Reading Notes: PDE Ramayana, Part B

 

Sita being tempted to be disloyal to Rama by Ravana. Image Information

Bharata returns and finds out that his father died and his brother had been exiled. Is enraged that this all happened and blames his mother for bringing sorrow into the household promises to bring his brother back to the throne. Bharata performs his fathers funeral rites, begins to reflect on what had happened while he was gone but was interrupted and told to follow the traditional funeral rites. Bharata and Rama meet in the jungle and Bharata state that he is lifting Rama's exile and Rama says he cannot recall his sire's orders. Jabali then tells Rama to not be silly and take the raj given to him and Rama gets angry because he says that the doctrines he is being told are false. Bharata offers for him to stay in the jungle instead of Rama, however, Rama still refuses the offer. Bharata returns to the city with a piece of Rama- his sandals and made them the symbol for royal authority.

Sita tells Anasuya the story of her birth while Anasuya tends her with motherly love

Rama, Lakshmana, and Sita arrive in the forest with beasts and Viradha flesh-eating demon takes Sita and wants her to be his wife. Rama’s arrows were not affecting the demon and therefore decides they need to cast him into a pit. Rama finds out this demon is actually an ancient curse that connects him to Rama. Rama meets Agastya and refuses his help with weapons and continues deeper into the forest

Another rakshasa named Shurpanakha tried to assume another form to make Rama leave Sita. She tells Rama she loves him and wants him to be her husband, and Rama stays loyal saying he is married to Sita but his brother would make a good fit for her. Rama stays loyal to Sita. Shurpankakha lashes out at Sita with anger and jealousy and in turn, gets her ears and nose chopped off. Her brother attacks Rama and Rama defeats him. Shurpankaha’s other brother Ravana hears what has happened and teams up with Maricha to kidnap Sita by disguising Maricha as a golden deer and using Rama’s voice to intice her and it works and Sita wants Rama to get it for her. Ravana keeps playing these tricks to get closer to Sita until Jatayu the bird tries to stop it by fighting Ravana.

Ravana carries Sita away but Sita drops her jewelry as a way to be found. Brahma predicts Ravana's death. Ravana tries to seduce Sita to sleep with him but she refuses. Rama finds out from Jatayu what happened, and go to try to find her. On the way, they run into an old woman who has been longing for Rama and has him perform her funeral rites.

My favorite story was the one of Bharata trying to find out what happened with his father and his brother and vows to help his brother. I also like how throughout reading B Sita is constantly challenged with being disloyal to Rama but always stays true to her husband. I think this part of the story can be implemented into my storybook project as a girl who is tempted with everything she wants and everyone wants her relationship to fail, however, she remains loyal. Out of all of the stories, I think this plot would be what I would use in my storybook project.

Bibliography:

Author: Donald A. McKenzie

Title: Sita in Lakna

Link: Link to story

Reading Notes: PDE Ramayana Part A

Rama and his brother battling the enemy. My favorite episode of the reading- Battle of Rama versus Maricha and Subahu. Link to Image 

I really enjoyed getting to read this week's set of stories from the Ramayana. The reading began by introducing us to King Dasharatha and his quest to have sons. The king does a horse sacrifice to have his sons in order to be able to continue his royal bloodline. The horse sacrifice grants him four sons including the main character of the reading- Ramayana. Rama is the avatar of Vishnu and is the only one who can defeat the rakshasas, so Rama and his brother Vishvamitra embark on a journey to do so. The next story was one of my favorites because it was the first time the reader was able to see how powerful Rama was. To summarize, on the way to defeat the rakshasas, he runs into a female rakshasa and begins to use his supernatural weapons. I liked this story the best, and feel as though I can draw a lot of inspiration from it for my storybook project later in the semester.  Rama used a fire weapon to consume one of the attackers, as well as a celestial weapon that was so fierce it sent one of them out to the sea. As the two brothers entered the city they run into a woman named Sita who immediately makes a connection with Rama. I also liked this episode of the story because I think the love story of Rama and Sita could be used within my storyline. Rama and Sita have a wedding and then the next episode of the reading involved Rama inheriting the position as King. Just as Rama becomes the heir to his father, Manthara used her hatred towards Rama that stemmed from heated arguments between Rama and herself long ago when Rama was young. Dasharatha has no choice but to remove Rama from the heir and exile him for his past sins Manthara brings up. Rama is exiled for 14 years and Sita and Vishvamitra accompany him. The reading ends as Dasharatha think karma is coming for him and his mistakes towards his son and soon goes into the Kingdom of Death.

Bibliography:
Author: Donald A. Mackenzie
Title: Thataka
Link: Link to story

Feedback Thoughts

Feedback Image

While learning, I think feedback is one of the best ways one is allowed to grow and evolve. I tend to do better in classes where feedback is consistently given and encouraged. It allows for growth, whether it helps one grow from their mistakes or grow further and deeper into their knowledge. A lot of the times I think people tend to be scared to make mistakes because sometimes mistakes can lead to failure. I use to be one of those people and thought that mistakes would ruin the goals I was trying to accomplish. It took a long time before I was able to learn how to embrace my mistakes and instead of being scared, I began to encourage mistake making because it led to growth I would not have gotten otherwise. In my sophomore year of college, one of my professors stressed how much feedback was going to be incorporated into his class. We were given feedback, and also gave feedback to others and I found it to be exceedingly helpful and encouraged me to reach out for feedback because it can only help me. Although there is negative feedback, I feel as though it is important to not be discouraged by it but instead take it as a learning opportunity. 

I believe that some are scared of failure and mistakes because of self-doubt. Self-doubt can make you question your worth and value especially if a mistake is made. I loved having the opportunity to read the article "Seven Ways to Crush Self-Doubt in Creative Work". One of my favorite points made in the article is the concept of Abandoning Perfectionism. I have a bad habit of feeling like things need to be "perfect" for them to be right. I believe the idea of what perfect it is just a social construct that can be detrimental. People strive to be "perfect" but what are the exact criteria for something to meet the standard of perfection? Instead, striving to do your best is important, and in this case, I think this is where feedback becomes increasingly important. I also was able to read the article "A fixed mindset could be holding you back", and agreed with the message of the entire article. A fixed mindset can hinder ones ability to grow and learn. Having a mindset instead that is open to change and feedback is the kind of mindset that allows one to grow and develop. 

Links:

Seven Ways to Crush Self-Doubt in Creative Work: Link to article

A fixed mindset could be holding you back: Link to article