Casey's Blogs: Indian Epics 4993-995

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...