Reading Notes: More Jatakas Part B

Elephant (Wikipedia)

I read The Foolhardy Wolf and was surprised to see the wolf get killed at the end. Anyways, I like the idea of a story where someone faces the absolute limit of what they can do as they are. The idea of facing an opponent that transcends the upper bounds of what humans can endure is something I'm fond of in fiction. Though usually it's about a hero who goes up against impossible odds and wins. It'd be neat to make a realistic story about a hero in a fantasy world who goes around slaying monsters, but ends up taking a contract for monsters that can't be slain by humans. The story could talk about his previous adventures and how he bravely defeated 20 goblins at once. Stuff like that. And then when he goes to defeat the monster he was contracted for, his arrogance fades as he realizes just how fearsome real monsters are. In this version I'd have him flee though, instead of get killed.

Bibliography: More Jataka Tales by Ellen C. Babbitt

Reading Notes: More Jatakas Part A

Wolf on its hind legs (Pinterest)

I read The Tricky Wolf and the Rats. I thought the idea of a person feigning innocence/injury taking out others who are unsuspecting as a result of the lie was interesting. My first thought would be that I could turn it into a murder mystery story. I'd make a change where the viewer is surprised too at the end. I'd have to make sure not to make it some copout like "It was the chef of the mansion all along! By the way there was a chef" and have some clues that make the reader go back and think "How did I not see it coming?" I really like stories that do that. Where really subtle actions can have a lot of meaning after you read the story.

I also read The Stupid Monkeys and I thought of adapting the story to a more modern format. I could make it so the crew of a bomber is flying around when the pilot sees a foreign object blockage in the bomb bays. He tells the rest of the crew he'll fix it after he goes to the restroom. Other members of the crew figure they can fix it themselves and open the bomb bay doors to quickly clean the bomb bays. They end up dropping all the bombs and the pilot comes back unalarmed until the plane starts shaking.

Bibliography: More Jataka Tales by Ellen C. Babbitt

Reading Notes: Jatakas Part B

White Elephant (Flickr)

I read The King's White Elephant

I feel like I could make this story be about a giant rather than an elephant. A friendly giant from the mountains who isn't very bright.Villagers from around there find him out in the snow and take him back to the village, nurturing the giant back to health. As he recovers, a boy teaches the giant how to speak and communicate. The giant gets accepted into the village and helps lift and carry lumber around. Word gets out about the giant and many people come to visit. The giant ends up being very famous and receives gifts from all around. He insists on giving these gifts to the boy who helped him so he can help the village. After some time, the giant is offered a position at the castle of the king, which he declines and says to give it to the boy who made him who he is today.

Bibliography: The King's White Elephant by Ellen C. Babbitt

Reading Notes: Jatakas Part A

Eagle Nebula (Wikipedia)

I think I'd like to do a story based on The Sandy Road. Basically a couple of traders travel across a desert to a neighboring country. They carried more than enough provisions for the trip but after the navigator realizes they're close, he suggests they dump the provisions. After this, the navigator takes a rest and the oxen walk in a big circle. They wake up and find themselves where they were a day ago and panic for water, eventually finding it under a rock in the ground. I think it'd be neat if I could do a similar story in space. A transport convoy would carry extra fuel for a trip and realize that they're going to be late if they don't hurry. They figure to jettison the extra fuel they don't need and take a shortcut through a wormhole. Unfortunately the stress this puts on the ships cause the pilots to black out and autopilot to take over and eject them from the wormhole. They carry on and wake up to systems alarms. The lead transport pilot switches navigation to the closest outpost station and discovers it is 42 light years away while the ship has switched to emergency power, with only enough fuel to sustain life support systems for a few days.

Bibliography: The Sandy Road from The Jataka Tales by Ellen C. Babbitt

Reading Notes: Krishna Dharma Mahabharata Part A

Fireworks (Wikipedia)

What stood out most to me here was the Martial Exhibition chapter. It was a very detailed account of the events, starting with Arjuna focusing only on the wooden bird's head in the distance, his fearlessness when it came to acting for his master, and him receiving the brahmastra. I found it odd though that the stadium was constructed in such a fast manner. I might make my story more fantasy-like with magicians instead of the princes and a mage instead of Drona. Instead of having them shoot targets while riding chariots, I could have magicians hitting clay pigeons flying around, making them explode into fireworks. Arjuna's introduction was really stunning, he's presented as the best warrior to ever live, clad in golden armor and with a demeanor that supports it. I don't think I'll change much with Arjuna's demonstration of elemental mastery. I think I'll end the story a bit after Karna enters, introducing Karna as some other kind of magician, whether a necromancer or sorceror, something that distinguishes him from the others. I could actually make him a more dark-arts aligned magician, that could be interesting. In that case, the princes would be using holy energy and chants for their spells.

Bibliography: Mahabharata by Krishna Dharma

Reading Notes: Mahabharata Part C

Dove Lake (Wikipedia)

I really liked the story about the lake and the questions. Nakula understandably runs up and drinks because he's so thirsty that he just ignores the voice he's hearing. When Sahadeva did it though, it seemed pretty funny because I can't imagine him not seeing Nakula's corpse sitting there. The part where Arjuna fired an arrow at the voice made me laugh too, then he rained a barrage down on it and the voice persisted. I feel like I could make this into a more humorous thing. I could increase the amount of questions, since 100 doesn't seem like much to reduce someone to start whispering the answers out of exhaustion. I think I could have different characters too, maybe set it in modern day, so at the end the same boon is given (being unrecognizable), but it would actually be somewhat of a curse for the person it was inflicted on, since they have no need to be unrecognizable.

Bibliography: The Mahabharata by R. K. Narayan

Reading Notes: Mahabharata Part B

Arjuna (Wikipedia)

So again I think it'd be neat to do something that I had in mind for my storybook, and that is the whole As Shown On TV advertisement idea. I could do it with Gandiva, though the story itself doesn't go into much detail about Gandiva. Looking it up, I realized I already read about it during the start of the semester. It crackles like thunder when shot, has 108 strings (one of which is of celestial origin and indestructible), and comes with an infinite quiver. I think I could advertise it as a multi-tool type product that does everything. I'd have a lumberjack use it to cut down a whole forest, a hunter use it to hunt game, and a home owner to use it for home defense. The demonstrations could show the entire forest being cut down, every bird in every tree flying away simultaneously, and a door to a house being exploded. Or the house being exploded. Either way I'd also put some focus on the inexhaustible quiver being included for free for a limited time. I could say something that you'd see on TV like "The space inside the quiver is expanded to infinity due to our patent-pending wormhole generator inside! It works like this -" At the end I'd include a bunch of warnings to take liability away from the company, as well as no refunds in case the customer isn't deemed worthy enough to use it.

Bibliography: The Mahabharata by R. K. Narayan

Reading Notes: Mahabharata Part A

Archery (Flickr)

Reading through this, I became interested in the apparent rivalry between Arjuna and Karna. Arjuna was born from the god of storms and Karna was born from the sun god, so it's like the rivalry is destined to be. Arjuna and Karna also have completely opposite upbringings. Arjuna was praised all his life and molded into a perfect warrior and prince, whereas Karna was abandoned at birth and lived as a commoner, with his new father being just a regular charioteer. Despite this, Karna could match Arjuna in combat skills, and I think I want to write a kind of underdog story like that. I think it'd be interesting to write about a Karna that's been through hardships all his life, overcame them, and bested Arjuna in an archery competition instead of just keeping up with him. I also like Karna's more casual attitude when he meets Arjuna, and how he showed he was capable of completing the bow challenge then dropped it the second he heard the princess doesn't like him.

Bibliography: The Mahabharata by R. K. Narayan

Reading Notes: Krishna Dharma's Ramayana Part G

Archer's Arrow (Public Domain Pictures)

Continuing on my focusing of the weapons used, I took interest in the brahmastra. The arrow seemed like an unstoppable meteoric force of nature when fired. It dazzled and blinded everyone in its path with the brightness of a star. What I thought was most interesting was when Rama suggested that two brahmastras colliding could bring an end to the cosmos itself, as if all the energy contained within would suddenly release and bring about uncontrollable destruction. When I read that I thought that I could do a story where Rama does use the brahmastra against Ravana. I could detail the build up to the event, the arrow as it flew through the sky, and the shock of the collision. After this I think I would have Rama and Lakshmana still alive at the end of it, with Ravana being defeated but their surroundings turned to ash. It would be like a pyrrhic victory, and with no home to return to, or loved ones to meet, Rama would come to deeply regret firing the brahmastra.

Bibliography: The Ramayana by Krishna Dharma

Reading Notes: Krishna Dharma's Ramayana Part H

Crescent Moon (Wikipedia)

Coming into this reading I knew I wanted to focus on astras. When I made a storybook I planned to have it themed around the SCP Project stuff so I want to do at least one story so that idea doesn't go to waste. I read about Lakshmana's battle with Indrajit and saw that Lakshamana ended up winning the battle with the divine Aindrastra. So if I lay out all the things described about the Aindrastra I get that it's activated through prayer (as are the other astras), it requires great concentration to aim, it flies faster than Indrajit can react, and the tip is shaped so that it could sever Indrajit's head cleanly. So I think I'll make the tip crescent shaped. I think in my story I'll up the supernatural properties of it so that instead of being extremely fast, it affects causality itself. In the experiments I could have the arrow disappear from reality and reappear as it hits its target. I could also note that nothing happens when someone uses it if they don't activate it with a prayer, and that unskilled users would result in a diminished effect of the arrow (it just flies slightly faster than a regular arrow or misses the target). I'd include a physical description of the item as various experiments, such as shooting the arrow from multiple kilometers away from the target and shooting the arrow into a target obstructed by a wall. (It would still hit the target as long as the arrow is pointed at it, and it would destroy the wall and still hit the target too.)

Bibliography: The Ramayana by Krishna Dharma

Reading Notes: Ramayana Part D

Rama and Hanuman vs Ravana (Wikipedia)

Reading through Hanuman's infiltration, I can see a couple major points: Hanuman sees Ravana's wife and mistakes her for Sita until closer inspection, then Hanuman finds Sita guarded by multiple Rakshasas, then Hanuman turns giant and destroys the villa. After this he allows himself to get caught and his punishment was to have his tail set on fire. This backfires as Hanuman escapes and burns down the entire city with his tail. I feel like I could write a spy story about this where an agent infiltrates a complex, gets caught, then is sent to be executed by a flamethrower. He steals the flamethrower and uses it to wreak havoc on the complex and escape. I also like Vibhishana. He's been telling Ravana to release Sita otherwise he'll be killed, but Ravana gets angry and tells him to leave or die. This was a breaking point for Vibhishana and he joins Rama's side and shows Ravana that he was right. I could cover Vibhishana's pleas with Ravana, Ravana's outburst, and Vibhishana's mental battle that ends in him joining Rama. I feel like I could also cover the fight with Kumbakarna. Since the story mentions Kumbakarna fighting with only inches of his body left intact, I could make a story like Alien or The Thing where scientists are trapped in a station with a very durable and deadly creature. I also want to do a story about Rama's fight with Ravana. The climax where Rama used the Brahmastra was really exciting and I could make a story just about the fight alone.

Bibliography: The Ramayana by R. K. Narayan

Reading Notes: Ramayana Part C

Killing of Jatayu (Wikipedia)

I liked the scene where Ravana fought with Jatayu. It emphasized Jatayu's size a lot and the mental image that it brings up when it says it was as if a mountain slammed into the chariot was impressive. Ravana having to resort to using the Chandrahasa is a testament to the strength of the bird. I could write a more detailed battle between them. Reading Sugreeva's story reminds me a bit of a story about a superhero. The part that particularly makes me think of a plot of a comic is the way Vali chased after Mayavi, disappearing for years, only to return to find his country abandoning him. He becomes enraged over this and tries to kill Sugreeva, then returns as ruler of the country and takes Sugreeva's wife as his own. I could write a story like this but with a more superhero oriented twist. I'd also include the clash between Sugreeva and Vali, as well as Rama piercing Vali's chest. The idea of Vali being invincible and being defeated by the incarnation of a god is really interesting. The questioning of Rama's heroism and the sad farewell at the end could also be included.

Bibliography: The Ramayana by R. K. Narayan

Extra Credit Reading Notes: Ramayana Introduction Videos

My favorite video was the Crash Course one, seen above. It's interesting learning how the Ramayana was passed down vocally for hundreds of years before it was written down, and also how the names of the characters are pronounced. The video goes really fast though, and skips over some important stuff, like Rama and Lakshmana's battle with the Maricha. The animations and images are really nice as a supplement to the material though. Although it's really fast, it gives me a lot of information. I'm sure it'll help when I read more in the future, thinking back to the video. The question of who the hero is near the end of the video is thought provoking and makes me think of how the story would be told if it followed other characters.

Rama and Ramayana: Crash Course Mythology #27 by CrashCourse

Reading Notes: Ramayana Part B

Ravana and Sita (Wikipedia)

Bharata's situation at the start was pretty sad to me. He expected a happy occasion and instead he found his father dead and his brother exiled from the land. His hatred for his mother seemed palpable when she admitted she exiled Rama and made him the new heir. I could have that manipulation story I mentioned earlier incorporate these events too, showing some kind of backfire. Bharata leaving the city and begging Rama to become king makes him seem really righteous too. I liked the story of Soorpanaka, she reminds me of a changeling. It also reminded me of the story where Shiva transformed into a man to take his wife. I thought it was pretty cruel for Lakshmana to chop off parts of her body though. Her speech on how her and Rama getting married would solve everything reminded me of every movie scene where the bad guy makes a last ditch offer to bribe the hero. I could have something like that in my story. One disappointing part of this story is that the fighting scenes begin and end within the span of one or two sentences. I would've liked to see some more detail put into how Rama and Lakshmana defeated an army. Maybe I'll come up with a story for that later. The idea of gods having to do housework is really funny to me, maybe I could make a story about greek gods having to work in a restaurant? The part where Maricha distracts Rama and then Lakshmana so the others could kidnap Sita makes me think of a heist or something. Someone would distract a guard, knock them out, then use their pager to call other guards to their position as they sneak into a vault or something. I think that could make for an interesting story if done properly.

Bibliography: The Ramayana by R. K. Narayan

Reading Notes: Ramayana Part A

Rakshasa (Wikpedia)

When Rama left to go defeat the rakshasas, it felt like he was departing for an adventure. I think I could use this in a story. I thought Thataka's story was interesting too, particularly the part where Thataka builds herself up to be this powerful demon that destroys every fragment of life around her, then dies immediately. It was a bit comical and I could include something like that in my story too. I thought "holy crap" when Rama shot Mareecha so hard he flew into the ocean. It was funny that the other demons saw him do this and started running away. The story of Sakara was pretty confusing with the buried man vaporizing everyone by looking at them, but I suppose it's a lesson on not to displease the gods. What's sticking out to me throughout this story is the apparently closeness the gods have with humans. They seem to interact a lot and they keep a presence on Earth in the form of avatars often. I guess I'm more used to gods being more watchful and dealing mostly with other gods. The story about Ahalya makes me think of a ghost story where the person being told the story suddenly becomes involved in it at the end. It'd be neat to have a twist like that. As a reference to Viswamithra telling Rama and Lakshmana these stories, I could have an old man telling my story to two boys. Rama lifting Shiva's bow reminds me of the story of Excalibur (pulling the sword out of the stone), and the concept is interesting. Maybe I could make a story centered around the suitor's attempts to pull it out, their failure, and their attempts to take Sita by force? Kaikeyi being manipulated and telling the king to exile Rama is an interesting idea too. I could use it as baseline for a story about usurping power.

Bibliography: The Ramayana by R. K. Narayan

Reading Notes: Week 2 Extra: More Jatakas

(W. Robinson)

The Pious Wolf: So this one is a story about a wolf who finds himself in a situation where he has no choice but to fast, so he pretends to make it look like a good deed. His true intentions are made clear later. I could make a story where someone who yells at others all their life wears down their voice, and is forced to stay silent for a day. He appears to be a nicer person with more self control but ends up yelling at someone else again, and everyone's opinion of him goes back to how it was.

The lion and the crane: I remember reading something similar to this in my mythology and folklore class. It's about a crane that saves the life of a lion by removing a bone choking it, and expecting payment, gets told "your payment is living after sticking your head between my teeth". I could have a similar story where someone saves another person's life, goes by thankless, and then refuses to help the next time the person needs help.

The Golden Goose: This one is a classic, and it reminds me of the goose that laid golden eggs. It's a story about taking advantage of one's kindness because of greed and ending up losing everything. I could write a story with an injured fox taking up residence in a family's home. The family accepts the fox and caters to it, feeding and tending to its wounds, but as time goes on the fox acts more and more recklessly. It eats the food it wasn't fed, chews through furniture, and eventually ends up biting a child. Around this point, the fox is finally kicked out in the middle of winter, where it must fend for itself and find its own shelter to live in.

Bibliography: The Jatakas Blogspot

Reading Notes: Jataka Anthology

Monkey (Wikipedia)

The Foolish Timid Rabbit - This one was pretty straightforward. A rabbit wakes up and wonders what would happen if the world ended, then he hears a loud noise from a coconut falling down and mass hysteria sets in. It's a good example of crowd mentality (if you see a crowd of people running away from something, you're more likely to run with them the larger the crowd is). I could probably do something similar to this with people running from a flood or hurricane. I'd have to make sure that the initial disturbance would be considered large to the first runner but insignificant to the last.

The Turtle and the King: Feigning distress when put into a situation where you're under the whim of a person trying to cause you distress can turn into a pretty comedic situation. I could make a more exaggerated story where the person captured ends up living a luxurious lifestyle with his captors thinking he's suffering.

The Crocodile and the Monkey's Heart: When I read this I ended up thinking of a line: "You're in the Cash Cab! You give me cash and you get to leave." I'm thinking that I could end up having the person who called the cab tell the driver that his wallet is at the destination and they end up at a police station.

Goblin City: I could make a story based on shape-shifting monsters like the goblins, but I think I'd write it more as a horror. They'd lurk in the shadows and deceive the sailors one by one. Eventually the surviving sailors come across a crack in a mountain that they see a light from, but only those that are small enough can fit through and the rest are trapped with the monsters.

Bibliography
Ellen C. Babbitt. "Jataka Tales". (link)
Marie L. Shedlock. "Eastern Stories and Legends". (link)
W.H.D. Rouse. The Giant Crab and Other Tales from Old India. (link)

Reading Options

Shiva (Wikipedia)

So I think for Ramayana, I'll go with the PDE version. It's got a lot of notes and I don't mind the older style of language used. It also helps that I can read it at home for free. Same thing with Mahabharata too, actually. Unless I change my mind after doing the Ramayana assignments. I think after these, I'll either go for learning about the gods and goddesses or the folktales. The characters I'm most interested in are Arjuna, Shiva, and Karna. I was interested in the family feud with Arjuna and Karna, and I was interested in Shiva because he answered Arjuna's prayer by disguising as a hunter, showing off, then fighting him. I thought the entire situation was pretty funny.