Week 11 Essay: The Khasi Folktales

(Tiger: MythFolklore)

For this week’s reading assignment, I read the Khasi Folktales. Unfortunately, it has been a really busy week so I was only able to read half of them. In this essay, I plan to give feedback about the stories within this unit as well as the UnTextbook reading option in general. From what I read, the Khasi people seem to be very observant of nature and really like to create folktales that explain their observations. If the observations that these stories are founded upon are all true, then I actually learned a couple of things. For example, I did not realize that tigers are afraid of monkeys, but now I do and I learned it through a pretty entertaining story that also warned us not to propose marriage to an unknown bride. That was another thing that I noticed about all of the stories: coupled with their explanation about the observation, the Khasi people also tried to include some kind of moral (regardless of how random it may have seemed). Within the unit, my least favorite story was How the Dog Came to Live with Man. I thought that it was significantly longer than the rest, and I wasn’t a huge fan of how they portrayed the dog. I really liked dogs, so I would have preferred the pig to be the deceitful character. In fact, I actually considered rewriting this story for my storytelling post yesterday. On the other hand, my favorite story was U Biskurom, which is actually the story that I chose for my storytelling post. This story was more focused on mankind, rather than the world around us. Despite the pessimistic theme, I really enjoyed the story. It was kind of funny how they portrayed the ignorance and greed of the men, especially at the end when they shouted at the heavens and U Biskurom sent down drops of blood that actually lead the men to believe that their shouts killed him. Although there were several stories that lacked notes at the end, they were all pretty short and easy to follow. There is nothing that I would recommend to change about this unit. I also noticed that we were asked if there is any information that we wished to have before choosing our unit. I really enjoyed the little descriptions underneath each of the units, and the titles of the stories did a really good job of summarize the types of stories that they contained, so there isn’t really anything that I would recommend adding to the descriptions either.

Click here to read the Khasi Folktales!

Week 11 Storytelling: U Biskurom

In the beginning, man was one of the most ignorant creatures that inhabited the earth. They had no tools and nothing that they created seemed to work as it was intended. The Great God felt really bad for his hopeless creation, which he originally intended to be the ruler of the earth. In a desperate attempt to get mankind back on the right track, he sent U Biskurom to help them. U Biskurom was an incredibly crafty being, and the Great God had a lot of faith in his ingenuity.

U Biskurom exposed man to all of his favorite tools: the hammer, screw driver, ax, and pliers. He went on to teach them about gravity, the tides, and wind. Mankind spent years learning from U Biskurom. The Great God watched as his most prized creation learned to build some of the most marvelous structures that he had ever seen. When U Biskurom felt that man was finally ready to learn his final lesson, he exposed them to fire. Man was amazed by the fire and was eager to use it, but U Biskurom warned them of the dangers that came with his final gift before ascending back to the heavens.

(Some Ancient Tools: AncientMesopotamians)

 

When U Biskurom reached his destination, the Great God thanked him for helping mankind and offered to throw a feast to celebrate his success. Unfortunately, while U Biskurom was at the celebration, mankind had managed to start a huge fire that posed a threat to all of the animals of the earth. Feeling like he was at fault for exposing man to such a dangerous creation, U Biskurom returned to earth to put an end to the fire. Little did he know that the fire was a trap. Mankind knew that they could not advance at such a rapid rate without U Biskurom there to teach them and set the fire in a desperate attempt to get him to return. When U Biskurom arrived, the men quickly tied him up and tried to force him to continue teaching them.

Realizing that his life was in danger if he did not come up with another gift to offer, U Biskurom suggested that he could teach mankind how to bring things to life. Mankind had never thought that they could gain such power and was intrigued by the offer. U Biskurom convinced the men that he would have to return to heaven to get the power from the great god, and the men fell for his trick. Once mankind realized that U Biskurom was not coming back, they furiously launched an assortment of arrows toward the heavens. Mocking their actions, U Biskurom sent drops of blood down from heaven. To U Biskurom’s surprise, mankind actually believed that their arrows reached the heavens and slayed him. The Great God and U Biskurom laugh at the ignorance of mankind for many years, until they finally started giving them gifts again.

 

Author’s Note:

 I chose to rewrite this story because it was my favorite of the Khasi Folktales that I read for this week’s reading assignment. I thought that it was kind of funny as a satirical commentary on the greediness and selfishness of mankind. Overall, my story is very similar to the original version of UBiskurom, but I added a few extra details and made up the part about the fire.

 

Bibliography:

Folk-Tales of the Khasis by Mrs. K. U. Rafy (1920)

Week 11: Reading Diary

This has been an especially busy week, so I only finished one of the reading assignments.. For this assignment, I read the Khasi Folktales.

The Tiger and the Monkeys:
This was quite an interesting story. I did not realize that tigers were afraid of monkeys, which appears to be the observation upon which this story is founded. I also thought that the overall moral was kind of strange. I could not imagine proposing marriage to an unknown bride. It kind of seems like a shallow thing to do because you would have to be acting on looks or social status alone.

The Legend of the Lei Tree:
It was kind of hard to give feedback about this story because it didn't really draw me in. I thought that it was cool that such a small bird played a huge roll in helping mankind avoid living in darkness forever.

Hunting the Stag Lapalang:
This was a really sad story particularly because it was about how a mother lost her child. It seems like a cliché phrase, but a parent should never have to bury a child.

The Goddesses Ka Ngot and Ka lam:
This is a cool story that describes how a river gained its form. It was cool to see how they indirectly incorporated the moral about being boastful.

U Biskurom:
This may be my favorite story in the collection, despite the pessimistic theme that it concludes with.. I really liked the characters and it was fun to laugh at the ignorance of mankind, assuming that the blood was from the power of their shouts.

How the Dog Came to Live with Man:
I wasn't a huge fan of this story. It was really long and I actually like dogs, so I wasn't crazy about how they were made out to be deceitful creatures.

The Stag and the Snail:
This story reminded me of a version of the tortoise and the hare that I once heard, but with a very umm... Unique? twist about why stags don't have gall bladders.

Overall these stories were pretty fun to read.

Read the original stories here!

Week 10 Storytelling: Yudhistira and the Yaksha

In pursuit of an extraordinary deer that robbed a poor Brahmin of his possessions, Yudhistira and his brothers were led deep into a forest. With each deer sighting, the Pandavas were rejuvenated with a surge of confidence and the followed the deer farther and farther into the forest until they could no longer recognize their surroundings. In a desperate attempt to find their way out of the forest, Nakula climbed the tallest tree to reach a better vantage point. From the top of the tree, Nakula spotted a crystal-clear lake nearby. He was so exhausted and thirsty that he quickly scramble back down the tree and raced toward the refreshing body of water without saying a word to his brothers.

When Nakula reached the lake he immediately dove in, paying no attention to the mysterious voice that warned him against drinking the water. As soon as the lake’s water touched Nakula’s lips, he fell dead. One at a time, the Pandavas reached the lake and paid no attention to their dead brothers or the increasingly threatening voice that tried to warn them against drinking from the lake. When Yudhistira finally arrived, he took immediate notice to the pile of his brothers’ bodies and heard the furious yaksha’s voice. “Now that I have gained your attention, let me help you avoid the same fate that your brothers have so foolishly earned. If you can respond to my riddles, I will give you unlimited access to my water, but if you drink from the lake before our game is complete, you will suffer the same fate as the rest of the Pandavas. Are you ready to play?”

Yudhistira knew that he did not have much of a choice and feared what might happen if he upset the yaksha. “I’m ready when you are.” he responded. The yaksha began with an easy riddle: “How can one acquire intelligence?” “That’s easy, wisdom is gained by serving the old.” Yudhistira responded. Noticing Yudhistira’s confidence, the yaksha wasted no time between riddles. “What is more numerous than grass?” “Another easy one, our thoughts may be the only thing more numerous than the blades of grass. After such a dramatic introduction, the least you can do is challenge me!” Yudhistira insisted. “What is the remedy against cold?” Yudhistira paused for a second. Yudhistira could not think of any proven cure for a cold but then it occurred to him: “Fire is the remedy against cold!” The yaksha was not amused by Yudhistira’s performance or his arrogance and decided to step it up a notch: “What is the soul of man? Who is that friend bestowed on man by the gods?” Yudhistira was far more familiar with these concepts than he was with those of the previous riddle, thus he responded immediately. “A man’s son is his soul, and his wife is the friend bestowed by the gods. Now let’s wrap this game up, I think it’s safe to assume that I’ve adequately responded enough of your riddles.” Unloading a final frenzy of questions, the yaksha shouted “What is the most valuable of all possessions? What is the best of all gains? And what is the best of all kinds of happiness?” Yudhistira laughed as he prepared to answer the final riddles, for these were questions to which he had already applied much thought. “The best of all possessions is knowledge; the best of all gains is health; and the best of happiness is found in contentment.”

The yaksha turned out to be a very honorable creature once he realized that he had been defeated at his own game and offered to revive all of Yudhistira’s brothers. As the Pandavas regained consciousness, he cautioned each of them not to act in haste and always be mindful of their surroundings (a piece of advice that will surely help them in the years to come).

 

Author’s Note:

When I saw this option on the list of prompts, I thought that it would be cool to take a look at some of the riddles from another version of the Mahabharata. After reading through the list, I chose a few of my favorites and recreated the story of Yudhistira and the Yaksha. Overall, most of my story is very similar to Narayan’s version. However, I tried to portray Yudhistira as a much more confident, almost arrogant character. When I read the original story, I got the sense that he might tend to lose himself in games and not pay much attention to how he might be offending those around him. Some of the riddles that I used also came from a different source, but I listed it in the bibliography as well.

 

Bibliography:

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

Mahabharata – Ganguli translation

 

Image Information:

Clear Lake: AmegaSciences

Week 10: Reading Diary B

Action:

• Yudhistira is struck by his conscience and starts to think of ways to make peace with his kinsmen.

• Yudhistira is right to worry about Krishna’s safety if he goes to speak with Duryodhana. I really don’t understand how everybody seems to overlook how malicious he is, as if appealing to his reason might someday persuade him to make a logical decision. Duryodhana reminds me of Ravana. Surely he acknowledges hos reckless his actions are, but he won’t accept a peaceful conclusion.

• Vidura seems like a pretty rational character, too bad his advice has no influence on Dhritarashtra.

• Another thing that I don’t understand is how Duryodhana can expect a war against his cousins to end well for him. The Pandavas have proven time and time again that they are much better warriors and far more rational people, yet Duryodhana thinks that he can beat them in battle.

 

Hesitant Hero:

• So before the battle began, Yudhistira took off his armor and walked across the battle field to bow to Drona and touch the feet of Bhishma before returning to his side. The Kauravas thought that Yudhistira was coming to beg for mercy, but it seems that he did this as a sign of respect for his kinsmen and the other elders before they are slain in battle. I don’t know how this act ultimately made Yudhistira’s opponents feel, but it probably did not provide any boost to their morale.

• Arjuna does not wish to fight the members of Duryodhana’s army.

• The battle is said to last 18 days.

 

Delirium of Destruction:

• Arjuna basically uses a woman named Sikandi as a shield so that he can get close enough to kill Bhishma, who was taking quite a toll on the Pandavas’ army. When Bhishma realizes that Arjuna is hiding behind the woman, he attempts to throw a javelin at Arjuna but the spear is parried and Arjuna sticks several arrows in him. Both sides stop fighting when Bhishma falls.

• Apparently Duryodhana gets the bright idea that the solution to the war is capturing Yudhistira and challenging him to another round of dice so that he can be exiled for another 12 years. Not sure how that’s supposed to work… “Stop the war so we can play dice! Oh, looks like you lost at dice so now you’re exiled and the war cannot continue.” Doesn’t seem like a logical course of events…

• Is Aswathama truly invincible? We are first told that he cannot be vanquished, then they decide that they can still fool Drona into thinking that they killed his son. If this is the case, shouldn’t Drona be aware of his son’s invincibility, thus rendering him immune to their trickery? Regardless, the idea worked and Drona’s head was cut off.

• Even when Duryodhana’s entire army is falling, he refuses to pursue a peaceful conclusion.

• Bhima finally brought down Duryodhana, maybe everybody will go back to living in peace now!

 

Victory and Sorrow:

• Dhritarashtra is so furious that Bhima killed his son that he crushes an iron statue that resembles Bhima. Dhritarashtra does not appear to realize that it is only a statue but crushing it was enough to exhaust his rage, so that’s good.

• After a seemingly hopeless argument in which Yudhistira kept insisting on becoming a recluse, everybody finally convinced Yudhistira to become king.

• After advising Yudhistira on his duties as king, Bhishma finally allowed himself to die and Yudhistira went on to rule for 36 years.

Week 10: Reading Diary A

Hundred Questions:

• Uh oh, Yudhistira embarked on a chase after an extraordinary deer… If we learned anything from the Ramayana, we know that we should never chase an extraordinary deer deep into a forest! I wonder if deer are the symbol for deception or thievery in Hindu mythology because that seems to be the case in these epics.
• One at a time, the brothers arrive at a magical pond that warns them not to drink from its water until they have answered its question. Despite the pile of dead brothers that seems to be building up, each consecutive brother proceeds to drink from the pond without hearing the question.
• Despite their stupidity, Yudhistira saves the day by playing the pond’s game of riddles and all of his brothers come back to life.
• I don’t quite understand why Draupadi must be exiled for having Bhima kill Kichaka. Sure he was the queen’s brother, but he was also a rapist. It’s not like they should have any reason to fear for their own lives.

Servitude:

• Duryodhana decides that he is going to attack Virata and rob him of his wealth. He also hopes to expose that Bhima killed Kichaka and extend the Pandavas’ exile.
• Virata is captured by Susurman, but Bhima uses a bow to save him. The bow is used because it is an unusual weapon for Bhima to wield, so there is no way that they could identify that it was Bhima who saved the king.
• Come on Uttara! Cowardice is not supposed to be a characteristic of a prince, especially during a time of war. He was scared to go into the graveyard and fetch the bag that contained the Pandava’s weapons because he thought that it might be a corpse hanging from the tree.
• After what seemed like a lost cause of trying to persuade prince Uttara to drive his chariot, Arjuna finally reveals his true identity as well as the power of his weapon to rid the prince of his cowardice. And finally the prince agrees to drive the chariot.
• Why doesn’t Yudhistira swallow his pride and let the king think that Uttara saved the day?! He’s definitely not very good at concealing his true identity!

Warning Shots:

• When Yudhistira revealed his true identity (as well as that of his brothers), the king felt so bad for the way that he had treated Yudhistira that he offered his entire kingdom to Yudhistira. The king went on to offer his daughter to Arjuna, who refused but said that he would love to have the princess as a daughter-in-law.
• The Pandavas’ exile concluded with the wedding of the princess and Arjuna’s son.
• How awkward of a position for Krishna to be in. Both Arjuna and Durydhana approach Krishna to request that he choose their side in the upcoming war.

War or Peace?

• The Pandavas obviously would like to avoid war at all costs, but they must not understand how malicious their cousin is if they think that he’s going to give them anything without a war.
• How can Dhritarashtra be so blind to what a terrible person his son is?!

Week 9 Storytelling: The Dice Game

Following his visit to Indraprastha, Duryodhana is consumed with envy and rage. He cannot bear the thought that his cousins are living lives of greater luxury than his own, and he’s never been angrier than he was in the moment that he saw Draupadi laughing at him. As Duryodhana and his uncle, Shakuni, walk back to Hastinapura, they plot ways of getting back at the Pandavas.

To overcome his envy, Duryodhana decides that he will convince his father to build their own assembly hall. It will be the largest, most spectacular building that the world has ever seen and its beauty will bring shame to Indraprastha, but this is just the tip of the iceberg. Elevating Hastinapura well beyond the glory Indraprastha will not repair the damage to his pride. Duryodhana wants to strip his cousins of all of their possessions, but he could never stand against them in battle. Shakuni acknowledges his nephew’s dilemma and decides to offer his assistance.

“Years ago, I received a pair of enchanted dice. These dice will land on any combination of numbers that I will them to. Once your father completes the construction of the Crystal Palace, we will challenge the Pandavas to a game of dice and I will win all of their worldly possessions.”

Duryodhana is so excited about his uncle’s idea that he sprints the rest of the way back to Hastinapura and insists that his father has all construction stop until the Crystal Palace is completed. Out of his love for his son, Dhritarashtra agrees to his demands without questioning the urgency of the matter. Once the assembly hall is complete, everything is in order for Duryodhana to exact his revenge.

When the Pandavas arrive at Hastinapura, they are led directly to the Crystal Palace where Dhritarashtra explains the rules of the game.

“I have gathered you all here today to celebrate the completion of our new assembly hall. By my son’s suggestion, we will host a friendly game of dice in which those who are willing may gamble to multiply their wealth. The rules of the game are simple: Players will receive a pair of six-sided dice. The guest will receive the advantage of being the first to roll. Then the host will have 3 attempts to roll a combination that is equal in magnitude to the guest’s roll. If the host fails to do so, then the guest will see his wager doubled and returned.”

 

 

Following his father’s introduction, Duryodhana wastes no time before challenging his cousin, Yudhistira. When Yudhistira accepts the challenge, his deceitful cousin informs him that Shakuni will be playing in his place, but his bets will be funded by Duryodhana. Without any concern for keeping his enchanted dice a secret, Shakuni greets Yudhistira’s first twenty rolls with the exact combination of dice. At this point, Yudhistira is furious and orders that Shakuni trade him dice. Without any other option, Shakuni surrenders his dice to Yudhistira, who quickly identifies the enchantment. King Dhritarashtra is outraged by the treachery and orders his son and brother-in-law to leave his kingdom. Unfortunately, this is not the last that the Pandavas will see of their deceitful relatives.

Author’s Note:

When I read the original story, I kept wondering what type of game they were playing and how Shakuni could be an expert at rolling dice. I also really dislike Duryodhana, so I rewrote the story of the dice game to answer some of the questions that I had, and celebrate a small victory in that Duryodhana was banished from Hastinapura.

Bibliography:

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

Image Information:
Rolling Dice: GeneticsAndSociety

Week 9: Reading Diary B

Uncle’s Gift:

• So Dhritarashtra divided his kingdom and gave a portion of it to his nephews. Although Yudhistira and his brothers appear to very grateful for the barren land that was given to them, I cannot imagine Dhritarashtra’s sons (particularly Duryodhana) letting their cousins live there peacefully.
• Who would’ve thought that five brothers sharing a single wife might end poorly?! At least Arjuna has his own wives now, unless he decides to share them as well at the end of his twelve year banishment.

City of Splendour:

• Of all the people that could have extended their stay in Indraprastha, Duryodhana stayed the longest. Why would the Pandavas let him stay in their city?! From the moment that I saw his name as one of the guests, I was waiting for him to try to burn the city down.
• Sakuni appears to be a very wise character, but no amount of wisdom will break through to Duryodhana. His obsession with his cousins will be the death of him.
• How many times must the Pandavas be wronged by their cousins before they decide to stop trusting them? Why would they agree to go gamble when they should be fully aware that Duryodhana is probably going to turn it into an attempt to take their lives and their city?

Stakes Unmatched:

• What kind of game is this?! Once Yudhistira began, was he committed to playing until he had lost everything that he ever owned? If so, why would you ever agree to play such a game? Also, how can he not suspect that Sakuni is cheating?! Every time that he rolls the dice, he wins. And how can Yudhistira bet his brothers?
• I really wish that the rules of this game were better explained. All that I know about it is that it involves dice and every time that Yudhistira places a bet, Sakuni immediately shouts “I win!” I can’t imagine continuously raising the stakes in a game that I have won a single round of, and I certainly wouldn’t continue playing until the only thing left to bet was myself.
• Draupadi made several great points in her argument.
• At least Dhritarashtra saw how wrong the game was and gave Yudhistira everything that he had lost.
• I retract my previous statement…

Wanderings:

• So Yudhistira and his brothers were banished since he decided to go back and play the dice game again, although it seemed like the king was kind of forcing him to return the second time.
• Yudhistira admitted that he sought to take the rest of the kingdom from his cousins, but who could really blame him? Maybe if he ruled the entire kingdom, he could keep his psychotic cousin under control.
• I’m still not sure how somebody can be an expert at rolling dice.

Week 9: Reading Diary A

The Eighth Baby:

·    Santanu = Ruler of Hastinapura 

·    What?! How are you gonna marry a woman that you just met and not ask why she drowned your first child? At this point, the last thing that Santanu should be worried about is this mystery woman leaving him for asking her why she drowned their child.

·    Oh, I guess that the fact that she’s a pretty good wife overwhelms the minor character flaw that she keeps drowning their children…

·    Devavratha = Son of Ganga and Santanu, condemned to live a life of celibacy but also brilliant accomplishments. He later becomes Bhishma.

·    Santanu is worried that if anything happens to Devavratha, their dynasty will come to an end. Has he already forgotten that his son has been condemned to a life of celibacy? Their dynasty will end with Devavratha regardless…

·    The little side note about Salwa’s vow to kill Bhishma seems like a fairly significant to the story. I’m not sure why it was only a side note. Perhaps Narayan does not intend on discussing Bhishma’s death.

·    Dhritarash = Eldest son of Vyasa and the servant maid; born blind.

·    Pandu = Second son of Vyasa and the servant maid; valorous and just. Cursed to die when he attempts to unite with his wife.

·    Vidura = Third son of Vyasa and the servant maid; apparently characterized by great wisdom, judgment, and courage.

·    Yudhistira = Son of Yama and Kunthi. His name means “one unflinching in war.”

·    Bhimasena = Son of Vayu and Kunthi; endowed with extraordinary strength. Caused an earthquake when he rolled off of his mother’s side.

·    Arjuna = Son of Indra and Kunthi; unmatched in energy, wisdom, and knowledge of weapons.

·    Nakula and Sahadeva = Brilliant twins born of Madri and the gods Aswins.

·    Together, these five brothers were known as the Pandavas.

·    Dhritarashtra has a hundred sons who were the enemies of the Pandavas. The fact that Dhritarashtra is referred to as the “Blind King” makes me think that he and his progeny are destined to be the antagonists of the Mahabharata.

Enter – The Players:

·    Dhritarashtra had his one hundred sons, as well as his 5 nephews trained to use a variety of weapons. The focus on the skills of Pandu’s sons further makes me believe that they will be the protagonists in this story. Also, the fact that Duryodhana tried to poison his cousin and threw him in the river also doesn’t make Dhritarashtra’s sons seem like heroes.

·    Duryodhana seems like a bloodthirsty character.

House of Joy – and Ashes:

·    Duryodhana is such a deceitful character. Why does he hate his cousins so much that he would take every opportunity to have them killed?

·    It’s good to know that my initial impressions about the two sides were correct!

Bride for Five:

·    Ghatotkacha = Bhima’s son who made a habit of coming to his father’s aid every time that he faced a crisis. We’re explicitly told that he’ll play an important role in a battle later in the story.

·    Krishna = the eighth incarnation of Vishnu, said to play a vital role in the Mahabharata.

·    I can’t be the only one that thinks it’s incredibly weird that five brothers are planning to share one wife. Definitely the weirdest part of the story so far…

Since this was the first reading diary post for the Mahabharata, I wasn’t quite sure who was going to have a significant role throughout the rest of the story. I went ahead and made a little note about each character that seemed likely to make an appearance later on. The Mahabharata seems like a pretty interesting, albeit strange story so far.

Reading Diary Assessment

First of all, this is the first time that I’ve ever done anything like reading diary, so it took me a couple of posts to figure out which strategy I liked the best. I ended up going with bulleted lists for each chapter, in which I shared all of my random thoughts. I approached this assignment in the same way that I take notes for my science classes, writing down anything new or exciting that I encountered along the way. Looking back at the instructions, my reading diary posts appear to satisfy all of the requirements. On average, my reading diary posts were about 350 words a piece. This was a little shorter than the suggested length, but it felt like an adequate length to summarize my thoughts and hopefully remind me of what went on in the story. When we started reading Buck’s Ramayana I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to come up with new information for my reading diary, but this definitely was not the case. I really enjoyed comparing and contrasting the two stories as I read Buck’s version, which really helped with the length of my posts. I really don’t expect much to change about my reading diary posts throughout the rest of the semester. As we read the next story I’ll probably be more aware of the length of my reading diary, so that might affect the length a little bit. Every now and then, I include quotes if I think that they are really powerful or do a good job of summarizing a particular character. I think that I included one of Rama’s quotes from Narayan’s version that really showed his loyalty, and I used one of Ravana’s quotes from Buck’s version because it showed how reckless and irrational he was. I might also try to incorporate a little more plot summarization. While I certainly don’t want to devote a significant portion of my reading diary to this, a short summary of each chapter might really help me remember what was going on as I had each thought. As I looked back at my posts, it almost seemed like I was trying too hard to avoid summarizing the plot. Overall, I would say that I’ve done pretty well on the reading assignments. I remember quite a bit about what we’ve read so far, but my reading diaries could use a little more information about the actual story along with all of my random thoughts.

For my other classes, my approach to reading assignments really depends on the nature of the class. In engineering, a lot of our textbooks do a really poor job of actually explaining things. They often rely on a couple of example problems to summarize an entire chapter, so I rarely find myself actually reading for those classes (even when the professor suggests it). However, I have also had a couple of classes (like organic chemistry) in which reading contributed to a majority of my learning. In those classes, I have found that taking notes on what I’ve read makes a huge difference in how long I retain the information. There’s something about the process of actually writing down my thoughts that really affects my memory. Another interesting thing that I’ve noticed is that writing something on paper is much more effective than typing it.

Week 7 Storytelling: Sita's Banishment

Almost ten thousand years had passed since Rama’s return to Ayodhya. Sita spent the years happily by his side; she devoted her life to Rama and did everything she could to keep his subjects happy. On a cool winter evening, Sita came into Rama’s chambers to enjoy the warmth of the fireplace and share the news that she was pregnant. Rama was so excited and overwhelmed that he called a meeting with his closest advisors. At the meeting Rama’s advisors congratulated him and warned him about the challenges of parenting, but one advisor remained silent. At first Rama disregarded Bhadra’s silence. “Maybe he just doesn’t feel well.” he thought to himself, but his advisor’s lack of feedback eventually got the best of him. “Have you nothing to say in regard to this wonderful news?!” Rama shouted across the room. “My king, we have all prayed that the gods might someday bless you with a child but I fear what the people of this kingdom might say about any child that comes from Sita.” Bhadra responded. “What is that supposed to mean? The people of this kingdom have never spoken ill of my lovely wife.” The room was silent as each of the other advisor’s watched Bhadra try to come up with the most gentle way to break the news to Rama, each of them torn between letting the events unfold or stopping Bhadra. Once Bhadra gathered his thoughts, he continued “Only in the darkest of alleys do your lowest subjects challenge Sita’s loyalty, but rumors spread like a plague. Despite the test of fire, many of your subjects have come to doubt your wife’s loyalty during the time she spent in captivity. They say that the only reason Ravana kept her alive was that she offered herself to him.”

As rage and jealousy consumed him, Rama stormed out of the meeting hall and headed for Lakshmana’s room. When he reached his destination, Rama ordered Lakshmana to take Sita deep into the forest and abandon her. Lakshmana knew that there was no logical reason to banish Sita, but he did not dare to challenge his brother in such a furious state.

The next morning Lakshmana invited Sita to the forest and she happily agreed to accompany him, unsuspecting of the events that were to unfold. When they reached one of the most beautiful parts of the forest, Lakshmana stopped the chariot and Sita climbed out, marveling at the beauty of their surroundings. Upon seeing the joy on her face, Lakshmana began to weep.

 

(Nice Landscape: Beautiful Gardens)

“How can you be sad in such a wonderful place?” Sita asked.

“My queen, I am afraid that you do not understand the true purpose of this adventure. Unfortunately, one of Rama’s advisors has instilled doubt in his mind about your loyalty while you were in captivity. In an irrational rage, Rama stormed into my chambers and order me to bring you to the forest and abandon you. I have brought you to this enchanting corner of the forest because it is one of the most beautiful and safest places on Earth, and the only place that I could ever possibly leave you.” Lakshmana felt terrible and continued to weep.

“Lakshmana, this is not your fault. In a moment of weakness, Rama has fallen prey to his emotions. Rama acted rashly as his heart was consumed by jealousy. Who am I to judge him for such a flaw when my own greed is what drove Rama to chase after that golden deer, ultimately leading to my abduction? Rama will eventually overcome his emotions, but until that time I will remain in this beautiful garden and raise our child. I do not blame you for this unfortunate situation. Return to Rama and keep him safe.”

Author’s Note: I really didn’t like this part of Buck’s Ramayana, and I don’t know if this version made it any better. It always seemed like Rama had a higher level of understanding when others wronged him, so I thought it might be nice to portray Sita in the same way as she endures this injustice.

Bibliography: Buck, William (1976). Ramayana: King Rama's Way