Reading Notes: Ganesha

A great friend of mine has a sanskrit tattoo on wisdom.  He told me that it was referring to the Hindu god of Wisdom, Ganesha.  He wanted to get another tattoo of the sanskrit symbol for "Om" mixed in with the image of Ganesha and asked me to design the tattoo.  I was honored.  This is the sketch I drew up.

At the time, I only knew what he had told me about Ganesha but nothing more.  So this week, I decided to learn more about Ganesha.  After completing my story book and learning all about his mother, Parvati, I figured I should learn a little about him.

• Parvati wants to bathe in peace but none of the Ganas listen to her because they all follow Shiva first.  
• She creates a boy, Ganesha, who keeps Shiva from his own home and lashes at him when he tries to go inside anyway.
• Ganesha remains extremely loyal to his mother while facing great danger
• Ganesha goes to far and many people want to kill him
• Ganesha is finally defeated(head cut off)
• They fit the head of an elephant on the boy and return him to Parvati to appease her.  

Bibliography:
Ganesha, Amar Chitra Katha, Reading Guide.

Image:
Hindu God Traditional Line Art.  Found on Pizabay.com

Reading Notes: An Old Couple

Okay this is the strangest story I've ever read.  Titled "The Old Couple" I thought it would be a sweet story about long lasting love.  I guess it was in a sense... It was about a king who walked past a house in the village with an old couple nearly on the brink of death, making love in a "furious" way.  He then makes them go to court because he was grossed out by it.  At court the old couple mixed ashes with spices and said as long as one shall live, the desire for sex will still remain.  Then the King gave the couple gifts and they left.  I struggle to see the moral of the story.  It was very strange and I don't think I'll be able to use this one for a story.  Maybe not though, you never know!

Bibliography:
A Flowering Tree and Other Oral Tales From India, Ch 46. An Old Couple  

Image Information:
The image is from the collections of the State Library of NSW. Found on Wikipedia Commons.

Reading Notes: Shiva's Secret Part 1

• Kali- primal goddess
• dances on Shiva- Shiva does not care for the world and he is indifferent toward Kali
• Kali wants Shiva to open eyes 
• they are opposites
• Shiva needs to populate with Kali so she forces him to "create life within her"
• Two images show angry Kali and content Kali
• God takes inferior position to Goddess 

(Kali dancing on Shiva, trying to get his attention.  Found on Wikipedia.)

Bibliography:

Seven Secrets from Hindu Calendar Art, Devdutt Pattanaik, Shiva's Secret Part 1

Reading Notes: Shiva's Secret Part 2

Looking at Shiva's side of the love story between him and Parvati.  It is the same story but told in a different way and with a different perspective.  There is an added element that was not in the stories I read last week.

• Parvati induced shiva to become belovolant
• Groom: was a hermit and didn't know how to behave or dress
• drunk
• covered in ash
• came with ghosts and goblins
• scared the people of Parvati's village
• Parvati asked him to accept worldly ways so he did and became a beautiful groom
• Shiva did not discriminate between the beautiful and the ugly but didn't fit in with the social set up: there is judgement and Shiva didn't have any
• His eyes were opened because of Parvati

(the religious poster that is explained through the video I watched this week.  Found on Wikipedia Commons.)

Bibliography:

Seven Secrets from Hindu Calendar Art, Devdutt Pattanaik, Shiva's Secret Part 2

Reading Notes: Tales of Shiva

• Shiva teaches Parvati of the Vedas and it lasts for years and Parvati began to lose focus.  In a spit of Anger he banishes he to be a fisherwoman because she does not have the focus.
• Instantly he regrets it because Parvati disappears 
• Parvati is reborn as a child to a fisherman
• Nandi, Shiva's servant, becomes a shark and attack the fisherman in Parvati's village and Parvati's father says that he will give his daughter to the fisherman who catches the shark
•  Shiva hears Parvatis prayer for help and becomes a fisherman and cashes the shark
• They wed and "live happily ever after"

(Shiva depicted with Parvati and children. Wikipedia Commons.)

Bibliogrpahy:
Tales of Shiva, The Mighty Lord of Kailasa, Amar Chitra Kathra, Reading Guide

Reading Notes: Shiva Parvati, A Story of Divine Love

• Starts with Death of Shiva's first wife Sati, who was embarrassed of her fathers hatred for Shiva 
• Parvati daughter of Mountain King, Himavat and Heavenly Nymph Menaka
• Parvati was Sati reborn but to a father who she could be proud of and who would be proud of her
• Prophesied to marry Shiva but father was nervous Shiva would accept because he only had love for Sati
• Himavat sends Parvati and friends to serve Shiva with is meditation rituals sure that the prophesy will come true and Shiva will fall in love with Parvati
• She loves servind Shiva even when her friends grow tired of it.  She goes above and beyond to serve him.
• The Brahma tells the worried gods, led by Indra, that the first son of Parvati and Shiva will be the War- Lord that will kill Taraka who is terrorizing them.
• Indra goes to Kama the God of Love to help Shiva fall in love with Parvati
• Kama shot Shiva with an arrow to fall in love with Parvati, but Shiva regained his emotions and grew in anger when he saw Kama- burnt Kama too ashes with his glance
• Kama's love, Rati is grief stricken and desires to die but a heavenly voice tells her that surely Shiva and Parvati will marry and Kama will come back on their wedding day
• Parvati decides that her beauty may not win Shiva's love but her penance and devotion will
• Parvati rid herself of everything, no jewels or fancy clothing, and lived in solitude and penance in the valley, in complete devotion to Shiva (Hermits watcher her devotion)
• She fasted for weeks "I will subsist on your name resting on my lips"
• Did this for years
• her beauty remained even though she was putting her body through so much 
• Hermit insults Shiva when he finds out Parvati is doing all of this for him "It takes a great soul to know a great soul"
• The hermit gets angry and blocks Parvati from leaving
• Hermit turns into Shiva
• Parvati won Shiva over! he vows to be her slave
• Parvati still makes Shiva ask her father for her hand in marriage
• Child is born and multiple claims are placed on it until Shiva and Parvati come to claim their child

(The Divine Family, Shiva, Parvati, Kartikeya and Ganesh.  Found on Wikipedia Commons.)

Bibliogrpahy:

Shiva Parvati: A Story of Divine Love, Amar Chitra Katha, Reading Guide.

Reading Notes: Nine Ideal Indian Women Part B, Uttara

• Uttara taken to marry Arjun's son, Prince Abhimanyu
• Very young when she left, still playing with dolls
• There is a battle and it kind of reminds me of the Game of Thrones with each side having their own right to the throne.
• Abhimanyu and Uttara were uninvolved in the terrible war taking place and Abhumanyu is utterly enamored with his wife
• Uttara was never sad.  She always had a smile 
• Abhimanyu wanted to help in the war
• Abhimanyu was appointed to lead as General
• when Abhim went in to tell Uttara the news she was weeping hysterically 
• Uttara fainted upon hearing the news of Abhim's new appointment 
• Uttara had a dream of Abhim dying on the battle field 
• Uttara became brave for Abhim's sake because she knew he hated to see her so sad
• Uttara's dream comes true
• She fainted upon hearing the news and her mother and law thought she had died
• Uttara wanted to die and begged to join Abhim in heaven
• she cried at Krishna's feet to join Abhim
• Krishna promised to be Uttara's son which consoled Uttara 
• Uttara wanted to join other widows in the funeral pyre but Krishna stopped her saying she must take care of her son
•  Uttara raised her son and finally followed her dream of finding Abhim in heaven and lived n earth only to raise her son and follow her duty
• Gave her life in complete sacrifice to Krishna and her son, even though all she wanted to do was die and be with her husband

What an interesting story of devotion.  She was devoted to Krishna and to her son but her desire was to her husband who had passed.  She did not want to be devoted to life, but did so anyway.

(Uttara crying for her husband when he tells her he is leaving for battle. Found on Wikipedia Commons.)

Bibliography: Nine Ideal Indian Women, Maharanee Sunity Devee, Section on Uttara.

Reading Notes: Nine Ideal Indian Women Part A, Savitri

• Savitri was not kept away and was highly educated 
• beautiful description of when she met eyes with her love. "And, as eyes gazed into eyes, across the narrow stream their souls, predestined from all eternity to complete each other, awakened" 
• boy turns out to be prince of exiled king
• father doesn't want Savitri to marry the "penniless prince"
• king asks for advice and finds that he is actually a perfect suite EXCEPT he is destined to die in one year!!
• Savitri wants to marry him anyway even though that could mean the ruin for her father, the King's, line
• "Love like hers is heaven-sent"
• A year loving Satyaban is worth a lifetime of widowhood
• Satyaban is honorable.  after the wedding, instead of living in the palace and accumulating the riches, he vows to return to his blind father in exile to support him.
• Savitri vows to accompany him
• Servitor took the character of a poor mans daughter, cooking and cleaning like she didn't grow up a princess in a palace

This is the perfect story for a premarital counseling session.  They are desperate to get married but they know the road ahead will be extremely difficult.  With death glooming in the near future, they love each other so much, Savitri loves Satyaban so much, that she is willing to marry him no matter what.  Can't wait to write this story!!

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Bibliography: Nine Ideal Indian Women, Maharanee Sunity Devee, Reading Guide, Book

(Savitri begging for her lover's life. Found on Wikipedia from the Calcutta Art Studio)

Reading Notes: Nine Ideal Indian Women Part A, Savitri

• Savitri was not kept away and was highly educated 
• beautiful description of when she met eyes with her love. "And, as eyes gazed into eyes, across the narrow stream their souls, predestined from all eternity to complete each other, awakened" 
• boy turns out to be prince of exiled king
• father doesn't want Savitri to marry the "penniless prince"
• king asks for advice and finds that he is actually a perfect suite EXCEPT he is destined to die in one year!!
• Servitor wants to marry him anyway even though that could mean the ruin for her father, the King's, line
• "Love like hers is heaven-sent"
• A year loving Satyaban is worth a lifetime of widowhood
• Satyaban is honorable.  after the wedding, instead of living in the palace and accumulating the riches, he vows to return to his blind father in exile to support him.
• Savitri vows to accompany him
• Servitor took the character of a poor mans daughter, cooking and cleaning like she didn't grow up a princess in a palace

This is the perfect story for a premarital counseling session.  They are desperate to get married but they know the road ahead will be extremely difficult.  With death glooming in the near future, they love each other so much, Savitri loves Satyaban so much, that she is willing to marry him no matter what.  Can't wait to write this story!!

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Bibliography: Nine Ideal Indian Women, Maharanee Sunity Devee, Reading Guide, Book

(Savitri begging for her lover's life. Found on Wikipedia from the Calcutta Art Studio)

Reading Notes: A Flowering Tree And Other Oral Tales from India

7. Cannibal Sister
I was hoping to read a story this week that I could rewrite for my storybook.  This is certainly not a love story but I might be able to play around with the idea of switching things up to fit in with Parvati's Counseling Service. 

Baby sister turns demon at night and no one knows its her.  Her brother finds out and tries to warn everyone but no one believes him.  He runs off, gets married in a different town.  Returns to hometown and everyone is gone. Except for his demon sister in the form of a woman.  He escapes but she finds him hiding in a tree.  His wife in the other town lets his lion and bear go and the animals find the man and save him from the demon.

Maybe elaborate more on the cannibal sister. Does she know she turns into a demon?  Does she do it on purpose or does it take over her against her will?

(The Cannibal Sister, Found on Pixabay.  Taken by Tanya Little Sept 23, 2010) 

Bibliography:
A Flowering Tree And Other Oral Tales from India: Cannibal Sister, by A. K. Ramanujan, Edited with a preface by Stuart Blackburn and Alan Dundes. Link to story.

Reading Notes: Nala Damayanti The Steadfast Lovers

• Damayanti is extremely devoted to Nala.  Leaves kids behind to be with husband
• Why would Nala leave her?  He surely intends to come back right?
• Why does Nala not use the magic cloak to tell Damayanti of his plan to win back the kingdom? Why does he have to let her believe he left her?
• Damayanti refuses to go with strange man.  Reminds me of Rama and Sita.  Damayanti must have been worried that if she went with the stranger, Nala would assume she was impure and would leave her
• The Riddle: "A King ran away.  In dust the jewel lay.  Why he ran away, the jewel could not say." Nala's answer: "Can a King without a crown, keep a jewel for his own?" 
• Damayanti is Nala's Jewel and he didn't feel worthy of her since he lost his crown and all they had
• Devotion pays off!

(Nala leaving Damayanti while she sleeps, found on Wikipedia Commons.)

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Bibliogrpahy:
Nala Damayanti, The steadfast Lovers, by Anant Pai, Kindle Edition

Reading Notes: The Mahabharata: Karmic Revolution, Part B

Episode 14: Bhim goes down to palace under water ruled by serpents and is giving a gift.  what if the serpent bites gave him that power (kind of like spiderman).
Chapter 17: Ekalavya's Story was so sad.  I really want to look more into this story.  Ekalavya wanted nothing but to be trained by Drona.  This is a story that would seem like it would have a happy ending but nothing happy every happened to Ekalavya.  What if he was victorious and put the Pandava brothers to shame... possible story idea

(Ekalavya's hopeless devotion to Guru. Found on Wikipedia.)

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Bibliography:

The Mahabharata: Karmic Revolution by Epified TV (India), Episodes 9-17, Youtube link.

Reading Notes: The Mahabharata: Karmic Revolution, Part A

Episode 3: death would not touch his son until he wanted it
Episode 5: Amba: couldn't go back to the one she loved and couldnt be with the one who kidnapped her.  similar to sita and ramas story
Episdoe 6-7: Vyass and the sisters.  Maybe write a Dear Parvati article about their impending wedding to the man the don't find attractive.  3
Episode 8: The deovtion of the princess to blindfold her eyes because of her blind husband. This could be a beneficial story to my storybook
Episode 9: This has a lot of parallels to Biblical stories.  Just an interesting realization.

(The Devotion of Gandhari to her blind husband. Found on Wikipedia Commons)

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Bibliography:
The Mahabharata: Karmic Revolution by Epified TV (India), Youtube Link

Reading Notes: Narayan's Mahabharata Part C

Bibliography: R.K. Narayan, The Mahabharata, Reading Guide C

• I found it interesting that Krishna made the preparations for war while attending a wedding! It does not seem like the right place or time.  It would be almost funny to write this passage from the eyes of the bride.  Having just been a bridesmaid in a wedding, I know how the bride gets leading up to her wedding day, no matter how well tempered their character may be.  I might write a story on how frustrated the bride is that Krishna is stealing the show by preparing for war.  

( Indian wedding scene.  Not Shown: Krishna stealing all the attention.  Found on Wikipedia.)

• Wow! The story about Yama's test and killing 4 of the 5 brothers only to bring them back to life... That shocked me.  There is so much that could be done with this story.  What if the brothers stayed dead and only Yudhishthira is left to fight the future battles?  What if instead of blessing the 4 brothers with being unrecognizable he cursed them to always be thirsty?  I'm excited to play around with different ideas for this part of the story.

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Reading Notes: Narayan's Mahabharata Part D

Bibliography:
R.K. Narayan, The Mahabharata, Reading Guide D

The killing of Ashwatthaman the elephant.  This story has a lot of different elements to elaborate on which I enjoyed.  The first thing I thought of while reading was giving the innocent Ashwatthaman elephant a voice.  His only crime was being assigned the same name as Drona's son.  I think it would be a fun new take on the story.

(Ashwatthaman the Elephant. Found on Pixabay.)

Reading Notes: Narayan's Mahabharata Part B

Ch.6
The story of the new assembly hall built by the architect Maya fascinated me.  I really connected with  Duryodhana and his feeling of humiliation in the hall.  I was annoyed with Sakuni's  nonchalant attitude and how they completely dismissed Duryodhana's concerns and vulnerability.  I would like to expand on this story, maybe make the scene in the assembly hall really come to life to give Duryodhana's embarrassment more validity.

(Duryodhana being teased.  Found on Wikipedia.)

Bibliography: R.K. Narayan, Mahabharata, Reading Guide 

Reading Notes: Narayan's Mahabharata Part A

Bibliography:
R.K. Narayan, The Mahabharata, Reading Guide

Ch. 1 The Eighth Baby

This story of continuing the Kuru family line is dense.  Each woman and each man has their own personal story on their efforts to produce heirs and it lends itself to multiple ways to expand or revise this story.  As I was reading, it reminded me of the many efforts of European Kings and Queens to further on their family line.  It would be interesting to change the setting to European courts rather than this ancient Indian epic story and see how the setting changes the feeling of these personal stories of the Kuru family

(Ganga taking the children into the river to drown. Wikipedia.)

I have the most connection to the original story of Ganga and the 8 children.  It's unrealistic that the husband would be so in love with her and scared of her leaving to let her kill 7 of his heirs.  I would be interested in how this story would change if it were more realistic.

Ch.4
I am fascinated by the story of Nalayani and the sage Moudgalya in the section "The Lives of Draupadi".  Their life seems great, full of love, and she is loved by the sage as if she were loved by 5 men.  She loves the arrangement but the sage grows tired of it and leaves. This is very relatable to any relationship and it would be fun to write this in a present day setting.  The imagery in this is fascinating.  I am still trying to figure out how to change the story but Im excited to work with their story

Reading Notes: Sita Sings the Blues, Part A and B

Bibliography:
Sita Sings the Blues, Nina Paley, 2008,  https://youtu.be/RzTg7YXuy34

The narrators discuss reasons why Sita didn't go back with Hanuman when he found her.  That male narrator suggests Sita didn't trust Hanuman completely but the woman narrator suggests Sita just wanted Rama to save her himself.  Its interesting that the man and woman have such different takes on Sita's decision.  Ones a more practical decision, the other is a more romantic decision.  It would be interesting to tell a simple scene from two different lenses, the man's lens and the man's lens.  Tell the story from a practical point of view and then from a romantic point of view.

(Sita and Hanuman in the movie Sita Sings the Blues, found on flickr.)

Another interesting discussion the narrators had was later after Sita was rejected for a second time.  Sita remains faithful and loyal to Rama even after he has abandoned her while pregnant.  one of the male narrators says this is something he does not understand.  Why would you stay with someone who doesn't treat you right.  Why would you cry over someone who scorns you so many times.  The woman adds that it's an act of unconditional love.  I agree with the male narrator.  This makes Sita look week.  I would love to retell this part and have Sita being the strong character and Rama being the week one; the one who can't handle just a tiny bit of criticism coming from a laundry man. 

(Sita proving herself to Rama, found on Wikipedia.)

Lakshmana was the one who had to take Sita away and abandon her in the forest.  While the pregnant Sita cries and sings her way into the forest, Lakshmana does not say a word but is shown weeping the whole way beside her.  I want to delve into his thoughts while he is carrying out this order for his brother.

(Lakshmana taking a pregnant Sita away, both in tears.  Found on Flickr.)

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Reading Notes: Ramayana, Part D

Bibliography:

Narayan's Ramayana, Reading Guide D.

Ch.8 Memento from Rama:

Hanuman finds Sita and is astonished at her bravery and persistence to wait for Rama.  But Sita prepares to take her life and Hanuman stops her just in time.  This also comes after Hanuman finds Ravana's wife and thinks it is Sita living in luxury.  This story reminds me a lot of Beauty and the Beast.  Thats what my mind first went to when Hanuman sees Ravana's wife and thinks its Sita, the prisoner living in luxury, like Belle in the classic disney movie.  It would be interesting to write a story changing it so that it really is Sita and she has fallen in love with her captor, Ravana.  Maybe Rama turns into a sort of Gaston character?

 

( Beauty and the Beast.  Image from DeviantArt)                                                 (Sita and Ravana. Image from Flickr.)

Ch. 13 Interlude

This chapter really affected me.  Rama finally freed Sita but then wanted nothing to do with her because she was in another man's house, even though unwillingly.  It was so shocking and made me look at Rama in a new light, and a not so good light at that.  He received her only after she was cleansed in the fire by the god of fire, Agni.  There has to be some way to retell this story in a powerful way.  I might want to go more into Rama's side and explore why he was rejecting Sita.  maybe he was cursed into denying his love but the curse was lifted as soon as Sita fell into the fire.  maybe Rama did not know that by throwing herself in the fire, Sita got rid of the curse and Rama's "back magic stupor" fell away and he was able to grab onto Sita and finally be together.  I have a lot of ideas with this one.    

Reading Notes: Ramayana Part C

Bibliography:
Narayan's Ramayana, Reading Guide C.

Ch. 6 Vali

I am fascinated by the wife of Vali and Sugreeva, Tara.  her struggles are not highlighted and I would love to give her a voice.  How did she feel when Vali came back and took her as his own?  How did she come to love Vali?  Was it forced or natural?  How did she feel when Vali died?  Did she return to Sugreeva? Did she hate Sugreeva for killing Vali?  Did she hate Vali for banishing Sugreeva?  These are all questions I asked while reading this story and would love to answer them. 

(Tara crying, holding Vali's dying body.  Found on Wikipedia.) 

I am also interested in Vali's side of the story.  Vali was made into the "bad guy" but did he really do anything wrong?  He misunderstood the situation but what if the story was told from his perspective? Wouldn't he be in the right and Sugreeva was the terrible, power seeking brother?  It would be fun to write this story as if Sugreeva was the bad guy in this misunderstanding and see how the sentiments would change.

It would be fun to retell one of these stories in a different way.  I could see retelling some of these stories as if they were normal people in the present day or maybe giving it a theme like a space mission or a vampire story.   These are just some ideas but maybe I'll expand on that more in the future