Reading Notes: Mahabharata videos, Part C

 

                                                                     Bhima and the Baka

Notes

- Karna had enchanted armor, he knew he was special since he was young.
- Karna's father found him floating in the river, his armor grew onto him as he grew up.
- He then learned he was a Kshatriya.
- Karna sought out the greatest master of arms he could find - Drona. 
- Drona told Karna that he could not teach him because he was not a Kshatriya. 
- Karna did not want to tell him that he was a Kshatriya because he did not want to demean his parents that brought him up. 
- Karna returned home and wept and would continue for the rest of his life keeping his pain in silence.
- Karna came running to his mother one day and was excited that he found a guru.
- His guru was the greatest in all of the land but would never teach him the art of war. 

Bibliography

Mahabharat Episode 18: Karna's Quest. Epified. http://iereadingguides.blogspot.com/2016/01/reading-guide-epified-mahabharata_29.html

Week 8 progress

 

Measuring Progress

                                                                    

    Looking back I am satisfied with my progress so far. My schedule has been very hectic this year so I do not have all the points I want but I am thankful for the extra credit opportunities each week to make those points up. Story writing is probably my favorite assignment each week, and it has helped me to write better blog posts I think. Going forward I will want to take advantage of every point opportunity because the ultimate goal in this class is to get an A because there are so many chances that you almost have to.

Week 7 Story

 

                                                                 (Druapad'si Swayamwara)

Story 

Bhima kills a very dangerous rakshasa while in the forest. Hidimbim, the sister of the rakshasa, falls madly in love with Bhima. Together they have a son. His name is Ghatotkacha.
In the forest, Kunti and the Pandavas are trying to get away from Hastinapura. Vyasa wants the Pandavas to disguise themselves. He suggests disguising themselves as brahmins. By disgusting themselves as brahmins, this will hide their identities as Kshatriyas.
Bhima fights another rakshasa. The rakshasa is named Baka. Everyone is surprised. It is surprising that a brahmin can defeat a demon as savage as this.
King Drupada is holding a Swayamwara for his daughter. His daughter's name is Draupadi. Draupadi is also the mother of Dhrishtadyumna. The Pandavas, Karna, and Duryodhana all attend this swayamvara. The avatar of the god Vishnu, Krishna, is also in attendance. Even his brother Balarama attends. Even though the Pandavas are disguised, Krishna recognizes them right away. He can see that the brahmins are the Pandavas. There is a contest. Arjuna wins this contest. He is able to string a bow and hit the target. By winning this contest, he can take Draupadi as his bride. Kunti explains to his brothers that whatever is acquired that day must be shared. This means that the brother must share Draupadi. So, Draupadi is the shared wife of the five brothers. Vyasa then explains that even in a previous lifetime, Draupadi also had five husbands. In her previous lifetime, Draupadi was a woman named Narayani. Narayani was married to a sage. This sage slept with her in the guise of five different men. After the sage left her, Narayani prayed to the Lord Ishvara, Shiva, to give her back the five husbands. The prayer was answered in a Draupadi's lifetime. This is why she marries the five Pandava brothers.

Author's Note: I took the stories from pages 27 - 40. I rewrote this story in my own words. 

Bibliography

http://iereadingguides.blogspot.com/2015/05/week-1-of-2-narayans-mahabharata.html

Reading Notes, Part C

                                                                (Balarama and Krishna)

Notes

            ·      Dhritarashatra knows about the weapons that Arjuna acquired

·      Duryodhana is taken captive

·      Nakula drinks the water from the lake before answering questions and dies

·      13 years of exile

·      Draupadi is sent away by the king and queen

·      He must beg for permission to remain at the court

·      The war begins

·      Battle is on the field of Kurukshetra

·      Bhima kills an elephant names Ashwatthaman and he also kills Duhshasana

·      Duryodhana dies in battle

·      Parikshit becoming king and the Pandava line continues because of him

 Bibliography

TinyTales from the Mahabharata, Laura Gibbs. https://sites.google.com/view/tinymahabharata/home?authuser=0

Week 6, StoryLab

 StoryLab

I chose the TedTalk videos for this week's story lab. 

2 Videos

Living Well Aware

    These two videos are about creating this false narrative about people on your head before you really even meet a people group or that specific person. The "Danger of a Single Story" TedTalk touches on creating these stereotypes about people groups that you have never even interacted with. The woman that is giving the TedTalk is from Africa, and when she came to the United States no one thought that she had even been around modern technology. They had created this single story that they had heard since they were young and did not just educate themselves on the topic. And this happens with people all over the United States, even if they are not foreigners. They could be underprivileged or even just a different race and people will still treat them as if they know them. 
    That gets into the second TedTalk. Jennifer Barnes likes to reference fictional characters all throughout her speech. The more and more we watch these shows, the more we think we really get to know these people on these shows. But in reality, we have no clue what they are really like because they are not real and we will never meet them. We create these connections to false characters and treat them as if they are super close to them in real life. And this creates a falsehood that they would not even feel upset if something happened to someone they had never met in real life. The delusion of treating fictional characters above real people is a danger in society today. But, reading fiction can increase your emotional awareness and help you relate to someone else. The danger between fiction and reality is still being researched though, and if people can start to link the two then I think society will be in a better place. 

Reading Notes, Mahabharata Part A

 TinyTales Part A

                                                                        Vyasa and Ganesha

Page 1

- Mahabharata first came from Ganesha writing it as Vyasa spoke
- King Shantanu married a woman and they had a son. The queen then drowned their child but was never questioned. 
- King Shantanu's wife was Ganga the river goddess who said their children were the eight Vasus, gods of the eight elements cursed to be born as humans
- The eighth child that King Shantanu would not let be drowned became Devavrata, who learned the arts of was from Parashurama
- King Shantanu wanted to marry Satyavati but only could if her son would become the heir but it was already promised to Devavrata
- Devavrata made an oath to renounce all women and gave up his heir to the king, therefore Satyavati married King Shantanu. 
- They had two sons, Chitrangada and Vichiravirya, and Chitangada ruled once Shantanu died

Page 2

- Bhishma was determined that his half brother Vichiravirya would marry King Kashya's daughter so he kidnapped all three to take to Vichiravirya
- Shalva (one of 3 princesses) was rejected everywhere because of Bhishma and wore she would kill him
- Amba went to Parashurama to try and have Bhishma killed, but he couldn't be defeated
- Amba was told to wait until the next life to kill Bhishma but she didn't wait and threw herself into the flames to be reborn as Shikhandini, daughter of King Drupada. 
- Vichitravirya dies and leaves behind two widows leaving Satyavati to summon her son to marry the widow
- Satyavati summons her son Vyasa and he has 3 sons, Pandu the Pale was the one that became king

Page 3

- King Pandu then gets married to Kunti but she had no children so he marries Madri but she also had no children
- Pandu shot a stag named Kindama who cursed him that he could never touch a woman again, so Pandu went to live in the wilderness and Dhritarashtra became king
- Dhritarashtra wanted a son but his wife was pregnant for two years and never gave birth so he had a son (Yuyutsu) with a servant but he could not inherit the throne
- Dhritarashtra's wife then had 100 sons and one daughter that grew from the pots
- Pandu was seized with desire one day and touched his wife and died

- Duryodhana was the eldest son of Dhritarashtra, he tried to kill Bhima and threw him in the river but he did not die - In the river, Bhima met the Naga king who gave him a potion to make him stronger than ever

Page 4

- Bhishma's son engaged Drona to be their guru - Drona then began to teach the Pandavas and Kauravas in warfare (archery) - Drona was attacked by a crocodile one day and Arjuna saved him so he gave him a secret weapon - Eklavya wanted Drona to be his guru, but Drona refused. So he trained under a statue he made of Drona - Drona saw this as unacceptable and demanded Eklavya's right thumb and he cut it off so Arjuna would never be rivaled as an archer - Karna came to the archery tournament and got named the King of Anga to fight Arjuna

- Karna then becomes Parashurama's disciple

Page 5

-Drona never got his guru fee, so for his fee he made the Pandavas and Kauravas attack king Drupada but he didn't have him killed - Drupada then prayed for his own children, a son to kill Bhishma and Drona. The son was born a daughter but raised as a son named Shikhandin - Since Shakhandin was a woman and was marrying a woman, King Hiranyavarna declared war on King Drupada for this - Shikhandin was about to leap into the flames when the yaksha gave her manhood to prove to her father - The Kauravas and Pandavas keep trading insults so

- King Dhritarashtra decides to send the Pandavas away once and for all, then Dhritarashtra, Duryodhana, and Shakuni hatched an evil plot, hoping to put an end to the Pandavas once and for all.

Bibliography

TinyTales from the Mahabharata, Laura Gibbs. https://sites.google.com/view/tinymahabharata/home?authuser=0