Topics: Storytelling Project

1. Women Characters: I choose women characters because I love to see and hear about women being in a place a man would typically be in. For many years women have been oppressed. However, in recent years, I feel that women have been taking a stand by showing men that women can do a job just as well as he can, maybe better! In history, women were not placed in a position of power. To read about goddesses would be intriguing to see how a woman handled her position. I am really interested in Sita because she is the reincarnated version of Lakshmi, and her beauty is breathtaking. Although she is beautiful, she is adamant about the purity of her body. She is stolen by the demon Ravana, and Rama refuses to believe that she remained pure. This relates back to today's society as some of these girls out here are grimy and untrustworthy. This story sends the message that not all girls have the wrong intentions.

• Research: I have reviewed the Encyclopedia for Epics of Ancient India to research more about the story of Sita. I found this topic on the E-storybook Central. Wikipedia was also able to give insight on different aspects of the story of Sita and her beautiful purity.

2. Love Stories: I choose love stories because I'm cliche. Just like every other girl, who doesn't like a good romance novel. Something about being able to imagine the perfect person and the feeling that follows along with it. I think that learning about Kaikeyi and Dasaratha's love story would be interesting because Dasaratha has three wives. The dynamic of having to please three women and how a women feels having to share a man is intriguing. I couldn't imagine acting as a mother to my husband's other wife. I am not sure if I would be able to keep my sanity, so it would be interesting to learn how Kaikeyi did this. I have already learned of one instance where she was unable to treat Rama as her own, when she exiled him in order to allow her own son to be king.

• Research: By reviewing Kaikeyi story on Wikipedia:Kaikeyi it will be easier to understand where she came from before Dasaratha and how she managed to exile his beloved son. Also, obviously, learning about Dasaratha and all of his wives on Wikipedia: Dasaratha  will be insight to his actual love story with all of these women.

3. Animal Characters: I love animals! They have a way of showing people how to love one another and how to treat everyone with respect and loyalty. I loved the character Jatayu in the story Ramayana. He was a loyal friend of Dasaratha, and after discovering his son, Rama  living in the forest Jatayu takes a vow to do all he can in order to protect him, his brother, and his wife. Jatayu dies heroically after trying to stop Ravana from kidnapping Sita from Rama. However, Ravana's strength was too much for Jatayu. This story shows the character of animals. Another option could be the bear Jamabavan. This story is interesting because he is reincarnated to protect Rama, and be of assistance to Rama in his battle against Ravana. There are many other options in the topic of animal characters that would be fun to research and learn more about.

• Research: The story of Jatayu is the one that is most intriguing because loyalty means a lot to me. I found some good information on Wikipedia: Jatayu about Jatayu's past and his historic death. On the topic of Jamabavan, I found information on Wikipedia: Jamabavan. This bear was a created for the use of Rama.

4. Birth stories and death stories: Even though death is generally a difficult topic to discuss, in books there seems to be a dramatic death of the antagonist or the supporting characters of both sides. To research about the deaths of some of these protagonist in Indian Epics would be interesting. One example I am interested in right now is the death of Ravana. On the other side of death, the topic of birth has been found interesting in Indian Epics because some of the most heroic characters are reincarnated. One example of births are Rama and his brothers. As the God's gave them children so that Rama could be created to destroy Ravana. These two characters are protagonist and antagonist against each other.

• Research: I found the story of Ravana on Wikipedia: death. This source also helped to give background information of Ravana's character in the book, Ramayana. In order to discover more on Rama's and his brothers' births, I used Wikipedia: births. This source is actually the story of Dasaratha, but it includes the tales of his beget sons.

       (Image Source: Lakshmi photographed by abhisays website)