Reading Notes: Jataka Tales (Cont.)

This week I am still reading the Jataka Tales written by Ellen Babbitt. I have been very busy, so I have only read a few of the stories for the second reading assignment.

The two specifically that I enjoyed were:

The Banyan Deer story was a great story to show why things should not be taken for granted and what a true leader looks like. The other version of the Jataka Tales also had this story and I remember enjoying it then as well.

The Princes and the Water-Sprite was another story that I really enjoyed. This story shows how well that family bonds affect life. I also thought that is shows how kindness is an important guiding moral for life.

The Sun Prince and The Water Sprite

Reading Notes: Jataka Tales

This week I am reading the Jataka Tales by Ellen Babbitt. I really enjoyed reading the other version of the Jataka Tales, so I figured for one of our last weeks that I would read some more!

A few stories that I really liked from this selection:

The Monkey and Crocodile has some good morals that I think I might try and work into my last story for the week and possibly my last portfolio story.

The Ox Who Won the Forfeit was also good because it shows that treating your animals well will get you further than treating them cruelly. I (as a large animal lover) am a huge fan of this theory. I have always been a firm believer that if you treat animals well they will always give you more!

The last story was the Foolish, Timid Rabbit. I liked this story because it shows how one persons simple mistake can ripple into larger and larger mistakes. It also shows how important it is for leadership to always question and verify everything they are told to certify the truth.

The Ox who won the Forfeit

Reading Notes: Seven Secrets from Hindu Calendar Art

This week I am writing about the Seven Secrets from Hindu Calendar Art by Devdutt Pattanaik. I have enjoyed this series more than the last series I watched. It seems to explain a bit more of the general thoughts behind Hinduism and parts of Indian culture. It is also very helpful to have the notes that Laura has written for us.
We learn about what makes the difference between a Goddess and a goddess in this section. As well as the interesting concept of Hijras, which are men that feel they are really women, what we would call in America transgendered.

Bahuchara, the goddess of Hijras

Reading Notes: Secrets of Vishnu part F

This week I continued watching the Secrets of Vishnu by Devdutt Pattanaik. The last video was about Krishna. There were lots of interesting parts from this video and am not entirely sure what I will pick to write about. This week has been very busy so I will be lucky to get any form of a story written!

Krishna

Reading Notes: Secrets of Vishnue Part E

I actually really enjoyed this video, Secrets of Vishnu by Devdutt Pattanaik. It gave some great insight into the story of the Ramayana and why the story is so important. I might try to incorporate the ideas of dharma and adharma (which in the video was difficult to hear a difference in pronunciation, so yay for subtitles!). Using humanity and the ideas of what separates us from others is a very intriguing idea. I also liked how they explained why the bow was really chosen to be used in the Ramayana as such a big symbol. I will definitely have to find another way to incorporate this into my story with its new meaning!

Dharma wheel

Reading Notes: Secret's of Vishnu Part C

This week I am continuing to read the Secrets of Vishnu by Devdutt Pattanaik.

I really liked this week's first video on Lakshmi. It goes into depths about what all she is in control of, wealth and prosperity, as well as some different aspects about her. I think it would be very interesting to put together these concepts with my characters Jonathon and Mr. Piddles.  There are also lots of other characters introduced in this video, so many that I actually lost count. That would be the one negative thing for me about these videos. They introduce a lot of concepts and characters without thoroughly explaining some of them, as well as speeding through a lot of names that I have never heard of before. Some of which are names for types of demons and other versions of Lakshmi.
I may try and watch the second video for tomorrow, but I may try and explore other options provided to expand the topics I can write about. I am glad to have the opportunity to be able to explore the other options in Indian culture as well as learning about new famous characters from another culture.

Lakshmi

Reading Notes: Seven Secrets of Vishnu

This week I watched videos on the Seven Secrets of Vishnu from Devdutt Pattanaik.  These videos were very interesting to me for several reasons. The first is because they talk about metaphysics, a concept that is not commonly discussed in the western hemisphere. Hearing this mentioned piqued my interest to watch more of the videos. They also discuss Mohini in great length for the first section of the videos. According to mythology she represents the female form of Vishnu.

In this mythology the female forms represent material reality and male forms represent spiritual reality. I like how the videos explained what this means in depth. That the female form representing material reality comes from the fact that women give birth and are physically giving life on earth, whereas men are giving to life from outside their bodies. They do a good job of explaining why the female form representing material reality is not a bad thing. Rather that both realities need each other to survive and succeed. I really liked this concept and may have to try and include it in my reading for this coming week.

There are many concepts intertwined with Vishnu and learning more about him has been a lot of fun. I took a peak at some of the other video options about the Hindu calendar and may read those next week. I look forward to writing my story this week because Seven Secrets of Vishnu gives me a large range of topics to write about. They are mainly focused on the different forms of Vishnu, so I may have to include a couple of them throughout my story. This will be tricky while also tying them to my characters, Jonathon and Mr. Piddles. Although, I may be able to convey this with different stuffed animal forms!

Mohini

Reading Notes: Jataka Tales

This week I am reading the Jataka Tales written by Noor Inayat.
The stories this week are again based around animals, something I have greatly enjoyed. I particularly enjoyed the two pigs and the patient buffalo. There are a lot of mystical creatures in these stories and again focuses on how a king can be a just ruler. The pigs discuss ruling with love and wisdom, whereas the buffalo deal with all of his problems with patience. The buffalo does not blame the monkey who is troubling him for anything because of his 'stupidity'.
I think that these give a very interesting perspective on the Indian culture and good insight. I like these because they focus on giving good morals with humor. Most of the stories in this section had comedic relief in either dialogue or in characters' actions.  In my last notation I didn’t mention all of the sketches and images throughout the Jataka Tales. I will have to try to search for more because I have been unable to find very many under a google search.
I am going to try and continue the humor in my own story this week with my two characters. I like that they use this to help motivate their readers to follow the moral lesson. It also makes the characters from the Jataka Tales more relatable throughout their own stories. This week I am going to try and include a moral in my story this week. I am not sure which one I will use from the tales, but I will have to make sure that my story is easy to follow and has a clear point like the Jataka Tales include.
Next week I am not sure what I will read, but I do know that there are some other versions of the Jataka Tales so I may look into those.

The Patient Buffalo

Reading Notes: The Jataka Tales

This week I am going to read the Jataka tales! I was interested in them at the beginning of the semester so I am glad to finally have a chance to read them.

Most of these stories are based off a moral. I liked the monkey king that made a bridge for his subjects so that they could escape. I also liked that they brought in mangos to tie in cultural aspects as well. I also like the story of the guilty dogs because it focuses on dogs, my favorite pet. Each animal in the stories seems to have a bit of wisdom to pass on to a king, focusing on how to be a just ruler.

I am glad to get a chance to read more of these stories because they each have their own unique way of presenting how a just king should rule. In some it is thinking logically, in others it is using love as the guide, and in another yet the king and his subjects become vegetarian to appease the animals wellness. I think that it is very interesting that the Indian culture focuses on how a just king should rule with these. I wonder if it was because they felt that their own kings were not ruling justly? Or because their kings ordered they wrote these stories down so that they may appear just?

I think it will be easy to take Jonathon and Mr. Piddles on an adventure with some of these new characters and still relate to Sugriva and Hanuman, one of which is a king. I might write a story about how Hanuman must become a just king by using the moral from one of the Jataka tales. I also like that several of the tales use humor to convey their points as well. 

The Banyan Deer