Reading Notes: PDE Mahabharata Part A/B

For this week's reading I wanted to read the PDE version of the Mahabharata as I think it is a little more accessible and easier to understand. The hardest part of this week's reading is to keep all the names straight, especially when we see generations grow and new generations arise. It was also a lot to keep track of in terms of the several smaller stories that were intertwined into the main one. I found myself Googling the names a lot to look at the family tree to remind myself of the relations, kind of like Game of Thrones honestly. Below is the family tree that I used and helped me.

Family Tree

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Reading Notes: Ramayana C

This week I focused more on my project of writing about the weapons in the Ramayana.

One of the best examples of this is in Vali's Death. Bows are a very dominant trope in the stories and in this story. Bows are used a lot in slaying and defense. Snakes are also a very common theme and are usually portrayed as evil. In this case we see a snake-like arrow being shot from a bow. 

The Death of King Vali

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Week 2 Reading Overview

  

In the coming weeks I think I am going to read R. K. Narayan's Ramayana. I like that it is all written by one author. This continuity is something I enjoy in a book and the other option almost seems like a collection of short stories by different people rather than one continuous book. One of the drawbacks however is that there are no pictures! Maybe I will go back to the other book and look at those pictures.

As for the two videos and comics I am interested in, they are the CrashCourse on the Ramayana, Food for Gods, Ganesha, and Rama. I thick CrashCourse is a very valuable resource and I think the writing for them is very good for gaining a broad understanding of a subject, even if they might not be super detailed. In high school I watched a lot of CrashCourse videos on double speed to learn about history. The video on the foods that gods ate is also interesting to me as I have never really thought about what the gods eat and I love food. Do they eat regular people food? Are there certain holy foods that they eat exclusively? This video will help answer some of those questions. The two comics I chose are interesting to me as they are two creation stories that my mother has told me before when I was a kid. Although I never really payed attention then, I think it will be interesting to learn more about them and maybe even educate her on the matter. 

A traditional portrayal of Ganesha

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