this leaves me with more time to focus on the creative aspects of the course, which I really appreciate. I am always surprised with how long the hidden editor within chooses to spend once the body of the post is finished, and I would like to allocate more time than I am using now on the really fun stuff: writing those stories. I would like to challenge myself to use more of the EC options, as I've barely touched any so far and it would be so nice to have that cushion as the semester end approaches (bringing final exams along with it). This will be a change I want to implement over the second half of the semester, along with budgeting more time for the storytelling component of the course. Finally, I would also like to push myself into using different approaches for the ...

The majority of the feedback I've received has been very useful; I have never written fiction before, and I was quite nervous for the reception of some of the pieces. The encouragement was very helpful, and there have been some uncanny suggestions which I incorporated immediately. Feedback regarding the website design and functionality was very welcome, as there were things I was not even aware were issues for some browsers (like using light colored text on a light colored background).  I think the feedback I leave is generally useful; there are occasions when I have to gush if the story is that good, but I tend to make suggestions based off of what I would enjoy reading, or how the presentation and layout of a story could be tweaked for more impact. There are definitely many good ideas out there (I loved the stories which were presented in a letter or first-person format)! My introduction post was deliberately a bit vague, but very genuine, and I think others have responde...

The structure of our week is arranged well. I like having a day or two to let the reading sink in before retelling based off of the material. My favorite reading thus far was definitely the free choice option, mine being Nine Ideal Indian Women by Sunity Devee, but the follow-up to that was the Jataku tale collection. The reading notes I am compiling are definitely improving in terms of usefulness; I've found that making a short list of "just the facts" helps a lot with remembering places and people and events (not to mention the spelling!!!), while a few paragraphs about why I focused on one character or story gives me a great launch point when the time to actually write comes. I have also found that including every link I visit while researching helps substantially, and I will try to remember to include this each future reading note post.  I am thrilled with my class project so far; I have never made an actual website before and I can't believe how easy it is t...

What are the laws of combat? I found myself wishing during the later parts of the Mahabharata that there was a copy of the rules of battle somewhere. At several instances throughout the story, (Arjuna and Karna, Bhima smiting Duryodhana's knee ) these rules are cited as being disobeyed. However, none of the participants in these battles seem to care enough to follow them. The night raid's moral ramifications (and consequences) seemed to be nothing more than a barter transaction through Shiva and Ashwatthamann just prior to the slaughter. "Yudishthira and his dog, ascending" - Nanda Lal Bose, c. 1913 Image Source: Wikimedia Commons Why don't dogs go to heaven? The story of Yudishthira's eventual arrival to Indra's celestial heaven has a very sweet moment; as each of his companions fall aside on the way to Mount Meru, the loyal dog Yudishthira refuses to abandon even at the urging of Indra transforms into Dharma, the god of justice. I adore this, ...

The shrine itself was unremarkable, but its visitor was not. Vidura's annual pilgrimage was easier now than it was in the old days. The rush to return to the city was no longer necessary since he had stepped down as prime minister, and each year he enjoyed stretching his journey out longer. The hermit greeted him each year in silence, but always offered him tea and food. Neither knew the other's name nor spoke, but each ate together near the fire each night. Vidura had tried to offer his own provisions in the early years, but the hermit always refused. Each year Vidura approached the shrine, and each year he began his vigil. The incense came first, six bundles carefully placed in the basin below the weathered statue. He did not know who the statue was supposed to be, and it did not matter to him. This was not a rite of devotion, but of penance. He chose the shrine forty years ago for its isolation, and it was here their remains were buried. Their names he never learn...

There were a few places in this reading that almost felt like informercials to me. The first few tales, including Arjuna's encounter with Shiva, his curse of five year's worth of dancing, and Bhima's encounter with Hanuman all feel like they could be advertisement blurbs in the back of an ancient magazine or subway ad (should such things have existed in that time frame). Breatharianism , as endorsed by the mighty Arjuna: "Are you searching for the ultimate cleanse? Have supplements and fad-dieting just brought you closer to giving up? Look no further, for Arjuna himself endorses the incredible inedia lifestyle approach referred to by hermits and Rosicrucians as "The last diet you'll ever need!" In fact, the sun diet worked so well for Arjuna that his purity levels and internal electric rhythms skyrocketed within only four months, permitting an ascension to the revered Shiva-level of the exclusive members-only Breatharian Brethren. Valuable prizes ...