Ryeli's Blog

I really enjoy reading Jataka Tales for extra reading. I've already read about the Ramayana and Mahabharata, so this way I get new stories each time! I think next week I might look more into Gods and Goddesses, but I wanted to do one more week of this. I really do like these a bunch. I think that there's a lot to say about how each other tells these tradition stories and how they are passed down from generation to generation. We have fables like "The Little Red Hen" and India has these! I think it's so neat how storytelling with a moral is such a universal concept in every part of the world. The Guilty Dogs  from Twenty Jataka Tales by Noor Inayat This one stuck one to me for a dog could never be guilty! Except these rich ones I guess. I'm glad it worked out in the end. It's nice that at least someone was levelheaded in pointing out the injustice in slaughtering every dog in the city for one dog's misdoing. In fact, it was the king's own dogs wh...

I wanted to take a moment to do a brief moment of research for my project! For my next story, I'm looking at Sita's swayamvar. I know how the story goes, but I want o make sure that I'm using the terms correctly! I don't know a lot of background information for a regular swayamvar, so I'd like to start there. Wikipedia describes a swayamvar as a wedding ceremony that led to the bride choosing her groom from a list of potential suitors. This sounds like the set up for a fun dating show to me! Swayam in sanskrit translates to self. and var or vara means groom. The lady gets to decide the terms here and then it is told to neighboring kingdoms! The potential suitors then come flocking, hoping to meet her standards by completing the task that she and her family have chosen. The Ramayana uses this to help show how strong Rama is. Because none of the other suitors were able to string the bow and he was, it further emphasizes his power against the others. My sources fo...

Epified's Mahabharata: Episodes 27-35 This is the third time the stringing of a powerful, divine bow has been a theme in an epic. This time it's with Arjuna, but it has also been seen with Rama and Krishna. I find that interesting for many reasons. As far as I know, a swayamvar is simply a way for a bride to select her groom. It's interesting how the bow is specifically so common. I wonder why that is. I don't remember the name of the bow specifically used here of is it was mentioned. I still feel bad for Draupadi. I mean, in a previous lifetime she prayed for a husband with all five virtues and life couldn't really give her that? Life gave her five husbands instead. That's kind of strange, but okay! Her brother was wild for telling on her like that though. All these characters want is war, at least that's how I saw them and continue to see them. I get that many of their motivations are completely different, but at the end of the day, their disagreements...

Source: Epified's Mahabharata 18-26 It's been a minute since seeing any material related to the Mahabharata, so I chose to go back to it for the week! I liked the video option because I'm going to be pretty busy this week and watching a video is a little bit easier for me to do quickly. I'm glad to see more Epified videos are on the list of reading note options! I still think it sucks that Karna gets cursed for trying to not slightly inconvenience someone. Like, that interaction was absolutely brutal and we all know his skills do end up failing him when he needs them most, illustrating the principle of karma, but still it seems harsh to curse a teen boy out like that. Poor guy. I think it would also be interesting to talk more in depth about Karna's armor. I know I've mentioned liking the description of it before, but I think it would be different. I never really do character studies, I do storylines, it might be nice to try something new, but I'm not ...