Indian Epics: A Blog by Trace Youngman

Yudhisthira and his Dog      I have only begun my journey into Hell only fifteen minutes ago, but to be honest, it feels like hours. My name is Yudhishthira and earlier today I was minding my own business walking along a dirt road. To be honest, I had no real destination in mind and I have been wandering ever since my four other brothers had died. On top of that, my old dog Rufus died just a few days ago, so I was truly alone for the first time in my life. As I walked along the dirt road, a man flew down from the sky in a chariot powered by stallions. As it flew down to me, I noticed that it was not a man driving but rather the god Indra.      The god Indra and spoke to me and said "I have been watching you for your entire life. I have watched you as your kingdoms have flourish and fallen, as you were sent away in exile for thirteen years, and even today as you walk alone." To be honest, I felt a sense of pride for the fact that a god has been watching me, but I als

Grannies Blackie:  Wikimedia Commons The Wise and the Foolish Merchant There was a thrifty merchant and a foolish merchant crossing the desert to a city to sell their goods The foolish merchant went first into the desert  In the desert, there were demons trying to get the merchants to dump out their water  They made it seem as if they had came by a lake to convince the merchant to dump his water, so they they could overpower him  The foolish merchant obliged, found no water, and was taken away by the demons The wise merchant did not listen to the demons, and continued safely to the city  The Elephant Girly-Face There was an elephant named Girly-face, and the elephant was gentle and good  Robbers came by and talked about how evil they were which made Girly-face evil The elephant killed multiple people, but after it was found out that Girly-face had over heard evil conversation, the king sent out men to have good conversation. The good conversation made Girly-face kin

Jataka Tales:  Wikimedia Commons Monkey and the Crocodile  The Crocodile’s mother wanted the monkeys heart The Crocodile planned to catch the monkey by giving him a ride   The monkey rode the crocodile, and when the crocodile went to eat the monkey, the monkey said he left his heart in the tree and was able to escape  The crocodile found the monkey later and attempted to catch him on a rock that the monkey jumped on  The monkey saw the crocodile and got the crocodile to open his mouth so the monkey could jump on his head and escape  How the Turtle Saved his own life  The King put fishes and a turtle into a pond for his sons  His sons were afraid of the turtle and so the turtle was brought in to be killed  The King decided the turtle would be killed by throwing it into the river after the turtle showed dismay to the idea  The turtle was thrown into the river and swam away safely  The Merchant of Seri  There were two merchants, one was greedy and one was fair  The

Yudhisthira and his Dog The story is written as though the Pandavas were heroes. The Pandavas and Kauravas were cousins, descendants of the Bharatas.   Plot:  The Pandavas escape their castle which Duryohana tries to burn down.  The Pandavas lived in the forest fighting monsters and all five brothers marrying Draupadi along the way After winning the wife, the Kauravas know the Pandavas are alive. A nymph builds the Pandavas a kingdom and Yudhishthira declares himself king after defeating a ruler named Jarasandha.  Duryodhana is jealous and challenges Yudhishthira to a gambling match. Yudhishthira loses, and the brothers must go into exile.  After the exile, the Pandavas and Kauravas fight a final battle and the Kauravas win.  The brothers build their own kingdom and Yudhishthira rules the kingdom, but problems arise.  After all of the brothers have died, Yudhishthira walks alone with his dog when Indra comes up to him for him to go to heaven but he refuses without his

Yudhisthira with a Dog Before starting the notes, this story is more entertaining than the original in my opinion. The story being told as the Pandavas being the heroes made it more one-sided and by the end I was rooting for the Pandavas more so than I was in the original. Plot: The Pandavas and the Kauravas are all descendants of the Bharatas, but the Pandavas all come from one King, King Pandu. Drona teaches both the Pandavas and Kauravas instead of just one clan. Duryodhana quickly becomes jealous of the Panadavas and ousted them quickly from the Kingdom.  In the forest, the Pandavas fight many monsters including Hidimba and Baka. In their travels, one of the brothers, Arjuna, wins a bow contest and makes Draupadi the wife of the five brothers.  The Kauravas realize the Pandavas are alive and give them half of the kingdom. Arjuna then burns down a forest full of Nymphs but one survives. She builds them a palace.  Yudhishtira, a Pandava brother, declares himself king a

    Working at Dawn:  Public Domain Pictures      I'm happy with my progress so far in this course. While I may have missed a few assignments over the past few weeks, it was always for good reason, and I will be able to do the extra credit options to make them up. One of the main changes I will do is the story planning posts. Doing one of those was helpful and allowed me to create a better story. Having a week in between the reading the story and creating my own allows me to think about what I want to write more. I am happy with how the course has been structured thus far and I am looking forward to continuing with it for the remainder of the semester.

Optimizing Student Feedback      I chose to use the picture above because feedback is only useful if the person receiving it actually uses it. Overall, I'm finding the feedback that the other students have given me very helpful. The comments that ask for more clarification on certain subjects and topics are the most helpful to me because sometimes I use different words and ideas that are are not covered in the rest of the course This is especially true in my storybook. I sometimes do not realize that some of my research is completely separate from the rest of the course. Because of the comments I receive, I am able to further define different words and topics that are confusing. The comments on different blogs are especially helpful in allowing me to get to know other students on a more personal level. The introduction post has especially been a great way of getting to know different students, and it has been interesting to see the different backgrounds people have come from

   Florence Italy:  Wikimedia    I chose the photo above from my introduction because it is one of my favorite photos. While it may not be related to one of the stories or my Storybook, it is still one of my favorite photos. Looking back throughout the course of this semester, my favorite reading assignment is Mahabharata. I find it more entertaining than Ramayana because of how much more intertwined all of the characters are. While the story can be confusing at times because of all of the characters, it is entertaining to read about how all of the characters are connected to one another. One of the most helpful note taking strategies in this course is the story planning. The reading notes associated with each reading are helpful, but the story planning helps solidify what I like to do with my stories. I am also happy with my class project. However, I still have continue critiquing it and solidifying what direction I exactly want to go with my project. Looking forward, I'm ex

       Davavrata vows to give up the throne:  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bheeshma_oath_by_RRV.jpg      I guess people think naivety is the reason I gave up my place on the throne. Truth be told, naivety has nothing to do with it. When I was younger, I was hunting for my father, King Shantanu, to kill a deer for dinner for the next couple of nights. I was hunting alone when I saw the largest deer to walk this earth. I quickly drew my bow and fired. However, instead of hearing the deer whine and thud to the ground, I heard a visceral scream. I kept hearing the screaming "AHH AHH" as I walked over. I eventually found a Brahman laying on the ground. He has always been known as a great Brahman, but that day, he took the form of a great deer and he said to me, "As punishment for ending my life, you will never take the place of your father on the throne." I remember being quite taken aback, but I quickly understanding why my punishment has been so seve