Indian Epics

The Pearl among Ruminant Creatures, the peaceful Cow ( Source ) Sacred Cow Looking for a fight? Selfish to put others lives on the line for his own entertainment Being held against his will by his desire to not be rude Unfavorable diet is payback for looking for a fight Pearl among Ruminant Creatures King is suspicious - almost seems like he looks for excuses to be unhappy There is no credit in virtue which is not assaulted by temptation King got his fight Impure intent in fasting, praying Granted such an outlandish wish? Why? Other king doesn't get berevity/burden of life Gods wanted him to take it easy on himself and enjoy life. Interesting. Irony - in seeking cow to provide himself with riches, gives up all worldly comforts Still never gets rid of hatred, malice Finally gets peace and no longer wants cow. Happy ending I guess?

" So that’s my wish for you, and all of us, and my wish for myself. Make New Mistakes. Make glorious, amazing mistakes. Make mistakes nobody’s ever made before. Don’t freeze, don’t stop, don’t worry that it isn’t good enough, or it isn’t perfect, whatever it is: art, or love, or work or family or life."  This Neil Gaiman quote from the article " Make Good Art: Neil Gaiman’s Advice on the Creative Life, Adapted by Design Legend Chip Kidd " really stuck out to me. As an engineer, making mistakes is part of the process. If you are trying to solve a problem, it is virtually impossible to get a solution that works the first time. Humans just don't have the omniscience to predict every problem that will arise with your solution. Those problems can really only be detected by trying something and failing, but by trying something and seeing how it fails we learn. We understand the problem better and can create a better solution in the next iteration. For my line of wo...

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...

For this story, I combined the two turtle stories into one. I wanted to have the pride he develops in the first story lead to his ultimate downfall in the second. Bibliography. " The Turtle and the King " and " The Turtle and the Geese " from Jataka Tales by Ellen C. Babbit. The Turtle Conversing with a Crane ( Source ) There was once a king who had two young sons. In his palace garden, there was a pool of water. His sons loved playing in the pool. They loved wading in the cool water on hot days. They loved watching the fishes swim to an fro, their colorful scales glinting in the sun. They loved watching the cranes stroll gracefully through the shallows. One day, as the boys were playing, they noticed a turtle sunning itself on a log by the shore. They had never seen a turtle before, and were terrified, thinking this unfamiliar creature must be a demon. They ran inside and buried their faces in their father's tunic, crying loudly about the demon in...

Rabbit: Rabbit spooked himself: "What if this should happen? Oh no! It did!" Could relate the animals to gods perhaps. i.e. Ganesha is the elephant, Brahma is the Lion, etc. "They stopped, for they knew the voice of the King of the Beasts, and they feared him. Turtle: Combine stories? Character flaw developed in first story leads to death in second story Pride in cleverness in first story, "Pride leads to the fall" in second when kids insult him Mistakes it for a demon Being thrown in by a waterfall might actually kill him Crane and Crab: Neat parallel between fish and crane, and crane and crab  Viciousness of crane, pecking out eye of one-eyed fish Pride and hunger lead to crane trusting fish "Do you suppose I was born to carry crabs about?" "For that beak was made to eat fish, not carry them." Monkey: Theme of out-witting and tricking Same as Crane and Crab, tricking the trickster "Sir Monkey...

I will read Narayan's Ramayana. I like that it can be traced back to an original Sanskrit version. That's really neat! I prefer a story that is more close to a novel. I think having a ton of different writing styles within the same story would be kind of jarring. I also appreciate that there is a detailed reading guide to help me navigate the story. I find reading guides often encourage me to take a closer look at things I may have skimmed over before, and to take new perspectives I may not try on for size otherwise. One of the comic books that caught my eye is " Guide: Tales of Durga ". When I was younger, I read a book series called "Tiger's Curse", which draws on Durga's mythology. I would love to further explore her mythology, and get a new understanding of the books I read before. Another comic that looks interesting in " Guide: Ganga ". I know the Ganges River is sacred because of its connection to the goddess Ganga, but that's ...