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...

    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...

Yudhisthira and His Dog Ascending        "Extra! Extra! Read all about it!" Everywhere you go in the bazaar the only thing you hear about is how Pandavas defeated Duryodhana and his army. For the Pandavas this might be the best thing that ever happened to them, but to the countless widows and mothers who lost their sons this is the darkest time in their lives. Everyone felt the repurcussions of the great war. Many inlfluential leaders were slain on both sides and the kingdom was in disarray.     Yudhisthira was in shambles. He had to find a way to get the economy back on track and appease the masses who lost their family. There were many long talks between the five Pandavas on how to go about the reconstruction. Arjuna and Bhima wanted to expand the kingdom and take resources from their neighbors, but Yudhisthira only wanted peace and could not afford to lose any more of his kin.      To fulfill his duties as king, Yudhisthira and his retinue...

    Author's Note: This week I wanted to re-tell the battle between Rama and Ravana because of how epic the Sister Nivedita version made it seem. I decided to make all the characters lions because a battle this great had to be between equally as awesome animals, and to me almost nothing are cooler than lions.  Bibliography:  Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists: Ramayana by Sister Nivedita. 1914.      Both the lions leered at each other with unmasked hatred. Rama with his glorious golden mane shining in the sun. Ravana's dark mane seemed to absorb all the light around him, casting a terrifying aura around his gigantic body. Both Rama's and Ravana's pack surrounded them watching intently, seeing who would make the first move and who would be the victor and win the beautiful Sita.      Suddenly, Ravana let out a loud roar that echoed throughout the plain. Soon, his pack took up the call and it sounded like thunder itself was against Rama. How...

Author's Note     I decided to put my own spin on the story of Rama and Sita . In the original story Rama visits Sita's kingdom where she is a princess, and the only person she can get married to is the one who is able to use the Bow of Shiva. Rama not only is able to use the bow, but snaps it in half with his insane amount of power. I put my own spin on it by putting these characters in a more modern setting. Bibliography Ramayana , Various Authors, Public Domain Edition Rama and Sita        "I'll never find the right one" Ram thought to himself. He always felt pressure from his father to find the right girl. Someone who would support him so that Ram could run his father's multi-million dollar company well. But to Ram it seemed like all they want him for is the money. However. this all changed when he thought he met the one: Sofia. To him she was perfect. Intelligent, driven, and her family also owned a big company so it was a match made in heaven. Still, ...

    On this day a great many millennia ago the Bodhisattva lived as a monkey, but not as an ordinary money. No, here the Bodhisattva lived as the Great Monkey and was as a big as an ape that resided in the jungle. Because of this the Great Monkey had to feast on many fruits to satiate the hunger it always felt. However, one day the Bodhisattva realized that it had ate all the delicious fruits on its side of the Ganges and while she was looking for more nourishment the Bodhisattva spotted the abundant fruit trees on the opposite side of the Ganges, but there was just one problem: the Great Monkey did not know how to swim.      To get to the other side she needed help and decided to ask the male and female crocodiles who lived in the Ganges to help her get to the other side. When the pair of crocodiles heard her proposition the wife got greedy and very much wanted to eat the Great Monkey, so she told her husband to trick the Bodhisattva and bring her to the wife i...