Epics from India

                                                   Image Details: Blue diamond, Source: Pixabay It was five years after Dev broke up with me. I remember the day very well. It was our third anniversary and I remembering being so excited. Dev called me late last night and told me that he wanted to meet me the next day to tell me something important. I immediately thought that he was going to propose to me. We were the perfect couple. We respected and loved each other. We loved the same kinds of movies, laughed at the same type of jokes, and could even finish each other’s sentences. All of our friends branded us as the married couple of the group. And me- I loved him so much. I didn’t know a life apart for me. This is why what happened next tore me apart. I got to the park thirty minutes early. I wanted to soak in every moment. I remember the cascading sunlight grazing upon my skin as well as the cool breeze that sent chills down my spine. This was where we met the first tim

Abhimanyu: The star crossed prince                                                            Image Details: Abhimanyu, Source: W ikimedia Abhimanyu is the son of Krishna’s sister and was also a descendant of the Pandavas. When the Pandavas were exiled by the Kauravas, Abhimanyu and his mother remain in the city. Abhimanyu vows to avenge the wrongdoings done to his father, Arjuna. During their thirteenth year of exile, the Pandavas find themselves in the court of Virata. The king offers his daughter in marriage to Arjuna. During this time, Krishna tries to broker peace between the Pandavas and the Kauravas. However, his attempts are futile as the Kauravas want war. During the war, Abhimanyu attacks Bhisma and finally kills him. Abhimanyu proves to be successful in his battle strategies. He manages to wound Karna and smashes the chariot of Shayla’s brother. Duryodhana’s son attacks Duryodhana, but Abhimanyu kills him which anger Duryodhana. The Kauravas try to defeat

Uloopi: The naga princess who fell in love with Arjuna Image Details: Topaz, Source: Max Pixel The comic book begins with Arjuna in exile. As he is bathing in the Ganges, he is dragged down in the river. He wakes up in a palace and he meets Uloopi, the daughter of king of the underwater city. She wishes to marry him and the couple spends some time together. Afterwards, Arjuna returns to land. Later on, Arjuna travels to Manipur and meets Chitraganda, the daughter of the king. Arjuna becomes attracted to her and wants to marry her. The king is delighted and the couple is married and has a child. Uloopi deduces that Arjuna does not love her and decides to Chitraganda and her son. Once she reaches Manipur, Uloopi announces herself as sister to Chitraganda and she adopts Arjuna’s son as her own. She raises him and tells him to excel in archery like his father. During the Kurukshetra war, Arjuna kills Bhisma. The gods become furious and want to send Arjuna to hell when he di

                                                                      Image: Golden Wings, Source: Pixabay It was a brisk, chill morning. The cold wind grazed my arm as I walked toward the house. It was a small, thatched cabin with vines covering the walls and the roof. I need to get rid of that at some point . As I walked up to the front door, I could hear the stairs moan beneath each step I placed. I sighed; I swear this entire house reeks of poor. I opened the front door and could hear my mother furiously working in the kitchen. I couldn’t help but chuckle. We barely have enough food to cook in the house and she’s making lunch. “Nandini, is that you?” I could hear her slowing down her pace and I knew what she was waiting for. It was pretty common for the older children in the family to be the most relied on to gather supplies and provide for the family. Father died over four years ago and it’s just been me, mother, my brother, and my two younger sisters. Even though my b

Kumbhakarna                                                          Image Details: Kumbhakarna, Source: Wikimedia In the comic book “Kumbhakarna,” we learn more information about the titular character. He is the brother of Ravana and is also a giant rakshaka. Furthermore, he is very strong and is able to defeat Indra in battle. In the beginning of the story, we see Brahma giving boons to Ravana, Kumbhakarna, and Vibishana. For fear that he may grow strong, Indra tricks Kumbhakarna is making a foolish wish. In the Ramayana, Ravana asks Kumbhakarna to defeat Rama. Kumbhakarna terrifies Rama’s army by his strength, but Sugreeva is able to thwart his attacks. At the end of the story, Kumbhakarna faces Rama and is eventually killed. In the Ramayana, we get a very brief glimpse of Kumbhakarna. He is known to be Ravana’s brother and to be very strong. In the comic book, we are given a much more in-depth look into Kumbakarna’s power and strength. Bibliography: Amar Chitra Ka

Ravana humbled: an arrogant king finds new friends                                                                   Image Details: Ravana, Source: Wikimedia One day, Shiva and Parvati are arguing with each other. However, Ravana accidentally disturbs them which angers Shiva. Shiva traps Ravana beneath the Mount Kailasa, but becomes impressed with Ravana’s stories and gives him the Chandrahasa . Later on in the story, Ravana travels to the city of Mahishamati. The king of Mahishamati gets provoked by his wife and blocks the flow of the river. At that time, Ravana is worshiping a Shiva Linga, but because the water is blocked, the Shiva Linga is washed away. This upsets Ravana and he challenges the kings to a fight.   Although the king wins, Ravana and the king become good friends. When Ravana visits Kishkindha, he becomes angry at the monkey, Vali, for not saluting him. He tries to grab Vali’s belt, but gets tangled in it. Furthermore, as Vali travels, Ravana gets drag

Krishna and Shishupala  Image Details: Krishna, Source: Wikipedia Shishupala was the son of the King of Chedi. However, Shishupala was born with four arms and three eyes. Due to these defects, a priest advises the king to abandon the child. Before the king is able to do so, a supernatural voice appears and tells the king that the prince will die in the hands of his destined killer. When the destined killer appears, it is destined that the prince’s third eye and extra arms will off. Krishna who is related to the couple visits the strange child. However when the baby sees Krishna, his third eye and extra arms disappear. The queen begs Krishna to forgive the child for any offenses that he commits and Krishna promises to forgive the child one hundred times. Shishupala is sent off to the home of the emperor Jarasandha, who is the sworn enemy of Krishna.  Shishupala becomes close friends with Rukmi and Rukmi hopes that Shishupala would marry his sister Rukmini. However, Ruk

Monkey Stories Image Details: Crocodile, Source: Pixabay This was a very interesting comic book to read as it included many different stories rather than just one. The first story was called “The monkey’s heart.” There once was a crocodile that lusted to eat a monkey’s heart. The crocodile’s mate heeds to her request even though he lived in the water and the monkey lived on land. He makes a plan to catch the monkey. One day when the monkey is sitting next to the river, the crocodile swims near the bank. He tells the monkey that there are better fruit on the other side of the river and to let him take the monkey there. The monkey agrees and sits on the back of the crocodile. However, as they swam a little farther along the river, the crocodile began to plunge the monkey into the water. When the monkey questions the crocodile, he responds by telling him that his wife wanted to eat a monkey’s heart and that he will kill him. The monkey lies to the crocodile by telli

Kubera: The Lord of Wealth                                                                  Image Details: Kubera, Source: Wikimedia In the beginning of the story, the sage Pulastya marries the daughter of the sage Trinabindu. The couple has a child named Vishrava. After Vishrava grows up, he marries the daughter of the sage Bharadwaja and have son known as Kubera. Kubera becomes the guardian of the world and later on in the story, Brahma makes Kubera guardian of the wealth. Vishrava advises Kubera to go live in Lanka. The foolish Malyavan, Sumali, and Mali challenge the gods. For fear of violence, the gods go to Vishnu for help. Vishnu leads an attack and kills Mail, which causes Malyavan and Sumali to retreat back to Lanka. However, Vishnu vows to destroy them anywhere on the earth, so they retreat back to the underworld. This allows for Kubera to live in Lanka and rule over the rakshakas. However Sumali still causes problems for Kubera by urging his grandson, Dashagriva

The lion in bad company                                                                      Image Details: Image, Source: Pixabay There was once a young lion who met a wolf in the woods. Since the wolf was not able to escape the lion, he flatters the lion and pledges him his loyalty. This impresses the lion and he takes the wolf home with him even though he warned not to make friends with a wolf. The lion’s father tells his son that he doesn’t approved his choice of friend, but the young lion refused to listen to him. The wolf wants to eat horse-flesh, so he convinces the lion that they should go hunt horses for their meat. The lion is hesitant, but the wolf convinces him to go hunting near the river bank where the horses lived. At first, the lion caught a small pony and took its body back to his den. The lion’s father is disappointed with his son’s behavior as the ponies belong to the king and that he will get into trouble by the kings and his archers. However, th

Why the owl is not  king of the birds? Image: Owl, Source: Pxhere There was once a time when each species took a member of their own species to be their king. However, the birds complained that they did not have a ruler and that they wanted a king. They decided amongst themselves that they wanted the owl as their king. However, the crow complained that he didn’t want the owl as his king for he was afraid of the expression that the owl wore on his face. From that time onwards, the owls and crows have been enemies. Finally, the birds chose the turtle dove as their king. Compared to all the other jatakas that I have read this semester, this one has been very underwhelming. Usually the purpose of the jataka is to provide a moral story to the reader; however this story did not have anything of the sort. We could possibly say that since the crow judged the owl’s ability as king based in his facial expression, it is possible that the moral is not judge someone based on their p

Ghatotchaka: The Chivalrous Demon Image: Ghatotchaka, Source: Wikimedia At the beginning of the story, we are shown the relationship between the Pandavas and the Kauravas. Even though they are cousins, the Kauravas despised the Pandavas due to their popularity. The eldest Kaurava, Duryodhana, is the most jealous of the Pandavas and plots to kill them. The Pandavas escape and live in the forest. When they are traveling in the forest, a rakshaka falls in love with Bhima and marries him. They have a son named Ghatotkacha, who is a rakshaka and has magical powers. He promises to meet his father when he is grown. Later on in the story, the Pandavas build a huge palace which upsets the Kauravas. The Kauravas hatch a plan to make the Pandavas lose their land and honor. They play a game of dice with the eldest Pandava who loses everything. The family is exiled again and Arjuna’s son, Abhimanyu, is engaged to the daughter of Krishna’s brother. However, he decides to marry his