Indian Epics Blog

This week, I continued reading about the Jatakas Tales by Ellen C. Babbitt. As per usual, while they all were interesting, three stood out in particular. The first is How the Monkey Saved His Troop. This one was interesting for me because it seemed odd that there was such a fixation on mangoes. I really thought that there would be a war over the food for the mangoes, but it was moreso a protection battle for the king versus the monkeys. It is interesting to me that after watching a larger monkey give himself up that the king decides to protect him, but most of these stories all have some honor theme to them. The second story is The Brave Little Bowman. This seems like a very common theme where someone with skill is passed over due to a semi-non-essential trait. The larger one probably should have practiced and learned from the better Bowman as well. Overall, it is odd that such a large man just runs back to the city, but when you think about it, the smaller one is better of because...

This week, I continued reading more Jatakas tales. Three stories that stood out were The Woodpecker, Turtle, and Deer; The Woodpecker and the Lion, and The Red-Bud Tree. These stories can be found at More Jatakas Tales by Ellen C. Babbitt. The Woodpecker, Turtle, and Deer really stood out because it showed the selflessness of the deer. I feel like I have read many stories where once the deer was free, the turtle would be left to perish in the sack in the tree. But through teamwork, they are all able to survive. I think it's a nice tale about making sure that you always thank those that help you. In contrast, we see the lion disregard the woodpecker in The Woodpecker and the Lion. It is weird that we are suddenly getting so many stories with woodpeckers, but regardless, the lion decides that even though the woodpecker had hedged his bets well with the lion, since the lion did not eat the woodpecker, he has paid his due. This seems somewhat unfair as the lion is telling the woodp...

I continued reading the Jatakas Tales by Ellen C. Babbitt, this time reading nine new tales that I had not previously read. There were three in particular that really stood out. The first one was The Wise and Foolish Merchant. This one is interesting because for some reason, I pictured it occurring in the midwest or in a country style way. The story sets it up to think that the wise merchant has tricked the foolish merchant, and that the wise merchant will be punished in the end. However, this story really connotes the word "wise" well, because it talks about how he is able to defend himself. It was reminiscent of Barnyard, oddly, when they were camped out in the middle of the night to protect themselves. The second story was The Banyan Deer. This is a great example of sacrifice, and it reminds me of the Chronicles of Narnia. The king of the deer sacrifices himself in an attempt to save the mother, in a way similar to how Aslan sacrifices himself. The main question that c...

This week, I read part of the Jatakas Tales by Ellen C. Babbitt as part of the weekly readings. While I had begun to read these at the start of the semester, coming back after the Ramayana and Mahabharata made them somewhat more refreshing as everything was easier to follow. There were nine stories in total, but three really stood out for one reason or another. The first story is The Merchant of Seri. I liked this one because it seems to have an overall happy ending. While karma is seem to have originated in India, the Jatakas Tales often do not reflect that, such as stories where a character is killed for no reason. However, in this one, not only is the antagonist merchant punished for his actions, but the girl and grandmother with the bowl are rewarded. It does seem odd though, that they have a bowl made of gold and neither of them knew it. It raises so many questions about how it got there. The overarching theme is nice though, that even though they don't know it's value,...

This week, I continued reading the Mahabharata by C.A. Kincaid.  Earlier, I had praised this part of the story for being far better in clarity when compared to the other, but perhaps it was because I was comparing the relatively easy to understand beginning with the relatively difficult to understand ending. This is an interesting part of the story, because generally when I write, I do not have identity changes such as the Pandavas did, and I also do not interchange characters so frequently. I have a single character and some supporting characters. The issue is that technically, this is centered around an entire family, but the family acts between five different characters, which can make it hard when two characters from two different families interact, and we might not remember who is from what family. The story does become far better when telling the happenings of the battle. In the Public Domain Edition, I had a hard time understanding the entire focus of the battle, because i...

This week, I read an alternative version of the Mahabharata by C.A. Kincaid . This served as a more informative version of the story, for me personally. To start, it really clarifies the lineage that the characters face. It sets up well the reasons that the two families dislike each other, but I thought that the best set up difference was when they compared how the five sons were all related to a different divine being. In addition, we get a better insight into how Krishna gets her name, and why she is thought of as so beautiful. One thing that causes issue (that did not before because I did not pick up on it) is that she marries five people at once. This is somewhat of an issue because in the Ramayana, Sita is banished to a test of fire and then to the forest over questions of her purity. But if all five are married (and it's not simultaneously, they clearly state it is one after the other), then why could people not believe that Sita marries Ravana, then Rama, and move on with ...

This week, I finish up reading the Mahabharata. The story heats up more as we move from the exile portion of the story to the battle side, and the families begin to settle things on the battle field. Though this is reminiscent of other stories there are stark differences as well. The family ends the story with a battle when they return home. Which doesn't sound at all too foreign when we think about an amazing warrior that has been aided by the gods and comes home to a large battle for their own homeland, this is reminiscent of the Odyssey by Homer. Arjuna returns home and wages war against the opposing family along with his family, and this brings up the question: how is this even a contest? In the previous story, we learn how Arjuna has gained many different magical weapons, and how the Gods favor him, so why do they and the magical weapons that they had bestowed upon him abandon him in the hour of need? This stands in contrast to the Odyssey where Odysseus fights against the w...

This week, we continue reading the Mahabharata, I read the Public Domain Edition stories 41-60. The interesting parts of this story cover the exile in the forest, and how the cope with being away from society for the extended periods of time. One interesting thing is how imagery and descriptions are used. For example, when they describe Arjuna decreasing the amount of food he intakes until he no longer needs any, and he can live on the air alone, they immediately then launch into his bathing habits and how that makes him look very shiny, so bright as lightning. Then, he picks a fight with a great deity that can survive arrows and immediately put its opponent in a death lock, but the deity is happy that after nearly being killed by Arjuna that Arjuna decides to worship instead, so the god leaves him alone. Finally, he gives Arjuna a deus ex machina in the Gandiva bow. None of this makes any sense whatsoever. Then, not only do more gods come down from the heavens to meet Arjuna, but ...

This week, we continue reading the Mahabharata, part B of the Public Domain Edition (PDE). The first interesting parallel within this reading is of the competition to shoot the fish in the eye with the heavy bow. This is reminiscent of King Arthur and the magic sword, where no one, no matter how mighty, was able to lift the sword from the stone until King Arthur came along. That many people could not even lift the bow, let alone shoot it, makes Arjuna's accomplishment all the more impressive. This ultimately does beg a question though: why did no one ever question how much better they were at the competition than all of the other competitors? Consider a dunk contest or any physical requirement: if one athlete is so much more dominant than all of the others, it would surely raise eyebrows. So why does it not here? The lack of logical questioning comes up again during Duryodhana's gambling game where Yudhishthira continues to lose game after game after game. At one point, it ...

This week, we start reading a new Indian class, the Mahabharata, I chose to read the PDE (public domain edition) again, and this serves as notes for the first twenty stories within the epic. During the reading of the Ramayana, I would pre-read the plot on Wikipedia, this time, I will try to read only the PDE first, then the Wikipedia story if necessary. One thing that immediately stuck out was the high character turnover, compared to the Ramayana. In the Ramayana, there were not too many different characters, and the plot seemed to revolve around the characters. In contrast, the Mahabharata seems to have the characters revolve around a different plot. This seems to highlight the role that karma and the Gods play in the fate of the other people as their wills are shaped to the God's destiny. A second thing that stuck out was the role of curses in this story as well. In the ninth story of the PDE, "Pandu and His Wives", there is a similar role of a character killing som...

This week, we read a different type of the Ramayana to see a different telling of the same story. I read the Ramayana by Sister Nivedita . Previously, I had focused more on the overall style and choices that the author made, but in this post, I will delve further into specific examples to support the previous claim. The first story that comes to mind is when Hanuman is burning down Lanka, and he decides that the most important objective is that of rescuing Sita. It was not exactly as clear as to what his reason was for burning the city, or going back for Sita, despite saving himself. In this version, it is crystal clear, though, I do believe that it loses some kind of imagery that I had in my head when I read the story in the Public Domain Edition (PDE), though. A second story that is clearer in this version is the story of Indrajit vs. Hanuman. While the PDE edition does a good job of clarifying how Hanuman is captured and punished, this version does a great job of ensuring that t...

This week, we read a different kind of the Ramayana, allowing us to see a different telling of the story. I chose to read: Ramayana by Sister Nivedita . The main thing that stands out right from the get go is that this story is told in a very objective manner. There isn't too much emphasis on the rhyming or song like style of the story like there was in the previous version of the Ramayana, and it takes away to some degree the spirit of the story as a whole; however, I do believe that I comprehend this version of the story better. For instance, the beginning sets up very well, and I believe that makes for a more comprehensible story. This does bring up an interesting question of story of how crucial comprehension is to making a good story. The Ramayana that we read last week had a stronger feeling of spirit, the poetry and the language seemed to immerse the reader in the story. The intuitive flow is more smooth and it doesn't feel as jutted. However, I can comprehend this v...

This week, I finished up the Ramayana. The stories in D are told slightly differently form the stories in A-C, with the main thing that stood out to me being the irrationality of the characters. There is a large number of battles that occur within the final part of the Ramayana, often with Rama and others dying. However, for some odd reason, this is perfectly permissible because there's a root in a far off kingdom that Hanuman can get to really quickly and find, then he can race back and revive people. The root itself causes a lot of logical issues, but in addition, why not just pick the root and grow it somewhere else? Additionally, why do they keep going to battle after a loss? If Indrajit where to do his job optimally, he would kill Rama and capture the body instead of waiting for him to be revived. While the Ramayana often does not have logical consistencies, there is no clear reason that the battles occur this way. Next, there is the proving of Sita's purity. The trial...

For this week's reading, I finish up the Ramayana, Public Domain Edition. Part C ranges from stories number 41-60. The most interesting part of this story was the focus on Hanuman as a semi-main character. It depicts him on his journeys to find Sita, and in the beginning where he does not help Rama. Perhaps more interesting is the beginning story of how Rama gains Hanuman's trust in the first place. It is never actually explicitly mentioned within these stories of Rama directly helping Hanuman as he had previously, but rather, Sugriva. This in turn leads to Sugriva being indebted to Rama. The thankfulness and admiration that everyone has for Rama is evident when Hanuman realizes that he might have burned down the entire down and Sita, where he would rather die than return a failure to Rama. Also of interest is the seemingly odd restrictions placed on Ravana. There is substantial hinting that in his past, he was also treacherous, as in the first half of the Ramayana, it is m...

This week, I continue my reading of the Ramayana with part B. While it is a continuance of part A, I did notice a few things that made it slightly different. Namely, there is a lot of focus on dialogue, and what is conveyed within dialogue vs. narration. Previously, I had noted that the narration seemed to quickly gloss over large details sometimes vs. the narration going into longer, drawn out statements like in the wedding. In the story Rama and Bharata and Shurpanakha and Rama, there is a great effort made into lengthy monologues about a certain virtue such as honesty and integrity vs. a character such as Rama. These are interesting to the reader because of the care put into stringy out such a long description. The other interesting story is Viradha, where a monster attacks Rama and his group. The most interesting thing about this story is that while they try to kill him with arrows and blows, for some odd reason, they decided to let him capture them, and put them on his should...

This week, we began reading the Ramayana, and we started off with parts A and B. I decided to read the public domain edition (PDE.) The first thing that stuck out to me was how quickly the poem churns through different characters within each story, while Rama remains constant. The reason it seems to churn through the characters is because of how monotonically the stories are told. The story where Rama defeats the woman that can turn invisible while still throwing boulders at them stands out as one example, because even though they are in great danger, it is told in the same inflection as when Rama lifts the bow. The other thing that stood out during these stories was the parallels to other tales and stories that I am already accustomed to. Dasharatha’s inability to have a son parallels nicely with Abraham’s inability to have a son, the bow challenge is reminiscent of the story of King Arthur, and the tests Rama faces parallel with the tests Jesus faced during his forty days in the...