Reading Notes - Krishna Part B

                                       
                                                                   Krishna & Balarama

Notes

- Brahma saw Krishna sharing his plate with his friends so he stole the cows and Krishna's friends. 
- Krishna made new cows and villagers and Brahma finally respected him.
- Hastin the bull was extremely violent and no one wanted him so everyone wanted to kill him. 
- Krishna then rode Hastin the bull into the village and everyone in the village was shocked and learned the lesson of kindness from Krishna. 
- Krishna wanted to marry Rhada but his real truth got revealed about his destiny and his birth/parents. 
- Kansa had one final trick to try and avoid his destiny of dying to Krishna.
- Akrur was supposed to trick Krishna into going to Mathura but he confessed due to Krishna's divine presence.
- Krishna decided to leave Vrindavan to go fulfill his destiny. 
- Krishna and Balram arrived in Mathura and begin becoming popular with the people by doing good deeds. 
- Kansa heard Krishna was in town so he sent the elephant Kuvalayapida to trample Krishna. 
- Krishna defeated the elephant and everyone cheered, while Kansa shivered in fear and realized his final attempt had failed. 
- Krishna and Balram walked in to take on the challenge of lifting the divine bow. Krishna lifted the bow with ease but snapped it when he strung it. 
-Kansa sent his army at Krishna and Balram after he broke the bow but Krishna easily defeated them.
- Krishna and Balram defeated Kansa and Mathura was free from the evil Kansa. 
- Krishna went and freed his grandfather and then met his real parents where he released them.
- Krishna and Balram decided to stay in Mathura instead of going back to the village.

Bibliography

Krishna: Part B. Epified. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrWYQjLLbXcgqdSC7HkTFsIFZSAQ6Qg7f

Reading Notes - Krishna Part A

 

                                                                            Krishna

Notes

- Kansa the cruel king, killed Devaki's children so that the 8th one would not kill him like he was told.
- Devaki became pregnant with the 8th incarnation of Vishnu.
- The gate was unlocked and Vasudev took his son (Vishnu) to the river and a serpent protected the two from the rain. 
- Vasudev found Yashoda and left his son with him.
- Vasudev brought back a little girl who turned into Durga and told Kansa that his slayer will kill him when the time is right. 
- Putna came to visit Yashoda and see Krishna and stole him to kill him, but Krishna ended up killing Putna instead. 
- Years later Krishna caused trouble all throughout the village.
- Krishna was playing music one day and found his friends poisoned by a snake and everyone realized he was an avatar.
- He played the flute to the point that the snakes couldn't handle it and they removed the poison from the lake as they retreated. 
- Time passed and Krishna defeated all the demons that came and challenged him. 

Bibliography

Krishna - Part A. Epified. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrWYQjLLbXchvrnCibGQXZjo3FLHppHWD

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.