Week 14 Reading, continued: Bhagawat

Reading: Bhagawat: The Krishna Avatar, Amar Chitra Katha


So, this section focused mostly on the stories of how Krishna got his wives. He actually kidnapped his first wife from her wedding. Apparently, do that is called Rakshasa Vivaha. Although, she had asked him to do it, I don't know that it really fits with the kind of character Krishna is said to be. However, there are definitely some ancient Hindu marriage customs that I just really don't understand that well.

Anyways, after he kidnapped her, her brother, Rukmi, came after Krishna to get her back. The fight that ensued, from a bystander's viewpoint, was hilarious. As soon as Rukmi caught up, Krishna shot and kill his chariot driver and both his horses. Then, every time Rukmi pulled out a weapon to retaliate, Krishna broke it with an arrow from his bow. It was like the black knight from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. I was just waiting for Rukmi to tell Krishna that he'd bite off his kneecaps. Finally, after Rukmi was beat, Krishna shaved half of his head, including his mustache, as a punishment.

It's just a flesh wound!
taken from Monty Python and the Holy Grail - Source

Week 14 Reading, continued: Bhagawat

Reading: Bhagawat: The Krishna Avatar, Amar Chitra Katha

 This section of the story deals with Krishna's life as a prince after beating Kamsa. After beating Kamsa, Krishna made up for lost time in his training as a warrior. He and Balarama managed to complete their training in 64 days, and to thank their teacher, they brought his son back from the dead. Also, stereotypical training montage (Although I guess if he did it first, it wasn't stereotypical then.):

Krishna and Balarama Training
taken from Bhagawat

Krishna was attacked several times by a relative of Kamsa. Every time, he brought a army numbering in the tens of thousands, and every time, his army was slaughtered. I swear, I keep thinking this book couldn't describe anything more amazing, and it keeps stepping it up.

This chapter is named after the fortress Dwaraka that Krishna makes during this time. However, this section doesn't seem to have a set goal like the previous chapters. The biggest thing it seems to be doing is setting up for Krishna's interactions with the Pandavas. Other than that, it seems to just kind of ramble on with different stories.

Week 14 Reading: Bhagawat

Reading: Bhagawat: The Krishna Avatar, Amar Chitra Katha

Finally get to the story where Krishna fights Kamsa, and it doesn't happen until the very end. On top of that, it barely lasts any time at all. It actually reminds me of Ocean's Eleven in that way. The majority of the story goes over Kamsa's complicated, multi-staged plan to kill Krishna and Balarama, Krishna's brother. Of course, it all failed.

This story was actually pretty gory as compared to the earlier ones. Sure, Krishna had killed enemies before, but his time he's described as decapitating them or wring them out like a wet cloth. More than one's he pulls out his enemy's horns and kill them with them. There was just a lot of fighting in this chapter, and that seems to be the theme of the stories.

Krishna Fighting an Elephant
taken from Bhagawat

I think my favorite of them was when Krishna fights an elephant. He comes up on it at the entrance to Kamsa's celebration, and the elephant attacks him. Krishna dodges it and taunts and teases the elephant for a while. Then, when he tires of the fight, Krishna knocks down the elephant with a single tug of its trunk and kills it with it's own tusk.

Week 13 Reading, continued: Bhagawat

Reading: Bhagawat: The Krishna Avatar, Amar Chitra Katha

This chapter focused mostly on the story of how Krishna saved his village from a giant storm by holding up a mountain like an umbrella. This chapter consisted of several smaller stories. If I had to pick a general idea tying all of them together, it would be the process of the people coming to respect and even worship Krishna.

Krishna lifting up the mountain
taken from the Bhagawat

Krishna does a lot of things that would get anyone else in trouble, but according to the narrator, he is just testing the villagers. So, when they find out, they end up thanking him in the end. It's a little weird, and I don't know if I can take the idea that Krishna does all the things he does without any other motive than to test his followers. It seems to me like he does a lot of it for fun.

Anyways, it was kind of funny how he fooled the whole village into thinking that their local mountain was a deity. I guess Indra was a little arrogant in expecting worship from the villagers, but I don't think that it was a good idea to get them to expect help from an inanimate object. I feel like I'm split on the reasoning for most of Krishna's actions.

Week 13 Reading, continued: Bhagawat

Reading: Bhagawat: The Krishna Avatar, Amar Chitra Katha

The second chapter of the book continues very similarly to how the first had left off. From what I can gather, it covers Krishna's life from a toddler to about 6-7 years old. His acts of heroism have only gotten more amazing. In one day, he killed two demons by tossing one into the air and literally ripping the other limb from limb.

I thought that particular story was a little funny because it was only children who witnessed this, and when they went to tell the adults, all the adults immediately believed them. From what I had read, no one had witnessed Krishna's greatness up to that point, so they had no reason to believe it. But, they just went along with it, praising Krishna.

Balarama, Krishna's brother, is no slouch himself at this point. He grabbed hold of a tree and shook all the fruit from it, and tossed a disguised demon around like a rag doll. Although, the most amazing this he's done is definitely when he was carried away by a giant Asura. As soon as Balarama notices, he punches the Asura and caves in his skull. It reminds me of One Punch Man, a funny web-comic.

One Punch Man killing a monster with one punch
Source

Week 13 Reading: Bhagawat

Reading: Bhagawat: The Krishna Avatar, Amar Chitra Katha


 I'm starting on a set of comics about Krishna's life. This first story deals with his birth and early childhood. The story has a narrator recounting Krishna's life to a younger person, and everything is told for a kind of omniscient point of view, but the story seems to only have information from those around Krishna.

Most of the story focuses on the amazing, if sometimes silly, exploits of baby Krishna. It's actually different from what I'm used to in stories of Krishna. Generally, Krishna is treated as if he has an adult's mind from birth, and there is a bit of that here and there, but for the most part, Krishna is very childlike.

They glazed over my favorite part which is when Krishna eats some fruit that he wasn't supposed to. They didn't even mention the fruit. They just talked about the boys tattling on Krishna, and his mother seeing the universe in his mouth.

Krishna knocking over two trees
taken from Bhagawat

I think my favorite part from this story is when he topples two trees because he walked between them with a mortar on his back. Apparently, he freed a couple of cursed beings, but they don't really say what happened to them. That might be worth looking into.

Week 12 Reading Diary: Ramayan 3392 AD II

Reading: Ramayana 3392 AD II, Shamik Dasgupta, 2007

 I couldn't get ahold of the first volume, so I'm going to go ahead an continue reading the second volume for now.

The story was pretty similar to the original up to the point where they meet "Vish" for the second time. Then, it completely changes. Seeta runs off on her own, and Rama and Lakshman are captured. I think this is a representation of the battles Rama has with the Rakshasas in the forest. He and his brother end up fighting against a lot of Rakshasas in a thunder-dome-like arena. It's a pretty cool re-imagining of how the party split up, and I think it makes the characters a lot more dynamic than the original. A lot of problems they've encountered are from their own actions rather than some deus ex machina. Of course, Seeta is a sort of deus ex machina personified, but that's neither here nor there.

Deus Ex Seeta
Taken by me, from Ramayan 3392

The world they created for this book is quite interesting, but I have to say my favorite part is what they did to the characters. The original characters of the Ramayana are interesting, but compared to the ones in this story they're almost one dimensional. Even Rama gets angry and makes mistakes. He doesn't just walk through life immediately succeeding. He has to work for everything.

Week 11 Reading Diary: Ramayan 3392

Reading: Ramayana 3392 AD II, Shamik Dasgupta, 2008

Okay, so this reading was a little weird for me. I was supposed to be reading the first volume, but I ended up getting the second. Apparently, the library has the volumes marked backwards. I made it halfway before realizing it, so I’ll go ahead and do my first diary for that and start at the beginning for the rest.

The book had quite a good synopsis of what had happened so far, to the point that I wasn’t sure if that was just the way they were telling the first part of the story. I felt a little lost in places, but not even having read the first book, I could follow along. Of course, I have read the Ramayana already, so that’s something.

Anyways, aside from the confusion, this is awesome. The whole post-apocalyptic mythos is very creative, and they do a very good job of weaving in traditional Indian mythology. There are some very strong metaphors, and the story is more in line with the hero’s journey than the original in some ways. It even has a land called “Nark” which holds Lanka and is basically a metaphor for the dark side.

Dark Side Poster
Source, Artist: Frenchtouch29

The art is amazing. It has some of my favorite renditions of the non-human creatures in Indian epics. The style is very visceral and turbulent. It feels like I’m watching an action movie when I read it. Which, I think is very fitting for the Mad Max-esque tone of the narrative.
 

Monkey People
Taken by me, from Ramayan 3392

If my storybook didn’t follow the traditional stories as closely as it does, I think that this book would be a great resource of inspiration for changes that I might want to make. They made the story as different from the Ramayana as possible while still keeping it very much the same where it counts.

Week 10 Reading: Divine Beings

Reading: Divine Beings: Airavata, Jatayu, Nandi and Others, Amar Chitra Katha

The hellhounds that I used in my storybook are apparently called Shyama and Sabala aka dusk and dawn. The second story in this collection told their origin. I didn't expect this it was pretty cool. Apparently the Asuras built their own version of the Tower of Babel.  Indra struck it down and turned the two strongest Asuras into Yama's guard dogs.

Maybe I could make the Asuras overrun heaven for my storybook. That could make for a heck of a climax.

The last two stories are about Airavata, the last flying elephant (Yeah, apparently they used to fly. What's next pigs? haha.), and the last story is of the aftermath of Narasimha killing Hiranyakashapu. That second one is a straight up Kaiju battle.This one would have gone very poorly if Vishnu hadn't looked around and noticed the destruction, like if he was blinded or something...

Giant monster battle between Shiva(left) and Vishnu(right)
Taken from Divine Beings

This little graphic novel was really good from coming up with some subplots for storybook. There was a lot of good stuff.

Week 9 Reading, continued: Divine Beings

Reading: Divine Beings: Airavata, Jatayu, Nandi and Others, Amar Chitra Katha

The story of Jatayu and Sampati was pretty close to the one I read previously, but there a couple of subtle differences. The first thing I noticed is that the vultures are give a humanoid appearance. I had been used to picturing them just as large birds, but I think this depiction make them a little easier to feel for.

Depiction of Jatayu and Sampati
Source: Divine Beings, Amar Chitra Katha

The relationship between Jatayu and Dasaratha was a little different than what I had pictured. It was a very isolated event in this story, but I had always pictured them going to war alonside each other. Also, Shani Dev is an interesting character. I'll have to look into him.

I think Nandi is very cool character. He reminds me a lot of Nachiketa, at least early in life. I think the story of he and Shiva drinking poison from Halahala to save the world might be good for my storybook. I like the imagery of Halahala as a multi-headed snake. He could make for a good villain. Likewise, I didn't realize that he was the one who cursed Ravana to die by the hands of monkeys. Since he and Jatayu both have something to hate Ravana for, it might make some good conflict for my story.

Week 9 Reading Diary: Nachiketa

Reading: Nachiketa: A Collection Of Stories From The Upanishads, Amar Chitra Katha (Volume 702)

I enjoyed the minimalistic style of these stories. Each story is quite short, but it never feels too short. They did a really good job of conveying the needed information clearly, and they left out anything that didn't serve the story.

The story of Nachiketa learning about the Hindu life cycle was a little unexpected. There were Brahmin in the story who didn't believe in the concept of the self going beyond the body (or enlightenment). This is really weird since it's one of the core concepts of Hinduism. There wasn't too much context around it (There might be more in the original Upanishads.) I'm guessing it's sort of an origin story for the concept which might be cool to do my own spin on.

Yama greeting Nachiketa
Edited by me (Original)

The portrayal of Yama in this comic is a lot like the one in my storybook. He looks almost exactly like the Asuras in the last story, but he has a kinder face and attitude. He is also with his water buffalo. I'll have to look into that creature. It might be useful for my storybook.

The last two stories dealt with concepts important to living a satisfied life. The second talks about being truthful and seeing the presence of god all around us, and the last details the three cardinal virtures, self-control, charity, and compassion. I think these might be good themes for my stories.

Week 7 Reading Diary, continued: Epified Mahabharata

Reading: Epified Mahabharata by Epified

 I'm really enjoying this version of the Mahabharata, although it is a little weird to watch all the episodes at once since each one will recap on the last, most of the time. There is definitely a lot of skipping around though, as compared to Narayan. They get the part where Karna becomes king, stop the episode, and never go back to that scene. They also never discuss the Pandava's attack on Drupad.

There was more focus on Bhima's strength in this version, I think. The focus of one of the episodes is him carrying his family after their escape from the wax mansion and caring for them almost by himself. I kind of wish they had gone into more detail on his battle with Drupaka though. That was a actual pretty hilarious fight.

Drona asked for quite a bit more in this version of the story. Being denied a cow seemed a little ridiculous, but if someone came and asked me for half my kingdom because of a promise I made as a small child, I would probably turn them away too.

It seems like everyone is hating on Karna. From this perspective, I can kind of understand him despising his brothers. His treatment could almost be called cruel between Drona and Draupadi.


There is definitely a lot going on underwater in this version of the story. Those are actually some of my favorite scenes in the drawings. The one below is from when Arjuna meets Ulupi at the bottom of a lake.

Arjuna meets Ulupi
Screenshot taken form Epified Mahabharata

Week 7 Reading Diary: Epified Mahabharata

Reading: Epified Mahabharata by Epified

I really like this style of storytelling. The illustrations are very well done. I think what I like most about this though, is the voice-overs. Some of the names in the Mahabharata are pretty difficult to pronounce and hearing someone say them properly helped to clear the confusion up in my head.

The perspective of the story is definitely different from Narayan's. The Pandavas are treated even more like perfect heroes in this version (so far). Narayan treated them more like humans taking time to talk about mistakes they made, but this version looks at them more as gods and focuses much more on the mistakes of the kauravas.

I don't remember Bhima talking to his snake king grandfather at the bottom of a lake in the other story, but a lot happened, so maybe I just forgot. Either way, it's just awesome. I don't have anything else to say. The idea itself is just awesome.

It got really, really dark towards the end of this part. Ekalavya becomes the greatest archer and is forced to cut off his thumb. This was just to please a young boy who was mad because someone was a better archer than him. It seemed out of character for drona, but then again, he does jump back and forth between being very peaceful and very vengeful quite a lot.

I also just realized that Yudhishthira is basically old school superman. He embodies truth, justice, and... okay maybe not exactly, but it's a good simile.

1940's Superman
Source

Week 7 Reading: Narayan's Mahabharata

Reading: The Mahabharata by  R. K. Narayan

Duryodhana's obsession with beating the Pandava's becomes quite ridiculous towards the end. They try everthing they can to obtain peace, and he shirks it aside, even attempting tricks like trapping Krishna. In the end, he even brainwashes himself, convincing himself that he wants nothing more out of life and all his suffering was due to the Pandava's greed. It's almost like a story of descent into madness.

That war was a very long 18 days. I found it interesting because it is the first time I know of that Narayan has described, in detail, military tactics, e.g. the lotus formation. Of course, these were integral to the story, but to me it feels unusual for the author.

Bhishma's death was... umm... different. At first, I thought he fell onto the bed of arrows and died a few days later while the war waged on, but no, he stayed alive through the end of the war, a coronation ceremony, and funeral rights. Then, he talked to Yudhishthira for two days straight. That's a long time to sit on the arrows doing nothing. It's probably the greatest feat of discipline I heard of yet.

Bhisma lying on his death bed of Arrows
Source

I like how the Pandavas get around lying to Drona. We killed him (but he was an elephant)! I think that sums up the sometimes silly double standards of honor in this story. The characters will chastise someone for some form of trickery, then turn around and do something even worse themselves.

I kind of wonder why Krishna let his kingdom fall into Civil War. He supposedly all-knowing and should have had plenty of time to prevent it, but he lets it happen, and his entire kingdom disappears as a result. To me, he seems like a terrible ruler, leaving his country all the time to help others and never taking care of his own.

Week 6 Reading, Continued: Narayan's Mahabharata

Reading: The Mahabharata by  R. K. Narayan

I like how Duryodhana goes out to embarrass the Pandavas and is immediately shot down by the Gods. Not only do they send someone to stop him, but he is taken captive and embarrassed himself. This is probably my favorite example of karma at work so far.

I think interaction at the lake between Yama and Yudhishthira could be very useful for my story book. It's the most interaction that the two have had up to this point. Why did Yama come to help them? Whey did he do it in this way? This bit of story leaves a lot of questions. I wonder if he felt he needed to interfere to keep up with Indra who had already helped out his son immensely.

The whole situation with Draupadi in Virata's palace just makes me think of video game escort missions. She's running around all over the place while Bhima follows killing everyone else before they can reach her.

To me, Uttara is a hilarious character. He's the class knight in shining armor wannabe. Him jumping from the chariot and running away was a great picture, especially with how Arjuna would've looked at that time.

There are a lot of politics after the Pandava's finish up their exile. Talking back and forth, everyone seems to be determined to avoid the inevitable. Although, I will say that Arjuna was recognized early, and although it was only a couple of days, with the way these characters stick to their words, I'm surprised they're letting slide, especially Krishna the "omniscient."

Ok, I found the character that Uttara reminds me of the most. His name is Whisper, and he's from the new King's Quest game, a real ladies' man. *cough*

Who is this?
Source

Week 6 Reading: Narayan's Mahabharata

Reading: The Mahabharata by  R. K. Narayan

 Yudhishthira is said to be the most judicial of the brothers, but then, according to this account, he seems to make the poorest decisions. I understand him agreeing to the gambling match in order to avoid the prophecy, but he doesn't need to keep going like he did. He definitely didn't need to go back after that close call either.

The gambling match might be a good point to through this bit of mythos off the rails in my storybook.

Arjuna actually seems to be the best example of a kshatriya so far in the epic. He goes through trials and tribulations after walking in on Yudhishthira and Draupadi. Then, he goes through a period of hard training after being exiled with his brothers, and it sounds like he might be the key to the coming war. He seems to be the hero of the story.

It's interesting that Krishna couldn't interfere in the gambling matches. He's demonstrated the ability to know the future, present, and past at once. So, he must have known that the events would lead to the destruction of an entire race. To me, that seems like something worth preventing, so what was he doing that was so important?

The twins haven't been very important to the story at all up to this point. They've been mentioned on the side every once in a while, and that's the only reason I remember they even exist. I'm wondering if Narayan has skipped anything in the story about them or if they'll become more important later.

Ok, so the story of Arjuna praying to the gods for weapons and boons reminds me of one of my favorite scenes from the Matrix. When Neo and Trinity are about to take on the agents, Neo ask for guns, "lots of guns".

"lots of guns" from the Matrix
Source

Week 5 Reading: Narayan's Mahabharata

Reading: The Mahabharata by  R. K. Narayan

There are so many characters in this story! I've never actually felt like a family tree was necessary at the beginning of the story to help me keep track before. That said, it seems like every character, even the minor ones, seems to have a story. It's just that Narayan seems to be skipping large portions of them in favor of time.

Yama is Yudhistra's father. He's mentioned briefly before Yudhistra's birth. He is apparently very fair and just, "the most judicious of the gods." He always knows the right path

I think Drona would get along well with Mel Gibson's character from The Patriot. They both have the same policy on marksmanship. "Aim small, miss small."

During the graduation ceremony for the princes after their training with Drona. Most of the ceremony is told through the perspective of another person addressing a blind man. It's a very interesting way of telling that situation. There's a lot more focus on action and less on appearance.

When Bhima took on Baka, it was almost hilarious. It was like a big game of cat and mouse, except Baka thought he was the cat and not the mouse.

Bhima fighting Baka
Source

There is an apparent double standard between men and women. There are questions about Draupadi having multiple husbands. But, one of the princes actually kidnaps 3 young girls to give his brother wives, and it's completely okay.

Supposing Vyasa actually wrote this story, it has a very unreliable narrator. Any time he is mentioned, it's almost like they worship the ground he stands on. I also find it interesting that whenever it's not sure how the story will continue, Vyasa just forces it.

Week 4 Reading Diary, continued: Ravana: Roar of the Demon King

Reading:
Ravana: Roar of the Demon King, A graphic novel detailing Ravana's life from his own perspective, Author: Abhimanyu Singh Sisodia, Artist, Sachin Nagar

I loved the art style of this book. It has one of my favorite depictions of Hanuman, shown below. There was also a great picture of Ravana roaring with his ten heads at the end, but I wasn't able to get a picture while I had the book. I'll have to try and get it later.

Character Depictions from Roar of the Demon King
Source

For the second half of the story, Ravana acted a lot more in character, from the perspective of the Ramayana. As they quoted, "Pride comes before the fall." And, he was extremely prideful. Every time he was defeated, he acted as if he had let it happen on purpose, and he never listened to warnings from anyone else.

The story of him capturing Indra and displaying him in the city, only to be captured himself and given the same punishment was a really good demonstration of Karma, I think.

In Ravana's version of his war with Rama, a lot of the characters seem to have much more respect for Rama. Kumbhakarna seems to be very much against fighting Rama, and he is only coaxed into doing so when Ravana says it's for his family, something that seems to be extremely important to Ravana and his siblings.

Also, Lakshmana's defeat of Ravana's son seems very dishonorable in this version. He takes a small army and invades a temple where the son is worshiping to kill him while unarmed. On top of that, the gods drop in to help as well. It seemed very out of character for Lakshmana, and if it was mentioned in the Ramayana, it was definitely glossed over.

I think it was interesting that Ravana has actually been worshiped as a deity, according to the notes. I didn't expect that at all. That and the (supposed) fact that he made an instrument, which would eventually lead to things like the violin, paints a very different picture of him.

Week 4 Reading Diary: Roar of the Demon King

Reading:
Ravana: Roar of the Demon King, A graphic novel detailing Ravana's life from his own perspective, Author: Abhimanyu Singh Sisodia, Artist, Sachin Nagar

Cover of Ravana: Roar of the Demon King
Source

 

 

Ravana had some interesting origins. I didn't realize that his father was a Brahmin. I think there's an interesting dicotomy between his grandfather and father. His grandfather was the epitome of evil, and his father actually reminded me of Vishvamitra. It seems as if Ravana could have gone either way, Dharma or Adharma. He's almost an anti-hero. I spent a good part of the story rooting for him.

Ravana's wife, Mandodari, and brother, Visbhishana, are both very devote characters, and they almost seem out of place next to a lot of the actions Ravana takes. From Ravana's perspective, the gods don't seem so perfect. There seems to be a mutual disrespect.

Ravana seemed to care about his family in the Ramayan, but in this story, he really seems to have a deep caring for them. A lot of his decisions are made for the good of his family members. Of course, the story does have a pretty unreliable narrator in Ravana himself.

It seems like Ravana's story follows the hero's journey. Of course, he succumbs to temptation, but he still ends up finding Dharma in the end. That might be an interesting tool for the structure of my storybook.

It's kind of mentioned as an aside, but Ravana actually goes to the underworld and conquers it. I can't imagine Yama would be very happy with that, but there's not really any mention of the god or his reaction. That might be worth looking into. It could make for a good conflict.

Week 3 Reading Diary, continued: Narayan's Ramayana

Reading:
The Ramayana: A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic by R. K. Narayan

 Ravana asked his men to speak plainly about what they thought a good course of action would be to take care of Rama, and they did. Normally, with these kind of characters everyone is too afraid to say anything against them, but a few did and Ravana took it without bashing their skull. I think this makes him a bitter rounder of a character. He didn't really listen, but he also didn't overreact.

Vibishana's intentions are a little hard to follow. He seems to care for his brother, but after he gets told off, he goes over to Rama very quickly, and he seems to have lost all caring for his brother. It seems very sudden.

Ravana is demonstrated as being very two-faced at this point. He'll talk about fighting Rama not being worthy of him and then turn around and try to trick Sita in every way possible.

The battle between Rama and Ravana was very, very long for this version. There were a lot of interesting asthras, and I also thought the self powered chariots were pretty cool. The imagery of the crust of evil falling off of Ravana when he was killed by Rama was very deep, and I think it has a lot of interesting connections with Reincarnation. What happened to Ravana after this?

Rama kills Ravana
Courtesy of Ramayana.com

I think the story with Sita proving her herself for Rama is an good look at ancient indian culture. It doesn't seem to make any sense to me (or Narayan apparently), but it may have been much more the norm at the time.

And they lived happily ever after... (except in versions where they don't)