Week 7 Reading Diary B: The end is near

Rama is acting like a little baby about the gossip. Sita got kidnapped and he acts like it's her fault...

Bharata gives Rama his right to rule back.

Sita gets pregnant and Rama abandons her. definitely not my favorite character

Lava is definitely the coolest name for a son that I have ever heard.

I like this ending much better than the other version.

I just wish Lakshmana didn't have to die.



Rama Returns to Ayodhya

Week 7 Reading Diary A: the Final Battle

I like how time is actually a person or god in the Ramayana. It's just an interesting concept.

I think it's dumb that Ravana's heads grow back.

I like how Bharata was stopped from killing himself just in the nick of time.

Jambavan is pretty cool. I think it would be fun to tell a story about him.


Battle of Lanka

Storytelling for Week 6: Everybody Wants to be a Cat

Hanuman finally crossed the ocean and arrived at the city of Lanka. It had been months since Ravana stole Sita, Rama’s wife. Hanuman promised Rama he would find his beautiful wife and return her to him. Rama’s camp had heard she was here but it was up to Hanuman to find where she was being held prisoner. Hanuman was in awe at the beauty of Lanka. The gates shimmered in the moonlight and everything appeared to be made of precious stones.

There were four gates at Lanka facing each cardinal direction. Upon the walls were many rakshasas, demon sentries. The sentries were dispersed throughout the tops of the walls standing watch. Hanuman became as small as a fly and snuck through a crack in the city wall. Searching for Sita in his true form as a monkey would be questionable. Hanuman would be discovered to easily. He then shifted into an unkempt black cat in order to avoid detection. He prowled through the city streets, peering through every household window. He saw many things, none of which helped in his quest for Sita. Lanka appeared strange through his cat eyes. He could see through the night with amazing clarity. What once would have appeared as shadowy silhouettes in the distance was now a clear picture of a rakshasa and a rakshasi making their way home.

Hanuman tried to speak to the couple and ask if they had seen Sita but the only thing that came from his mouth was a low purr. The couple exclaimed and began to pet him. Hanuman was confused and hissed as he ran away. Hanuman was easily distracted in his new form. He was unable to control his urge to pounce as mice scurried past him in the streets. Hanuman discovered a secret underground colony of mice. He was delighted and immediately chased after a small brown mouse that disappeared into a hole in the gutter. Hanuman turned around and saw a grey mouse staring right at him. He took off after the mouse but it was also too fast. Hours passed as Hanuman was playing with the mice. Hanuman finally remembered he had come here on a mission. Hanuman quickly scampered away to continue searching for Rama’s bride.

Hanuman slinked toward Ravana’s palace, ever watchful. The guards paid no heed to the wild black cat entering the gate. Hanuman first saw Ravana’s concubines, littering the floor in one massive empty room. He made his way through these women but none were as beautiful as Sita was said to be. There were leftover salmon crumbs from last night's feast on a great table. Hanuman leapt up onto the table and started licking the fish. Hanuman did not know what had taken over him but knew he must find Sita soon. He heard a beautiful but sad song off in the distance behind the palace. Hanuman followed the music and found the sad and lonely Sita withering under a tree with tears slowly running down her face. He quickly changed back into his monkey form so he could speak again. Hanuman jumped around with joy and raced to tell Sita that he had come to rescue her.

Hanuman allowing himself to be taken before Ravana

Author's Note- A song in the Disney movie The Aristocats inspired the title for my story. I decided to tell the story of Hanuman becoming a cat while he is searching for Sita. I chose this because I found it very humorous in the Ramayana. I wanted to describe how he could see very clearly at night which was an obvious advantage in the search for Sita. I also wanted to illustrate some of his feline urges which I thought were funny in the original story. I liked how they showed Hanuman acting as a cat but I wanted to make it my own in my story. The basic premise is the same, but I altered minor details. I changed the way that Hanuman found Sita in the story. In Buck's version Vayu the Wind Lord helped Hanuman find Sita with his gusts of wind. That eventually led Hanuman to Sita. In the original story Hanuman strikes Lanka before he enters the city. I decided to take out that part and make up a new way for him to enter. I thought that it would just take up unnecessary space in my story. It’s fun and easy for me to write about cats because I can use my experiences as a cat owner to add new details. My own cat likes to jump on the table and eat off my plate, so I wanted to keep that the same. 

Bibliography-Buck, William (1976) "Hanuman's Jump"Ramayana:King Rama's Way 228-241

Week 6 Reading Diary B: The Great Battle at Lanka

Hanuman called the squirrels the little tree people haha

Ravana tries to trick Sita using his magicians

Phrahasta's club only kills a mosquito on Nala's forehead.

Nala killed Phrahasta with a chariot wheel!!

Ravana wakes up his sleepy brother.

Lakshmana kills Indrajit





Ravana and Sita

Week 6 Reading Diary A: Hanuman the Arsonist

The story of how mountains at one time had wings was very interesting.

It was funny that Hanuman turned into a cat

I liked how Hanuman had an instant monkey thought cross his mind. That made me laugh.

Hanuman set fire to the city! let it burn

What's up with this walking in three right circles? maybe i missed something

Honey park party! the bears were having too much fun.

If a bunch of bears drank my honey wine I would not forgive them. Definitely not instantly.


Hanuman statue at Carapichaima

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Storytelling for week 5: A warrior's death

 On their quest to find Sita and recover her from Ravana, Rama and Lakshmana came across a dying bird. His name was Jatayu, the vulture king, and he had fought Ravana in the hopes of rescuing Sita. Jatayu was badly wounded from his fight with Ravana. His wings were severed from his body and he was lying in a pool of his own blood. Rama asked the wounded animal who could have done this to him.  Jatayu told them his account of what had happened that day. Jatayu told them that he could not sit idly by while a cowardly demon tricked a man and stole his wife. He felt obligated to intervene and defend Sita. He told Rama that he was sorry he could not save Sita. Rama told the great bird that he had done more than enough and that he owed Jatayu a debt that he would pay in this life or the next. Jatayu looked at Rama and told him to end his life quickly so he would not have to die slowly. Rama nodded, then lifted his bow, aimed at Jatayu’s heart and fired one swift shot. The forest stood silent after their great protector had passed.

It was a very bleak day in the forest of Dandaka. Every animal was filled with remorse at the loss of Jatayu. Every bird in the forest was there that day to pay their respects to the great vulture king. Jatayu was greatly admired by everyone who had the opportunity to cross paths with him, both man and beast alike. Rama and his brother began to build a great pyre fit for a king so that they could burn Jatayu’s body. Lakshmana placed Jatayu’s remains on the pyre while Rama stood ready to burn his body. Rama held a torch to the great pyre and all the forest creatures gathered around to see their hero once more. The enormous fire burned as bright as the sun. Rama said a few words on Jatayu’s behalf. “You could not find a braver soul in all the forest. It takes true courage to stand up for the innocent and put your life on the line to defend them. This creature was very honorable and died a warrior’s death. History will remember his name. He will be immortal, because his name will never be forgotten. He will forever be remembered in our hearts and minds.”

Even the gods attended Jatayu’s funeral. They respected him more than any other animal that roamed the Earth. They even set aside a place for him in heaven. He would never take his place in heaven though. He loved the Earth too much to part from it. Rather than live a life of peace and luxury in heaven, he chose the pain that comes from this world in order to protect what he loves. Every time he was reborn, he would return to Earth as a bird to soar in the sky. Forever he will stand watch over his forest. To protect those that cannot defend themselves. He will always be the eyes in the sky.

Ravana killing Jatayu

Author’s Note- I decided to tell the story of Jatayu’s funeral. He is probably my favorite character in the Ramayana. I added more detail to the funeral and what took place there. I added some dialogue from Rama to add to the story. I mostly just wanted to have Rama say a few words on Jatayu’s behalf. I hoped it would help give the story a decent funeral atmosphere for Jatayu. I mentioned the gods being in attendance as well. I wanted to mention the fact that Jatayu could go to heaven whenever he chose, but he chose not to because he was selfless. I got some inspiration from the movie Troy. I got the idea of becoming immortal by being remembered from Achilles in Troy. It is one of my favorite stories. Jatayu is such a noble animal and character in this story so I tried my best to portray him as such. I thought he should have a pyre fit for a king because he was so great. I had Rama end Jatayu’s life as a sign of mercy, in the same way you would put a dying animal out of its misery. I tried to show a sort of friendship between Rama and Jatayu. That mostly showed with Jatayu trying to save Sita from Ravana.

Bibliography-Buck, William (1976). “Hanuman!" Ramayana: King Rama's Way 173-174 182

Week 5 Reading Diary B: Stealing Sita

I like how they explained why Ravana was cursed in this version

Jatayu is awesome. "He has a place in heaven for a thousand lifetimes but he won't use it." definitely one of my favorite characters.

"I think women are more cruel than demons. Very often they are, when they may be so." HAHA that's funny

Sita just had to leave the circle...

It's neat for this story that the eternal age of heaven is twenty-five years old. I guess everyone looks twenty-five.

The drunk monkey lost track of time.





Rama kills Vali

Week 5 Reading Diary A: Rama's long wait

I liked the part about the crow where he loses an eye.

I enjoyed the detail of conversation between Rama and Bharata

The story about the hermit Mandakarni and his five Apsarasas wives was pretty interesting.

"Money is. . . it's . . . it's really nothing."

Ravana's sister tells him of Sita and he is intrigued.



Rama-Sita coronation

The Legend of King Arjuna

Arjuna, the King of the Haihayas, and his favorite wife Queen Valiria sat in the river while they drank red wine. Valiria asked the King if he had heard the rumors of the great conqueror visiting the neighboring kingdoms.

“They say he has conquered even more kings than you,” said Valiria.

King Arjuna laughed loudly. “Maybe he has conquered more, but he will never best me!” he shouted. “Who has been telling you these lies?” King Arjuna questioned.

“I heard it from the servants,” said Queen Valiria. “They were whispering in the halls this morning.”

“Tell me, my Queen, do you really think he is any match for me?” bellowed Arjuna. He began to block the wide river with his thousand arms and the water began to pool around them.  “Look, even the river is no match for me. It bends to my will.”

Queen Valiria smiled and agreed with her husband. “You are right, Arjuna,” she said. “He would be a fool to come to our lands and challenge you.”

Just as those very words rolled off her tongue, Queen Valira caught sight of a hideous man with ten heads. He came strutting up toward the King like a cocky rooster. Valiria immediately knew the rumors were true and prayed the King would crush his swollen ego and destroy this man’s very soul.

Two of King Arjuna’s royal guards approached Ravana and asked him to wait until morning before trying to fight their King. “He is drunk from wine and if you have any honor you will wait,” they said.

Ravana replied, “I care not for the excuses of your pitiful King.”

King Arjuna overheard Ravana mutter this insult. He quickly turned and found the nearest tree. He swiftly lifted the tree with all his might and uprooted it from the ground. He held the tree with five hundred of his arms. As he charged Ravana he yelled, “I will defeat you with half of my hands behind my back.”

Ravana was in shock and awe of King Arjuna’s strength. Ravana stumbled to grab his war mace and attempt to deflect the King’s mighty swing. He got his mace up to protect himself in time but the King and his tree vastly overpowered Ravana. The King landed an overhead swing right on the top of all ten of Ravana's heads! This attack knocked Ravana down to his knees. The King then picked Ravana up by his torso with a fifty-arm grip.

"I will rip off your heads and shove them onto spikes!" Arjuna roared.

The King was so loud that Pulastya, Ravana’s grandfather, overheard him all the way from the Himalayas. Pulastya rushed to save his grandson and pleaded with King Arjuna to release him. Queen Valiria asked her king to show mercy on Ravana so that he might tell the rest of the world about the strength of King Arjuna. Eventually the King released Ravana from his powerful grip and he was free to walk the Earth again.

Ravana never again visited the Haihayas for fear of King Arjuna’s wrath.

Arjuna humbles Ravana

Author's note:

I chose to rewrite the fight between King Arjuna and Ravana because I liked how easily Ravana was beaten in the story. Ravana is very arrogant and I wanted to make his defeat more humiliating.

I added more details about what King Arjuna was doing before Ravana found him. I liked the idea of King Arjuna having one favorite wife with whom he could have a more in-depth conversation. I thought it would be very difficult to have multiple wives in a short story without confusing the characters. I decided on the name Valiria which fit in nicely with the time frame and scenery. If there is another opportunity to write about King Arjuna I would like to use Queen Valiria again.

I changed the story by adding more dialogue and fleshing out some of the details. I wanted to keep the major plot points the same and not distort the ending. Since the original story had some vagueness, it was easy to accomplish this while still being creative.

I chose this particular image because it perfectly depicts the defeat of Ravana at the end. I like how his heads seem to be moving so quickly. It seems that Ravana cannot comprehend how he has been beaten.

Bibliography- Buck, William (1976). "The Thorn in the World's side" Ramayana: King Rama's Way 35-38

Storytelling for week 4: The legend of King Arjuna

The King of the Haihayas and his favorite wife Queen Valiria sat in the river while they drank red wine. Valiria asked the King if he heard the rumors of the great conqueror visiting the neighboring kingdoms.

“They say he has conquered even more kings than you,” said Valiria.

King Arjuna laughed loudly. “Maybe he has conquered more, but he will never best me!” he shouted. “Who has been telling you these lies?” King Arjuna questioned.

“I heard it from the servants,” said Queen Valiria. “They were whispering in the halls this morning.”

“Tell me, my Queen, do you really think he is any match for me?” bellowed Arjuna. He began to block the wide river with his thousand arms and the water began to pool around them.  “Look, even the river is no match for me, it bends to my will.”

Queen Valiria smiled and agreed with her husband. “You are right, Arjuna,” she said. “He would be a fool to come to our lands and challenge you.”

Just as those very words rolled off her tongue, Queen Valira caught sight of a hideous man with ten heads. He came strutting up toward the King like a cocky rooster. Valiria immediately knew the rumors were true and prayed the King would crush his swollen ego and destroy this man’s very soul.

Two of King Arjuna’s royal guards approached Ravana and asked him to wait until morning before trying to fight their King. “He is drunk from wine and if you have any honor you will wait,” they said.

Ravana replied, “I care not for the excuses of your pitiful King.”

King Arjuna overheard Ravana mutter this insult. He quickly turned and found the nearest tree. He swiftly lifted the tree with all his might and uprooted it from the ground. He held the tree with five hundred of his arms. As he charged Ravana he yelled, “I will defeat you with half of my hands behind my back.”

Ravana was in shock and awe of King Arjuna’s strength. Ravana stumbled to grab his war mace and attempt to deflect the King’s mighty swing. He got his mace up to protect himself in time but the King and his tree vastly overpowered Ravana. The King landed an overhead swing right on the top of all ten of Ravanas heads! This attack knocked Ravana down to his knees. The King then picked Ravana up by his torso with a fifty-arm grip. He roared like a lion and pledged to squeeze the life out Ravana.

King Arjuna was so loud that Ravana’s grandfather overheard him all the way from the Himalayas. His grandfather rushed to save him and pleaded with King Arjuna to release him. Queen Valiria asked her king to show mercy on Ravana so that he might tell the rest of the world about the strength of King Arjuna. Eventually the King released Ravana from his powerful grip and Ravana was free to walk the Earth again.

Ravana never again visited the Haihayas again for fear of King Arjuna’s wrath.

Arjuna humbles Ravana

Author's note:

I chose to rewrite the fight between King Arjuna and Ravana because I liked how easily Ravana was beaten in the story. Ravana is very arrogant and I wanted to make his defeat more humiliating.

I added more details about what King Arjuna was doing before Ravana found him. I liked the idea of King Arjuna having one favorite wife with whom he could have a more in-depth conversation. I thought it would be very difficult to have multiple wives in a short story without confusing the characters. I thought the name Valiria fit in nicely with the time frame and scenery. If there is another opportunity to write about King Arjuna I would like to use Queen Valiria again.

I changed the story by adding more dialogue and fleshing out some of the details. I wanted to keep the major plot points the same and not distort the ending. Since the original story had some vagueness, it was easy to accomplish this while still being creative.

I chose this particular image because it perfectly depicts the defeat of Ravana at the end. I like how his heads seem to be moving so quickly. It seems that Ravana cannot comprehend how he has been beaten.

Bibliography- Buck, William (1976). "The Thorn in the World's side" Ramayana: King Rama's Way 35-38

Week 4 Reading Diary B: Drinking Conetest!

I like how detailed this book in comparison to the previous version. I am getting a better picture in my head of the story.

I loved the part with Guha in the forest where he challenges them to a drinking contest. And Guha is just hanging out in the forest smoking a cigar. He sounds like a pretty cool dude. I think it would be fun to write a story about that.

Kaikeyi tried to learn the animal language and almost killed Dasharatha in the process. I really don't like her.

I liked the story of how Dasharatha died way more in this version. The story about Dasharatha killing the boy in the forest was interesting. He mistook him for an elephant.




Rama taking leave of Dasharatha

Week 4 Reading Diary A: Bucks Ramayana

Like the Greeks there seems to literally be a god for everything. there should be a god to keep track of which god does what.

It was interesting that Rama saw his sons sing but didn't know it was them.
also they seem to prize singing in these stories.

I thought the rice that King Dasharatha gave his wives was interesting.

Ravana is kind of a douche. He keeps running around making the gods submit to him because he can.

 Ravana killed the messenger. Oh and then ate him. That's cool...

Arjuna of the thousand Arms put the squeeze on Ravana.



Ramas sons name is Lava. Awesome!





Valmiki

Possible Storytelling Styles: Great Battles

Topic- I think I would like my stories to be about great battles. I really like war stories and action so this would really interest me. I was going to write about the battle between Rama and Ravana. Also I considered Thataka and her sons as a story. I will try to pull two more battles from the next book to write about. I think I would like to put more emphasis on Ravanas heart as his weakness. (achilles heel)

Bibliography-
Rama facing Ravana from wikipedia
Thataka from wikipedia

Possible styles-

Twist the ending- I like to add my own twist on stories and change them here and there. I think altering the ending could be a fun new way to tell the story! Perhaps I could change how some of the battles were won by Rama. That is if Rama wins them at all.

Postscripts and Prequels- I like the idea of extending some of these battle stories and adding on to them in some way. Some of the stories in the book were not as detailed as I would have liked. I think I could add more detail before the battle to really set the stage for what's to come. I am not entirely sure how I would use a postscript for this, but I will continue to brainstorm!

Time travel- I think it would be cool to tell a story from this perspective. I could go back in time and witness the battle of Rama and Ravana and live to tell the tale! This could be a fun way to explain the third person storytelling style. I think time travel is really cool so this could be a interesting time to go to.

Modernizing and Futurizing- I am really excited about what I could do with this. I think putting Rama on a modern battlefield would be too much fun for me. Seriously forget all my other ideas because this is what I'm doing. Ramas bow just became a trusty M4 assault rifle. Ravana could be the leader of a terrorist organization. I believe I could modernize some of these stories while still clinging to the core part of the story. I think taking these stories about ancient warfare and bringing them into modern times would be a cool way to retell them. I am just thinking of things off the top of my head, but I know I would have the most fun with this topic.

 
Ravana Sketch
link