Week 2: Topics

For topic one I am planning on doing love Stories and Epic Couples, which I will be interesting. For the research I checked out the this link http://estorybook.blogspot.com/2010/12/indian-epic-storybooks-love-stories.html and I looked at Public Domain Edition of the Ramayana, which is an online version of the book. For right now I have read first two parts of the book. I am planning on using some Wikipedia sources such as for Rama and Sita’s character. Here is the link for Rama’s Wikipedia link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rama and here is for Sita’s Wikipedia page link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sita. I am including the image of Rama and Sita and here is the link source of the image http://beautifulhdwallpaper.com/lord-rama/lord-rama-and-sita/.

For topic two I am planning on using Birth Stories, Death Stories. For the research I looked at this link http://estorybook.blogspot.com/2010/12/indian-epic-storybooks-birth-stories.html. It gives the information and ideas about the characters which would be really helpful information to use for the storybook project. I can pick the characters out of this link. I have just read first two parts of the Public Domain Edition of the Ramayana I don’t have much information about all of the characters, but I can for sure recognize some of the characters. Addition to that I also looked at this Wikipedia sourchttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanuman#Birth_and_childhood, which gives information about Hanuman story.

For topic three I am planning on doing Brothers and Sisters, Mothers and Fathers. For the research I looked at this link http://estorybook.blogspot.com/2010/12/indian-epic-storybooks-brothers.html. I have many options of characters to choose from, but I am thinking of doing research on Rama and his brother along with Ravana and his brother. Or I can also do Rama and his father’s relationship. I also looked at some Wikipedia sources for some of characters and found good information and image relating to those. I will definitely use Public Domain Edition of the Ramayana online version textbook for one of my research source.

For Topic four I am planning on using Ravana’s Story. For the research, I found this link https://sites.google.com/site/ravanasstory/ which gives very interesting and good information about that topic. I will use Public Domain Edition of the Ramayana as an outline guide when writing up the storybook. I also looked at Ravana’s Wikipedia for attain more information and here is the link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ravana, which also give information along with images. I also found a really image of Ravana and here is the link for the source https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vijayadashami. Here is the image I found. Just by looking at the image we can tell a a lot about the character. 

(Ravana :Source Wikipedia)

Week 2 Storytelling: Bedtime story

It is a story of three sisters: Mary, Ally and Sarah. Mary was oldest of all. Every day they would have bedtime story time in their huge pink room, where they had queen-sized beds parallel to each other. Ally being the youngest one would every day have a special demand for her choice of story from her oldest sister Mary. As they all were lying comfortably on the beds, Ally said in her very cute little soft voice, “Mary, today I wish to hear a story about Minnie and Mickey.”

When Sarah agreed, Mary started. Mary continued the story while turning off the lights and switching on the nightlight.

Once upon a time there was a prince named Mickey. He was clothed in a yellow coat. His chest was shining with big pearls; curly hair peeped out from under his cap. He carried bows and arrows in his hands. He was the king of Ayodhya city, where he was known to be a very strong ruler and people would praise him for his greatness. Mickey was very soft-hearted and valued his family. Since Mickey had a great amount of love for his parents, one day he decided to have a surprise party for his parents. Soon he announced his parents' fiftieth anniversary would be taking place in a gigantic room, which was part of their palace. He wanted to make that day memorable for his parents, so along with the relatives he invited the entire city of Ayodhya. There he saw a beautiful, stunning girl named Minnie and fell in love with her. As he was standing by his window and while looking at the moon he said, “The queen of night is not so fair as Minnie." That is what we call love at first sight and at that point he decided to marry her while he said to himself, “Minnie is my heart's love. I cannot live without her.”

As it was 11:00 pm, suddenly Mary stopped and said, “We will continue this story tomorrow. We all should sleep now.” On the other side, Ally and Sarah were so into the story and were very impatient to know the end of the story. Ally said in a harsh voice, “NO, finish it. I cannot wait to know the ending.” Then, Mary agreed to continue on.

Then the next day, Mickey in an aggressive voice ordered his younger brother, Kyle, that he wanted to meet that girl, but they did not know anything about her. At that very moment, Kyle ordered servants to search for Minnie and report every single piece of information about her as soon as possible. After an hour, servants informed him that Minnie was a daughter of King Blaze.

Without thinking of anything else Mickey announced that he wanted to marry Minnie. The parents agreed.

Blaze liked that proposal and said, “Peerless is Rama, the noble one, and he shall be given for wife my daughter Minnie, who is dearer to me than life.” Then, Minnie and Mickey got married and they lived happily ever after.

Ally and Sarah said, "Great story and goodnight, Mary."

Image source(Large bedroom, Charming Stone-Built House in Saint Restitut)

Author's Note:  I chose to retell the story as the bedtime story and focused on Rama and Sita’s love story as played by Mickey and Minnie in my retold story. Brother Laskhmana as Kyle was involved as well, but not as much in my story. The story of Mickey and Minnie is based on the original story of Ramayana which was the story about Rama and Sita. In the original story, Rama and Sita's love story was not that short and quick, but rather filled with struggles and problems that they encountered in every step of their life. For Rama and Sita marrying each other was not much of a problem, but rather life afterwards was harsh. Mickey did not have to pass any test in order to marry Minnie, while Rama had to prove himself as a condition to marry Sita. In addition to that, Rama saw Sita for the first time in the garden and wanted to marry. In my story, it was not the same setting. In my story, I covered until Rama and Sita get married and then I declared it as a happy ending. I like happy endings, so I managed to make it happy.

Bibliography: "Public Domain Edition of the Ramayana" by Public Domain Edition. Website: Image library for MLLL-4993, Epics of Ancient India

Week 2 Reading Diary, continued: Ravana tricks Sita

Shurpanakha said, “I am a rakshasa woman, the sister of Ravana, and have come hither because I love thee. I have chosen thee for my husband, and thou shalt rule over my great empire. Thy Sita is pale and deformed and unworthy of thee, but I am of surpassing beauty and have power to assume any form at will. I must devour Sita and thy brother, so that we may range the jungle together and visit the lofty hills.”

Said Rama, “Sita is my beloved bride, nor would I leave her. But Lakshmana hath no consort and is a fit husband for thee.”

This shows Rama and Sita true love because Rama is not willing to leave her for any chance.
Shurpanakha said "His honor and his brother's love are bound up in the woman who dwells with them — Sita the youthful wife of Rama. The loveliness of this Sita... heavens! The execrable loveliness of this Sita!"

Said Sita, “If Rama is slain I will die by drowning, or by poison, or else by the noose. I cannot live without Rama.”Said Sita, whose eyes flashed fiery anger, “Knowest thou Rama, the god-like hero who is ever victorious in strife? I am his wedded wife. Knowest thou Rama, the sinless and saintly one, who is strongly armed and full of valour and virtue? I am his wedded wife. What madness hath prompted thee to woo the wife of so mighty a warrior? I follow Rama as a lioness follows a lion.Said Rama, “Sita is my heart's love. I cannot live without her. For my sake she deserted the royal palace to wander in this fearsome jungle. Now that she is gone, the moments seem longer than years. How can I live on when she is lost to me?”

Image of Sita being tricked by Ravana and he takes her away from Rama. 

(Source Image: Ravana tricks Sita and then abducts her.)

Week 2 Reading Diary: Rama and Sita marries

The capital of Koshala was Ayodhya. Where Darharatha was the king, the father of Rama and Mithila. Dasharatha had no son from either of his queen, Kasushalya, Kaikeyi, and Sumitra. After performing the Ashwamedha [horse sacrifice], the gods promised that four sons would be born to Dasharatha, which were Rama, Bharata, Lakshmana, and Shatrughna. After eating sacrificial food, Dasharatha's wives came mothers of sons-Kaushalya of Rama, Kaikeyi of Bharata, and Sumitra of Lamshmana and Shatrughna. Sita and Rama saw each other in the garden and fell in love. Rama and Sita marries. Sita looks really pretty on her wedding as it is mentioned in the book "Softly came the sweet-eyed Sita, bridal blush upon her brow; Rama in his manly beauty came to take the sacred vow;Darharatha handles throne to Rama. Rama left palace but was not letting Sita come with him. But she wanted to go "O Rama, and let me share thy sorrow and thy joys. Sweeter will be the jungle with thee beside me than the palace when thou hast departed.” Last words from Darharatha "In the middle of the second night after Rama had departed, Dasharatha awoke and cried, “O Kaushalya, I am dying with grief. Mine eyes have grown blind with weeping. Take my hand in thine and speak unto me. Oh! Bitterly I grieve now that I cannot look upon Rama ere I die. Happy are they whose eyes behold him. My heart beats feebly.”

Marriage of Rama and Sita