Week 10 Reading Diary: The Pandav Princes continued

The Pandav Princes by Wallace Gandy

As this week is coming to a close, I finally finished the reading I started last week, The Pandav Princes. Wallace Gandy wrote this in order to highlight the lives of the five Pandav brothers. His work highlighted many important aspects of the epic Indian story, The Mahabharata. The last section I read discussed the Holy Song and how Krishna convinced Arjun that he must fight for what is right. In these last chapters, Gandy discusses many of the important events that happened during the battle at Kurukshetra. He talks about how Bhishma dies and also how Drona dies. He also talked about how Abhimanyu dies. The chapter that I focused on was The War Ends. At the beginning of this chapter, Yudhishthir comes from the battlefield to talk to Arjun and Krishna. He asks Arjun if he had killed Karna yet. Yudhishthir goes on to insult Arjun, saying he is only mighty in looks, not action. At this, Arjun becomes very angry and almost slays his own brother/king. Krishna intervenes and told Arjun not "to give way to sinful anger." After both Yudhishthir and Arjun calmed down, Arjun left to go defeat Karna. He was ruthless in his attempts, but so was Karna. The only reason Arjun gained an upper hand was because, at one point, Karna's chariot wheel got stuck in some mud. After some time, Arjun had so much anger in him that he sent a mighty arrow through Karna, finally killing him. The war had finally ended. I would write a story and change up the part where Karna's wheel got stuck. This would make the end of the battle more fair. 

(Arjun slays Karna. Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Bibliography. The Pandav Princes, Wallace Gandy. (1915)

Week 10 Reading Diary: The Pandav Princes continued

The Pandav Princes by Wallace Gandy

For the remainder of this week, I am going to be finishing up The Pandav Princes by Wallace Gandy. This book goes into more detail about the five Pandav princes and their stories and happenings. Since I fell behind last week, I am just now completing part C of these readings. A lot has happened in this part, but I am choosing to focus on the chapter that is called The Holy Song. In this chapter, Krishna Bhagvan explains, in detail, the law of duty for man's guidance. This chapter opens by explaining the intense divide between the Kauravas and Pandavs. At this point, "there was no longer any possibility of peace." Krishna was adviser for the Pandavs. As the fighting commenced, Arjun turned to Krishna (his charioteer) and asked him to take the chariot to the center of the battlefield. Krishna took the chariot to where Arjun asked and he looked around. All around him he saw no one but "grandsires, uncles, cousins, tutors, sons and brothers." At this site, he was full of sorrow and didn't know what to do. Arjun did not care about winning, he did not want to fight anyone. Upon this, Krishna replied, "it is disgraceful, contrary to duty, and is the foundation of dishonor." Krishna told Arjun that he was being unmanly and needed to realize why he must fight. Krishna told Arjun that "the natural duties of thy rank are bravery, glory, fortitude, rectitude, not to flee from the field." After hearing this "holy song" of Krishna's, Arjun knew what he must do. For my story this week, I have this idea of two best friends fighting and another friend playing a role similar to Krishna's. Except, I want the friend to tell the two fighting that they shouldn't throw away their friendship. 

(Krishna and Arjun on the chariot. Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Bibliography. The Pandav Princes, Wallace Gandy. (1915)

Week 10 Reading Diary: The Pandav Princes

The Pandav Princes by Wallace Gandy

This week, I am finishing reading The Pandav Princes by Wallace Gandy. Last week, I was unable to read more than one part of the story so this week I plan on finishing the next three parts this week. At the beginning of this section, A Fatal Passion, Sisupala (king of Chedi) went on and on about how Krishna should not receive any honor because he is neither "a priest, preceptor, king nor chief." At this, Krishna took no offense and basically forgave Sisupala even after all of his insults. He said that Sisupala is one of his own, because he is the son of one of the daughters of his own race. He goes on to talk about how Sisupala burnt down Krishna's seaport of Dwarka. Sisupala was not a good man. He did many wrongs to many people. After some time, Krishna took his mighty discus and severed Sisupala's head. Many people took this as a sign that Sisupala's sins and wrongdoings had been washed away. He was pure again. Yudhishthira ordered Sisupala's last rites to be completed with full regal honors. I have a cool idea to write a story based on this short scene from the book. I am thinking about writing a short story where Krishna explains all of Sisupala's wrongdoings and then as he is going to finish him with his discus, something happens to Sisupala's body. Instead of his head cutting off, I was planning on writing about how his body sort of floated into the air. His body went back in time and he fixed all of his wrongdoings. 

(Krishna kills Sisupala. Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Bibliography. The Pandav Princes, Wallace Gandy. (1915)

Week 9 Reading Diary: The Pandav Princes

The Pandav Princes by Wallace Gandy

For the last 8 weeks, I have read various versions of the great Indian epics, The Ramayana and The Mahabharata. I have read in depth about many different characters, including Sita, Rama, Krishna, and Draupadi. For this week's reading assignments, I have chosen to read The Pandav Princes by Wallace Gandy. This book is a version of the Mahabharata that mainly focuses on the five Pandava brothers. This book goes into detail about many stories about Yudhishtira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula, and Sahadeva. One story about Bhima stuck out to me. In this story, Duryodhan essentially poisoned Bhima and left him to be eaten by snakes in the Ganges. Fortunately, Bhima was able to survive the attacks of the Nagas. It would be fun to write a story based on this event. I would enjoy changing up the story and having Bhima realize he was being poisoned by Duryodhan. I would make it where Bhima showed his god-like power before Duryodhan was able to roll him into the sacred river, Ganges. I also really enjoyed reading more about Arjuna. He is easily my favorite Pandava brother. My favorite part of the section titled The Tournament was when Karna came and showed up Arjuna in all the tasks. After the fact, Karna challenged Arjuna. If I were to write about this competition between Karna and Arjuna, I would definitely highlight Pritha's role as mother of them both. I think it would be a good story where Pritha chooses one son over another. 

(The Battle between Karna and Arjuna. Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Bibliography. The Pandav Princes, Wallace Gandy. (1915)

Tech Tip: Blog Design

After browsing through different blogs, I realized that I want a rounded-edge theme for my blog. In order to do this, I had to choose a completely different template. Since I changed the template, I decided to change the colors and font on my blog as well. 

Week 8 Reading Options

For the next two weeks, I have decided to focus on reading more about the Mahabharata. Specifically, I have chosen stories that focus on the five Pandava brothers. I will be reading The Pandav Princes by Wallace Gandy. 

For week 11, I really want to read the Indian Fables and Folklore by Shovona Devi. 

(The Pandava Brothers. Source: Wikipedia)

Week 8 Blog Ideas

For this assignment, I have browsed through a few of my classmates' blogs. Everyone's blogs look really nice, but a few really caught my attention. 

Chelsey's blog looks really nice because the colors she chose were light. This allowed for all the focus to go straight to her blog posts, which is obviously the main point of the blog. She chose a neutral design for her background. 

Aysha's blog is also really appealing. I like that there is a solid color around the actual blog posts. She also used neutral colors. 

I also really like Sara's blog. She chose an earthy look for her blog site. I like the grass at the top and the way the title looks like it's in the sky. 

After looking at these blogs, I decided that I might want to add a rounded edge to my blog post box. I think that looks really nice. 

Week 8 Time Management

For the first half of the semester, I have been on the class schedule that starts on Mondays. I feel like this is the best schedule for me because on Mondays and Wednesdays, I only have class at 6 pm. Overall, for the semester, I have been pretty good with managing my time. I mainly have evening classes so I am able to get most of my schoolwork done during the day. Although, I have found it better to do the reading assignments for this class during the night because I feel most creative then. 

For the second half of the semester, I want to try to get ahead in this class. I want to do this so that when finals come, I won't be as stressed out. I really like how we can work ahead in this class. 

(Source: Pexels)

Week 7 Reading Diary: Cradle Tales of Hinduism continued

Cradle Tales of Hinduism: Krishna

The past few weeks, I have been reading the Indian epic story, the Mahabharata. This week, I chose to read a different aspect of the story. This story, by Sister Nivedita, covers the life of Lord Krishna. I have grown up knowing about Krishna Bhagvan and his stories. My favorite one was how he tried to steal butter from people's homes during his childhood. Sister Nivedita does a good job of incorporating all the different aspects of Lord Krishna's life into consolidated chapters. Tonight, I finished reading the second part of her stories about Krishna. These chapters covered Krishna's return to Mathura and the Doom of the Vishnis. My favorite chapter being the last one, the Doom of the Vishnis. This chapter began by discussing how peaceful Mathura had become years after the great war on the battlefield of Kurukshetra. But amongst all the happiness, whispers began about some lords of the court who played practical jokes on three divine sages. The people of Mathura began to feel uneasy. Amongst all the rumors, Lord Krishna said "that which is to be will surely happen." I really liked this quote because it's very true. Whatever is going to happen in life, will happen regardless of people's actions. As chaos was ensuing, Krishna stayed calm and told the Vrishnis to go to the coast and bathe in the sacred ocean waters. Lord Krishna warned the people to stay away from alcohol, for that would be their downfall. But, since it was their time to perish, they were lured in by a grand feast where wine was served. Fights broke out in the drunken stupor and ultimately led to the deaths of many. I would be very interested in writing a story about the affects of alcohol on the body. I would incorporate Lord Krishna's warnings into my story. 

(Statue of Lord Krishna. Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Bibliography. Cradle Tales of Hinduism, Sister Nivedita. (1907)

Tech Tip: Weather Widget

For this week's technology tip, I decided to look into adding a weather widget to my blog webpage. I added it on the sidebar underneath everything. Here is the link for directions on how to do this. 

Week 7 Reading Diary: Cradle Tales of Hinduism

Cradle Tales of Hinduism: Krishna

For the past two weeks, I read the online public domain edition of the great Indian epic, the Mahabharata. This epic story was filled with many characters and a great deal of drama and action. I really enjoyed reading it. This week, I chose to read parts of the book, Cradle Tales of Hinduism, by Sister Nivedita. The sections I read were focused on Lord Krishna's stories and his significance in the Hindu religion. The part I enjoyed reading most in the first section of Sister Nivedita's storytelling was about Krishna's birth. They say that his mother and father, Devaki and Vasudeva, were brought together by Devaki's brother, Kansa. Kansa was a tryant leader of Mathura. As he was driving his sister and her new husband to their new home, he received news that the eight child of the couple would be the reason for his downfall. For this reason, Kansa imprisoned them and successfully killed their first seven children. Their eighth child was born in the prison and instantly Devaki knew he was special. He had four arms, that each held a shank, discus, mace, and lotus. In order to save this child, Vasudeva took him to Gokool and switched out his son with Nanda's newborn daughter. When Kansa found out the eighth child was born, he went to the prison ready to slay the newborn who would be the reason for his downfall. When Kansa saw a girl instead of a boy, he was confused. The prophecy said that a boy would be born. Regardless, Kansa took precautions and was ready to kill the girl. As he was picking her up, the form of a Goddess arose and warned him that the boy who was going to destroy him was still alive in Gokool. I have always enjoyed hearing about Krishna's birth because it's such a unique story. If I were to write a story based on this birth, I would change it up and make it where Vasudeva didn't take Krishna away. Instead, I would show Krishna's powers from birth and write about how he was able to dodge Kansa's attempts at killing him. 

(Birth of Krishna. Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Bibliography. Cradle Tales of Hinduism, Sister Nivedita. (1907)