The King's Shadow (Week 7: Storytelling)

There were two brothers—

Together they flowed,

Together they travelled,

On the same road.

One was the king,

The other his shadow,

Behind his radiant half,

Forever aglow.

With the king he remained true,

With the king he stuck fierce,

Like a silent shadow,

The king’s enemies he did pierce.

And in all their time together,

He never faltered nor did he fade,

For his loyalty was unrivaled,

Till his last moment came.

My brother, the king thought,

It may not often appear,

How much you mean to me,

How much I hold you dear.

Like when I was exiled,

You need not have done so,

But without any hesitation,

You, too, said you’d go.

And leaving the comforts

Of our family, our home,

For fourteen long years,

With me, you would roam.

You think I’d not noticed?

I may not have shown.

But on that dark day,

My love for you had grown.

My brother, we’ve been through

Many hurdles and tests,

And sometimes what feels

Like never-ending quests.

That one time, for example,

Where Ravana came,

And took my sweet wife,

With no care and no shame.

It was then I felt lost,

But wasn’t consumed by fear,

For through those restless nights,

You were always near.

And with me you were,

As we stormed through the lands,

Till the very moment,

She returned safe into my hands.

My brother, your loyalty

Always leaves me inspired.

No matter what I ask,

You never grow tired.

Even the hardest of tasks,

Like Sita’s exile to the river,

Had you conflicted,

But you did deliver.

All that way you took her,

And with her, I’m sure you wanted to stay,

For you have a good heart,

One that does not sway.

I’m sorry for the pain

I may have caused you,

But my faith and my trust

Have multiplied by two.

My brother, the king smiled,

Your spirit I admire.

In you there burns

A passionate fire.

Your strength held steady,

Even on your last day,

When Time came to visit,

And made you his prey.

I wish you looked back,

After I dealt you the news,

That you’d entered our meeting,

So through death pay your dues.

But silently you left,

Without a single protest.

I’ll never forget you;

You were the best.

Lakshmana, the shadow,

Knew all this in heart.

He felt all that his brother thought,

When they both did forever part.

And with his last breath,

Lakshmana lay beside the water,

And peacefully rested,

And let his mind wander.

And slowly death's arms took him,

Leaving only memories of his face,

The king’s brother, his shadow,

Now gone without a trace.

Author's Note: I just wanted to write a poem to commemorate Lakshmana's death at the end of Buck's Narayana. Time had come to see Rama and requested to have a meeting with him. He had told Rama not to let anyone interrupt their meeting otherwise that person would die, so Rama told Lakshmana to guard the door. In that time, a sage came and threatened Lakshmana to let him see Rama or else he would destroy the city. Lakshmana then had to interrupt the meeting and as a result, die.  

I always had an appreciation for the love Lakshmana had for Rama and how much he cared for his brother. It was something I admired and so felt it fitting to have my final story for the Ramayana be one to show how much Lakshmana meant to me. The first and last paragraph of this poem is just a beginning and a closing not from anyone's perspective, but all the paragraphs in between I wrote from Rama's perspective. This poem was one I wanted to write from Rama to Lakshmana to show that Rama, too, appreciated all that his brother did for him. This is what I felt Rama wanted to say as Lakshmana was walking away towards his death after entering Rama's conference with Time. When Rama told Lakshmana, he didn't say a word and left but I wanted to convey his feelings and this is what I thought might have been running through his head at the time. His ending is one I was the most sad about; his loyalty and love for his brother really touched me.

I didn't change anything about the story; I basically just wrote out all the main scenes Lakshmana played a part in a poem format. 

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

Lakshmana: the great warrior

Source: Blogspot

Week 7: Reading Diary B (The End)

Buck's Ramayana
Pages 374-432:

• Flying back towards Ayodhya, Rama shows Sita all the locations and events that occurred on their way to her rescue. 
• Rama then sends Hanuman ahead to tell Bharata of their return, who was extremely glad to find out about their return.
• The coronation begins soon after Bharata ties the sandals back on to Rama's feet. Then all these gifts come for Rama and Sita.
• Gossip about Sita spreads throughout the Sita after about 10,000 years when she is pregnant with a child. They gossip about how Rama let her back after her living with Ravana, questioning her chastity. 
• Rama tells Lakshmana to take her to the Ganges and leaves her there. Lakshmana is conflicted but due to his loyalty to Rama, he takes her there. 
• Sita's banishment is seen as the continual of the curse where Vishnu was parted from his wife.
• The Ganges tries to get Sita to jump into the waters.
• Sita gives birth to her two sons Kusha and Lava in Valmiki's home in the forest.
• Rama plans a huge festival where he invites a lot of people including Sita's father. Shatrughna invites Valmiki—he doesn't know that Sita is with Valmiki. 
• Rama finally realizes that the two boys are his sons at the festival. They have been telling his story bit by bit each day, the festival lasting for a year.
• Sita, while proving her innocence, disappears for a thousand years.
• Time has a meeting with Rama. Lakshmana disturbs them during this meeting because of the hermit who wants to speak to Rama. Lakshmana has to die because of this and goes to Sarayu river where he dies. :(

Kusha and Lava: sons of Rama

Source: SaveTemples

Week 7: Reading Diary A (the end of Ravana's reign)

Buck's Ramayana
Pages 325-373:

• Mandodari tried to persuade Ravana to give Sita back to Rama, but Ravana is deaf to this advice. His lust for women is too great. Mandodari tells Ravana that she loves him.
• The final battle against Ravana finally begins after all the people he kept sending kept on dying. It begins with Rama cutting off Ravana's hands.
• Eventually Rama kills Ravana and Vibhishana now takes over his brothers place. Ravana's wife mourns him, loving him despite his horrible actions. 
• Rama tests Sita's innocence through a trial: she has to sit within a circle of fire.
• The time has almost come for Rama to return. All the monkeys and bears and everyone, including Vibishana escort Rama back. Basically, a huge army is taking them back home.

Ravana and Sita

Source: Wordpress

I See Fire (Week 5: Storytelling)

You could hear hooves stomping across the desert trail, leaving a huge cloud of dust behind. The sight of fire made the horses neigh in fear but the messengers relentlessly continued. There was not a moment to lose.

Behind the misty mountains, the sun descended, leaving the sky an eerie red with a sense of foreboding. A grim quietness overshadowed the city of Ayodhya, not a soul in the streets, not even a mouse lingering in the open. There was no dancing, no singing, not even the buzzing of people in the street market. Just a sinister silence haunted the city all the way from the gates to inside the castle walls.

Without any notice, the quiet slowly faded away and a mesh of noises brought to life the scene within the chamber room, the blurred form of a man and woman arguing.

“He has to go… my two wishes…. promisedasgldgrlsgafs…”

What was going on?

And then the noise once again dulled as the scene shifted from the chamber room but soon enough sprang forth from a new direction outside the castle walls. Racing towards the entrance and forcing open the castle doors, a herd of elephants charged inside, thrashing against the walls and shattering their tusks.

That’s when the world seemed to crack; the moon had dropped from the sky, demolishing everything in a ripple effect. A high-pitched hum overwhelmed his ears.

Smoke rose from behind the mountains until the fire could be seen poking out from the rim. He could see it crawling down, growing ever near, till the crackling of the flames reached his hearing.

The waters of the ocean could not even consume this fire; the fire instead dried up the ocean, drinking in every last drop till the Earth was left dry and arid.

There, at the edge of this inferno, he saw standing the obscure image of Rama.

“Brother!” he called out.

He wanted to run, run away from the flames, away from the city, away from everything, but his feet were glued to the ground. Panic welled in his heart as he tried with all his might to move, the heat inching closer.

“Brother! Brother, save me!” he cried.

But Rama turned his head away and flung himself into the blaze.

“NOOOO!” he screamed in despair, tears streaming down his face and blurring his vision.

That is when a shadow emerged from the smoke. Rubbing his eyes, he blinked several times till the features of his father, the King, came to view. A sense of relief washed over him.

“Father! Father, Rama—“ he spoke, but the ash and smoke he breathed in cut him off.

“Yes… Rama…” he heard his father whisper. “Rama's bright soul has left our city... left me... and I no longer have a purpose to continue.”

“Father,” he coughed out, fighting for breath. “Father, what are you saying?”

Dasaratha’s legs gave out and his body hit the ground with a loud thud, leaving Bharata screaming awake to his brother Shatrughna shaking him. Beads of sweat ran down his forehead, his hands trembling.

“What is wrong?” Bharata forced himself to ask.

Shatrughna squeezed Bharata’s hands, looking him directly in the eyes. “Messengers have come. From Ayodhya.”

--- --- --- --- ---

Eerie skies of Ayodhya

Source: BBC

Author's Note: This whole scene was drawn out from the passage in the book that spoke of Bharata's nightmare and how anxious he felt. There were only a few short lines that mentioned this moment, specifically saying how in his dreams he saw the shattering of the tusks of his father’s elephants, the moon dropping on the Earth, and the oceans drying up. I just wanted to incorporate those three things and mesh together both reality and his dream in attempt to bring this moment to life and make you feel what Bharata could have felt. He sort of had a feeling of what was happening when he woke up, so I assumed that his dream gave him a sense of what was to come.

 It is really hard to put detail into a scene out of Buck's Ramayana, especially because he himself puts so much detail into everything he writes. However, he didn't really expand too much on this particular moment so I used that as an opportunity to play with it. I didn’t really change anything in the story; everything happened exactly how it did prior to the dream and after the dream. I simply added much more detail to what was going on within the mind of Bharata while he slept.

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

Week 6: Reading Diary B (The Battle)

Buck's Ramayana
Pages 270-324

• Sumadra and Rama talk it out about crossing the ocean where Rama uses tactics like threatening him to get him to part the seas. Sumadra tells him that he is unable to do so and he is only his friend, not his enemy so he need not provoke him in such ways. Sumadra lets Rama know of the monkey Nala who can help build a bridge to cross instead.
• Ravana calls for a council. Vibhishana tells him to return Sita back to Rama because Rama will pardon them. 
• "Are you trying to anger me?"
• "Well, to tell the truth I don't have to; it's an angry mind that won't understand all this."
• Vibhishana calls out Ravana for his evil deeds and loving to do evil things but Ravana is self-absorbed.** This is how people bring about their own destruction.
• Ravana tries to confuse Sita and say that Rama has died trying to save her. This is when Prahasta comes in and announces Rama's arrival in the city. Sita still does not realize that Rama is not dead till Rakshasi Trijata tells her. 
• Ravana is all for war and says "may this war increase your pain an during joy to the demons!" 
• This story of this war shows how good eventually conquers evil.
• Even the giant Ravana awakens tells Ravana to give Sita back to Rama.
• Ravana keeps going from one person to the next for help. 
• Next he asks his son Indrajit for help. 
• Indrajit pierced many arrows into Rama and killed him. Lakshmana died next with tears in his eyes because he couldn't believe what he saw.
• Rama and everyone else is revived through medicine by Vibhishana. 
• Sita meanwhile finds out that Rama has died, once again, but Trijata tells her this is most likely not the case.
• This time Indrajit creates an illusion of Sita dying. This does not do anything though.
• It is only after Indrajit's death that Ravana finally goes to war himself. 

Vibhishana accusing Ravana

Source: Kidsgen

Week 6: Reading Diary A (The Rescue of Sita Continues)

Buck's Ramayana
Pages 219-270

• News of Jatayu's death by Ravana is told to his brother Sampati. How does he feel at this time? What could be going on in his mind?
• Hanuman's thought process about being the one chosen to make the leap.
• Hanuman's journey inside the rakshasha and at the same time, what about the rakshasha?
• Hanuman's journey as a cat.
• This curse that Lanka speaks of, explain it. What Lanka is doing prior to Hanuman's entrance in the city?
• What does Ravana's wife think of all this that is going on?
• Vayu leads Hanuman towards where Ashoka is but prior to that how is Hanuman doing? What is going on with him?
• Sita's dream with Rama in it - possible story.
• Sita and Ravana's interaction when Ravana comes to seduce her but she doesn't encourage anything and Ravana gets annoyed and leaves. When the guards start scaring Sita, she is starting to despair. What is this time like?
• Hanuman bringing chaos in Lanka, how does this look to everyone else? How did he feel when he was captured? - Possible story
• What about his escape and when he returns with good news that he has found Sita?

Hanuman jumping across the ocean

Source: Wordpress

Week 5: Reading Diary A (Rama's exile)

Buck's Ramayana
Pages 110-161

• Messengers were sent out to tell Bharata to come back to Ayodhya immediately. They travelled past Panchala and the Elephant city, never stopping, for four days, finally reaching Kekaya City. 
• Bharata was asleep but he was having a nightmare where he saw the ocean dry, the moon fall on to the Earth, the tusks of his father's elephants shatter, the fire in Ayodhya burn out, and smoke coming from the hills of Kosala. **story**
• Finally the messengers came and told him that he needs to immediately return to Ayodhya without specifying the reason, and his grandfather, King Aswapati, gave him horses to ride back on.
• Bharata asks Kaikeyi why Rama is banished when she tells him that the King banished him into exile for fourteen years. Finding out that it was Kaikeyi, he runs off to Kausalya.
• Bharata forgives his mother and goes with the four queens to Rama to take his place in the forest.
• Rama explains to Bharata that a man's word is very important and it cannot be broken and Bharata eventually agrees to let Rama go. Rama asks Bharata to wait for him, for his return after fourteen years. 
• Rama tells Sita the story of the Valakhilyas and about how Indra wasn't very nice to them. 
• The demon Viradha abducts Sita while Rama is telling a story to Sita, but later he finds out that the only way to free him is to end his demon life (by Rama).
• Lakshmana, Rama, and Sita live in Panchavati where Ravana's sister proposes to him.

Bharata and Kaikeyi

Source: Boloji

Week 3: Styles

TOPIC: The storybook topic I am choosing is "Indra." The God Indra has several stories, especially in the Ramayana as well in which he plays a large role. I don't think there are too many stories or two few that will make it hard to decide, but a good amount. I want to pick four different stories of Indra that show how he is both mischievous as well as great and powerful. One of these stories is the one from Buck's Ramayana where Indra and Ravana battle each other. The other story is from Narayan's Ramayana where Indra interferes between the love of Ahalya and Gautama, his more mischievous side.

Bibliography:
1) Buck, William (1976). Ramayana: King Rama's Way. 
2) Narayan, R. K. (1972) The Ramayana.


Styles:

Postscripts and Prequels
I really like this idea since I usually tend to write about things that aren't really mentioned in the actual story, so the idea of having a prequel to Indra's stories, showing what he was doing prior to the event or perhaps after it. Or maybe even both.

Courtroom Style
This is a style that really appealing to me especially because I can bring in other gods into my story as the judges and jury and so on in my courtroom but still have it seen from the perspective of Indra. This would be cool to do with the battle against Ravana that Indra had, but have it in a courtroom instead. Even the story of Gautama and Ahalya can be put in a courtroom setting. Either way, this idea is something I might actually pursue.

Twist the Ending
I always have these thoughts about how things would be with an alternate ending so this is also something I might do. I can have it to where the usual endings to Indra's story have a bit of plot twist, an example being that Ahalya actually ends up going with Indra rather than being turned into a rock after Gautama sees her.

News Reporting
What are the most fun news reports? The ones about scandals and war... of course, thats not actually good, but it would be fun to put Indra's stories into this format and have some of the other gods be the ones who are reporting the story and then maybe have Indra interviewed in the news report or something around those lines.

Interesting depiction of Indra

Source: Google

Tech Tip: Google Docs Dictionary

Here is a word that always seems to mess me up because of how we say it. When people say the word, it sounds like "be-serk" rather than "ber-serk." So, hopefully this image will help me remember because I can't think of another way to help me remember.

"Berserk"

Source: Taken by me

Week 4: Storytelling (The Pursuit of Happiness)

"Away with the worlds, where a little pleasure costs a lot of pain." --Valmiki

He travelled over the world and everywhere he saw sadness and grief. Those moments where he witnessed people with smiling faces and a sweet gleam in their eyes lasted only a brief time before vanishing into thin air.

Walking through the dark streets of the town, the rain poured down hard on the ground. He spotted an old man resting against a tree and people passed by him, rushing to get home. They did not offer him a home, they did not offer food, and they did not even bother to provide him with any bit of help. He simply sat there with sorrow in his eyes, his hands quivering from the cold as he squeezed his arms to warm himself. How could one simply stroll on by when someone is lying helpless under the great skies, having nothing in this world but the clothes on his back? It worried the sage greatly.

It wasn’t shortly after he noticed a man giving the poor old soul on the ground some bread to eat before continuing on his way. Feeling a little optimistic, the sage followed this man to his home where he spent some time with his family. He watched the man till morning, where he saw how the man leaving for his usually day of work. But the sky was still dark and there was no one out on the streets. Curious, the sage quietly followed the man once again to see where he was going at such an early hour where the sun hadn’t even lit the horizon. And shortly after, his optimism died and the sorrow came back. The man had entered a whorehouse.

What is this world? Where men and women live in lies and sorrows and there is pain everywhere. Where one can’t trust another’s promises anymore? Where there is no trust. Where there is war. Where people are selfish and greedy and think only of themselves. What is this world where there is no happiness?

The sage grew more sad by the minute and soon enough was tired of seeing the same things over and over again. He walked away into the forest, forgetting everything else and isolating himself for years.

"Away with the worlds, where a little pleasure costs a lot of pain." --Valmiki

 Valmiki

Source: Google

Author's Note: For this story, Valmiki, the sage presented at the beginning of Buck's Ramayana, was traveling the world and everywhere he went he experienced sadness and sort of lost faith in people. It wasn't really told where he went or what he did, just gave a brief understanding that he went many places but didn't find the happiness he was looking for. So for this moment, I wanted to expand on what was going on during this time when we went around traveling. I wanted to explain in detail what he saw, just a snippet of his travels, but it kind of gave an idea of why he was sad and what lead him to isolate himself into the forest.
I chose to write this story because I can sympathize with Valmiki and I can understand his sorrows because I too travel a lot, especially overseas to third-world countries and I see a lot, lot, lot of people who are homeless, on the streets, beggars, just people who have no one in this life and are helpless and there are people who are just walking right on by without doing anything or caring at all. And it is really sad to see that, sometimes sad enough to make you depressed and just want to shut yourself away from such people and such a world. So my story came out of how much I could relate to this sage and hopefully you all felt what I and sage felt through my story.

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

Week 4: Reading Diary B (Events Occurring During Rama's Exile)

Buck's Ramayana

Pages 60-109

• King Aswapati calls for Bharata for which Dasaratha gives permission. And not soon after, he begins to think of Rama's coronation. 
• Dasaratha tells Rama about his taking over as King and Rama's mother and the other three as well come up to congratulate him happily. 
• Manthara is a hunchback... Rama had once shot a play-arrow at her hump. Story?
• She was a cruel, sin-seeking hag.
• She told Keikeyi that Rama's mother would soon be walking around on a high-horse once Rama became king and not care for any of the other wives. 
• She was the one who put the idea in innocent Keikeyi's head about sending Rama away for fourteen years so the people would not love him anymore and he wouldn't kill Bharata either.
• Keikeyi went in a rage soon after this, like the youngest sibling would throw a fit, she was acting similarly as the youngest wife.
• Rama humbly accepted her two requests.
• Lakshmana insists that he will kill the King if this is what he is going to do, but Rama tells him to stop and sit still.
• Sita explains to Rama how husband and wife are one and that she will go with him.
• Rama's path is blocked by the people as he tries to depart for his exile so he has to spend one night there still.
• At the Kingdom of the Far Forest, Guha, the Hunter King, welcomed Rama, Sita, and Lakshmana.
• Guha explains how he was angry at Shiva, believed in "one God" which was a tree and he kicked Shiva's statue whenever he got the chance—which was often. Yama's messengers came to get Guha and tore his soul from his body. Then a dwarf came and told them by Shiva's command to let him go, it was not time for him to go and that they were just thieves. It was not time for Guha to die just yet. However, Shiva (Nandin) carried Guha away and then when Yama showed up, he told him that Guha may have sinned but he took care of him when he came into his forest. He made those men who pretended to love him leave the forest, so his soul was for Shiva to take. 

Kaikeyi and Manthara

Source: Google

Week 4: Reading Diary A (The beginning of Ramayana + the Hindu Deities)

Buck's Ramayana
Pages 1 – 59

• Sauti is explaining to Saunaka how Valmiki wrote the Ramayana in beautiful poetry.
• Valmiki searched the Earth for happiness and friendship, but finding none, he secluded himself within a forest and sat still for years without moving.
• "Away with the worlds. where a little pleasure costs a lot of pain." -Valmiki
• Narada calls Valmiki out from under the anthill in order to help Sita, Rama's wife. 
• Sita has lived as Rama's Queen for nearly ten thousand years.
• She was exiled by Rama because his people were talking against her... what could have happened? *Story*
• Bird hunter shot a bird and killed it and then died from being cursed by Valmiki.
• Valmiki over the years taught the tale of Rama, almost till the present, to Rama's two boys, Kusa and Lava who memorized it and sung the verses.
• Kusa and Lava sang bits of Rama's story at the festival for a year as Rama listened, wondering who these boys were.
• The story of Rama from before he was even born was then told:
• On the banks of Sarayu River is Ayodhya—royal capital of Kosala. 
• "Heaven is fair, Ayodhya is fairer."
• Dasaratha ruled this fair kingdom but had no sons and was getting old—sixty thousand years.
• Enter Indra (in heaven above) - he heard Vasistha's call (who was singing spellbinding mantra and pouring offering in sacrificial fire in order to call Indra).
• Indra was not happy about this.
• Indra had just fought the Battle of Heaven against Demon King Ravana. He had been captured though, because he lost the battle.
• Indrajit freed him (after capturing him)... Brahma had arranged that.
• The Gods, in order to defeat Ravana, allowed the birth through a man (that being the son of Dasaratha).
• Vishwamitra  comes to court.
• Ravana was undefeatable, but unfortunately he didn't ask to be protected from humans (as we will find out later).
• Kartavirya, king of Haihayas—he brought down Ravana when Ravana tried to attack him. 
• God of death = Yama (also was challenged by Ravana)
• Meanwhile, Rama has reached court of Janaka and marries his daughter Sita (also an incarnation).

Interesting depiction of the Hindu Gods

Source: marvunapp

Famous Last Words

This week was a hectic one. Where I planned to keep up with my work and get ahead, I actually slowed down. Where I kept up with things my first two weeks, I seem to have died this third week. Most of this is due to the fact that I have to study for the MCAT on the side and take some time away from homework to study for it. But homework this semester is taking a lot more time than I expected. Where I assumed I would get done quickly and then resume my MCAT studying, I end up getting very tired of doing homework, finishing it partially, then studying for the MCAT and then ending up too tired to finish the rest of my homework.

School is a very tiring process sometimes. However, in the past year I acquired a job, and just recently, I left it. It was afterwards that I realized that I liked having my job and earning money and feeling independent. And that is my biggest motivation for finishing college and continuing onwards towards the profession of my dreams: a doctor. I do realize that the studies I have right now are nothing compared to that which I'll face in medical school, which I hope to first get admitted into. So I suppose I just have to toughen up and focus and prioritize. 

For this class specifically, I had a set schedule written down. But instead of being a day ahead, I'm doing the actual day's assignment very last minute, something I said I wouldn't do. Hopefully though, I can get back on track starting this week (on Monday) and ace this class. Starting tomorrow, I plan to finish Reading A and Reading B for week 4 and begin to form an idea for my storytelling post that is due on Wednesday. 

Planners are the best!

Source: iheartorganizing

Tech Tip: YouTube Blogger

Bhagwan Hai Kahan Re Tu

"Bhagwan Hai Kahan Re Tu" means "God, where are you?" in Hindi. This song (one of my favorites) was from the movie called PK written by the actor/director Amir Khan, one of the greats in the Bollywood film industry. This movie was one about all religions and had a very neat perspective of how religion could be portrayed by someone who has never encountered such a concept. All in all, it is a movie worth watching!