Reading Notes: Jataka Tales

Jataka Tales

The Elephant Girly-face

• King had an elephant named girly-face.

• Named that way because she looked gentle, good and kind.

• Robbers break into courtyard near where Girly-face slept.

• Girly-face acted cruel after hearing the robbers talk and she killed one of the poor keepers.

• She kept killing keepers

• King wondered what was wrong

• They got people to talk about nice things to her and it influenced her to change her ways back to the way she was

The Banyan Deer

• Golden deer with silver horns lived in a forest with 500 other deer, he was their king.

• King of the local country wanted to hunt deer for their meat.

• People made the king a park so he could hunt deer whenever he wanted to.

• Two deer king decided to trade off each day which tribe would have a deer die.

• Banyan deer took place of a child deer

• King of the country valued the Banyan king's bravery and he vowed to never hunt deer again.

The Ox Who Envied the Pig

• Ox named Big Red and his younger brother named Little Red

• Pig was to be fattened before being killed for the farmer's daughter's wedding.

• Little Red grew jealous of the pig for getting the choice food.

• Big Red taught his little brother that it was better to eat lesser food and live a long life than eat good food for a short time only to die.

Why the Owl Is Not King of the Birds

• Birds decided they wanted to have a king like all the animals had.

• Birds talked over the matter and decided on an owl king.

• Crows complained about the owl and the owl chased them off. 

• From then on out the two types of birds were enemies.

• The birds then voted again and elected a turtle dove as their next king and went home.

Reading Notes: Jataka Tales Part D

One of the Stupid Monkeys

The Stupid Monkeys

• King gave holiday to all of the people in his cities

• King's gardener had monkeys water the plants

• monkeys did not know how much to water the trees

• they pulled up the trees to see how long their roots were. 

• accidentally killed the trees doing this 

The Cunning Wolf

• Animals came to the man's campfire to try and get some food

• Man acted dead to try and lure the animals in

• Wolf tugged on the man's club and the man clenched the club

• The animals knew if he could clench the club then he was not dead and the animals fled from the man and campfire

The Penny-Wise Monkey

• King and his army went to take over a smaller country

• King and his men watched as a monkey dropped a pea and accidentally dropped the rest of his peas when he searched for the single pea

• The king realized that he was not willing to lose a lot to gain a little by fighting the smaller country. 

Reading Notes: Jataka Tales Part C

The Turtle who could not stop talking

• Turtle befriends geese who want the turtle to visit their home

• Geese offer to take the turtle if he can keep his mouth shut about going

• Kids saw the geese carrying the turtle as he kept his mouth closed on a stick so that he would be carried

• The turtle asked the children what business it was to judge him and the turtle fell to his death because he opened his mouth and let go of the stick

The Ox who won the forfeit

• Man makes bet of a thousand of pieces of silver on his ox

• Second man's ox would not even move and he lost his thousand pieces of silver

• Ox says that if they try again he will try for the second man as he has been a good master

• The ox pulled the cart winning the bet and the second man with his ox went home happy with their winnings

The quarrel of the quails

• wise quail was the leader of those living in the forest

• Man uses a quail call the lure the quails in and captures them

• wise quail comes up with a plan for the next time the man tries this scheme

• the quails enact the plan and fly the man's net off and drop it into the thorn bush

• quails started arguing and the man takes advantage of the situation and captures them and sells them for a nice price

The Measure of rice

• King had a dishonest man in his court who was the valuer

• King fires this valuer and hires a peasant to do the job

• peasant did not know values really, but everyone had to pay the price for items that he set

• man brings in 500 horses and valuer says they were worth a measure of rice.

• valuer tries to explain that the value of rice is the same as the value of the city

• the king ashamed kicks out the valuer

• the valuer fled the scene as he explains that he was only trying to get a good deal on the horses for the king

Reading Notes: More Jataka Tales Part B

The Three Fishes

• 3 fish lived together

• names were Thoughtful, Very-Thoughtful and Thoughtless.

• Thoughtful and Thoughtless were captured by fisherman.

• Very-Thoughtful tricked the fisherman by splashing water making the fisherman think the net had broken. He shook the net and accidentally released the two captured fish.

The Tricking Wolf and the Rats

• Wolf wanted to capture rats

• The wolf acted hurt

• The rat king felt bad for him and he and other rats visiting him everyday

• The wolf would eat the last rat to leave without being caught

• This time the king rat went last and caught the wolf in his scheme

• The rat evaded him and bit the wolf which killed the wolf

The Woodpecker, Turtle, and Deer

• Hunter wanted to trap the deer

• Deer was caught in the trap 

• Turtle and woodpecker came to see if they could help

• Turtle chewed through the leather of the trap and the woodpecker flew to the hunter and attacked him\

• Turtle was captured before deer made a run around to distract the hunter and then deer freed turtle

• The three animals escaped the hunter and lived their lives as friends

The Golden Goose

• Goose offered for the woman to sell her feathers to take care of her daughters

• Goose asked to have the feathers to be sold one at a time

• Mother got greedy and plucked all the feathers and the feathers never grew back gold again on the goose

Reading Notes: Jataka Tales Part A

The Jataka Tales

Crocodile and Monkey

• Crocodile mother asked her so to go get a monkey for her to heat the monkey's heart
• Crocodile decided he would try and fool the monkey by offering to take him across the river to the island where the fruit is ripe
• Crocodile starts trying to drown the monkey to take its heart to the crocodile's mother to eat
• Monkey says that he left his heart back at the tree
• Monkey was let off at the river bank and he rushed up the tree
• Monkey said that his heart was up there and if the crocodile wanted it he would have to come and get it
• Monkey moved to a different place and the crocodile found him again
• Monkey knew that the crocodile was acting as if he was a rock to fool the monkey
• Monkey calls out to the rock and says why don't you answer me like normal
• The crocodile replies as if he is the rock and the monkey replies that he knows that is crocodile
• Monkey says he will jump in the crocs mouth and the crocodile closes his eyes. Monkey jumps off the crocodiles back and launches himself up the tree.
• Crocodile finally agrees to give up on catching the monkey.

How the turtle saved his own life

• King makes lake for his sons to play in
• Sons want to go fish, but are scared of the turtle
• King asks the men who made the brought the turtle to kill it
• The plan was made by a man who hates water to throw the turtle down stream in the river
• The turtle acted like he was scared of this idea
• The king had the men throw him in the river exactly as the turtle really wanted

The Merchant of Seri

• merchant sold brass and tinware
• merchant gets to house of poor old woman and her granddaughter
• old woman only had a gold bowl which she did not know was gold
• granddaughter asks her grandma to buy her something from the merchant
• first merchant sees the bowl and says it is worthless and leave
• second merchant arrives and old woman offers bowl again
• second merchant says he does not have enough money to buy it
• old woman is confused
• second merchant gives all his money except for 8 pennies in exchange for the bowl
• he used the 8 pennies to get across the river
• first merchant returns to try and low ball the old woman again for the bowl and finds out the bowl was sold

The Turtle who could not stop talking

• Turtle befriends geese who want the turtle to visit their home
• Geese offer to take the turtle if he can keep his mouth shut about going
• Kids saw the geese carrying the turtle as he kept his mouth closed on a stick so that he would be carried
• The turtle asked the children what business it was to judge him and the turtle fell to his death because he opened his mouth and let go of the stick

The Ox who won the forfeit

• Man makes bet of a thousand of pieces of silver on his ox
• Second man's ox would not even move and he lost his thousand pieces of silver
• Ox says that if they try again he will try for the second man as he has been a good master
• The ox pulled the cart winning the bet and the second man with his ox went home happy with their winnings

The quarrel of the quails

• wise quail was the leader of those living in the forest
• Man uses a quail call the lure the quails in and captures them
• wise quail comes up with a plan for the next time the man tries this scheme
• the quails enact the plan and fly the man's net off and drop it into the thorn bush
• quails started arguing and the man takes advantage of the situation and captures them and sells them for a nice price

The Measure of rice

• King had a dishonest man in his court who was the valuer
• King fires this valuer and hires a peasant to do the job
• peasant did not know values really, but everyone had to pay the price for items that he set
• man brings in 500 horses and valuer says they were worth a measure of rice.
• valuer tries to explain that the value of rice is the same as the value of the city
• the king ashamed kicks out the valuer
• the valuer fled the scene as he explains that he was only trying to get a good deal on the horses for the king

Reading Notes: Mahabharata Part B

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• Kunti has a secret in her past
• Kunti did not fear Durwasa
• Kunti was given the gift to summon a god whenever she wanted by Durwasa
• She tested the gift and it worked
• She took the sun god into her arms and he left and she was left with a child
• Kunti was unmarried at the time
• Kunti placed her son in a basket and placed it in a bank as the basket floated away
• She begged the son god to watch over him
• Pandu while hunting shot an arrow and accidentally killed a hermit
• The hermit cursed Pandu
• The moment that Pandu becomes intimate he will die
• Pandu told his brother that he would not be returning to the kingdom
• Pandu asked Kunti to summon a god and give the kingdom its future kings
• Pandu was given 3 sons even though he asked Kunti for more kids
• Kunti helped Madri become a mother
• Pandu now had 5 sons total
• Pandu died after he forced himself in passion on Madri
• Pandu had a funeral in flames and Madri threw herself in the fire as well to die with him
• The sons would be known as the pandavas
• Ghandari had a troubled pregancy
• The day she gave birth was the saddest day of her life
• She gave birth to a huge lump of flesh
• The flesh was divided into 100 pieces by Vyasa
• Each lump was put into a vat of oil
• the children came to be from the vats
• the vats and she was able to hold her child
• She could not see her children, but others could
• they were children that could only be loved by their parents because of their demonic looks
• Kunti and her 5 sons return to the kingdom
• Duryodhana tried to trap and poison the pandavas
• Durvodhana laced the food with poison that would make them sleep
• He tied up the sleeping Bheem and then pushed him into the lake
• Bhem was attacked by poisonous snakes
• Any other mortal would have died, but Bheem broke from his ties and killed the snakes
• Naaglok who is Bheem's god father gave him a potion
• Bheem realized he was no longer going to be an innocent boy and decided to face the dangers all around the Pandavas
• Bheem said he had could not remember what had happened to him
• the pandavas needed a teacher
• Drona was the brahman and would end up becoming the teacher of the pandavas
• Drona threw various reeds at the ball down the well and they stacked up and he pulled the ball out of the well
• The pandavas wanted Drona to meet their grandfather
• Bhisma appoints Drona as the teacher of the pandavas
• Drona was able to pin point each students skills
• the sons were taught to control the divine weapons
• the weapons were able to control the elements
• Drona wanted vengeance against a kingdom with the help of the pandavas
• dog was shut up by an archer who placed arrows to stuff the dogs mouth
• Arjuna was crushed as he realized he was not the world's greatest archer
• Arjuna asks Ekalavya who taught him these archery skills and he replied that it was Drona
• Ekalayva became the world's greatest archer by just looking at a picture of Drona and training
• Drona commanded Ekalyva cut off his right thumb
• Drona basically ended the career of a boy who could have been the world's greatest archer

Extra Credit Reading Notes: Mahabharata Part A

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• Many storytellers have given their own iteration and twist on the story
• a story of kings and queens and heroes and villains and a story of an all consuming war
• an account of how karma functions
• every result is based on what happened before and impacts what happens after
• shantanu asks ganga said yes
• Shantanu was made to promise to never question her.
• they became married
• She drowned their first child and she killed their next 6.
• He stepped in before she could kill the 8th.
• She explains
• she had been tasked to give birth to the 8 celestial spirits
• After telling him the truth she left him and took with her his one remaining son.
• 16 years after Ganga had left, Shantinu returned to where he met his past wife
• His wife appeared before him as he was shocked to see his son again who had become an amazing archer (Devarat)
• Shantanu brought back his son to the kingdom and made him a prince
• time passed and Shantanu fell in love with a different woman
• Shantanu was miserable
• Devarat went out to find the fisherman's daughter in an attempt to bargain
• Devarat went out and begged for the fisherman to have his daughter marry his father
• Devarat gave an oath and vowed to never marry and never have children
• He did this to make his father happy and he became Bhishma
• The father was not happy, but he was actually heartbroken and felt a sense of doom
• He was still proud of his son
• Bhisma kept his promise
• After his father passed Devarat acted as a father to his two step brothers
• three princesses are brought back after the death
• oldest sister named Amba was allowed to leave, but the other two had to stay
• King could not accept Amba as she was taken by a different man
• Amba accuses bishna of ruining her life
• Amba seeked out revenge
• Parashuram fought with Bhisma for 23 days
• they were evenly matched 
• Parahuram ended up giving up
• Amba still wanted Bhisma dead and wanted to be the reason for his death
• King Vichitraviyra died due to illness
• the kingdom was left with no king or prince
• It was decided that Bhisma was to end his celibacy and become married with kids
• He refused
• Vyasa is summoned by his mother Satyavati
• She asked him to father the children of ambika and ambalika
• Vyasa was not a good looking guy
• Because Ambika closed her eyes when she layed with Vyasa the child would be born blind
• Ambalika turned pale with fear when Vyasa too her, he tells her that her child will be born pale and will have poor health
• Amabalika asks for another chance, but she sends a servant girl in her place
• The servant girl accepted him with no fear 
• All 3 women gave birth
• Vidura was the child of the servant
• Bhisma raised the 3 boys
• there was an unspoken rivalry between the 3 brothers
• blind Dhritrashtra became king
• Pandu had no ill feelings, but Pandu was supposed to be the king
• Gandari blind folded herself for life to marry Dhritrashtra and they would both be blind
• Gandari wanted to repair this injustice that had occurred in his eyes
• 
  

Reading Notes: Mahabharata Part C

• The Pandava princes wandered deep into the forest with Draupadi and lived there together for 12 years
• Draupadi was extremely emotional, sad and felt betrayed because she felt the Pandavas did not protect her.
• Krishna says he that he would have warned Yudhishthira
• Draupadi gives out a long quote lamenting her future
• Yudhishthira says for Draupadi to trust in the god's plans and that everything will be fine
• Draupadi questions what kind of gods would allow this
• A holy man comes to visit the Pandavas
• Arjuna went to the mountains to fast and pray
• Afteer 4 months Arjuna was able to survive off of air alone and no longer needed to eat or drink.
• Arjuna kills a boar
• Hunter was following the boar and was upset because he said the boar was his to kill
• Arjuna says fine then lets fight then and ended up wrestling
• The Great God gifted Arjuna a boon of great weapons
• Indra, Yama, Varuna, Kubera gave Arjuna celestial weapons
• Arjuna flew in a car towards a battle with the giants and demons
• Indra praised Arjuna for overcoming and winning the battle
• Bhima finds a monkey in his path when he was trying to gather flowers for Draupadi
• the Vedas were divided into 4 parts
• less about truth and more about passion
• because of the change they became more likely to be impacted by disease
• Karna tells someone to go out and watch the Pandavas in the misery living in the forest
• All the sons of kunti had gods for their fathers
• All building up for a Karna and Arjuna fight
• Karna takes the blazing dart Karna cuts off his own natural armor and living earrings and hands them to a Brahama
• Karna could now be killed, but had this incredible arrow that he could use once on a single foe

Mahabharata Online: Public Domain Edition

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Reading Notes: Mahabharata Part B

• Prince Vidura was the half-brother of Pandu
• He could not become king because his mother was a slave girl
• Prince Yudishthira had fear for his brothers and mother
• Vidura dug an underground tunnel led from the floor of the palace into the woods.
• Made his mother and brother wait in the woods while he returned to try and fight his enemy
• Guard house burned and wind blew the fire into the palace where it burned down
• Two drunk homeless women were given wine by the Pandavas, they got so drunk that they passed out and they died in the burning palace
• The Pandavas were sleep deprived and had tired feet
• Pandavas found refuge and rest under a banyan tree
• Hidimba really scary red monster who was hungry in the forest
• Hidimba could smell the Pandavas in the forest and wanted to eat them along side his sister
• Hidimba's brother did not want to kill Bhima, but rather marry him
• She could change her appearance to look like a beautiful woman
• She explains to Bhima her brother's plan and says she wants to marry him
• Bhima does not want to be eaten or be her husband feeling like it was a trap
• Hidimba was livid with his sister when he found out her plan
• Hidimba was about to kill his sister, but Bhima stepped in and challenged him to fight.
• Hidimba was dragged deep into the forest by Bhima where they fought were the Pandavas could not hear them and continue their rest
• The Pandavas ended up waking up and seeing Hidimba's sister watching over them
• They asked who she was
• Brothers find Bhima and want to rush to his aid
• Bhima says he can handle it and don't be afraid
• Arjuna said don't mess around and that Bhima should kill him because the monsters get stronger in the day time
• Bhima broke the monsters back
• Bhima tells the sister to get lost
• Sister says that if Bhima won't marry her that she will kill herself
• They end up getting married
• They ended up happy together and have a son
• Ghatotkacha is their son he was bald headed and his name meant pot headed
• Queen Kunti left prince Bhima and got to the town of Ekachakra
• Ekachakra had been conquered by a fierce and cruel chief Baka
• They have to send him a bunch of food and a man or woman
• If he doesn't get his weekly supplies he will kill everyone who did not provide
• Bhima showed up to help defeat Baka
• Bhima lures out Baka and then breaks Baka's back and kills him
• All the citizens when they saw that Baka was dead cheered and danced with joy
• A son sprang from flames with no mother after a ritual and he had come to destroy Drona and increase the fame of the Panchalas
• Next a daughter arose from the ashes and she was to be the chief of all women
• The son was Dhishtadyumma and the daughter was Draupadi
• Draupadi destined to be the Panchala queen
• brahmins praised the beauty of Draupadi
• They wanted to share a banquet/festival with her
• Drupada wanted Arjuna to be his daughter's husband
• Made a bow that only a strong man could use and a special target
• Anyone who could use the bow and hit an arrow through the wheel target would be able to marry Draupadi
• Drupada knew only Arjuna would be skilled or strong enough to do this
• A bunch of various princes showed up to try the task
• Karna almost did it and struck fear in Drupada
• Draupadi said she would not marry Karna
• Karna drops the bow not because he thought he could not hit the target but because Draupadi did not want him to
• Arjuna shoots the arrow through the fish
• Draupadi and Drupada were all happy
• Arjuna says that he is a servant and that his older brother should be the one marrying Draupadi
• Yudhishthira  says that Arjuna wants him to marry Draupadi
• Drupada was still happy
• The gods decided that she would become the wife of all 5 of the brothers
• Drupada was not happy about the decision, but the gods explained why it was to happen to Drupada
• The 5 sons were then all married to Druapadi and Drupada gave them various gifts

Mahabharata Online: Public Domain Edition

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Reading Notes: Mahabharata Part A

• Uparichara is the king of Chedi
• Uparichara's semen fell from the sky into water and it impregnated a fish
• Fisherman caught the fish and two children came forth
• The king took the son, but left the daughter
• Daughter's name: Satyavati
• Ganesha would be Rama's scribe and could not stop his pen\
• Daughter helped out her foster father
• she became so sweet smelling that she could be smelled from 7 miles away
• Ganges agrees to be the human mother of the Vasus so they could return quickly to their celestial forms.
• Ganges marries the king
• Said she would part with him if he spoke harshly towards her
• In time Ganges had a son and she cast her son out
• King was mad, but didn't want to say anything to lose her
• She killed 7 more kids and was trying to kill the 8th before the king intervened
• The king had broken his promise and Ganges died with the 8th kid taking the child's life also.
• Old Shantu wanted to marry a young bride
• The girl he had interest was Satyavati
• King Shantanu sought to marry Satyavti, but her father refused to give her to the king until he promised that her son would be the king
• Shantanu said he couldn't do that and left heartbroken
• Ganga was called Bhisma which means terrible
• Devaratra renoucnes his claim to the throne
• Satyavti marries Shantanu and bares two sons
• One of the sons becomes king as Devatara stepped down after keeping his promise.
• Bhishma and Vichitravirya were the two sons
• Bhishma wants to look for a wife for Vichitravirya so they can keep the throne under control
• Bridal tournament opened opportunity for Bhishma to fight in a battle to find a wife for his brother
• Bhishma fends off all the fighters in the bridal tournament
• Bhishma retains the 3 brides as his prize
• Bhishma takes the 3 brides back with him
• Oldest bride was aloud to leave because she wanted to stay faithful to a previous king
• King that the bride went back denied her and didn't deserve her
• She fasted for days and weeks until she became frail and the god Shiva appeared in front of her after hearing her prayers
• She asked the god to kill Bhishma, the god says you have my permission
• She says she can't do it as a woman and Shiva says she can and is strong enough
• Oldest bride blames what happened to her former love/king on Bhishma
• The three kids that were born were reared by Bhishma and trained as warriors
• Pandu was made king later
• Pandu married two wives
• Kunti came from celestial origin
• Pandu loved Madri the most of the two
• Kunti has a child and sends him down a river to be adopted (Like moses' mom did in the bible)
• Pandu loved to hunt 
• Pandu has weird encounter with deer
• Pandu never had his own kids
• Pandu died while walking with his favorite wife Madri
• his sons the Pandava brothers buried him
• Madri volunteered to have her body burned with Pandu and be buried with him
• Pandu's blind brother had become king
• Gandhara become the mother to 100 sons
• Her oldest son Duryodhana was ill-omened
• He grew up to be proud, jealous and evil minded
• Widowed Kunti raises the 5 sons of Pandu
• She brings the sons to their uncles kingdom (blind king) and he raises them with his own sons
• Two families lived together peacefully without favortism being showed to either side
• Drona was chosen to train the children
• Drona and Drupada grew apart after similar origins
• Drupada acts like a complete stranger and even enemy to Drona when Drona approaches him as a friend, Drupada wants nothing to do with Drona
• Drona is heartbroken
• Drona wanted to train the princes to take Drupada down
• Bhisma said that was fine
• Drona not only became the instructor, but also the family priest
• Arjuna was the most skilled of the princes
• Drona liked Arjuna the most
• Drona with the sons to hunt down in the Bhil kingdom
• guy displayed skill by shooting 7 arrows into a dogs mouth
• guy cut off his thumb and gave it to drona as a reward for the students reward for his accomplishment
• Drona gives epic speech/poem after the battle/tournment concludes
• just when they thought it was over it wasn't
• Karna says he can top whatever Arjuna did if he has Drona's blessing to try
• Drona gives him permission
• Crowd was split with some cheering for Karna and some cheering for Arjuna
• Karna and his father have a nice moment
• Karna no longer feared Arjuna
• Yudhishthira feels that Karna is greatest hero in the world of men
• Pandavas and Kauravas had finally become accomplished warriors
• Drona said it was time for them to go kill Drupada and wanted them to bring Drupada's head back to him
• The cousins did not ride together because of jealousy
• The Kauravas went first to attack Drupada
• The Kauravas were defeated
• The Pandavas took their turn and fought Drupada and the Panchala
• Arjuna seizes Drupada
• Drupada begs for forgiveness and friendship from Drona
• Drona took possession over half of Drupada's kingdom

Mahabharata Online: Public Domain Edition

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Reading Notes: The Ramayana, Part C

• Rama shoots an arrow out his bow that pierces through 7 ancient trees that reach the heavens and the arrows travels through the 7 worlds, 7 seas, all things in the 7s and then the arrow returned to his quiver.
• Sita dropped pieces of her jewelry as Ravana carried her away to try and show which way she was going to Rama if he hopefully found the jewelry.
• Whenever Vali is confronted he gains half his opponents strength.
• Vali and Hanuman are brothers. 
• Hanuman needs Rama to kill Vali so that Hanuman can become king and command his peoples army to aid Rama in defeating Ravana and getting Sita back.
• Vali and Hanuman are monkeys from the monkey kingdom.
• Ramas arrow went through Vali's chest, "like a needle passing through a fruit."
• "It is my primary duty to help the weak and destroy evil wherever I see it. Whether known or unknown , I help thos who seek my help."-Rama
• Vali and Rama have a long talk and Vali changes his mind about Rama before he finally dies.
• Rana grew seemingly depressed about Sita during the rainy season.
• Hanuman is sent out to see if he can find the location of Sita. Rama says to look at her feet and toenails to make sure that it is in fact her.
• Sampathi is the older brother of Jatayu.
• Hanuman stops Sita from ending her life to tell her that Rama is on the way to save her.
• Sita gives Hanuman a single piece of her jewelry to give to Rama to prove that she is still alive.
• Hanuman was caught by Ravana's brother, but was released instead of being killed because it was improper to kill a messenger.
• Hanuman had his tail set on fire by Ravana and Hanuman ran all over Ravanna's city capital of burnt it all down until he was content before he left to return to Rama.
• There are a ton of unwritten and understood rules.
• Ravana does not believe that Rama is Vishnu incarnate in human form.
• Vibiashana wants to aid Rama and his army in the fight against his brother Ravana.
• 
  

Reading Notes: The Ramayana, Part B

• Great quote from Rama, "A word given is like an arrow, it goes forward. You cannot recall it midway. . . "
• People were truly and visually upset about Rama leaving and no longer being king.
• Rama's father (the previous king) died in shock after hearing that Rama actually did leave into the forest. 
• This was the first time the country would be without a king
• Bharatha was unaware of his brothers exiling after him mother made the plan to make Bharatha the next king over Rama.
• Kaikeyi did not seem sad at all over the kings death.
• once Kaikaeyi tells Bharatha the truth of the deal the king made with her and Rama's exhile, Bharatha becomes upset calls his mother a snake and says that she killed his father/the king. Said that she deserved to die for what she did.
• Bharatha refused to be king and wanted to get an army to go out with him to try and retrieve Rama to get him back as king.
• Rama wanted to honor his father's wish of a 14 year exile and refused to come back and become king until that time had passed.
• The gods worried that if Rama returned and became king at that time when Bharatha was begging him that Rama would be unable to complete his destiny.
• Kamavalli, extremely beautiful girl and brother of Ravanna.
• Kamavalli says she is not evil like her brother or the rest of her family and wants to be different from them.
• Kamavalli offered to marry Rama and he rejected her.
• Kamavalli was actually Soorpanaka still Ravanna's sister, but a vastly different appearance than her disguise.
• Soorpanaka had her nose, ears and breasts chopped off by Lakshmana.
• Soorpanaka returned to her family and said that Rama and her brother had caused her appearance change.
• Soorpanaka got her brother Kara to go and try to kill Rama, but Rama killed him instead.
• Soorpanaka goes to Ravana and says what happened to her and blames Rama. 
• Ravanna asked what provoked Rama to do this to her and she says that she was trying to bring Sita to be Ravanna's wife and starts describing how great and beautiful that Sita is.
• Ravanna becomes obsessed with the idea of Sita.
• Ravanna starts making plans to steal/take Sita from Rama.
• Ravanna tells Mareecha to lure Sita away in the form of a golden deer and that he will do the rest.
• Ravanna's plan works as it lures both Rama and Lakshmana away from Rita.
• Ravanna picks up the ground under Rita and takes her away.
• Ravanna kills Jatayu.

(Extra Credit) Reading Notes:The Ramayana, Part A

• Ayodhya is the capital of the country of Kosala.
• Kosala, beautiful large country which had a very large river running through it.
• Ayodhya contained many fountains, palaces, mansions and squares.(Imagine the giant city from Tangled) 
• King Dasaratha was a great king who ruled fairly over the country, but sadly was childless.
• Ravana gained powers through prayer and was out to destroy worlds and enslave other gods.
• Vishnu promised to incarnate as Dasaratha's son and defeat Ravana as he could only be defeated by a human.
• After a sacrificial ceremony was performed, Dasaratha's wives gave birth to his children after proper time.
• Viswamithra convinces Dasaratha to allow his son Rama to go with him to Sidhasrama.
• Viswamithra has a great analogy about how if a seed sprouts too close too its parent tree that it will have its growth stunted compared to an overprotective parent.
• Lakshana also accompanied his brother Rama to protect Viswamithra.
• Rama begins his destiny to destroy evil after he kills Thataka with an arrow to the throat.
• Because Vishnu was incarnated currently as Rama, Mahabali seized earth and heaven.
• All the gods affected by Mahabali appeared to Vishnu and begged him to regain their kingdoms.
• Vishnu took birth as brahmin dwarf in response to their appeals.
• Vishnu disguised as a dwarf came to Mahabali and tricked him into giving him a gift of land. Mahabali saw that he was a dwarf and granted Vishnu's request of as much land as he could cover in three strides. After the oath was agreed to the dwarf transformed into a giant and took one step that covered the entire span of earth, the second step covered all of heaven and the third step was right on top of Mahabali's head which sent him to the underworld which disposed of him.
• Thataka kills demons with arrows while Rama protects the sacrificial fire and those who are praying near it.
• Ahayla was to be turned into a piece of granite until Rama passes by her.
• Ahayla was later restored to her earlier form my Rama.
• Rama catches the eye and heart of Sita.
• Rama was also infatuated by Sita and could not stop thinking about her.
• Anyone who was able to lift, bend and string Shiva's bow was deemed fit to marry Sita.
• Rama was not only strong enough/able to bend and string the bow he also broke it when he fired an arrow out of it.
• Rama was then deemed worthy of marrying Sita.
• Rama and Sita were then married in a huge event.
• Dasathra realises that at his age that his reign as king needs to end and that he needs a successor. He names Rama as the next king.
• Kaikeyi reminds Dasathra about the promise that he made to her. Dasathra must now tell Rama that he will no longer be the king and that his brother Bharatha will be king.
• Rama is commanded to leave the kingdom and live in the forests for the next 14 years.
• Everyone in the kingdom mourned the loss of Rama into exile.
  

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Bibliography: Narayan's Ramayana by R.K. Ramayana

Week 2 Reading Overview

I decided to choose Narayan's Ramayana as it seemed to be the more straight forward option of the two stories. I also really enjoy the fact that there is a reading guide that comes with it, I think that will help me keep track of the story, schedule out my reading accordingly and understand the story better.

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Comics of interest:

1. Ganesha: In one of the week 1 assignments I read a story that told a little bit about the relationship between Ganesha came to be and I want to learn more about how that happened in detail.

2. Hakka and Bukka: I really enjoyed the cover art of the comic so I thought that I might enjoy the story. I look forward to reading the full story because the summary on the blog post looked interesting.

Videos of interest:

1. Symbols of Divinity: Most people can understand what another person is saying through emoji use and what that emoji stands for. I think it is cool that we as people are able to understand what something means or represents just by looking at a small drawing.

2. Who created the universe? Everyone at some point in their life asks how did we as people get here and how was life/the universe created. Growing up in a Christian home I learned that creation through God was the answer. It was extremely interesting to hear a different point of view and idea as to how the universe and life were created.

Week 2 Reading Anthology

Source Material: The Giant Crab, and Other Tales from Old India by W. H. D. Rouse.
The Crane and the Cunning Crab

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Plot: The first important moment of the story was when the fish finally trusted the crane after the crane took the one eyed fish to the cool pond. This proved to the fish that the crane could be trusted and that the cool pond was real. The crane used the fishes' faith against them and ate them all one by one. Another important moment was when the crane ran out of fish in the first pond to trick so he became desperate and hungry and tried to fool the crab. The crane before would not have tried to fool the crab, but now with all the fish gone he had no other options.

Character Focus: I really enjoyed how smart the crab was. He seemed prepared for every scenario that could go on with the crane. The crab seemed to be in a situation where he was going to win no matter what. If the crane was really worthy of trust then the crab would get a free trip to the cooler pond and if the crane was lying the crab already had his claw around the cranes throat as it played out in the story.

Ending a story: "So perished the treacherous Crane, caught by his own trick. And the Crab lived happily in the beautiful lake for the rest of his life." I thought this was a great ending as it wrapped up the story with the crane being killed after being fooled just as the crane killed all those fish by tricking them. Wraps up the story nicely and comes full circle.

Beautiful Sentence: "Now not far away there was a beautiful lake, always fresh and cool, for it lay under the shadow of great trees, and it was covered all over with waterlilies. And a Crane lived on the banks of this lake." I really enjoy the word choice and just how detailed the author gets into describing the lake. Making the lake sound this beautiful would be a great reason as to why the fish would even think about risking putting their trust in the crane.