Styles Brainstorm: Karma

Topic: The topic I want to focus on for my storybook is Karma. In particular, I want to focus on its connections with reincarnation and Dharma. For my stories, I wanted to juxtapose the values of Dharma and Adharma. For the side of Adharma, I wanted to look at the story of Ravana, particularly his capture of Sita, which led to his downfall. For Dharma, I wanted to take a look at either Krishna or Yudishthira. The story of Krishna's that stood out most to me was the story of Krishna and the Fruit Lady, which demonstrates the value of generousity. Yudishthira has an interesting story of how he wouldn't enter heaven without a dog companion of his, and I think it could be a good mesh to the greed of Ravana. My story choices are based on the relevance of the two sides of Karma within them.

Bibliography:
1. The Ramayana by R. K. Narayan, particularly the sections on Ravana
2. Krishna and the Fruit Lady,  from "The Butter Thief"
I found this story online, but I may find other good stories as I read through the Mahabharata, and I also plan to read the Harivamsha as well.
3. Yudishthir's Assent to Heaven, from the Mahabharata
I read about this on his Wikipedia page.

Style Ideas:

Divine Observer: Yama is the god of death and Dharma, so I think he would make a very good narrator for the stories. He might be using them to explain the concept of Karma to a person who has recently died. He would retell the stories from his point of view and focus on the aspects of Karma demonstrated in them. He might even expand on what happens afterwards. Since Yama is the god of death, this could fall under the Trial in the Afterlife theme as well.

Savitri appealing to Yama
Source

Outer Space: I think this topic would work really well with outer space. I could examine the whole universe as a character, with its own Karma. If I did this, I'd probably want to bring in the creation story and the overall Hindu mythology of the various ages of man. I could look at how the universe maintains its Karma and maybe even take a look at its current balance.

Time Machine / Butterfly Effect: I could have a character travel through time and inadvertently disrupt the universe's Karma. They would then be sent on a quest to bring back balance through some act of Dharma. Along the way, I could explore the sides of Karma.

Interactive Fiction: This style of storytelling works perfectly with Karma. I could give the reader an opportunity for an introspective look into their own Karma. I've been having trouble thinking of a good focus for this style, but it meshes so well with Karma that I had to mention it. I might combine it with one of the others.

Overall, I think I like the idea of using a frametale. Most of the styles I've looked at work well with it. I also think it would give me more opportunities to bring my own creativity into the mix a little more than an anthology.

Week 3 Storytelling: A Demon in the Forest

It was just after noon. The hot summer sun was beating down on our small shack. Rama had been away for 3... 4 hours. I was on guard duty, watching Sita while Rama hunted, and she was starting to get restless.

I had told him that it was a bad idea. "It has to be trick," I said," another lowly asura sent by that temptress, Surpanakha." He wouldn't listen though, "Whether its a demon or animal, I can kill it with my bow if need be," he stated proudly as he gather up his bow and arrows, "Take care of Sita while I'm gone." Then, he headed out into the woods.

Another 30 minutes passed, Sita wanted to go looking for Rama, but I managed to talk her down, too dangerous with the Rakshasas around. Then, there was a yell, " Sita!.. Lakshmana!.. Help!.." It sounded like Rama, but I knew better. Someone was up to no good. Sita, however, didn't agree.

Sita freaked out. She started yelling for Rama, pacing back and forth frantically. She wanted to go looking for him, and I tried to talk her out of it again, but she wouldn't have any of it. "Either you go find Rama, or I kill myself here and now!" she screamed. I could tell by the look in her eye that she meant it. Rama told me to stay behind and keep Sita safe from demons, but that wasn't going to do much good if she was already dead. So, I took a bow, grabbed my weapon, and ran out the door.

"Stay in the house!" I yelled back as I crossed the small clearing outside and entered into the forest.

~~~

I had gone for about a mile and a half when I ran straight into Rama. I took a minute to catch my breath, and I asked, "What happened?"

"I was chasing the golden deer, when I realized that it was moving too fast for a deer," he panted. From the heavy sweat on his brow and his rapid breathing, it appeared that Rama had been running for quite a while. He continued, "I had a bad feeling, so I shot an arrow at the beast, breaking its illusion. It had actually been a demon sent as a distraction. When it fell, it sent out a cry in my voice. I was worried about you two, so I ran back immediately."

Right then, a shrill scream broke through the woods, scaring a flock of birds who flew up into the air. The voice behind the scream seemed to belong to Sita. Before I could say anything, Rama was 20 yards away, dashing towards the shack.

~~~

By the time we had gotten back, whoever had taken Sita was long gone. The small house was ransacked. Tables and chairs were knocked aside. Even the walls were cracked in places, and there was a large crater in the center of the floor. I looked outside and found a set of tracks. It appeared that a large chariot had taken off from here recently, headed towards the east. I relayed the information to Rama, and we head towards the east.

After a few miles, we came upon a large body lying prostrate in the road. As we got closer, I realized that the creature was a large bird. It looked like it had been in a serious fight. It was heavily bruised and missing both wings. The area was covered in blood and feathers. A steady stream of blood leaking from a gaping wound in its neck soaked the ground around it.

Rama and Laksmana washing Jatayu's wounds
Courtesy of Columbia.edu

"Rama!" it spoke suddenly. By some miracle, the creature was still alive, and we realized, it was the great vulture Jatayu, an old friend of Rama's father. He had been so beaten and bloodied that he was unrecognizable. "Rama," he continued, " I'm sorry I couldn't stop him. The demon known as Ravana took Sita while you were away. I chased after and tried to fight him, but he easily defeated me."

"This is terrible," said Rama, " I can't believe anyone would do this. We'll see to your wounds. Which way did he go?" Before Rama finished the question, Jatayu was dead. We took some time to bury the bird, and continued our search.

That was over a week ago, and we haven't found anything yet. Rama is determined as ever, but I can tell from the look in his eyes that he's starting to worry. We recently got a tip that she might be South, towards Kiskinda. We're heading that way tomorrow.

Author's Note:
I based this story on the aftermath of the trick played on Rama by Maricha and Ravana. Maricha took the form of a golden deer and lured Rama from his home. While Rama was away Ravana came in and kidnapped Sita so that he could make her his wife. I started about halfway through and went from there. The story ends just before Rama meets Hanuman.
I wanted to try my hand at a first person narrative. So, I went for a kind of hard-boiled, gritty style and told the story from the perspective of Lakshmana, Rama's brother and right-hand-man. I was going for a more down to earth tone, focusing more on the details Lakshmana would have noticed.

Bibliography:
Narayan, R. K. (2006-08-29). The Ramayana: A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic (Penguin Classics) (p. 16). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. link

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)

Week 3 Reading Diary: Narayan's Ramayana

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

The curse laid on Ravana could make for an interesting flashback story of sorts. I also feel like that's some form of foreshadowing, but we'll see. Also, the picture of Ravana in my mind keeps changing, originally I just picture him with a normal body with ten heads. But, it was specifically stated that he has twenty shoulders, so does he also have twenty arms? Here's a picture that's like that:

Ravana
Courtesy of Harekrsna

Narayan's description of Ravana killing Jatayu was the most violent and specific so far. Compared to a lot of other stories it's still not very bad, but it's more than Narayan usually says. Also, apparently Ravana tried to show a little mercy at the beginning, which was unexpected.

The whole story of Ravana killing Vali is very strange, the conversations become very unreal as Vali is dying, and things don't seem to line up right. When Rama met Sugreeva, something felt off about his story, but as soon as the story got to Vali, I was sure that Sugreeva was tricking Rama for his own gain, and I haven't seen any evidence otherwise. Vali seemed like a just ruler who was tricked by his brother, Sugreeva didn't go running to his wife after Rama defeated Vali, of course that could be a cultural thing, but he just starts drinking and celebrated and doesn't seem to focus on war prep at all. Maybe it was intentionally vague though.

Hanuman seems to be much more powerful than I expected. He broke out of a deep underground cavern somehow, which could make for a really good story, and was able to grow larger than Vishnu had before, 3 times to be precise. I also find the curse laid on him by his father to be very interesting. He reminded me so much of Son Wukong from Journey to the West that I did a quick google search, and apparently Wukong is based on Hanuman. That's something to remember.