Reading Diary B: The Pandavas are sent away from Hastinapura

Dhritarashtra sends the Pandavas and their mother Kunti away

• Duryodhana, of course, makes a plan to build them a house that will be easy to burn down
• Vidura warns the Pandavas of the plan
• The Pandavas build a tunnel under the house to escape
• They leave 6 corpse to burn in their place so that Duryodhana believes they are dead
• The Pandavas flee to a village
• The village has to send yearly sacrifices to the demon Vaka
• Kunti sends Bhima to destroy him even though he is weak from hunger
• Vyasa arrives and takes the Pandavas to win the daughter of Drupada 
• Arjuna wins her by showing his strength with Shiva's bow 
• Krishna is present and congratulates Arjuna
• Krishna remembers Arjuna from another life
• Dhrishtadyumna brings the Pandavas to marry his daughter, Draupadi
• Dhritarashtra is glad to learn the Pandavas are still alive--> gives them Khandava to rule
• Arjuna goes to visit Krishna and falls in love with his sister, Subhadra
• The fire god, Agni, comes to Krishna and Arjuna and tells him he is hungry and he needs to burn the forest to regain strength
• Agni needs Arjuna's and Krishna's help to defend Indra while he "eats"
• Agni gives Arjuna the bowl Gandiva and Krishna his iron chakra (discus)
• The gods watch Arjuna and Krishna take on Indra
• Arjuna comes to the rescue of the asura, Maya, the heaven's architecture
• Maya builds the Pandavas' an unbelievable palace as a thanks
• Duryodhana visits the palace
• He is fooled by one of the illusions and someone laughs and he thinks they are mocking him
• Duryodhana goes to Yudhisthira and demands an apology but he denies this request
• So Duryodhana challenges Yudhisthira to a game of dice
• Vyasa goes to his mother and takes her, Ambika, Ambalika, and Vidura's mother to safety from the events that he forsees

 

(Image Source: Arjuna wins Draupadi by Ramanarayanadatta astri)

Reading Diary A: The beginning

The book starts out being told by Pandu's grandson

Then the poet Vyasa tells the story of Mahabharata while Ganesha, the scribe, writes it down

Before the sea turned to salt water it was milk

Takshaka disguises himself as a beetle on the last day of the king's, Parikshit, death curse time limit

Parikshit tries to show that he is no longer living in fear by putting the beetle on his neck whenever Takshaka turns into a snake and bites him

Parikshit's son takes over the kingdom and plans to hold a sacrifice to kill Takshaka

(Image Source: Satyavati, the girl born out of a fish by Tropenmuseum) 

Mahabharata finally begins

• Ganga falls in love with the king
• has 7 kids and drowns the first 6
• Bhishma is spared because the king finally says stop
• semen in a fish--> fish smelling man (Vyasa) 
• Chedi renounces his kingship and gives it to Santanu
• Santanu and Satyavati have a son named Vichtravirya 
• Vichtraviyra is given 3 wives by Bhishma
• One of them is sent away because she already gave her heart away (Amba)
• Vichtraviyra dies before he has kids
• Satyavati summons her son Vyasa to have kids with the two wives
• Dhritarashtra (blind), Pandu(pale), and Vidura (normal)
• Pandu marries Kunti and Madri
• Kunti has a mantra that she can make love with gods
• Kunti tried it first with the sun god, Surya
• Kunti sent the baby up stream --> Karna
• Dhritarashtra marries Ghandhri and becomes king
• Ghandhri is pregnant for 2 years and has 100 babies
• They have to incubate for 2 more years in jars full of butter
• Pandu is cursed and can't make love 
• Kunti uses her mantra and has 2 kids when Madri wants to have kids and she uses the mantra to have 1 more child and twins
• Pandu can no longer resist and makes love to Madri and dies and Madri does too
• Drona marries Kripi and is so poor he can't even afford milk for their child
• Drona asks Drupada for help but Drupada denies Drona's friendship and calls him his enemy
• Bhishma makes Drona the trainer for all the Pandava and Kaurava princes
• Kripa became archery teacher
• Arjuna is the best bow person until Karna arrives and shows his skills and is named king (everyone wonders who exactly he is--> son of gods?)
• But he is the son of a chariottor--> found him when Kunti sent her baby up stream and raised the boy

Famous Last Words for Week 10

Well, here we are again. I have so much to do this week. I hope I make it though it alive. No, I'm sure I will, but it is going to be absolutely crazy. I am ready for summer. Actually, I can't stand presentations. So, if I didn't have a presentation this week, I don't think I would be so nervous about it. I just hate all of the eyeballs, but get this over with and I don't have to do that anymore this year. Woohoo!!

This weekend, I took my puppies and we went to the midevil fair! It was a blast. My little corgi thinks she is hot stuff, and tries to show her guns. However, she has none to back her up. It is hilarious! My boyfriend has a pitbull, so I think my corgi thinks oh I've got this and if I don't he's got you. Funnily enough though, my little pitbull is a fat baby. He is the one that would bark really loud and be scared by his voice and run behind me. It's hilarious. I love him!

(Droseph at my house taken by me)

The Mahabharata was a crazy book. There was so much going on! It was hard to keep track. I really had to use the reading guides in order to keep track of every single event that happened. It was all over the place, but those guides were extremely helpful. I hope that you guys like my story this week. I struggled when choosing what to write about. 

My mood has just been so much better now that I think we may have finally survived winter, but of course with that means it is tornado season. I get so scared that I am going to die because I live on the second floor in an apartment, and if a storm blows over my place I am for sure a goner. That's a scary thought! However, I guess because I am from Oklahoma this is what makes the spring sort of exciting.

Have a good week!

Storytelling for Week 10: Dhritarashtra Gets Revenge

Once the war was over, the Pandavas decided to return to the city of Hastinapura to inform king Dhritarashtra and his queen of their loss. Yudhistira was the one strong enough to tell Dhritarashtra of the dreadful news. Unlike their cousins, the Pandavas were upset about having to kill their own family members in order to receive justice. Yudhistira tried to tell his uncle of the events of the war as sympathetically as he could. Finally, he concluded with the news about the story of the death of Duryodhana, Dhritarashtra's eldest son. However, he didn't mention the part where Bhima stomped on his body while he was lying on the ground about to die. Unfortunately, Dhritarashtra didn't need to be told about the events because Sanjaya narrated the war as it happened so Dhritarashtra already knew what Bhima had done to Duryodhana. Furthermore, he wanted revenge on Bhima for what he had done to his son! 

Once Yudhistira was done speaking, Dhritarashtra spoke. "I see! And where is Bhima now? I should apologize to him on my son's behalf."

Yudhistira immediately muttered without suspicion, "Well, he is righ...."

Krishna figured out Dhritarashtra's deceitful plan and interrupted Yudhistira. He then presented a statue that he had quickly created that exactly resembled Bhima. 

Dhritarashtra, being that he is blind, embraced the Bhima figure without hesitation and exclaimed, "Alas, I shall kill Bhima once and for all! You fools!" 

With this, Dhritarashtra squeezed Bhima with all his might and left the figure crumbled into millions of tiny pieces on the floor. Moreover, Duryodhana's mother, Gandhari, and Dhritarashtra rejoiced in the thought of revenge for their son's death!

The other Pandava brothers were unaware of the illusion Krishna had presented. They began to weep for all they had experienced had finally been too much for them to bear! The Pandavas grieving only furthered Dhritarashtra's and Ghandri's sweet revenge celebration.   

However, as Bhima watched the spectacle at a distance in the shadows, he was shocked by the actions of his uncle. He couldn't believe his uncle wanted him dead. It broke Bhima's heart as Dhritarashtra celebrated what he had thought was the end of Bhima. With this feeling festering inside him, Bhima abruptly emerged to Dhritarashtra wiping his revenge smirk off his face.

Bhima shouted, "How dare you praise my death, uncle! You traitor."

Bhima attempted to attack Dhritarashtra, but his brothers stopped him. As Bhima was so strong, it took several brothers to actually prevent Bhima from hurting Dhritarashtra. 

While attempting to stop Bhima, Arjuna whispered in Bhima's ear, "Don't waste your time on him. We have already won, brother!"

Bhima grinned and told Dhritarashtra, "Your actions have betrayed us, and therefore, your karma has caught up to you. You failed, and now.... now your kingdom is ours! You have failed once and for all!"

Finally, the Pandavas cheered! They shared hugs and smiles. Dhritarashtra had betrayed them and he deserved to be stripped of his crown. Once Dhritarashtra had failed at his last attempt at killing a Pandava, there was a ceremony for Yudhistra's coronation. Hastinapura's people were actually relieved to have the Pandavas as their new rulers as they were more just.  At last, the Pandavas ruled the kingdom for many years to come without any problems from Dhritarashtra.

(Image Source: Bhima and Duryodhana)

Author's Note: I wrote this story because when Bhima finally defeats Duryodhana it is my favorite part in the book. However, it is ironic how Dhritarashtra wants revenge on him when the entire audience is happy that the evil cousin is finally dead. Furthermore, Krishna plays such an important role in the war between the cousins. However, when choosing between Krishna or one million troops, Duryodhana thought that Yudhistira was silly for choosing him over the numbers. This tale illustrates yet again another moment that Krishna was an asset to the success of the Pandavas. Krishna uses his wise judgment on Dhritarashtra and protects Bhima one more time! Throughout the book the Pandavas are always stunned at the way their cousins and uncles treat them. I used this to display how I thought Bhima would respond to seeing his uncle think he crushed him to death. Furthermore, Bhima is utterly shocked. However, the Pandavas have better characters than their cousins, so they finally rejoice in their victory instead of killing Dhritarashtra as well. I chose this picture because I think this is the main reason why Dhritarashtra wants to crush Bhima, and he doesn't try it with the rest of the Pandavas.  

Bibliography: 

• Narayan, R. K. (1978). The Mahabharata.

Reading Diary B: The Pandavas win!

(Image Source: Arjuna slays Jayadratha by Ramanarayanadatta astri)

The Pandavas attempt one last peace offering with the Kauravas

• Krishna is sure of his abilities to escape the Kauravas so he goes to them as the messenger--> shows that he is actually a God
• However, the Kauravas do not accept
• The Pandavas prepare for war

The war between Pandava and the Kauravas begins

• The Pandavas slaughter all 100 of their cousins
• Arjuna and Bhima do most of the killing
• Arjuna kills Bhishma and Karna--> which he later learns was his brother
• They win their kingdom back

Yudhistira has a pitty party about all the slaughtering of his family

• But he comes around and has his coronation for king

Epilogue

• Yudhisitra's physical body goes to the heavens while the other brothers closely follow him in spirit.
• Krishna dies the way he thought he would by the river.
• Dhistira lives out his life in the kingdom for 36 years after and then takes Kunthi and an adopted son into the forest to be left alone for the remainder of his life

Reading Diary A: Pandava's exile is over

(Image Source: Cattle Reid by Ramanarayanadatta astri)

The Pandavas finally make it to the end of the first 12 years

• They are dying of thirst and the youngest finds a lake and rushes to it
• However, there is a voice that tells him to answer his questions before drinking his water
• Nakalu disobeys and drinks the water because he is so thirsty
• Arjuna and Bhima behave similarly
• Yudishitra arrives at the lake and see his dead brothers and listens to the voice and does as he is asked to do
• He answers so well that the other brothers are revived
• It was a test by Yama, and Yama now promises to keep them incognito for their following year

The Pandavas hide in plain sight in the town of Maysa

• While in Maysa, the 5 brothers have disguise jobs along with their wive Draupadi
• The entire year almost goes smoothly when finally the Prince discovers Draupadi's beauty
• The prince tries to make a move at Draupadi and Bhima had to resort to killing him while creating a cover story for the king
• The Kauvas hear of this and find the cover story peculiar.
• They "attack" Maysa in hopes of discovering the Pandavas to place them in exile for another 13 years
• Arjuna secretly attacks with the help of Maysa's lazy "hero" (claims tremendous fighting skills)

The Kauvuas plan does not work

• The Pandavas are freed from their exile (they make it to the end of the 1 years without being noticed)
• They want their share of their kingdom from Duryodhura
• Peace is negotiated, but war is likely inevitable 

Famous Last Words for Week 9

Wow! So this week did not start as planned. That video presenting itself, unfortunately, did not surprise me. This is not to say that I think all frat or sorority people are racist. I just have been to a couple of these houses and have heard things I did not want to hear.

I am a firm believer of equality, but most importantly I believe in Christ. Now take a step back and think about what it really means to say that. To me that means to treat everyone as Jesus did, and to call on God in every aspect of your life. Well it actually encompasses so much more, but this is what I want to talk about right now. How can you call yourself a christian and then say or do things such as this? I really struggle with this question. Not that I am saying that if you make a mistake you aren't a christian. NO! NOT AT ALL. However, claiming to be a christian, a person needs to remember to love thy neighbors and to act like christ. Okay I am done ranting. This video has just hit me harder then I expected them too.

This week has also been hectic in school. I had so many quizzes and assignments due. Geesh, these teachers don't care about letting up, do they? :D But I did! And now it is time to celebrate!!!!

Finally! Spring break has arrived! I have been so busy this week trying to complete all of my work so that I can just relax the rest of the week. Well guess what! The time has finally come. I AM DONE! Yay!!!!! I hope every one has a great week, just relax and have some fun, but most importantly be safe! Happy vacationing yal!

(A photo of Oklahoma skies I took one year!)

Storytelling for Week 9: Arjuna the Hero

One training exercise Drona made the boys do was disrupting their vision and forcing them to try to bow down a bird soaring in the sky. Four of the brothers attempted the exercise but failed miserably at their first attempt. However, Arjuna only took one shot at the narrow image of the bird, and the bird came tumbling out of the sky. This was when Arjuna was named the weapon master of the 5 brothers.

After several months, Drona had finally completed training the Pandava brothers. Drona decided to take a relaxing break by a river when all of a sudden a crocodile attacked him. The crocodile was fierce. It attacked Drona so quickly, Drona didn't even have time to react. The crocodile dragged Drona into the water. It twisted and turned in an attempt to break Drona's neck. 

Drona screamed in terror, "Arjuna! Help me! Save me!" 

Immediately, Arjuna, being just named the weapons master, sprung into action eager to practice what he had just been taught. Arjuna quickly located his bow and ran to Drona's aid! 

Arjuna replied to Drona, "Don't fear! I am on my way! I had to grab my bow first."

Meanwhile, the crocodile had nearly managed to rip Drona's arm off when Arjuna pierced the crocodile in the back. Unfortunately, Arjuna didn't know the shield a crocodile possessed on his back. To kill a crocodile there is one spot that must be hit in order to kill them. There is no other way.This spot is considered the sweet spot. 

Arjuna wasted 3 extra bows until finally Drona shouted at him, "Arjuna he has a sheild. The crocodile is hard as stone everywhere except his head. That's why I can't wrestle myself out of this. Hurry! He is going to kill me!" 

Finally, Arjuna placed an arrow right between the crocodiles eyes. The crocodile realized his monstrous grip on Drona. Drona swam to shore and hugged Arjuna. He had saved his life!

Drona chanted, "Arjuna you are the god of weapons. I will forever be in debt to you for this favor! I am not sure how I will ever be able to repay you for this wonderful thing you have done."

Arjuna responded with, "Drona, you are my teacher. You will forever have my protection. There is no need for you to repay. I will always save you and others out of gratitude for the lessons you have taught me. These skills with help me and my brothers throughout our entire lives. We are eternally grateful. It is the least I can do." 

And the pair walked away together while embracing each other, appreciating the presence of the new friendship that had been made. 

(Image Source: Arjuna by Kangra)

Author's Note: I wrote this story to describe the events that were happening during Drona's attack by a crocodile. I imaged that once Drona was done training the five brothers, he would need a little time to be alone. This is when I envisioned the crocodile attack to occur. Since Drona was alone. it took Arjuna some time to come to his aid. Since I know that crocodile's have a protective shell all over their body except for around their head, I assumed that Arjuna would try to kill him around the heart. While trying to get away Drona learns where to kill the crocodile, and shouts out to Arjuna the key to defeat him. I chose this image because I feel like it shows how powerful of a being Arjuna becomes in his lifetime. This event was just the beginning to great things to come while Arjuna exist. I think this would be a great story to add to my portfolio to give variety from a new source other then The Ramayana. Also, it shows the relationship between the teacher and his trainees. The trainee feels great gratitude to the people that teach them valuable skills that help them to succeed throughout their entire lives.

Bibliography: 

• Narayan, R. K. (1978). The Mahabharata

Reading Diary B: Yudhistira plays dice

(Image Source: Disrobing of Draupadi by Evelyn Paul)

• Dhritarashtra finds out that the Pandavas are still alive
• His sons, Duryodhana and Karna are mad and urge war against them
• Vidura invites the Pandavas to Hastinapura where Dhritarashtra gives them some of their kingdom
• Draupadi is all 5 brothers' wive, this is dangerous because it is hard to share
• Arjuna breaks the rules with Draupadi and gets exiled where he marries 2 more women
• Yudhistira is crowned king of Indraprastha (Pandavas' kingdom
• Duryodhana goes to visit and is jealous of the magnificent town and assembly hall
• Duryodhana is fooled by illusions in the assembly hall where all the Pandavas laugh at him including Draupadi --> not good
• Duryodhana's dad, Dhritarashtra, agrees to build a grander assembly hall
• Duryodhana plans a game of dice to fool Yudhistira into gambling away all of his money since he is no good
• Yudhistira plays into his trap even gambling away Draupadi
• Bhima promises revenge
• Dhritarashtra gives Draupadi a wish and she sets Yudhistira free then with the second wish sets the rest of the brother free
• Dhritarashtra gives back all of their possessions and sends them home
• Duryodhana urges them to come back 
• Yudhistira gambles again and loses winning him and his brothers 13 years and exile and 1 in diguise
• Yudhistira and his follows feed off of a copper bowl he gets from the Sun God
• Duryodhana urges to go seek war on the Pandavas
• The Pandavas are warned by Vyasa and Yudhistira is given a mantra
• Yudhistira teaches Arjuna the mantra
• Arjuna uses the mantra to visits the gods and get weapons to prepare for the battle
• Arjuna gets a great weapon from Indra and spends time in his city
• Once denying a women in the heaven city, the woman curses Arjuna and he is turned into a eunich
• Arjuna returns to the Pandavas after 5 years and show them the weapons he has collected

Reading Diary A: Pandava

• Shantanu meets Hestinapura
• Before marriage Hestinapura makes Shantanu promise to allow her to do whatever she wants (beautiful to let her do what she does to his kids)
• She has 8 child and drowns them all except the last one
• Hestinapura explains to Shantanu her behavior (The God Vasus)
• The last one is taken with Ganga to heaven and later returned, Davavratha 
• Davavratha is Bhishma
• Bhishma swears to celibacy and renounces his throne so his father, Shantanu can remarry
• Shantanu has 2 more sons and dies quickly
• Bhishma is king until the 2 young sons are old enough to rule
• Bhishma wins 3 wives for Vichitravirya
• Only 2 stays
• But the 3rd is rejected by her king
• Vichitravirya died without kids
• Bhishma can't break his celibacy
• The 2 wives have kids with Vyasa
• But he is so hideous they close their eyes and turn colors causing their kids to come out in the same condition
• Their maid likes him and she and Vyasa have a normal child

(Image Source: Yudhistia  by Tropenmuseum)

Famous Last Words for Week 8

I found it fun to review all the work I had already accomplished thus far. It was a great reminder of all that I had learned. I also had fun seeing what others thought about the course and what they have learned so far. 

This weekend my dad came to town, and we went to the OU vs Kansas basketball game. The game was very intense. The second half was literally back and forth with OU coming out on top with a buzzer beater tip in bucket. My dad and I had a blast. We are very obsessed with all the OU teams. It was a lot of fun to visit with him since he is my best friend. My puppy, Carmi, really enjoyed the time as well.

I read a couple new stories in the project commenting project. It was interesting to see how the storybook projects are coming since I chose to do the Portfolio style. I still think I made the best decision for me because I am so indecisive I would have hated to be forced to focus on one theme the entire semester. I also hate doing my own research. Someone else can do that for me. 

This past week was a little stressful with test, but I cannot wait to get to spring break. I know that this week is going to go by so slow. I hope everyone has fun plans to relax and get away from the crappy weather. I am going to enjoy my time on the golf course and go see my best friend who lives out of town. Just as this week will pass by slowly while we eagerly anticipate next week, I am sure that next week by pass by way too fast. However, every day is one step closer to summer! My favorite time of the year. I can't wait.

Hope everyone has a happy week!  

( It's almost spring meaning here come all the pretty flowers. A picture of my granny's garden from last year!)

Commenting Review Week

Formatting comments have been the most helpful types of comments. I don't really pay attention to paragraph breaks because I think I'm really picky on what a paragraph should be. Also, academic paragraphs are meant to be a lot longer then the ones found on a blog.

When I am leaving a long comment on a post I try to focus on formatting and spelling errors. However, when I leave short comments I tend to be a little bit more encouraging telling the writing what I really enjoyed about their writing. I think that we all need both, some encouragement and some criticism.

I do tend to find myself commenting and conversing more with some particular people in the class. I really enjoy some people's creativity or others format of their blog. I feel like it gives me motivation or ideas on what I should improve on my own blog.

(Call me lame, but she is my entertainment photo by me)

Writing Review Week

When writing the storytelling posts I just tried to start getting my thoughts down so that I wouldn't get writers block or forget an idea that I had created in my head before it could hit the paper. I do think that the reading material is a bit time consuming, but I enjoy the story writing prompts. They are so helpful!

My most successful stories so far are the one about Ahalya and Hanuman's birth that I have put in my portfolio. I think that the professors comments are so helpful. I feel like they give me a good insight to different writing skills. I feel like since everyone writes differently there are always new things to learn from people reviewing your work.

(Image Source: Hanuman's heart by Palagiri)

I choose this image because I love Hanuman and he is so loyal to Rama and Sita. Loyalty is the greatest quality a person can possess. Although, I may be biased. This visual of Rama and Sita in the protection of Hanuman's heart is priceless and gives a visual to the emotions of Hanuman toward the two.

Reading Review Week

I generally used the Reading Diary in order to do the storytelling assignment. I like the bullet points and headings so that I can stay on track with the pages that certain events happened on so that I can use this as a reference when trying to locate the topic I am trying to retell. I found that it was easier to summarize and add my opinion to each event that happened in the pages I read than to summarize on just the one story that I found interesting on that day. Later in the week, I had become uninterested in the topic I summarized and I had forgotten a good deal of the material from other events.

In the end, summarizing is more helpful at reinforcing the events that I had just read, and it makes it easier to remember at a later date.

Unfortunately, I didn't read anything in the UnTextbook, but I enjoyed some of the stories I read from them. I was really interested in the fuller version of The Ramayana that Buck provides.

(Image Source: Dasaratha with Rama by Keshava)

I choose this image because I love the connection with Dasaratha and Rama. Their bond reminds me a lot of the connection my father and I share. I love the joy the image shows. Also, I think I have really improved on my image information skills. It's been a good learning experience on plagiarism from web sources.