Reading Diary A Week 12

I found Nala and Damayanti to be very interesting in this part of the book.

• Nala was king of the Nishada people
• Damayanti was the daughter of king Vidarbha 
• Nala was very in love with Damayanti
• A swan caused Damayanti to fall in love with Nala by telling her how wonderful he is
• Nala was on the way to meet Damayanti and ran into some gods
• The gods names were Indra, Agni, Varuna, and Yama 
• All of them wanted Damayanti 
•  Indra sent Nala to explain to Damayanti that she needed to choose a god for her husband  
• The gods all disguised themselves as Nala
• Somehow, Damayanti was still able to identify him
• The evil spirit Kali also wanted Damayanti
• He vowed to ruin their happiness and take Nali

Storytelling Week 11 Satyvati

One windy day in the middle of September, a fisherman caught a big green fish.  The fisherman was very excited to finally catch something. The fish just happened to be the first catch of the day.  He examines the fish and notices it has an oddly large lump in its throat.  The fisherman decided to cut open the fish and see what was inside.  The fisherman then gasped for air at what he saw.  He took a small baby girl out of the throat of the fish.  He had never seen anything like this happen before.  The fisherman had always wanted a kid so he decided to raise her as his own.  He decided to name his precious daughter Satyavati.  Satyavati was brought up as a commoner and assisted her father as a fisherman.  This was her only option job wise because she wreaked of fish.  Her only friend was her father, they spent most of their time together.  One day, when Satyvati was 18 years old, she fell in love with a guru named Parashara.  Together, they had an adorable child named Vyasa.  As a gift, Parashara makes Satyavati smell like flowers instead of fish.  Satyavati is very thankful for this generous gift.  Little does Parashara know, his generous gift would turn out to hurt him.   

Five years after being with Parashara, King Shantanu discovers the lovely Satyavati.  He is absoulutely taken back by her amazing scent.  The King has never smelled something so wonderful in his entire life.  Parashara is very hurt by this.  He is in love with Satyavati and wants to be with her for eternity but Satyavati wants to be with the King so he does not have a choice but to let her be.  The King is thrilled and cannot wait to marry Satyavati so that she will be all his.  Bhishma lets Satyavati's child be the successor of the King.  King Shantanu and Satyavati are very happy about this and decide to go out celebrating.  Bhishma's good deed makes the king want to reward him.  Bhishma was rewarded with 500 pounds of pure gold blocks.             

Shantanu and Ganga. Source: Wikipedia

Author's Note:
I chose this story to retell because I thought it was extremely bizarre.  In Buck's version, Parashara's feelings were barely expressed.  I really tried to get into his head and imagine what he was thinking.  I added my own little details that were also not in Buck's story.  I did this to make it a little more interesting.  I changed the way Bhishma was rewarded as well because I do not like his original reward.  

Bibliography:

Buck, William (1973). Mahabharata. 

Reading Diary B Week 11

I think Bhima was the most interesting character in this portion of the reading.

• He is the second of the Pandavas brothers
• Bhima has immense might 
• He sets fire to the house 
• He kills Purochana
• Him and his brothers flee through the tunnel to the boat
• They then disguise themselves as Brahims
• Kunti decides to send him out to fight the demon
• He defeated the demon without any weapons
• Bhima has a lot of strength 
• He is responsible for slaying all 100 Kaurava brothers

Reading Diary A Week 11

I found Satyavati to be a very interesting character in this week's reading. 

• She was born from a fish who swallowed her father Chedi's  semen
• A fisherman catches the fish and notices their is a baby girl inside
• He raises the girl as his own
• She was brought up as a commoner
• She helped her father do his job
• He named her Satyavati
• A sage named Parashara fell in love with her
• They had a child together names Vyasa.  
• Parashara makes her smell like flowers instead of fish as a gift
• King Shantanu discovers her
• He marries her because of her amazing scent
• Her child is now the successor of the king
• Bhishma does this and is rewarded
• Bhishma gets to choose when he dies

Storytelling Week 10 Revenge

Dhrishtadyumna is not happy about Drona humiliating his father.  He feels so many different emotions for his father's sake.  He is upset, angry, and embarrassed.  Dhrishtadyumna lived to protect his family members physically and emotionally.  Even though one cannot tell by looking at him, he even has a soft side.  He will do anything and everything to protect the reputation of someone he loves.  Sometimes, Dhrishtadyumna just does not know how to handle his emotions in a mature matter.  He tends to have a tiny bit of anger problem which happens to be a reoccuring issue.  His friends tell him to get help but he always denies it.  With that noted, he hates Drona with every fiber in his body.  He knows revenge will be the only way to satisfy his pain. Dhrishtadyumna tries to think of the one thing that is most important to Drona.  He wants to involve the most important thing like Drona involved his father.  He will not give up until Drona pays for his mistakes.  Dhrishtadyumna then asked many people for advice for how he could handle this situation.  He had all of his family and friends give their opinion.  Dhrishtadyumna knew that he would only be happy if Drona was put to death.  His friends try to talk him out of this harsh punishment but once again he does not listen. He keeps in mind that Drona is a very skilled guru and would be hard to beat in a battle.  Dhrishtadyumna knows he needs to come up with a way to make him weak.  Krishna finally gives Dhrishtadyumna the idea to pretend Drona's son is dead. 

The next day, Dhrishtadyumna and his friends capture Drona and challenge him to a battle.  Drona was not wanting to have this battle but knew he would be able to defeat Dhrishtadyumna.  Out of nowhere, a distant voice called out to Drona and informed him that his son was now dead.  Drona felt paralyzed from this and fell to his knees.  He was so hurt that his precious son was no longer here.  Then, Dhrishtadyumna creeped up behind him when he was down and chopped off his head.  He even decided to take the head with him and hang it from his fireplace so that he could look at his accomplishment daily.  Dhrishtadyumna was finally content and relieved.    

Guru Drona. Source: Wikipedia

Author's Note:
I chose this story because I did not feel like the book went in depth enough about Dhrishtadyumn's feelings.  I figured if he was upset enough to kill Drona then there were clearly some intense feelings that needed to be told.  I also added a little bit of humor by making Dhrishtadyumn have an anger problem and taking the chopped head with him.      

Bibliography:  
Narayan, R. K. (1978). The Mahabharata.













      

Reading Diary B Week 10

I found Drona's character to be intriguing in this part of the reading as well.

• He is the royal guru to Kauravas
• He has many military skills
• Dhrishtadyumna tries to kill him
• Dhrishtadyumna wants revenge for Drona humiliating his father
• Drona gets away
• Drona becomes commanding general of  Duryodhana's army
• He tries to capture Yudhishthira
• People try to bring Drona down by using his son 
• His son is his weakness
• Krishna has the idea to lie to him and tell him his son is dead
• Drona is very hurt by this and is unable to move
• This gave  Dhrishtadyumna the opportunity to cut off his head and kill him

Reading Diary A Week 10

I found Duryodhana to be a very interesting character in this weeks reading. 

• Oldest son of Dhirtarashtra
• He is disqualified as the heir to the throne even though he his the oldest
• He is the enemy of most
• He decides to make a camp
• He does this to humiliate the Pandavas 
• Gandharva is sent to provoke him
• They battle and Duryodhana is taken captive
• The Pandavas decide to rescue him 
• His entire plan ended up being ironic