Wednesday, September 28, 2016

The story of The Ganges River

The Story of The Ganges River      
                  Let me start off by telling you who I am. I am the Ganges River. I flow miles long in the country of India. I am no ordinary river however; I have special powers. I provide many a way of release. I can also provide the opportunity for you to once more see a member of your life that you have lost. If someone has died in your family, I am the river in which you would release the ashes of your loved one to. I can also bring your loved on back, but only in the form of a ghost. Not only can I do all that, but if you feel that you can live no more without your loved one that has passed, you can walk into me and be released from earth to be with the one you have lost. All you have to do is gather around me and began chanting mantras. Let me tell you of the story when the Kaurava princess was faced once again with her prince.
                  The Kaurava princess was mournful when her husband had died in battle. She lost him after just two years of marriage, and had  a child with him. Hearing about what I The Ganges River could do for her, she immediately began her prayers to me. I am very particular as to what it takes for humans to receive this grant from me, and the Kaurava princess performed perfectly.
                  First, the princess came and sat beside me early in the morning. She patiently waited, and meditated throughout the length of the day. As night came, she began to chant a specific mantra that is dedicated to this “ceremony”. While chanting these mantras, the Kaurava princess slowly walked into my deep waters. This allowed for cleansing. Once fully submerged, she returned to the bank of my body. She had fully performed what I requested of her.
                  Since everything was correctly done, I began my process of the “ceremony”. My arms, which to many is known to be waves, began flowing up and down, getting larger and producing bubbles around my whole body. While this happened, the Kaurava princess began chanting her husbands name. Soon, her husband rose from inside of me on a majestic elephant, and rode to his wife.
The Kaurava's husband riding back to her on his elephant. Photo Credits: Wikimedia
                  I allowed for the couple to meet and communicate to each other for an hour’s time. They both went to the forest next to me, and rekindled their loved for one another. The Kaurava princess was becoming heartbroken as time progressed. She knew that once time was up, her husband would have to ride back to me.
                  The princess couldn’t bare leave her husband once more. She knew she had a child to take care of, but this seemed to cause her more pain. She then decided to go to Maharajah Dhritarashtra and Queen Gandhari, and asked for them to take care of her one and only son. They agreed to do so. After bowing down at their feet, the princess decided to hand them her child, and walked into me to once more be with her husband.

Authors Note:

I decided to write my story in the format of bringing a natural object to life, and tell its story. I chose to tell the story from the point of view of The Ganges River. I tried to keep most of the story parallel to that of the original story. All the requirements of the river, and the part where the princess “drowned” in the end to be with her husband all were aspects that happened; or could happen. I did however decide to focus on the princess because this allowed me to write about how woman died to be with their loved ones. Parts of this story were added on and did not occur in the original story; these include, this actually being a ceremony, the princess giving her child to the Maharajah and Queen, the princesses husband coming back on a majestic elephant(although warriors who had passed away did arrive on charriots and elephants), and whoever is asking for their loved one to return to fully submerge into the river first. I also left out the part where the river foamed once the waves occurred.

Bibliography:

Tuesday, September 27, 2016

Reading Notes : Part D The Mahabharata


Reading Notes : Part D The Mahabharata
There are three stories I read for Tuesdays reading that I liked, but they all do not connect together. I want to write about the Mongoose, the Horse, and the Gangas, but I am not sure how to start any of the stories.
                  I really liked how the family sacrificed their last source of food for their guest, and received good karma. This really relates to my own beliefs. I also like the sacrifice of the horse ritual because it spans for a years time. This allows me to write my story easily since I can just make Arjuna the main character, and talk about all his battles he went through; and the end result of the sacrifice. Although, I want stray away form writing the same “war” stories and focus on the ritualistic morals the Mahabharata has. I like how the Ganges River is part of the death ceremony, and in a way, part of the revival “ceremony”.
                  Although there was not actually a title put the the night time chants everyone sang by the Ganges River, I found it to be a performance that is like a ceremony. It was brought to my attention that no woman figures had died thus far, only men that had gone to battle were brought back in ghost form. I want to some how change this part of the story, and maybe extend it to Amba and how she took the form of a man (though still a woman) and went to battle. She eventually died and got her revenge on Bhishma, but she wasn’t killed by him.

                  I was shocked that Krishna died from one shoot to the foot. I would have anticipated that he would have died in battle. This however, reminded me of the story of the Brahmin who was mistaken as a deer and was shot.
Krishna Shot in the foot which led to his death. Photo Credits: Chaibisket


Bibliography:
PDE Mahabharata

Monday, September 26, 2016

Reading Notes Part C : The Mahabharata

Reading Notes Part C : The Mahabharata

This week after reading the story of Arjuna and the huntsman, I was inspired to write a comic tale. I have used much dialogue, but I feel that it would be easy to write up a conversational argument the huntsman has with Arjuna. From the story they basically hit the same boar, and were in battle to see who would win the “game”. I know that Arjuna is  a main character of this book, but after reading other peoples story of bringing focus to minor characters; I want to display Arjuna in a light where all his work to become so strong is great but some sarcasm from the huntsman is portrayed. Making the huntsman a character that is pretty dominant I think will help with coming up with sarcastic dialogue.

Arjuna and the Hunter shooting at the same boar. Photo Credits: Sahapedia

To add on to the “making fun of” Arjuna, he was in a way pulled away from the battle by his father Indra. I feel like this could easily make for a fight between kids, where one of the parents get involved and calls a class meeting to order. The idea of grounding Arjuna could work as him going away to his father’s city. After he is released from being grounded; his friends (the Pandava brothers) can be waiting for him. This could incorporate the encounter the Padavas had with Indra and his city which was filled with crystals, gold and flowers. ( This could act as Indra’s house, and the “boys” could be visiting Arjuna after he is set free from his grounding.
Arjuna also goes and fights for the Pandavas to release the royal prisoners. This could add to Arjuna’s “badass” character that I want slightly portray.


Although in the real story Arjuna goes away with his father to another city, and after learning many talents fights off the demons of the world. I am not sure if I want to included it into my story.

Bibliography: