Indian Epics

An image of Lakshmi, the Devi of good fortune. ( Source ) Lakshmi One story would be that of Lakshmi and the churning of the Milky Ocean. In this story, Lakshmi's presence enables Indra to protect the world from demons, but he upsets her and causes her to leave to the Milky Ocean. Now he must churn up the Milky Ocean to bring her back so he can once again prevent chaos. Here is some more information about her. Sita For this story, I can use my week 3 story of Shoorpankha's Trick . Padmavati The story for this Avatar of Lakshmi I would tell the story of how Padmavati came to be. In this story, a sage kicks Vishnu's chest to wake him, and Lakshmi takes offense at Vishnu's response to this dishonor, and leaves him. Then, as a king is clearing land for a ritual, a lotus bursts from the ground containing a beautiful girl, Padmavati. She grows up, is recognized, and brought to Vishnu, who has taken up the name Venkatesha in the sorrow of her absence. I fo...

American Gods, by Neil Gaiman, weaves a story involving many pantheons, set in a modern day. ( Source ) American Gods One possible topic is to play on Neil Gaiman's work in American Gods, and create a world in which some of the less prominent gods are fighting for the devotion of the humans. To do this justice, I would need to play on their stories and their essence while weaving them into a new story. In trying to draw on the stories of the gods and goddesses, I will need to figure out what stories would lend themselves to creating conflict between different gods, or which focus on gaining followers. Here is a list of stories about various gods and goddesses that might be useful to me. Brought into the modern day It may be interesting to put a modern spin on these ancient characters and stories. The characters would likely act very differently if put in a modern setting; the cultural norms and expectations are very different. This myth may be fun to bring in...