Epics of India Fall 2020

  The Divine Archer   by F.J. Gould (1911) Jormungandr from NorthernPaganism      Now there I was said the crab to other marine animals. Everyone looked at him with wide eyes as he described the incredible events that happened before his very eyes.      Standing on rocky outcrop in the middle of the sea the crab was searching for food on rocks when all of a sudden he felt a sudden gust of air that blew him into the water. Making his way onto the rock he saw Hanuman who had just landed onto another a rock not too far away. Hanuman was making his journey to Lanka to find Sita. He used his superhuman strength to jump, but it was more like flying as he could cover hundreds of miles in a single leap.      As he was about to make his next leap, a giant snake's head appeared out of the water. The head of the snake was at least six feet tall and could swallow a man whole and its body coiled into the water and reached back almost a mile long...

The Divine Archer   by F.J. Gould (1911) Rama and Ravana Hanuman goes to Lanka where Ravana is holding Sita. During her capture Sita has denied Ravana's advances and stays true to Rama.  Hanuman gives Sita Rama's ring which proves that Rama is coming to save her.  Ravana's guards capture Hanuman but he starts a fire throughout the city. Rama attacks Lanka and manages to slay Ravana with the help of Indra's chariot and weapons.  To prove that Sita was loyal to Rama she walks to a fire unscathed which she does and Rama is satisfied. However, many of Rama's subjects do not believe this so she is exiled to a sage. While in exile Sita gives birth to twins.  These twins stop a horse sacrifice that Rama performs and they are re-united through this.  Sita proves her innocence by a throne appearing for her in the palace and goes down into the earth.

The Divine Archer by F.J. Gould (1911) Birth of Dasharatha's Sons This is a much more concise version of the Ramayana, but still highlights many of the key points. However, we do not get to see the dialogue between characters which enriches the story.  Rama is born to King Dasharatha, and has three other half-brothers. Rama wins Sita's hand by bending Shiva's bow and strings Vishni's bow with ease. Due to his great feats Rama is going to be declared as Dasharatha's successor, but Bharata's mother stops this so Bharata can be king.  This ruins her relationship with Bharata after Dasharatha dies because of the grief that he feels for exiling Rama for 14 years. While Rama is exiled Sita and Lakshmana join him and they defeat many rakshakas. After mutilating Shurpanakha, her brother Ravana steals Sita. This means Rama and his friends have to go find her and bring her back.

  Twenty Jataka Tales  by Noor Inayat (1930) The Noble Horse A great buffalo who is very docile and kind is constantly annoyed by a monkey who tries to anger the buffalo. However, no matter what the monkey does the buffalo is unfazed. One day, a fairy appears and praises the buffalo for its kindness and puts a charm on it so that it will never be bothered again. This tale shows how important patience is and how it will always be repaid, though you might not know when. The richest kingdom in India has the most noble horse in the nation, but when seven rival kingdoms band together to defeat the great nation the horse is taken into battle.  The rider and horse defeat the first five kingdoms easily, but is wounded when fighting the sixth army. The rider wants the horse to stop fighting but the horse tells the rider that if he does not use him in battle the seventh kingdom will win.  The horse fights against the seventh kingdom and they win, but the horse dies and proves ...

Twenty Jataka Tales by Noor Inayat (1930) The King and the Chief Dog The Monkey King rules over 80,000 monkeys high in the Himalayas and they have a fruit tree that produces the best mangoes. They cannot let the mangoes fall into the river or it will get to the humans and they will invade the home of the monkeys'.  However, this happens one day and a human king finds the fruit and goes on an expedition to find the fruit and the monkeys' learn about this so the Monkey King makes a bridge with his body and a reed across the mountains so that his subjects can leave. While, walking across one monkey is to heavy and breaks the Monkey King's back and the human king finds him like that all alone and the Monkey King makes him promise to be a good leader which he becomes.  A rich king left his prized chariot outside, and the palace dogs destroyed the leather on the chariot. The king decreed that all dogs outside of the palace should be killed to obtain justice for his ruined chario...

    Bibliography:  Shri Krishna of Dwarka and Other Stories by C.A. Kincaid (1920) Image from FreePik      One day in the jungle there were five monkeys who were really good friends. Each monkey was a different color and their names corresponded to their colors. They were Red, Yellow, Blue, Green, and Orange. Each day the monkeys would roam the jungle looking for food. Their favorite food were bananas, but in this jungle that was the one fruit that was scarce. Everywhere they looked they saw apples, oranges, lychees, and berries. Red was fed up with the same fruits over and over, he craved bananas, but there were none to be found in the whole jungle.      The monkeys decided to split up on a nice afternoon and went to parts of the jungle that they have never explored before. Yellow went to the part of the jungle and found a cave. At the mouth of the cave he heard loud snoring and curiosity got the best of him. He decided to follow the n...

                                Bibliography:  Shri Krishna of Dwarka and Other Stories  by C.A. Kincaid (1920) Surya gives Satrajit, a devout follower of Surya, the Syamantaka jewel which glows bright and brings good fortune to good people and death to evil. It also protects the city of Dwarka from enemies and nature.  Satrajit's loses the jewel and a few people get their hands on it with varying deaths and good fortune occuring.  Krishna goes on a mission to get it back from the bear king and is gone for 21 days and everyone thinks he is dead, but he comes back victorious. Krishna's eldest son Pradyumna was destined to be killed by a demon, but miraculously survived in the belly of a fish which was cut open by the demon's wife who raised the boy as her own. She trained him to kill the demon who tried to slay him and he did so.  He returns to Dwarka and gets a wife, h...

Bibliography:  Shri Krishna of Dwarka and Other Stories by C.A. Kincaid (1920) In a time where demons rule and terrorize the earth, Vishnu decides to intervene and and is reborn as Krishna.  He also reincarnates Shesha a snake who will help Krishna. The demon king Kansa hears a prophecy that Devaki's eight child will slay him, so he puts her and her husband in a dungeon. When Shesha, who is named Balarama, and Krishna are born no matter what Kansa does he cannot kill them because Krishna's divine power protects them.  As Krishna and Balarama grow the village moves to a new location to escape Kansa's attacks, but still Kansa sends demons to kill Krishna and every time Krishna prove his prowess and slays them. Krishna meets Indra because he told the other cowherds not to sacrifice to Indra which angered him and he sent hail and storms, but Krishna shields them from Indra's anger.  Indra sees this and goes down to meet Krishna and names him Govinda or King of the Cows ...