Thoughts about Comments

I think that what I love most about the comments that everyone leaves is how positive they are on my wall! Even if someone is leaving constructive criticism, they talk about it in the most positive way!

I like when people ask me questions in their comments the most. The questions really help me to think about my writing or if it is more personal, just to think about the subject in general.

I think that I can be leaving better comments by asking more questions of the author in order to get them to think about their writing. Just like what the comments on my wall have been doing for my writing!

Reading Diary B: PDE Mahabharata

1. The House of Fire

Prince Vidura was the half-brother of King Pandu. Even though he had a connection to royalty, he could never be king of Hastinapura because his mother was only a slave girl. The Pandavas and Queen Kunti made their way to the palace. Prince Vidura noticed the walls and tapestries were soaked with oil and the wood was easily flammable. He enacted a plan to save everyone from the fire. He saved them all, but when the city saw the fire, they thought surely, Queen Kunti and the Pandavas died in the fire. The news spread to Prince Duryodhana (the man responsible) and he was pleased his plan had succeeded or so he thought.

(Image Source: Wikipedia Commons "Escape of Pandavas from fire accident")

2. Birth of Draupadi

The Pandavas were still living in the city, in disguise, as brahmins. Drupada's kingdom had been claimed by Drona and he needed offspring to reclaim the throne. A sacred spiritual sacrifice gave them the hope they so desired. A prince (Dhrishtadymna) arose in the fire wearing fully armed with a bow and he was prophesied to defeat Drona. After him, a girl came from the fire (Draupadi) and she was prophesied to accomplish the will of the gods and to be the leader of all women. Kunti headed towards Panchala.

3. Wife of the Five Pandavas

Arjuna won the heart of Draupadi, but because of the Pandavas' mother, they would all end up marrying Draupadi. They claim it was the will of the gods? She married each brother according to their age, so in a succession of five days, she married one brother at a time.

4. The Burning of the Forest

Krishna and Arjuna take on Indra in a battle. Indra is defeated by a bow and arrows, mace, and a discus. They helped the fire god, Agni, take down Indra because he wanted to claim the forest, but Indra kept standing in the way.

Reading Diary A: PDE Mahabharata

1. King Shantanu and Ganga

King Shantanu was very religious. The goddess, Ganga, was from the Ganges River. She took human form for a time in order to be King Shantanu's first wife. She told the king that she would marry him as long as he never went against her or did anything to harm her. When she gave birth to her first son, she threw him in the Ganges River, claiming it was for the baby's own good. Shantanu was horrified, but he dared not speak against her in the chance that she would leave him. She did the same with the next 7 children, but when the eighth was born, Shantanu had a fit of outrage. He broke his marriage vow, but he saved the child. This child would take the name Devavrata.

2. Devavrata's Vow

Devavrata now has the name, Bhishma, the Sanskrit word for "terrible oath". The king was in love with a fisherman's daughter, Satyavati, but if she gave birth to sons, they would not inherit the kingdom because of Devavrata. Devavrata relinquished his claim to the throne if this woman would marry the king. Chitrangada was one of the sons born to Satyavati and in time, he claimed the throne.

(Image Source: Raja Ravi Varma, Wikipedia Commons)

3. Kunti and Her Son

King Pandu had two wives, Kunti and Madri. He loved Madri more than Kunti, but Kunti was chief rani (queen). Kunti had been adopted by the rajah of Shurasena when she was very small and she grew up with him. There once was a visitor there, Durvasas, and she took care of whatever he needed. He granted her the power to compel love from a celestial being if she so desired. She had a baby with the son god, Surya, but felt shame afterwards. Her child, Karna, was placed in a basket on the river with celestial earrings that would give him power as he floated along the Ganges. The child floated along till he reached the region of Anga. A woman of Anga, Radha, and her husband wanted a child desperately, but could not have one. When they found Karna, they knew it had to be for them and that the gods heard their prayers. Karna grew up under their care.

Week 4 Review

(Image Source: Laura Gibb's Course Announcements)

I enjoyed this meme from Thursday's page on the Course Announcements because I am obsessed with cat memes! I have always been a dog person, but I personally believe that cats are more humorous in pictures. 

Course Announcements

Famous Last Words

This week was the busiest week of the year for me. I have two weeks this semester that will be just awful for me and this was the first. The next week will be in October. Since I had my first test and the career fair this week, it was very hectic and busy, so I had less time to spend on Indian Epics assignments than usual. However, I believe that I wrote one of my best storytelling posts so far this week. Somehow, the creative juices just seemed to be flowing and I felt inventive and clever. I wrote about "The Succession" from The Divine Archer Ramayana. It helped that I had recently started watching a show on Netflix that I could apply to the creativity of the story.

I also serve as the treasurer of my sorority and this week, the chapter's dues were due. This is a huge part of my job as treasurer so a lot of my focus was also spent here. I did not get very much sleep throughout the week and I had a couple mental breakdowns, but I feel much better after this weekend and getting to have time to rest and restore. I feel like this upcoming week will be much better for me as far as school goes. I will get to spend more time on Indian Epics assignments, which will hopefully lead to better writing. I also have a personal goal to work ahead in Indian Epics this week as I have fallen behind in the last two weeks and have not had time to complete a few extra credit assignments.

The stories that I read for this week on other people's blogs were incredible! I am always inspired by the creativity of my peers! The stories were both original and inspirational which led me to believe maybe my writing is slacking a little in comparison. I am going to try my best this week to match my stories with the same caliber of my classmates' stories!

("The Office" from The Office-isms: Memes)

Tech Tip: Pinterest Board

For my tech tip this week, I created a Pinterest board in order to collect all of my thoughts and ideas for this class! Since I have used Pinterest before, I figured it would not be that difficult to start a new board for the class. This board is my first Pinterest board to use for a class while I have used Pinterest previously for ideas such as cooking recipes and clothing choices.

Indian Epics Pinterest Board

Storytelling for Week 4: "The Succession" (The Divine Archer Ramayana)

There once was a queen. She was no ordinary queen, but the queen to a king who ruled over many lands and who was revered by all. Unfortunately, she could not provide an heir for the king. He was not upset with her for their lack of offspring, but he was disheartened. Was his line not meant to continue in the kingdom? The king saw the queen's disappointment as well and promised to make her the happiest woman in the world, child or not. He promised to grant her three wishes and he would have to see through to them no matter what they were.

The queen saw how the king was disappointed and she was eager to do something about it. She asked to use one of her wishes from the king in order to leave the castle one day in search of some peace. He happily granted her the freedom she so desired. She went to the forest and approached an old hermit living in a small hut. She had heard rumors about the hermit living in the woods. The rumors claimed that he was more than just a mere hermit, he was actually a sorcerer. She asked the hermit what could be done about her childbearing abilities and he seemed very confident that he could find a solution for her.

"Take these berries twice a day for three months, but do not miss a day or you will surely have consequences," the hermit warned her.

The queen was faithful to take her berries twice a day just like she was told. However, one day, a servant in the castle was cleaning the queen's room. When he was cleaning the drawer in the nightstand, he stumbled upon the berries. Now he was an evil servant, very cruel to all. He took a few of the berries wondering about their power and laughing at his small trick on the queen. After all, how important could a few berries be to the queen of all the lands?

The day came where the queen came to the last berry. She took it slowly, promising herself that she would be with child before long just as the hermit had promised. Little did she know of the servant's trick...

Before long, the queen was pregnant. She was overjoyed and celebrated the news with her husband! A few weeks later, though, she learned that she was not the only woman with child in the castle. Her husband's other three wives were also pregnant with heirs to the kingdom. This news infuriated the queen. Had she not done everything she was asked? She sought out the hermit in the woods and demanded he explain his error. The hermit calmly told her, "Madam, you did not follow my instructions accordingly and because of this, you will suffer for relying on dark magic to do your bidding."

Years later, when the queen's son had grown up to be older and wiser, he was of age to control the kingdom. However, he would never have his chance because his brother, Rama, was the favorite of everyone who met him. The queen schemed once again. This time, she planned to ensure her happiness by seeing her son on the throne. Because of the king's previous promises to her, he was obliged to obey whatever she commanded him. She forced him to make her son the true heir of the kingdom and to banish Rama for fourteen years before he could return. This time would ensure his brother's long reign over the kingdom, so Rama could not come back to claim everything once again.

The queen felt sorry for her actions because she truly had good intentions once upon a time, but her son must be protected at all costs.

("Rama and Sita in Exile" Image Source: Wikipedia "Rama")

Author's Note: I have just recently started watching the show Reign on Netflix. Since that show has been on my mind, it had a point of influence in my version of the story this week. The way that the queen manipulates people and situations in order to ensure her own son's crown and title is almost exactly the same in both Reign and "The Succession". The mother is willing to do whatever it takes to see her son on the throne, including banishing the other son of her husband. Anyways, this definitely had a part in my take on the story! I created this story with the idea that the queen actually did not want to hurt or punish Rama from the beginning, but you get the idea that she felt like she had no other options. I did not want readers to hate the queen, but instead to feel pity for her in the midst of the situation because that makes her a much more dynamic character and thus, more interesting to the storyline overall. If I had more time and more words to share, I would have created a whole other part of the story about the evil servant and I would have covered his role in more detail. I hope you enjoyed the story that I had to tell about the queen who made a strong choice!

Bibliography: "The Succession" by Frederick James Gould, from The Divine Archer (1911). Web Source: Sacred Texts Archive