From Here To India- My Epics of India Course Blog

     We come to the final part of the movie now. So the movie picks up right where we left off. They Pandavas and Krishna plot to kill Drona. Bhima kills an elephant named Ashwattaman, who coincidentally bore the same name as Drona's son. They're going to trick Drona. Bhima tells Drona that Ashwattaman is dead, and he killed him. "From a certain point of view" that is true, but it's not the whole truth. Drona suspects a lie, and asks Yudhisthira to tell him the truth. Yudhisthira, confirms that Ashwattaman (the elephant- he hides those words behind his mouth like a child) has been killed. Yudhisthira talking to Drona .      Drona dies, and the battle rages one. Dushasana attempts to kill Bhima. but Bhima prevails and drinks Dushasana's blood just like he promised. Draupadi washes her hair. So several vows have been fulfilled that day. Then there's a conversation between Karna and the Bhramin he tried to help. Karna then makes a battle cry and goes to...

     For my last week of reading, I'm finishing Peter's Mahabharata film. When it ended the great war had just started. And that is where the story will pick up.       The story begins at night, the soldiers are not fighting but resting as agreed before the war started. Duryodhana is questioning Bhisma about who's side he's fighting on, because Bhisma's strength is supposed to be legendary but he keeps getting pushed back. Bshima gets defensive and eventually asks them to leave. He then talks to Drona (who seems like a very interesting character). After Drona leaves, Amba returns to talk to Bhisma, claiming that she has strange news for him. After waiting for news about how Death can outwit Death, she built a fire and threw herself into it. She died, but was reborn? Apparently now she is also a man and is going to take part in this battle. Her (now his) name is now Shikundi.     A few of the Pandavas go to Bhisma and ask how they ...

This part of the story ends with the Pandavas and Draupadi in Virata's court. They all go into hiding there. Virata's general finds Draupadi beautiful and wants her for himself. Draupadi manages to escape and finds Bhima. Then Bhima tricks the general and kills him. This luckily happens at the end of the exile period, and so they're able to safely reveal themselves. They then turn to leave to take back what is there. Virata asks Yudhisthira about what will happen, and Yudhisthira makes a very dark premonition.     Krishna goes to the palace to try one last attempt to make peace. It doesn't go very well. They try to take Krishna captive (why?) but they're stopped. Before Krishna leaves, he decides to have a talk with Kunti, the mother of the Pandavas. They prepare for war. Draupadi sends Yudhstrhitra off. The two armies meet and discuss the rules for war. Yudhisthira asks for permission to strike at Bhisma and Drona. They give it. Arjuna makes ready to give the sig...

     I'm continuing to work on the Peter Brook film this week. Part C opens with Amba looking for Bhima. She wants him to kill Bhisma. Bhima will not kill him though, he respects him too much. Amba still looks incredibly young, they claim this ordeal happened over 40 years ago. To which she replies "Hate keeps me young." Draupadi tells Amba to call upon the invisible forces. Eventually she leaves.     Draupadi tells of how they used to have a kingdom. She asks Yudhisthira how he could've played to lose EVERYTHING. Including his brothers and her. Yudhisthira talks about how they have the same questions as her. Why is one act rewarded? Why is another not? They debate about Dharma and how he could just sit there and do nothing. Why won't he act? She cannot understand it. Bhima begs Yudhisthira to stand up and fight. After a long debate, the group is relatively pacified, and Arjuna decides to go deep into the mountains, where he can obtain weapons for them. They...

After everything, we open with Krishna appearing and saying that the kingdom needs a good and just king. The Pandavas are sent away to live in a different kingdom. They're to build a dazzling city. They are starting to be sent along the path to war.     They go to visit the city, and it's designed by Maya the great architect. They're stumbling around, he's made a fool of. You almost feel bad for him, if he wasn't plotting to kill everyone and cause chaos. They start plotting to take Yudhistera's kingdom away from him. He loves gambling, but he doesn't know how to gamble properly. So they invite him to a game of dice.     Duryodhana is always angry, he is resentful of the Pandavas, he feels second-best because his father was born blind. He has a long talk with Bhisma abou how whatever happens at the game, he must not interfere. And so the game begins. There is a whole spill about how there's no cheating involved...     His oppenent keeps winning. It...

     For my free choice reading for the rest of the semester, I chose to watch the Peter Brook film about the Mahabharata. The film opens with a little boy traveling through a palace, and Vyasa begins telling the story of the Mahabharata.     He opens with the story of how he was born. He talks about how his mother was born because the sperm of a king was taken on a leaf and dropped into a river. The sperm found it's way to a fish, and that fish was caught. When a fisherman caught the fish, he cut it open, and inside was a baby girl who smelled of fish. One day a hermit told her that if she lay with him, he could make the smell go away. And so Vyasa was born.      Now the King fell in love with Satyavati. Bhisma promised that he would never marry and have children so that his father could be happy. They had a son, and he was frail. Bhisma stole away three brides, but the new king died on his wedding night, thus no children. So Vyasa was called...

     For this half of the reading, I chose to focus on "The Ox Who Envied the Pig. The story starts out that a farmer had two oxen and a pig. The farmer's daughter was to be married, so they decided to fatten up the pig to serve at the feast. The two ox noticed that the pig was being fed choice food and they were being feed lean food.      The ox Big Red told Little Red that the pig ate the food of death! HE was being fattened to eat. The pig was killed, and Little Red learned a valuable lesson. They could eat lean food like grasses and live for a long time. Or they could eat the food of death and die soon. Little Red soon became very grateful that he was eating the food he was, because it meant that he could continue to work and live.  This story gave me vibes of "be careful what you wish for". Also with the death part it reminded me of the scene in Game of Thrones, where (spoiler alert) Joffrey dies from poisoning. Someone slipped poison into ...

    For this week I chose to read Jataka Tales. Specifically, I wanted to write about the story of how the turtle saved his own life. The story starts out talking about a king who decided that he wanted to put a lake in the courtyard. The princes played in the lake all the time, and eventually their father the king told them that fish had been put into the lake. So they went to the lake to see the new fish. It so happened that there was a turtle lying on the bank. The princes had never seen a turtle before, and they thought it was a demon.     They came running their father, and when he heard he had the turtle/demon brought in and they decided what to do with it. Many suggestions were made about how to kill the poor turtle. Then a man, who was scared of the water, suggested throwing it into the river. The turtle was cunning, and upon hearing this he said things like "Oh, not the water!!" The people took him for his word, and the turtle was brought to the water, w...

    Now I'll be taking notes as I watch through the second half of these episodes. In episode 11, Brahma decided to test Krishna's divinity by taking his friends and their cows. Krishna, discovering all this missing, decided to use his divinity to understand that it was Brahma behind this. So he decided to play a funny trick on Brahma to humble him. He created the cows and his friends out of himself, and no one was any the wiser. For a whole year this went on, and Brahma, discovering the trick, bowed before Krishna's power. He learned a valuable lesson that day.     In the next episode, which I enjoyed, Krishna declares that he will ride Hastin by the next full moon. No one believed him. But day after day Krishna would come to the cowshed where Hastin was and would play his flute for hours, and feed sweet food to him. He was slowly winning Hastin over, and was able to move closer and closer to Hastin Eventually, during the next full moon, Krishna lept onto Hastin a...

     I really enjoyed the Epified Mahabharata, so for this week I wanted to do the Epified about Krishna. I look forward to reading about this one because aside from previous readings I have no previous knowledge about Krishna. It will be interesting to hopefully get a deeper insight into his story.      The story begins that while Arjuna, one of the Pandavas's was being born, Krishna was being born too. There was a cruel king in a faraway land called Mathura by the name of Kansa. He married his cousin to Vasudev, Kansa was told that the 8th child of this couple would be the one to slay him. As such he decided to lock them away in prison, and every time a child was born to the couple he did a very cruel thing and threw the child against the walls of the cell. Eventually Krishna was born.That night, led by a voice, Vasudev was able to exit the cell and was led across a river to a camp. There he exchanged his son for a cowherd's daughter Maya, who had also ...

    Episode Nine opens with a summary of what happened in the last episode, and tells the story of Kunti's secret, that she had a child with the sun god Suryadev. He was born with golden earrings and was armored. Because she was unmarried, she knew that she would be unable to keep him, so she placed him in a basket and floated him down a river.     In the next episode, Pandu and his wives decide to spend some time in the forest together. Pandu decided to go hunting, and while hunting he shot an arrow at a hermit couple who were making love. Because of this, as the hermit died he decided to curse Pandu that the moment he became intimate with another woman, he would die. Kunti decided to tell Pandu of the mantra she'd been give that would allow her to summon any god and bear the god's child. Pandu was glad to hear of this because Hastinapura would be given a line of succession. She had 3 sons : Yuhistira, Bhima, and Arjuna. But Madri was without children, so Kunti ag...

     For this weeks reading's I decided to watch the Epifed version of the Mahabharata. Part A first introduces us to the story, then begins with the Shantanu marrying the river goddess Ganga (on the promise that he'd never question her decisions). She gave birth to eight children, and one by one she drowned them in the river, except for the last one. Davarata, his last son, grew up and eventually was reunited with his father. However, King Shatanu fell in love with a fisherman's daughter. Since Davarata's children would always take precedence in the line of succession, King Shatanu could not marry her. Davarata decided to take matters into his own hands and make a terrible vow. Davarata vowed to never marry or father any children, and became known as Bhisma. Bhisma then toook the fisherman's daughter to his father for his father to marry. Davarata felt, instead of happy, like his heart had doomed them. The fisherman's daughter gave birth to two sons, one of whi...

     The story that most caught my eye in this final portion of the Mahabarata was the story of the Night Raid. Duryodhana was dying on the battlefield and was visited by Ashwatthaman. Ashwatthaman was given permission to attack the Pandavas while they slept. So he went to do so. He came across the god Shiva, and since he had nothing else to offer Ashwatthaman threw his body into a fire. Shiva entered his body and decided to fulfill Ashwatthaman's desire. The Night Raid      Ashwatthaman slaughered all of the Draupadi's sons with a vengance. It was horrible. This is something that I would perhaps see in a show like Game of Thrones. Perhaps if I were to do a story on this, I would give it a Game of Thrones type setting.      Draupadi is grieving the loss of course, and she demands revenge be taken. They keep refusing her and refusing her. Finally, Draupadi says  that they should take the jewel of Ashwatthaman so that he will be...

     One of the stories that really caught my attention while reading this portion of the Mahabarata was Riddles at the Lake. This story starts off with them coming upon a stag that carried wood in it's antlers that the brahmins used for fires. The Pandava brothers were begged to get the wood for them, and eventually they agreed. So they chased the deer until they were exhausted and thirsty. So they looked for water.      The came across a pool of water that told the princes that they would be allowed to drink the water if they could answer a riddle. The first brother, Nakula, was impatient and drank from teh water and fell dead. So it went, brother after  brother falling dead because they were too impatient to answer the the riddle. Finally, Yudhishthira went to the water and saw his dead brothers. The pool once again asked for his riddles to be answered, and revealed himself to be a yaksha. Yudhishthira  answered each riddle, one by one, unt...

     I really liked how the story between Bhima and Hidimbi ended happily, so I wanted to focus my notes on this one.      After the Pandavas escaped the wooden castle that was set aflame, Bhima carried his mother and everyone else through the forest. Eventually they found a place to rest for the night. While everyone slept except Bhima, the rakshasa names Hidimba smelled them and sent his sister, Hidimbi to the group to bring the people to him. However, when Hidimba raced there and laid eyes upon Bhima, she fell in love with him and wanted him to be her husband. So she transformed into a beautiful woman and asked him to be with her. She offered to help take everyone on her back so that they all could escape Hidimba if only Bhima would marry her. Bhima refused, saying that he could easily carry them, but they needed sleep.      Now Hidimba at this point was impatient, so he went to them. He then wanted to kill his sister for betraying him...

     The part of the story I wanted to focus on for Part A was the story about Bhima and the Nagas. This is a pretty short portion of the story but it captures my attention.      Duryodhana was jealous of Bhima, and decided that he wanted Bhima dead. He poisoned Bhima's food one day, and Bhima fell asleep. While this happened, Duryodhana tied up Bhima and tossed him into the Ganges river.      As he sank, fierce snakes called Nagas attacked Bhima, but somehow the poison of the Nagas counteracted the poison Bhima had already swallowed from his food, so he woke up. Bhima broke his bonds and scattered the nagas. The Nagas attacking Bhima      It turned out that Bhima had sunk down to the city of serpents. The king of the nagas, Vasuki, desired to meet this great hero. Aryaka, great-grandsire of Kunti, met Bhima, and desired that Bhima should be given a draught of strength. Bhima drank from it and and fell into a slumbe...

     Here's my notes on the continuation of the film Sita Sings the Blues. After the intermission, we go to New York City. This is when Nina discovers that Dave has broken up with her. In an email . We see her feelings portrayed on screen.      We go back to the story of Rama and Sita, and Sita tells Rama that she is pregnant. Some think that Sita was unfaithful to Rama, like the dhobi. Therefore Rama banishes Sita because it casts doubt upon his reputation. We get Sita singing the blues again, now heavily pregnant. Laksmhan, drives poor Sita away and leaves her there. I feel terrible for her. We get a shot of Nina in a small and terrible apartment in Brooklyn.      The narrators talk about how Sita is rescued by Valmiki. We get another song from Sita. Sita gives birth to twin sons Lava and Kusha, who are taught by Valmiki. Meanwhile Sita longs for Rama. Nina asks Dave to take her back.      Eventually Rama comes across h...

     The film opens with Lakshmi rising from the sea with a phonograph. I laughed at the part where the song got stuck and Lakshmi stopped dancing. After a really cool intro to the film, it opens in San Francisco where Nina and Dave live with their cat. In a particularly funny clip, the cat bounces on Nina's head until Nina gets up to feed the cat.      We then start on the story of Ramayana. I love the narrators, their commentary is hilarious. They talk about how Rama is bansihed and then Sita comes with him. You get to see a wonderful musical number where Sita and Rama are off killing things in the forest. After a bit it goes to the part where Shripanuka gets Rama to take Sita for himself. The trick takes place and Ravana kindaps Sita. Sita is able to help everyone know where she's gone because she drops her jewels in the forest.      Hanuman finds Rama, who is distressed. Hanuman goes to find Sita at Lanka.We then get another modern cl...

    One story that really stood out to me was the story of the Battle of Rama and Ravana. It was an intense story that held my attention.      The story opens with Matali coming down on a chariot, offering to be Rama's charioteer. Agastya comes and offers advice to Rama about how to defeat Ravana. In order to defeat Ravana, Rama should hymm the sun. He then purified himself in the waters.    By this time Ravana was awake again and angry, and came back to Rama to fight him. Rama turns to fight him. The story describes the fight as two flaming lions fighting each other, which immediately put into my mind the image of Simba and Scar fighting in the animated version of the Lion King. Simba and Scar Fight, From Flickr.      The page ends with Rama trying to kill Ravana, cutting off head after head, but the heads of Ravana keep growing back. (Eventually Ravana is slain).      Overall I thought this was a really cool...

     I chose to shorten my notes down this time and chose a part of the story that caught my eye. I really liked the story of Sampati and Jatayu, because it reminds me of the story of Icarus and how he flew too close to the sun.      The story starts out with the two vulture brothers, Sampati and Jatayu, growing up together in the nest. As they grew, the nest started becoming much to small for them, so small in fact that they could hear and feel each others hearts beat because they were so close together. Eventually they longed to fly in the winds. So they did.     Unfortunately, the midday sun looked to them and Jatayu fainted, so great was the heat. Poor Sampati, wanting to help his brother as he fell, spread his wings and as he did so the sun burned them. Sampati fell, unable to fly and in a lot of pain.      He went to the cave of Saint Nishakara and asked why he wasn't allowed to die, because he was unable to fly and stil...