Adventuring in Indian Epics

Greed vs. Friendship     Once upon a time, there were two best friends, Bhism Kaurava and Arandu Pandava. They lived in the large Kingdom of Indishina. Arandu’s father ruled the Kingdom and had a great relationship with their neighboring Kingdom Indivia, which Bhism’s father ruled. Because of the good relationship between their fathers the two young princes spent a lot of time together. They would play endlessly together and often have sleepovers at each other’s homes, they were more than friends they were like brothers. However, as time passed their duties as princes grew and their time together lessened. They both got married and made their own lives, they often thought of each other but now their friendship only existed as a childhood memory. When both became Kings of their kingdoms, greed for power took over their hearts. They became the most powerful Kingdoms as they kept conquering weaker Kingdoms and taking over their lands. For respect to their past friendship, they

The Battle Begins  The battle between Bhisma and Arjuna  Bibliography:  Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie (1913) Descriptions of the Battle Loud war shells sounded  Drums of battle begin to play When did it start: Armies waited for sunrise  It was a very bloody  battle that it seemed at it was raining blood  the earth shook due to thunder heard even when no cloud, the sound came to form angry lighting that rent in the gloomy sky thunderbolts struck  In the evening Abhimanyu (son of Arjuna) seemed to have the advantage, he went speedily against Kauravas the mighty warrior and cut down the ensign of his chariot  Bhishma than advanced to try to make a fierce attack on the Pandava army  The first battle day ended with a truce after a tiring fight between Arjuna and Bhishma none giving up at first  2nd day- Bhishma attacked Pandava forces first but Arjuna drove him back  3rd day- Pandavas army created a crescent formation against the Kaurave army. Rivers

My Grandfather The birds chirped loudly as the morning sun shined through the window. I quickly got out of bed dressed in my favorite pink sparkly jumpsuit that abuelito (grandpa) had given me for my third birthday. I sat impatiently in my chair as mother did my hair “Monica, please sit still” mom said. Once done I ran out the door grabbed my lunchbox and ran to my grandparent’s house. “Mi ardillita ya llegaste” (My little chipmunk you’re here) he screamed from his room I ran to him to give him his hug and he did his regular routine, lifting me up in the air and spinning me around –it was my favorite ride. Once back in the ground he held my hand and we walked to our usual place to eat breakfast. We sat in a wooden bench abuelito built himself. It was in the middle of the garden, surrounded by peach, mango, avocado, guava, lime, pomegranate, tangerine and orange trees. In the far left was the vegetable garden where carrots, cabbage, pumpkins, squash, and other vegetables grew with

Image source : Arjuna at Draupadi's Swayamvara Draupadi's Swaymarwara Bibliography:  Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie (1913) This story is about Draupadi's  swayamvara. Her father Drupada already had someone in mind to take his daughter and that was Arjuna one of the great Pandava brothers. He was an incredible archer. Drupada, Draupadi's father made it for the man who was able to bend the bow and shoot an arrow through the wheel and strike the golden fish in the eye would be the one to be able to marry his beautiful daughter. He made sure the competition was in favor of Arjuna as no one other than him or someone who could possess his skill could do it. Mighty men from all over came, there was Krishna, Duryodhana, Karna (Pandavas enemies), Balarama, Yadava princes and more. The Pandavas were disguised as brahmins. One after the other came up and tried to strike the fish with the bow but none succeeded. Then to the surprise of everyone Karna came

Pandu Shoots the Ascetic Kindama, Who Is Disguised as a Deer Wikimedia Pandu and His Wives  Bibliography: The first part is from Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie His Wives      - Kunti, chose him at her swayamvara . She was trembling with love when she placed the flower garland upon his shoulders       - Madri, she came from Madra, had dark black eyes and a dusky complexion. She was purchased by Bhishma for King Pandu as that was the marriage tradition of her people. Sold for gold, jewels, elephants, and horses King Pandu, revived the glories of King Bharata's reign. He was a King to extended their territory through many conquests and he especially had a love for hunting. One day when at the Himalaya mountains with his wives he went hunting for a deer. he found to deer that were joined together and when his arrow shot one of them he found that they were no deer instead of a holy brahmin and his wife in animal disguise. The sage wounded from the arro

Image: Sunset and Mountains  Welcome! Please leave all your comments here😄💜 Story Book: https://sites.google.com/view/monicasstorybook/home

Remember Me It was a cold winter day, Efren walked into the town’s Pawnshop for some tools he needed for his latest project. He had to fix the horse stables that his father had been nagging him to fix for days. He grabbed what he needed and walked to the cashier to pay. He rang the bell ready to see Mr. Rodriguez the owner of the shop, he wondered why he was taking so long. He was in a bit of a hurry; it was getting late and he needed to catch the last bus. He heard footsteps coming from behind, he turned to greet the older man but instead he was met with the most beautiful women he had ever seen. She had long dark black hair, big sparkling brown eyes, long eyelashes, bright fair skin, and a long slender body. “ Excuse me how can I help you, ” she said. “ Excuse me, are you ready to pay? ”. Efren stood there staring at her like a statue, he finally shook his head and came back to reality  “ Uuumm… yyehhes please ” His eyes were fixed on her the whole time she wrote down his ite

Promila: The Woman Who Loved Deeply  Biography: Nine Ideal Indian Women by Sunity Devee. pages 162-174 Image: Promila and Her Army on their way to Lanka and Indrajit  Promila is the daughter of a Danah Maharajah and is the same race as Ravana. She is beautiful, gentle. and fair. She married Indrajit, the eldest son of King Ravana. They in deep love with each other. She loved Indrajit with all her heart and soul and he returned every part of her love back. They lived their lives for one another, basically in the honeymoon stage and were so happy and content that they had no idea about the wars and were happing around them. Their love for one another was unmatched. When Ravana kidnapped Sita, this instigated a war against Rama. One day, the peaceful lives of the lovers were interrupted as a messenger came and told Indrajit that all his brothers had been killed by Rama in battle. For, his devotion to his family he decides to avenge his brothers and sets his journey to fig

Shakuntala  Biography: Nine Ideal Indian Women by Sunity Devee. pages 57-81 Image: Dushyanta and Shakuntala 1940 vintage prints             Source:  Wikimedia My inspiration came from reading Shakuntala's story and the part where her husband King Dushyanta fails to remember her. He disowns her and throws her out of the palace. Shakuntala seeks refugee in the forests with her son. Dushyanta remembers all the memories of her once again when a fisherman returns the royal ring he found to him. The moment he sees it all the memories of her come to him and he sets out to find her. At first, he runs into his son Bharata and once he finds the courage to ask for his mother her finds his dear wife. They reunite and live happily for many years. Shakuntala is described as a very kind woman who is always with a smile in her face and if always willing to help those around her. Her people adore her and she is always happy to serve them. She also deeply loves her husband and was ab

For my project, I decided to go for the storybook route. Draupadi is such a rich character with many things to offer that a portfolio would not do it justice. The way I am currently thinking of taking this story is telling it in a chronological way from birth and so forth or as it was suggested to me start it from when she gets exiled and retell her past as her remembering past memories of who she was. My storybook will be kind of like a chapter book, where each story follows to the other, it will also be written in modern language and it will still be taken place in Draupadi's time. It will be told as to how I view her and reinterpret her story. Some episodes that I want to include are her birth story, marriage to 5 husbands and how that came about, her disrobing, and life in exile. I want to write it in a narrator point of view but also switch to Draupadi's view(I don't know if that will make it confusing) I could probably use italics to demonstrate when switches to her

Dark Secrets by  Sheila Tostes  through Flickr Trapped  Left.. right... darkness is all I see. For days I've been tied to this cold wooden chair with only the company of my thoughts. Tap ... Tap ..TAP... heavy footsteps are heard from afar. Closer and closer they come, "huff''  "puff' "HUFF" "PUFF" my whole body shakes with anxiety and fear. BANG ! A shiver runs down my spine. He is here. My eyes struggle to open as they meet bright light. Big green piercing eyes stare right back at me. I then realize in this game only one will survive the question is " Who will meet the fate of death?"   Ravana approaches Sita during her captivity painting Image source: Wikimedia She Will Be Mine  Ravana watches Sita from afar "I have given her my wealth, shown her my power, been affectionate and charming. YET, she continues to deny me" Ravana screams angrily as he throws a plate across the room. "I am the great

  Lakshamana fights Indrajit Image source: Wikimedia Bibliography: From the books,  Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie and Ramayana, The Epic of Rama, Prince of India , the specific story I used as inspiration is Ravana's Lament Useful/ Inspiration Storyline Plot Events    - After Lakshamana kills Indrajit Ravana'a son, Ravana is seen distresses with feelings of sadness, anger and ready for revenge.    - As Ravana laments his sons death he recalls him as the mightiest that even gods feared, and how his wife and mother also weep for him.    - "  Fondly I deemed that when the frailties of old age afflicted me thou wouldst close mine eyelids in death, but youth is taken first and I am left alone to battle against mine enemies.” when he speaks these words to me he is saying that we should have done first because he is older but instead death has taken his son first who is younger and now he is left to fight all his enemies alone.    - Ravana'

Ravana slaughtering Jatayu the vulture, while an abducted Sita looks away in horror. Chromolithograph by R. Varma from Wikimedia Bibiliograpy: Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists by Sister Nivedita page 35. Ravana and Sita   Important Storyline Details     -   Hanuman finds Sita who is guarded by rakshasis - Ravana is trying to persuade Sita to reject Rama and take him as her husband I instead - Sita is seemed very scared of Ravana as she trembles when he approaches her. Hunaman also sees her hiding her face and crying. - Ravana tries to whoo her in all sorts of way, using his wealth, power and comfort but she continues to bolt out refusing him and tells him Rama will kill him when he finds him - Ravana gives Sita a 2-month term and if she does not yield to him she will receive the consequences of torture and slain and leaves her to the rakshasi guards with orders to break her. - Sita is shrinking from the horrible she-demons who are threatening her with death

The Key to Improvement Image source: Feedback Padlet The articles  The Trouble with “Amazing”: Giving Praise that Matters  and  The Difference Between Praise and Feedback  both state that when we say "Good Job!" or "Your amazing" we are praising the person and not necessarily the effort that they put in their work. They also talk about how saying just phrases of praise it is not necessarily helping the person improve, we are also not specifically telling them what they did well either. Reading through the feedback gallery, people were both praising the author on what they did right but also provided input in what could make the story better and even asked questions in things that they did not understand. I think these type of strategies are good ones to use when giving constructive feedback, we all have different minds so providing outside input is good to help us improve as long as we are not giving in a form of negativity I think it is good to not such use pr

Flames creating the shape of a women Image source:  FrankySyggy through Pixabay I chose this image inspired by   Draupadi: Fire-Born Princess . since she is a strong, fierce female figure of Mahabharata I think fire can depict her character. There is another image I am looking to use but just having trouble finding its source, however, I know that I want her to be in fire and the image translates what I want.  Draupadi: Fire-Born Princess  by  Saraswati Nagpal is written in comic book form, and it includes most of all her life events from her being in powerful queen to a servant. The transition from queen to a servant is one of the events that I want to highlight. I think its one of the most important stories in the book because it shows how she deals with tragedies and then to see her coming out of that. I have only begun reading the book so I can't retaliate much, however, the way the time log is driven is good and easy to follow. Another good story is the disrobing of Drau