Week 11 Storytelling: The Tale of Ganesha's Head

Long ago...there were two gods, Shiva and Parvati. One day Parvati went to Mt. Kailesh for a bath and didn't want to be disturbed. She ordered Nandi to guard the doors and not let intruders inside. Shiva returned home and demanded Nandi to open the doors. Obediently, Nandi let her in and Shiva was furious because Nandi was more loyal to Parvati, so they decided to create a son (Ganesha) to guard the doors. However, Shiva decapitated Ganesha's head by mistake when she realized that he was not an intruder. In order to fix the mistake, she sent people out to look for a head facing north. From there they sacrificed an elephant's head and replaced it on Ganesha...

"Oh my goodness, what have I done?! My poor son, why didn't he speak up?! I had made such a terrible mistake... I ripped my son's head off and he is not breathing!" said Shiva.

"Parvati! Parvati! Please go and send people out and look for a new head! NOW! Poor Ganesha is not breathing and he must live!" said Shiva.

"It is you who made this mistake. How could you thought our son was an intruder?! Were you blind?! Did you not check to see who it was before slaughtering someone's head off? Is your bath THAT important that you can't have any distractions? I am telling you right now Shiva... you make this mistake again and Ganesha and I will leave you." said Parvati.

"I am sorry my love, I had made this horrible mistake but we must go and save our son now. Lets send our army out and sacrifice a new head for our boy!" said Shiva. 

"No, our army is too weak. We will send out Brahma, for he is the powerful creator and will surely help us find a head for our son!" said Parvati.

Shiva, Parvati, and Brahma searched far and wide for the perfect head. The head must be special and face north. They searched far and wide but still there was not a perfect head. Brahma continued his journey to find a head. While Parvati and Shiva rested under a tree. There Brahma spotted an elephant facing north. 

"This is perfect! I will cut that elephant's head off and give it to Shiva and Parvati!" said Brahma.

Brahma slowly approached the elephant. The elephant woke up from his nap and realized Brahma was staring at him. Then Brahma started to attack the elephant. The elephant made a loud noise and started to stop everywhere. Brahma dodging away from the elephant finally climbed up to a tree and used his bow and arrow to shoot at its back. The elephant shrieked and he climbed down from the tree and onto the elephant and used his knife to stab its heart. The elephant cried and fell on the ground. Brahma began to cut the elephant's head and rushed back to Parvati and Shiva.

"I've got the head now! Let's go and bring Ganesha back to life!" said Brahma.

The three gods rushed back and found Ganesha's body on his bed. They placed the head back on Ganesha and waited...All of a sudden Ganesha opened his eyes and gasped for air. Ganesha had finally come back to life!

Shiva and Ganesha: Ganesha's new head

Author's Note: The topic I chose for the story is about how Ganesha got his head. I thought that was an interesting part of Buck's version of the Mahabharata. The first paragraph I did a short summary of how Ganesha was born and the why Shiva decapitated Ganesha's head off. This time I did not write the story in anyone's perspective but how the story went. I emphasized how sorry Shiva was for cutting her own son's head off. As a parent she felt horrible for her mistake. So Shiva and Parvati asked Brahma for help. I also stated how angry Parvati was with Shiva and threatened to leave her if she made the same mistake again. I'm not quite sure if that was true in the actual myth but I decided to make it more dramatic that way. In the end, Brahma was able to find the perfect head for Ganesha and everyone was happy again that Ganesha came back to life.

Bibliography: William Buck, Mahabharata 

Week 11 Reading Diary B: Buck's Mahabharata

p. 49-91

The fight between Bhima and the demon was intense and surely Bhima is heroic and able to defeat the demon without any weapons. I thought it was kind of weird that Draupadi married all five of the Pandava brothers. I thought only men were allowed to have polygamous marriages but I guess in Indian epics it doesn't matter which gender.

I thought the part of Arjuna falling in love with Subhadra was really interesting and romantic. I wish there would be more details of their romantic lives together but the story focused a lot on the Pandava brothers especially Arjuna. The fire god Agni was significant in the burning of the forest and in a battle with Indra because she wants to eat the forest. I thought that was pretty interesting since it was a battle with fire and water. Arjuna was able to get rid of the clouds with his bow and arrow. Arjuna was such a great warrior!

Agni the Fire God: Agni wants to eat the forest

Week 11 Reading Diary A: Buck's Mahabharata

p. 1-47

So far I enjoyed reading Buck's version of Mahabharata better than Narayan's. I really liked in the beginning how the book mentioned the story of Ganesha. I noticed that Ganesha had been a significant symbol in Indian epics but we have yet to learn the story of Ganesha. I'm glad this book talked about how Ganesha played a role in Mahabharata. I was shocked reading the part where Shiva ripped Ganesha's real head off! Poor Ganesha... I actually thought he was born with an elephant head. I also realized that Ganesha is a male and not female, for some reason I had always thought of Ganesha as a female.

I also thought the part of the snake sacrifice was pretty interesting. If I recall I don't remember Narayan's version mentioned the part of Ganesha or snake sacrifice in Mahabharata. The whole beginning of the story revolve around the concept of karma. The beginning of the Mahabharata began with the aftermath of the snake sacrifice. Janamejaya finally agreed to release the snake and this where the part Vyasa tells the story have his companion recite the Mahabharata.

I really liked the details the book provided for the readers. I thought Buck's version emphasized more on the characters and gives people a clear glimpse of what characters or like. For instance, the part of Arjuna and how he was the best pupil of Drona. Arjuna is a skilled warrior. So far I like the characters of Ganesha and Arjuna. I wish we could learn more about Ganesha and his story.

Ganesha's elephant head: Ganesha

I posted a lot of pictures of Ganesha but I really like the pictures. 

Week 10: Famous Last Words

It is almost the end of the semester... about one more month until graduation. I am ready to get out of school but at the same time I am nervous about finding a job.

I can't believe Indian Epics class is almost over. I really enjoyed this class. There is a lot of work and reading in the class but most of the material is interesting and fun to read. I'm also getting use to blogging and fixing up my writing skills. I've mentioned my horrible habit of getting my past and present tenses confused but I feel like it is getting better. At least I hope it is! I have issues with comma splices too! It is kind of embarrassing that I'm still having grammar issues and I'm a senior in college but this class really helped me on improving my skills. I noticed a lot of interesting storybooks and portfolios too. Everyone is creative and put in a lot of effort into their writings. I think everyone did a wonderful job so far.

So far life has been pretty stressful especially with school. I am not doing well in one of my classes and well I really need to try harder. The class is hard and the professor expects a lot of the students but with effort I'm sure I'll be able to pull myself up again. Other than that I've been working on topics for research papers and preparing for finals. I know it sounds early but with so much on my plate right now... it is better to prepare ahead. Graduation is coming soon and I haven't even found a job yet. I'm planning to get my masters in legal studies but debating on whether or not to stay at OU. I kind of want to explore different cities outside of Oklahoma. I lived here all my life and need a new experience yet I don't want to leave my friends and family here...

Yesterday, I found out that my best friend since grade school is moving to Dallas for her job. I am a little sad and Dallas isn't that far away but the thought of her leaving makes me sad. I am happy she found a great job but with her moving away we won't be able to meet frequently and have our Sunday brunches anymore. I guess that is the part of growing up... people moving away.

This is a personal photo of mine. 

My friend Lan the one I grew up with is on the left and my other best friend Trung is on the right.

Storytelling Week 10: Arjuna as Brihannala

(Arjuna's thoughts)

Oh that Urvashi! How dare she cursed me to become an eunuch! I rejected her nicely and even offered her a compliment that she looked like my mother and now she had cursed me in dancing and singing with women! I need to relax... I am mad right now but I must make the most of it.

(Dancing with the women for a year)

It's been a year now and all I had done was performing with these lovely ladies. Everyone is so nice and treated me like a sister. I had been hiding the truth that I'm a man for the longest time. I also want to see if I can return home and become a warrior again. I will ask my father Indra but first I must tell these ladies the truth. They had been nothing but nice to me and hiding the truth about my real gender makes me feel guilty...

(Walking up to the women)

Ladies, there is something I want to tell you for the longest time now and it is a long story. I don't even know where to begin. First, I am indeed a man disguised as a woman for awhile now.

(Gasps in the crowd of women)

I know... I know.. please just explain. I was cursed by Urvashi because I rejected her love and called her my mother. She was furious and cursed me to become an eunuch for the rest of my life. My father Indra reversed it to one year and now my time is over. I tried to accept the fact that I will be with you beautiful women forever and indeed the past year I've spent with everyone was wonderful. We performed together and traveled all around India. I am happy to call you all my sisters but I'm not satisfied being an eunuch. My real name is Arjuna and I am part of the Pandavas and a true warrior. I want to return being myself and I hope you can all understand that.

"Oh Brihannala! I mean... Arjuna we will support you no matter what! We've been so close these past five years and we all want nothing more than to wish you happiness!" said one of the women.

(All the ladies looked at each other and nod their heads at Arjuna)

Thank you my friends! I hope you all know how much you mean to me but now I must go and find my father Indra to see if he can reverse this curse! I am planning to leave tomorrow morning and begin my journey back home. I will miss everyone and wish everyone well in their lives!

(The ladies embraced each other and the next morning Arjuna began his journey back home)

Arjuna as Brihannala: Eunuch

Author's Note: I decided to do a story over Arjuna as Brihannala when he was cursed by Urvashi and the experiences he had as an eunuch. Arjuna was a positive person and tried embrace the idea of being a woman dancer. Although he found a way to reverse the curse and made it only to one year. He enjoyed his time as a woman and build relationships with the dancers. However, he missed being a warrior and wanted to return home. The story shows connections he had with the women and their friendship. He finally revealed the truth about his real sexuality and the women were not mad at him. Instead they supported him and knew he was always going to be a warrior deep down. I wanted to show real emotions in the story and emphasized on how Arjuna had to tell them the truth. He did not want to leave on bad terms. 

Bibliography: R.K. Narayan The Mahabharata

Reading Diary B Week 10: Narayan's Mahabaharta

p.133-179

Okay... so this part of the battle is pretty intense and bloody. It was a little confusing at first with all the names and everyone kind of fighting at the same time. So I had to go back and read it over again along with the reading guides. I'm a little confused on the part of after Bhima killed Ashwatthaman he called him an elephant? What does the elephant mean? and like the battle scenes are disgusting! they are decapitating heads and mutilating the bodies! And the part where Bhima drinks the blood after killing Duryodhana... I mean gross! What was the point of drinking the blood? Was like a symbol of defeat and you have to drink the blood as some sort of recognition of victory?

So the end of the battle it seems as though everyone is dying... even the Pandavas. The city of Dwaraka is swallowed by the sea and Krishna is killed by the hunter? Well in the end Arjuna survived and had a son who became the ruler of Hastinpura, which continued the Pandavas' bloodline.

So Narayan's Mahabaharta was quite confusing to me. There were so many names kind of thrown all at once. The battle was confusing as well, people were fighting each other and dying. It was chaotic reading the book even the reading guides weren't as clear as I thought. I'm hoping Buck's version would be better to read. I sure like Buck's version of the Ramayana better so hopefully it would be clear!

Bhishma: Mahabaharta

Reading Diary A Week 10: Narayan's Mahabharata

p.85-131

In this part of the book, the most interesting part is the voice in the lake. Nakula goes and find the lake and was forced answer questions before drinking it. However, he refused and the consequences for him was death. Then his brothers followed him: Sahedeva, Arjuna, and Bhima. All of them ignored answering the questions before drinking from the lake and died. Thankfully, Yudhishthira was able to follow the directions and later called upon Yama (the god of death) to revive his brothers but the result was 13 years of exile.

After 12 years the brothers began their journey where they disguise in King Virata's court and poor Draupadi got raped... It is kind of sad that a lot of these women in Indian Epics get raped or kidnapped in the story. Well in this situation it's a good thing that Bhima was able to kill Kichaka. I mean what a horrible thing to do!

The cattle raid was also an interesting part! I really like the character of Arjuna! It was pretty intense and Arjuna won the battle with Drona!

The Pandavas: Indian Epics

Week 9: Famous Last Words

This week was pretty hectic and since Spring Break started I've been busy doing other things and catching up on the rest of my homework for this class.

Today Spring Break is officially over and classes start tomorrow. The month of April is going to be crazy since every single class I am taking require at least a research paper and they are all due in April. I better start on them. I also have a second midterm this week and I am not prepared since I have been out of town for Spring Break. Sometimes I don't understand why teachers assign homework during the break. It's like enjoy the break but not really because you have to study. On the bright side, school will be done in about a month and I am finally graduating! Now the scary part is I have to find a job and a new place to move into... my summer is going to be busy with applying jobs and looking for a new apartment.

So far in Indian Epics class I've been a little behind on my project because there were some grammar issues in my stories. I keep getting my past and present tense mixed up and so the revising on one of my stories took forever. I need to do some more extra credit to make up for it.

However, looking through all the projects in the class a lot of people did a wonderful job on their stories. There were some unique storybooks and portfolios that I really enjoyed reading. Some people had small grammar issues but I can't really criticize since I have the same problem as well. There was this one storybook I thought was interesting because whoever made it added videos and the theme was for children. It was called Ganesha's children or something like that and I thought it was such a clever and cute idea!

I've been reading the Elite Daily a lot outside of school reading. The articles are pretty interesting and fun to read. One of the articles I read was called something a long the lines of The Power of Negative Thinking? I think that was the title but I don't really remember, it was basically describing how pessimist people can actually see reality better than those who are optimistic. Pessimists are better prepared for what is ahead of them because they see the worst situation possible while optimists feel safe in their environment and sometimes can be oblivious to certain situations.

This is a picture of the Dallas, Texas skyline. I went there for Spring Break. Source: Dallas, Texas

Week 9 Reading Diary B: Continuation of Narayan's Mahabharata

p. 41-83

The story goes on with Duryodhana getting mad that the Pandavas are still alive and they built a city Indraprastha and Yudishthira is crowned. I thought the game of dice in the book was interesting part of this section. Yudishthira ended up gambling his brothers away and Draupadi as well. I mean how intense is the game for him to sell his siblings for the game? Not a very smart idea if you tell me. Also the part where Duhshasana dragging Drapaudi by her hair?! Wow... I can't believe how rude and disgusting they treat women and then forcing her to undress. It is like they have no respect for Draupadi and now she is summoned to be an object of this dice game so that these people can degrade her. That is just awful!

It is clear to see that Yudishthira has no self-control in the game and he ended up losing the game, so now the Pandavas are going to exile. How dumb of him to lose everything knowing the exile was 13 years and poverty. So far, I think Arjuna is probably the best character in the book. He has self-control when he was sentenced to live with the women. However, I think it is easier for him since he was castrated and so luckily for him he was tempted by all the women. He later joined the Pandavas and becomes familiar with weapons.

Arjuna using Gandiva: Arjuna

Week 9 Reading Diary A: Narayan's Mahabharata

p. 1-39

This week we are starting to read Narayan's version of Mahabharata and the beginning was a little confusing to me. There are a lot of affairs going and and birthing of children that I need to slow my reading to get the names in my head. The start of the chapter began with Shantanu and Ganga, where Shantanu the king falls in love with a woman who drowned her children... wow talk about being a great mother but good thing the King stopped that from happening on the eighth child Bhishma.

The story goes on about Shantanu and him falling in love with the fisherman's daughter but the father objected and then later they both have children. An interesting part of the book and it made me laughed a little bit was the part of Satyavati smelling like fish and Parashara changed her smell into a perfume. I wonder if Shantanu would still be with her if Parashara didn't change her smell, would he still like her for who she is?

I thought the part of Pandu was pretty sad, he was cursed because he shot the deer while it was having sex. The deer happened to be a disguise and cursed Pandu that he would die having sex. Now Pandu cannot have children with his wives which is pretty sad because they can't start a family because of a curse. How awful is that curse? Not being able to make love to your significant other or in this case "others" but have to die while doing so. What a horrible curse!

So far I enjoyed reading the first part of the book, although there are some warming up to do with the names. I can get the different characters down. First part caught me by surprise because there were so many affairs going on and birthing of the gods that I had to pace my reading and go back and read the reading guides. I am so thankful for the reading guides! It was such a big help.

The Mahabharta: Mahabharata

Week 8: Commenting Review Week

Going back through all my comments I've found a lot of positive feedback from my peers. It is a great experience being able to connect to my classmates online. I really enjoyed reading all my comments from everyone and I want to thank all my classmates for being so nice and positive. I think I can definitely relate to many of them just because we are all students and going through the same problems. Moreover, I can relate to the seniors who are graduating this semester! Whoo hoo OU 2015! My three years at OU had been wonderful and I am sad to be leaving college pretty soon but more excited about the real world. There are many fears inside of me about the real world but it is normal for college graduates. We go through anxiety looking for the right job and ponder about what our lives will be like in the next five years. Some of us probably haven't figured out what to do yet or whether or not graduate school is for them. Life is scary but exciting as well, there is still so much to learn in this world and I'm ready for it.

I really enjoyed this class, not only do we get to learn about Indian Epics but we can connect with other students through online. Reading other people's blogs helped me understand different people and the creativity in them. I was fascinated with people's storytellings and everyone is so creative! I think commenting on other people's post help us improve ourselves and learn from our mistakes. Positive or negative feedback are good things and can help us learn and grow!

University of Oklahoma: OU

I chose this picture because well...I'm almost graduating!

Week 8 Review Week: Writing a Review

I think one of my greatest writing achievements in this class was being able to create or makeup a story with my own imagination. I never knew that I could be creative. In the beginning of the class, I was kind of scared because I didn't know what to expect and my first storytelling I messed up because I made a completely different story that wasn't related to Indian Epics. I realized that I had to stick to the storyline but a new rendition with my own twist to it. I was relieved because there was no way I could keep making up different stories every time, and it would be too confusing for everyone to read. 

I am getting a lot better at creating new stories and enjoyed reading the Ramayana, although I did leave some harsh comments on my opinion about Rama's character. I really liked the novel especially Buck's version. Despite Rama I liked almost every single character in the book even Ravana. I thought he was a good antagonist and really pumped the story up, without him there would be any battles or Sita's drama for Rama... lol that rhymed. 

I still need to work on some of my writings. I tend to get past tense and present tense confused which isn't something new. I've been told this several times but I still get them mixed up! Especially when I type so fast. Moreover, one of my favorite storytellings that I created was probably the last one which is Week 7 Storytelling Sita in the Assembly. It is a story coming from Sita's perspective of how she felt when Rama abandoned her. 

I used this picture in my recent storytelling post

The Beauty of SIta

Week 8: Reading Review Week

I think one of my favorite part of the William Buck's Ramayana was the section of Hanuman and how loyal he was to Rama. In my reading diary Week 6 Reading Diary, I discussed a lot about Hanuman's character and how clever he was to hep Rama. I think his character is very valuable in the story just because without him, Rama wouldn't be able to accomplish his mission to find Sita. Throughout the book I had questioned the character of Rama, whether he is as noble and brave the myth described him. However, in my opinion I am not fond of his character. Even though he is the protagonist and the tale saw him as a brave god. I viewed differently. He is not powerful if it wasn't for Hanuman and his animal friends, he wouldn't be able to slay Ravana and most importantly the fact that he abandoned Sita while she was pregnant Week 7 Reading Diary. That part of the book really shocked me because he worked so hard to get her back and then left her because of a few rumors? Rama the "brave god" is scared of some little rumor? Not to mention that he wasted his friends time in helping him save Sita. I would be so angry with Rama if I was Hanuman. Rama is selfish and only cared about his reputation and how others would see him.

Obviously, I didn't enjoy Rama's character but I did enjoy reading Buck's version of the book better. I thought it was more clear and detailed. I can understand the words better and it helped with my reading posts. I used a lot of my reading diaries to help me with my storytelling and not only that but his version of the book gave a lot of details especially about Ravana that I find it fascinating to read about.

This picture was from my Week 3 Storytelling of Hanuman: The Great Hanuman