Casey's Blogs: Indian Epics 4993-995

The Perfect Disguise Out in the middle of the forest, it is silent all except for the rustling leaves with each footstep taken. Five Jedi begrudgingly take each step. The battle has been won, but the losses have been steep; they are the only ones left. With no way to get off the world they are traveling until they can find some shelter. Astonishingly, all the Jedi were brothers and knew that they could get through this trial. The brothers were Yudhishthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula, and Sahadeva. It was hot outside and even with the coverage of the trees, it was becoming unbearable to stand; shelter needed to be found. Suddenly, an individual appeared out of thin air and began to talk to the brothers. “You are coming upon a town soon, but they do not favor the Jedi at all. You need to disguise yourself if you want to live. After recovering in the town, head north and you will find a ship there to leave the planet.” “Thank you for the advice, but who are you and why are you helping ...

The Mahabharata: A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic R.K. Narayan Yudhishthira does something sensible and makes a plea for peace. Dhritarashtra learns that Krishna is going to be his emissary and wants to put on a lavish reception. Krishna does not want this because he wants peace and justice. Duryodhana rejects Krishna's plea and continues to not listen to his mother Gandhari. Krishna then turns into his divine form and cannot be taken prisoner. Karna refuses to abandon Duryodhana. The battle takes place in the field of Kurukshetra. Krishna than preaches on the doctrine of detachment known as a the Bhagadvad-Gita. After this, Arjuna is ready to fight. Dhrishtadyumna tries to kill Drona, but fails to do so. Arjuna shoots Bhishma in the back and fatally wounds him. Since he is no longer able to fight, then Karna joins the fight. Drona attempts to capture Yudhishthira alive and set up a diversion for Arjuna. Arjuna's son, Abhimanyu, is able to break through th...

The Mahabharata: A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic R.K. Narayan We pick up again with Duryodhana not trusting the Pandavas. He sends out a spy to see what they are up to. They find out that they have weapons and he then decides to set up camp outside of their kingdom. By doing this, it is a form of humiliation for the Pandavas. The gods see this and they send out a gandharva to provoke Duryodhana. There is a battle and the gandharva's capture Duryodhana, but the Pandavas set him free and further make him feel humiliated. The Pandavas leave and come upon a brahmin. They chase after a deer upon the brahmin's request, but cannot catch it. Nakula dies at the lake because he does not answer the questions before drinking. Yudhishthira answers the questions and all of his brothers come back to life. They are granted the gift of unrecognizability. They spend their thirteenth year in disguise at the court of King Virata. Draupadi is raped and ask Bhima to avenge her...

Creative Writing 3 Things Authors Of The Golden Age Of Sci-Fi & Fantasy Did Better Christopher Dean Dean talks about the three ways that Sci-Fi and fantasy genre authors did in the modern day to really establish themselves from others. They inspired hope, they created mystery, and they ended the story. Dean concludes that many fantasy authors inspired a message of hope by taking stories and putting themselves in a world they wanted to be in. Even in the most destitute of places, some authors have the ability to describe a world that is still enjoyable to humans. Secondly, they created stories of mystery that intrigued us over and over again. He describes Tolkien as being the master of this. Tolkien continuously redefines his books and adds more intriguing elements to the story.  Lastly, the authors knew when to end a story. Unlike today when some stories and TV have continuous story lines these authors know when a story has reached its end. The three points Dean lays out a...

The Mahabharata: A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic R.K. Narayan Duryodhana is distressed because the Pandavas are still alive, but his father cannot bring himself to hate them. He is encouraged to make peace. Karna denounces the brothers as traitors and wages war. Dhritarashtra is confused by all the advice he is getting so he send Vidura to the Pandavas with an invitation. A sage visits the Pandavas to be careful and the potential troubles they will have. The brothers miss communicate when their time is with Draupadi and one of them has to go into exile. Yudhishthira is crowned as the king of Indraprastha. Duryodhana is encouraged to leave all the brothers alone because they are powerful with their weapons. The hall that has many optical illusions fools Duryodhana and everyone laughs at him which makes him mad. He begins to plan his revenge by trying to get them to play a game of dice. Vidura invites them to the Crystal palace to challenge the Pandavas. They begin...

The Mahabharata: A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic R.K. Narayan The story begins with Shantanu who is the ruler of Hastinapura. While at the a river he see's a woman that he falls in love with and wishes to marry. The woman agrees to marry him, but only under one condition; that he never question her. To Shantanu's astonishment she later begins to drown their children in the river. Nevertheless, she explains why she has done this and with their eight child she takes him into the river and does not return with him until he is fully grown. The child is called Devavrata, but is also known as Bhishma. Shantanu ends up falling in love with another woman named Satyavati, but her father objects to this. Devavrata renounces his title so that his father can marry the other woman. He then has two sons with her, Chitrangada and Vichitravirya. His first son claims the throne, but he dies soon after and the throne goes to Devavrata. In a neighboring kingdom the king h...

Out in the vastness of space, Anakin Skywalker takes a look at the computer systems of his ship to make sure the engines were running efficiently. He looked out into space form his cockpit and reflected on the beauty of the darkness with small, white dots scattered across it with stars. "Beep-boop-beep," went R2D2 - his astromech droid. "We'll be there soon R2, don't worry there's nothing out here." They were travelling through space and on their way to Alderaan. Anakin was instructed by the Jedi Council to travel there so that he could act as a security personnel for Senator Organa. Alderaan was a pacifist world that was currently under threats from space rebels. At any minute they could be attacked by the rebels which would be detrimental to the people. Reinforcements were on their way to Alderaan, but Anakin was sent ahead so that they were sure Senator Organa would be safe. "Alright R2, we're about to land, you can begin turning off ...

Divine Archer By F.J. Gould Sugriva and Rama are now battling Vali, but instead of Sugriva giving the final blow, it is Rama who slay him. After this, the search for Sita continues. They go in different directions and Hanuman party heads in a different direction. They come upon Sampati who relays that Sita is in Lanka. Hanuman reaches Lanka and talks to Vibhishana who sends him to where Ravana is keeping Sita. He spies on them and sees that Sita is refusing all of Ravana's advances. Once Ravana is gone, he finds Sita and gives him the ring that Rama gave to him to give her. He reaffirms that Rama is on his way to come get her. Hanuman is than discovered and taken to Ravana. At the feet of Ravana, Hanuman is sentenced to death. He does this by setting his tail on fire, but Hanuman makes his tail grow larger and larger which eventually makes the city of Lanka burn up. Hanuman then returns to Sita who gives him an object to give back to Rama when he returns to him. After this, the ...

Divine Archer By F.J. Gould The book begins with the birth of Dasaratha's sons with Rama being the greatest of his two brothers. His other three brothers are Bharata, Lakshama, Shatrughna born from Kaikeyi and Sumitra. Rama is loved by all and even in his young age, he is able to master the Vedas. It is also thought that Rama is a comic being. One day, Vishvamitra comes and visits King Dasaratha and convinces him to let Rama come with him. Additionally, his brother Lakshmana goes with him as well. They fight some demons and then they are taken to a tournament field in the city of Videha. They explore the city and are taken to King Janaka. There, Rama sees Sita for the first time and they immediately fall in love. In a dream Rama realizes that he must bend the bow of Shiva. Rama attempts to bend Shiva's bow, but he bends it so that it breaks. Everyone is in a stupor and shortly Parashurama reveals himself and ask about the bow. Lakshmana tells everyone that Rama did and inste...

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You Can't Write What You Wouldn't Read Nora Roberts She talks about writing what you're interesting in. Instead of writing something that might fit into a wildly popular genre, you should aim to write about something that you would enjoy reading. She also compares it to analyzing what people are into and what they are reading. From a market standpoint, if you try to fit your book into the popular genre, it is likely not going to be successful. This is because you have no desire to really write the book, instead, you are just trying to make the book to improve your financial situation. Nora also talks about having the three D's; desire, discipline, and drive. Without these you cannot get anything accomplished. I will definitely apply this to my writing by writing about a subject that I am interested in and not try to make it something it is not. Be Specific Rick Bass Good writing is specific writing. This is something I can agree with. I read a decent amount and ...

Ramayana Part D Hanuman comes upon Mandodari who he thinks that is Sita. He finds Sita and gives her Rama's ring. Hanuman then grows again and destroys Ashoka Vana. Ravana learns about this and is outraged by it. Ravana and Vibhishana talk with each other, but Ravana rejects any advice that he gives him. Vibhishana then goes and seeks asylum with Rama. Rama accepts and they discuss how to attack Lanka. Rama then builds a bridge across the ocean so tat his armies can cross over to Lanka. At this time Ravana tries to trick Sita by showing her a false decapitated head disguised to look like Rama. Sita sees through these lies. During the battle, Rama and Lakshmana faint on the battlefield; Ravana tries to show the bodies to Sita and convince her that they are dead, but Trijata tells her that they are just stunned and still alive. Rama then later gains consciousness and wounds Ravana and shatters hus crown. Kumbakarna is awakened form his deep sleep and promises to defeat Rama. Rama e...

Ramayana Part C We start out where we left off in the last reading. Ravana is attempting to abduct Sita. Sita unknowingly converses with Ravana who is disguised. After some discussion the disguised individual reveals himself as Ravana and flies away with her. Jatayu says that he will try to rescue Sita, but he dies trying to do so. Rama and Lakshmana attempt to look for Sita, but cannot find her. They travel along and come to the monkey kingdom of Kishkinda. After coming into the kingdom, he tells them the story of Vali and Sugriva. Vali earned respect from the gods because he made nectar from the ocean. In turn, they offered him great fighting powers. Vali fought Mayavi in a cave, but the cave was sealed up by Sugriva. Once Vali emerged and beat Sugriva; Sugriva fled and Vali took his wife. Hearing this story, Hanuman employs Rama to defeat Vali. Once Rama finds Sugriva, he ends up giving Rama Sita's jewelry that he found and wants to help Rama find her. Sugriva then challenge...

I looked into the use of celestial weapons in Hindu writings and how I could incorporate them into a story. Specifically, I looked at the Sharanga . The Sharanga is a celestial bow that is used by Vishnu. Since I am big into Star Wars, I'm thinking about using it in some way to relate by to Star Wars. The bow was crafted by Viswakarma the cosmic architect of these weapons. In the story of Ramayana the person who puts the bow together is Rama. He is able to do this because he is the reincarnation of Vishnu. The second thing I researched was Ganga . Again, I would try to incorporate it somehow into the Star Wars setting because it is what I am most familiar with. In Hindu, the Ganges is personified with the washing away of sins. It further leads to moksha, which is the liberation from the cycle of life and death in Hinduism. This topic leads further into the discussion of different gods and goddesses that are used within Hindu epics.  The third topic I researched was Rama ...

The Difference Between Praise and Feedback By Anya Kamenetz Kamenetz discusses many of Carol Dweck's ideas about her "growth mindset." She also discusses some of the criticisms that she has received. While Dweck's ideas many seem all fine and dandy, Alfie Kohn sees it differently . The kind of praise that Dweck suggest to give seems manipulative and in fact hinders the ability of a child to grow. Ultimately what it comes down to is the parents involvement with the child. The theories that were discussed seem good, but it takes time and effort to understand your child. It also takes effort to figure out what works for your child and what doesn't work. It's a continuous cycle of growing and adapting to what is the best thing to do. Preschoolers and Praise: What Kinds of Messages Help Kids Grow? By Deborah Farmer Kris Kris discusses further about Carol Dweck's "growth mindset" initiative and how process praise is the correct praise to give y...

One day, in a galaxy far far away, there was a Jedi who went by the name of Rama. Rama was a skillful warrior who was powerful in the ways of the force. To complete his Jedi training, he was required by the Jedi council to go to the planet of Alderaan and protect the princess. He was sent to protect her because a group of bandits are threatening her family. Naturally, the people of Alderaan are pacifist, so in the event that something happened, they would not be able to defend themselves. This is why Rama's mission was so important because he was the only thing protecting the princess from the bandits, if they attacked.  As Rama arrived to Alderaan, he was greeted by the royal family and was introduced to the princess. As soon as they met each others eyes, they fell in love. Realizing that they were just staring at each other, they became embarrassed and blushed. King Janaka introduced Jedi Rama to Sita formally and then they continued on to the royal feast. As the days went on ...