Extra Reading Diary: Asura III

Asura: Tale of the Vanquished Pt. I

(Himalayas)

Chapters 19-26

Chapter 19:
-A dark soul
-The emperors of Asuras
-A pirate King, the king of pirates
 
Chapter 20:
-A marriage
-The demon king gets married
-Pirates
-Heroine
-"Pray. Pray for your soul..."

Chapter 21:
-Jewellery
-"The prisoner is ready for the punishment."
-"This devil's marriage..."
-"Then my pride came back, my anger returned and I was myself again."
-"And my dreams became my story."

Chapter 22:
-"I fell into the mouth of death, into the howling ocean."
-Deva Devils
-Anger, jealousy and sadness
-"But the stench of equality stuck. Soon, I got used to that too."

Chapter 23:
-Pirate King!
-Night cruise
-"You are either a ghost or you refuse to die!"
-Someone "wearing a mask"
-"This man was the devil incarnate."

Chapter 24:
-Dismay and anger
-Biggest rival and rebel.
-Darkness
-"Moonlight illuminated her face."
-"I had the sudden urge to kiss her.

Chapter 25:
-Loitering about the streets
-A dagger
-Deva girls
-Ahsoka trees

Chapter 26:
-Himalayas
-"It was a new dawn"
-Setting: swamp

-"First brave fools"

Reading Diary A: Asura II

Asura: Tale of the Vanquished Pt. I

(Ravana)

Chapters 10-18

Chapter 10:
-Banyan tree
-Armaments
-Incorporating thoughts in italics within the action
-Dharma.
-Devas
-Fake gems

Chapter 11
-"tears sprouted in my eyes"
-the leader mistake for being a spy
-"I cried for the fact that I was no longer human, but a vampire thirsting for the blood of the Devas.
-"I wailed for the dark depths my soul had fallen into."
-Owl hooted, is it a dark omen?
-"It was a dark and silent night."

Chapter 12
-"I hoped the spy was dead"
-Wearing all black
-Graphic violence when fighting, "splintering skulls."
-"Raw power"
-Monsoon

Chapter 13:
-"A magical village tune"
-An ancient light-tower
-A center of art
-"The most cosmopolitan city in the world."
-Someone vanishing

Chapter 14:
-"But now I just wanted to lie down and sleep for a hundred years."
-a dagger blade
-"Then one day, unexpectedly, my wishes came true."

Chapter 15:
-"I was surprised that I was still alive"
-A lamp that cast a history light on their faces
-"felt warm blood splash on my face."
-Dark shadows
-A stream of abuse followed him
-"Howled like a wounded wolf."

Chapter 16:
-Raising a sword
-Seeking audience

Chapter 17:
-"A lowly creature"
-Time: midnight
-"at that moment I knew that I had fallen in love"
-"As emptiness filled me."

Chapter 18:
-A cobra

Reading Diary A: Asura I

Asura: Tale of the Vanquished Pt. I

(Ravana)

Chapters 1-9
Chapter 1:

• "Tomorrow is my funeral"! What a great first line! As a writer, one can never forget the power of having a real hook of a first line!  I mean, right from the start I am wondering how Ravana got in this situation, and how he knows that his funeral will be tomorrow.
• Following is some great, graphic, violent details! It's so visceral. I tend to write dark stories with heavy violence and visceral themes, so this is great inspiration.
• Finally, I love how this chapter is called "The End". How beautifully unorthodox!

Chapter 2.

• Weather, something I forget to add into stories--but oh how it sets the mood!
• I love all of this internal monologue! It could become boring, but it's such strong and vivid writing that it continues to captivate me.
• Some brief backstory, no heavy info dumping--always good.

Chapter 3:

• Asuras are a casteless society.
• A roaming tribe that hunted and traded, settling along river banks and in cities. 
• Too much info dumping here. (Is my literature minor showing yet?
• The title "Purendara" means 'Slayer of Cities'.
• "A defeated race often uses its cultural supremacy to cover the shame of defeat."
• A LOT of backstory on Asuras, may need to come back to this. There is possibly too much to note of.

Chapter 4:

• The mightiest of Asura Kings.
• Finally dialogue and interactions. The first person is nice for a while but we need to get out of Ravana's head
• You know what this whole book reminds me of? It's like an Indian Paradise Lost, with Ravana and The Ramayana instead of Lucifer and the Bible.

Chapter 5:

• "He rambled on," what a great verbal tag.
• More history.
• "Nothing is more commendable than selfishness. A man who thinks of himself alone is the most unlucky person of all."
• Sometimes this book has some amazing lines.
• "Go Ravana, own the world!"
• "Jealousy is the driving force of progress, envy is the motivating force of life."
• "I do not believe in a heaven where you will be given all that you purposely denied yourself in this world."

Chapter 6:

• "I had been fighting this fool's war for the last few years..." Another great opening line.
• A character being honest in its thoughts is always good to do.
• Good description of a battle!

Chapter 7:

• "Lore of the Losers" what a great chapter title! 
• Huge funeral pyres
• "Drunk with succes  
• Battles

Chapter 8:
Chapter 9:  

• Importance of jewelry 
• Tiny flying tigers
• Blood caked on one's face
• Kubera, the money God.
• "The rich did not care who ruled, as long as they were allowed to be rich. The poor could not afford to care and nobody asked their opinion in any case. Only the middle class mattered and any half-witted ruler knows how to pamper them."

Reading Diary Part A: Kali the Mother

Kali the Mother by Sister Nivedita

(I am reading this before Asura, since my character is named Kali in my Storybook. I wanted to get some research about the actual Kali to supplement my stories with.)

(Kali)

Part A:
1. Concerning Symbols

• Twilight, the space between day and night
• Light through a mask
• Consumed in fire
• Dissolve in an ocean
• Shadows
• The shadow of the soul
• Bringer of sanctity and peace
• Hide and seek

2. The Vision of Siva

• The beauty of snowpeaks and moonlight
• Beauty imagry "the great Mother, were clothed in raiment of green, broidered with birds and flowers and fruits, and veiled in blue, adorned with many jewels"
• More lovely description: "Something white and austere and pure; something compelling quiet; something silent and passionless, and eternally alone."
• Concept of duality. Light and shadow, attraction and repulsion.
• Anthromorphic
• (This isn't quite what I thought it would be.)
• Being the ideal householder, ideal judge, ideal ruler.
• "To him she is all beauty." 

3. Two Saints of Kali

• Othello slays Desdemona 
• The mention of the Divine Comedy was interesting to me. She basically said aid you need to know a lot about Florence and such in order to understand the Divine Comedy, and she's not wrong. I am currently taking a class over the entire Comedy and it really does require a lot of information about medieval Florence, specifically in relation to politics, and there are also many historical figures, mostly classical figures you need to understand as well.
• Her toy is a kite.

Additional Notes about Kali: 

• Goddess of time, creation, change, preservation, and destruction) 
• Goddess of empowerment 
• Mother Goddess 
• Associated with darkness 
• Kali means time, but also means black. 
• Kali will "devour all."

Reading Diary A: Mahabharata

"Shri Krishna of Dwarka and Other Stories" by C. A. Kincaid (1920)

(Krishna)

Part A:
Chapter 1:

• Yogmaya, a Goddess. 
• Demon, Kalanemi.
• Having white hair and an incarnation of a serpent, having black hair and being the incarnation of Lord Vishnu.
• Demons!
• A Demon Prince, oh what I can do with that little line! A Demon Prince who is ruthless, and it takes a human to bring back his humanity. A Demon Prince who is in Hell (reading Dante's Inferno lately,) and meets Lilith. Maybe he becomes Lilith's lover. Oh, how I love my romance stories. Or, the Demon Prince is Asmodeous, and I can do a continuation of my story, "A Band of Demons."Of course the Demon Prince will be a teenager, I love writing Young Adult fiction! It's my thing, if you didn't already notice. 
• Setting: a dungeon. Maybe a girl is imprisoned, and the Demon Prince visits the dungeon, to take a prisoner to eat, but he has some connection with her and they fall in L-O-V-E! (The dungeon, what a place to meet a guy at...) (Anime fans: Is it wrong to pick up a girl in a dungeon?)

Chapter 2:

• Giantess
• Having divine strength.
• Arjun Tree

Chapter 3:

• More boyhood adventures... (Boring...) I write Young Adult, not children's books!
• Demon's disguise. What if the Demon Prince disguises as a peasant and that is how he meets a girl. The girl could be a demon peasant, or a human girl. Either way, it ends with love, and probably a kiss!
• A great snake
• Kadamba tree

Chapter 4:

• Setting: a mountain.

Chapter 5:

• More demons!
• A giant bull.
• Attacking with huge horns. (In the story: give the Demon Prince huge horns!)
• Jackals
• Setting: Woods
• A "cruel snare."

Chapter 6:

• Having a curse. A girl or  a guy could make a deal with a Demon Prince, and as most deals with demons go, it goes horribly wrong. (Circa: Faust.)
• A "gallant" Prince. 
• A King falling in love with a "fair girl" that he saves. 
• Item: A crown. 

Chapter 7:

• Young Princes, more words to go towards my YA Demon Prince story!  
• A Golden. Throne. 
• A letter 
• Musicians 

Reading Diary B: Mahabharata (PDE)

PDE Mahabharata

(Vyasa summons the ghosts)

Part D:
61. Bhishma Falls

• "Great which was the carnage he wrought."
• It being fated that someone will die.
• "The ancient hero"
• "All the Warriors stopped fighting and looked on."
• A blood-drenched plain.

62. Drona in Command

• "Dark some cloudy masses angry gusts of storm divide"
• I like the way this is written. It's written poetically and lyrically. This would an interesting technique to try.

63. Abhimanyu and Jayadratha

• Vowing revenge on someone.
• "Slaying one on one"
• A red sun. 
• A black eclipse.
• Introducing symbolism in my stories would be something I'd like to try. 
• I'd also like to portray the setting as so dark as is well done in these stories.

64. Ghatotkacha

• Fighting in the dark. People on the same side fought each other.
• "Men were maddened with the thirst for blood." (I know this is in relation to war and battling, but I want to take this sentence and turn it into a vampire story! It will have a boy main character, of course it will be young adult. I'd like to do a concept were vampires are born as vampires from parents. Maybe he's an orphan, and then at the age of sixteen, he starts becoming "maddened with the thirst for blood" and is confused as so what is going on. 
• Idea, he stumbles across a cafe that has an irresistible scent. He goes in to find that they put blood on their coffee and pastries. There is a female waitress or barista that helps him discover what he truly is: a vampire.
• OR the thirst for blood could also be for a demon or a Rakshasa, OR for a were-wolf. I could do the point of view of Colt in the story, The Demon's Guard Dog.

65. Death of Drona

66. Bhima and Duhshasana

• Behind cut off his head, and drank his blood, and said it was the finest drink. Warriors cried out, "This is not a man, for he drink th human blood." Another quote to use to back up my vampire story. (Or my demon, or werewolf story.)

67. Arjuna and Karna

• Comparable to the Trojan War, and the confrontation between Achilles and Hector.
• It's not manly to cut down a weaker foe. 

68. Duryodhana in the Lake

• Using supernatural powers to talk refuge beneath the waters of a lake. Reminds me of mermaids, merpeople, water faeries, or nymphs.

69. The Raid

• A night raid, attacking the enemy while they sleep. What happened to honor?
• Being driven by revenge. 

70. Ashwatthaman's Jewel

• A gem on one's forehead that protects one from hunger, thirst, poison, attack of wild animals, and other things.
• A great jewel that gleams in darkness.

71. Mourning

• A somber tone, and difficult themes.

72. The Pandavas and Bhishma

• Waiting until the solstice before dying. 
• Sandalwood
• "The Supreme Eternal Soul"

73. King Yudhishthira's Horse

• A horse sacrifice to atone for sins.
• A moon-white horse, with a yellow tail and one black ear.
• Another tough story to read! I was really upset about the horse. 

74. Parikshit

• Mentions of a witch. A story idea: a modern day witch, discovers she actually has magical abilities. 
• A funeral pyre.

75. Horse Sacrifice

• A full moon. (I need to add more nature and setting in my stories! 

76. The Mongoose

• A golden creature. 
• A famine.

77. The Forest and its Ghosts

• The Ganges River.
• Funeral ritual. 
• Reminds me of a scene in the Ramayna. 
• Ghostly warriors. 
• Princesses. 
• Narmada, the sage.

78. Death of Krishna

• Terrible omens
• The chakra of someone. 
• Incarnation of the world serpent, reminds me of the world serpent in Norse mythology. 

79. The Pandavas Depart

• A sage telling someone it is soon time to depart the world. 

80. The Afterlife

• A final test. 
• Forest of nether regions. 
• A wicked forest.

Reading Diary A: Mahabharata (PDE)

PDE Mahabharata

(The Himalayas)

Part C:
41. Life In The Forest

• Surya, the Sun God.
• Tempests and Heavy rain

42. Krishna's Visit

• Krishna, a Hindu deity. 

43. Arjuna and Shiva

• Obtaining the image of the Great God
• The Himalayas, a mountain range in India.
• Trees, streams, blossoms, and birds.
• An exiled person, wearing rags, eating grass and plants, and someday living off of air.
• A clay figure of a deity. 
• Fighting a boar with a bow.
• The forest was strangely and sollemnly still.
• Fighting for game to hunt.
• The huntsman is a God in disguise. What a cool concept!

44. Arjuna and Indra

• Indra, King of Gods
• Varuna, God of Waters
• Yama, King of the Dead
• Kubera, Lord of Treasures
• A heavenly city
• Asparas (I still want to write a story with this supernatural creature)
• Kama, God of Love.
• "Bright eyes and silken hair."

45. The Himalayas

• A celestial city: palaces of crystal and gold, walls studded with jewels, and turrets adorned with streamers. The winds smell like perfume.

46. Bhima and Hanuman

• (NO! Not the monkeys again. I am NOT a fan of talking animals, or animal creatures in fiction. Unless they are were-creatures, of course.)

47. Duryodhana and the Gandharvas

• Prince's and courtiers. Ladies of the royal household. 
• Sullen and angry
• Purifying oneself. 
• Silent meditation 
• Offering up sacrifices in a great fire.

48. Karna and Indra

• Clad in golden armor and earnings that are imbued with invincibility. 
• Dart called Vasava.

49. Jayadratha and Draupadi

• A damsel in distress motif. Story idea: lad in distress. So genderbend the damsel in distress concept. Have a girl heroine, and a boy that she saves) 

50. Riddles at the Lake

• Banyan tree.
• A Yaksha, benevolent forest spirits. 
• A exchange of riddles, like Golemn and Bilbo in The Hobbit. I know J.R.R. Tolkien was familiar with mythology, so I wouldn't be surprised if he actually read this myth.

51. The Court of King Virata

• Durga, giver of boons, a Goddess. 
• A promise of dharma.

52. Bhima and Kichaka

• A brave and fierce warrior, but truly twisted and morally evil.

53. The Cattle Raid

54. Preparations for War

• Finishing an exile. 

55. Krishna and His Armay

• A kshartiya, a warrior.  

56. Krishna's Mission to the Kauravas

57. Krishna and Karna 

• Peace-makers, arbitrator. Something also seem often in Arthurian Legend and Lore. Interestingly enough, I have seen many elements of Arthurian Legend and Lore in these Indian Epics that we've read.

58. The Armies at Kurukshetra
59. Bhagavad-Gita

• Bhagavad-Gita means "Lords Song."
• Written like a poem (well, or a song.)  

60. The Battle Begins

• Armies waiting for the battle. Dawn was darkened by dusk clouds. Blood dropped. Like rain out of heaven. 
• Jackals howled, vultures screamed. The earth shook.
• I like scenes like this, where the chaos and violence of the situation is literally shown through the physical world.

Reading Diary B: Mahabharata (PDE)

PDE Mahabharata

(Water Fairy or Water Nympth)

Part B:
21. The House of Fire

• Twins
• A beautiful palace, soaked in oil, and made of wood. The fiery plot! But, they manage to escape.

22. Bhima and Hidimba

• Living in wilderness (Nice setting for a story. Maybe a character who is trying to live off of the land, or lives with wind animals. Idea: a character raised by wolves, or maybe raised by WERE-wolves. Setting: a wild forest)
• Hidimba the Rakshasa. Long sharp pointed teeth. Eats humans, flesh and blood.
• Rakshasa woman who fell in love with a human. Instead of killing him for her brother, she assumed the shape of a beautiful woman. Clad in flowers and such.
• "Eyes like lotus blossoms"

23. Bhima and Hidimbi

• A Rakshasa son. Rakshasa are born full-grown (I feel bad for the mother...)
• "O celestial being..."

24. Bhima and Baka

• Weapon: a mace.
• Asuras are akin to Rakshasa but are good or bad. They can be benevolent (unlike Rakshasa.)

25. Brith of Draupadi

• Disguises and mistaken identity! Always a nice plot device.
• Supernatural birth.

26. Draupadi's Swayamara

• Swayamara, a tournament of sorts where a woman's husband is selected.
• A magical bow. (Takes me back to the Ramayana)

27. Wife of the Five Pandavas

• A woman with five husbands. (Or a girl with five boyfriends. What if in the story five guys like one girl, and she can't decide which guy she likes. At the end she chooses one, or she chooses none.)
• Alternatively: what if a girl is dating a guy who has five personalities (due to a split personality disorder.) So she is essentially dating five guys, even though they are all technically the same guy.)

28. The Story of Nalayani

• Karma

29. Indraprastha

• Forest robbers (trying in with an above story, the setting is a wild forest, an a girl is a forest robber. Possibly a Robin Hood sort of theme) 

30. Arjuna and Ulupi

• Setting: the jungle 

31. Arjuna and the Asparas

• Fairies! A story with fairies. 
• Water nymphs. 
• A story containing fairies, water fairies, or water nymphs.
• Something that allows one to never be killed by something in the water.
• Fighting an alligator, who becomes a lovely girl.

32. Arjuna and Chitra

• Kama, the Goddess of Love.

33. Arjuna and Subhadra

• Maya, the Goddess of Illusions. 

34. The Burning of the Forest

35. Maya's Palace

• Palace of Illusions
• Heavenly palaces
• Mistaking crystal for water and for a doorway. The King as a fool. 

36. The Pandavas Victorious

• A Rajasuya sacrifice. 

37. The Gambling Match

• Warriors must accept a gambling match.
• Loaded dice. Should be punished by the Gods or something for cheating.

38. Draupadi Lost

• FATE. Story themes or morals: You cannot escape fate. 
• Serving as a slave in a castle. 

39. Draupadi in the Assembly Hall

• Princess 
• Flames of wrath

40. The Second Match

• Just when you think someone's safe...they're not! 
• Bad omens: jackal's howl and donkeys and raves reply. 
• Dark omens
• Blind person 
• "Noble Queen", "virtuous daughter"

Reading Diary A: Mahabharata (PDE)

PDE Mahabharata:

(Apsara)

Part A:
1. Vaasa and Ganesha

• Brahma is the creator God, who has four heads.
• Ganesha is the remover of obstacles. He also has an elephant head.
• WEIRDEST creation story EVER!
• Dwaipayana: island born.

2. King Shantanu and Ganga

• Ganga of the Ganges River.
• Eight Vasus.
• Ganga in human form: wearing celestial garments with the splendor of lotus blossoms, rare ornaments, and teeth radient as pearls.
• A lot of infanticide in this story... (Insert horrified emoji here.)
• Ganga deserts the King. 

3. King Shantanu and Satyavati

• A sweet and alluring perfume coming from a maiden. 
• A man follows the perfume to the maiden. (This would make a cute YA Romance story. Maybe a boy is at a bookstore and smells a perfume, tracing it to the girl. Or maybe her perfume lingers and he always misses her just by moments, but then one day he finally gets there on time and finds the girl who wears the perfume.)

4. Devavrata's Vow

• Flowers falling from heaven. 
• Apsara is a female creature from the clouds.  They can change their appearance at will. They are also beatiful, elegant, and great at dancing. They can also change the fortune of gambling games and such. They often marry Gandharva, who are skilled singers. They love to listen and dance to their music
• The Apsara is an interesting supernatural creature and could be a great character in a short story!

5. Bhishma at the Swayamvara

• Asuras are benevolent Devas (or deities.) Asuras are a supernatural creature, usually compared with Rakshasas and ghosts.

6. Amba

• Shiva is one of the three major Gods. He is known as "The Auspicious One" or "The Great God". He can be in the form of Vishnu and Brahma. But at his highest form, he is formless and transcendent. This is a very different God than what I am used to in Mythology.

7. Dhritarashtra and Pandu

• Sadhu is a good man or a holy man. He usually has paint on their face and wear saffron clothing.
• Pandu means "the pale one".

8. Kunti and Her Son

• Kunti is of celestial origin. Her mother was a nymph, and father was a holy Brahmin and her brother was the father of Krishna.
• Surya is God of the sun. He wore celestial earnings.
• Her son had Surya's earnings and a  invulnerable coat of mail.
• She set the basket afloat with him in it. (Hmmm, sounds familiar...?)

9. Pandu and His Wives

• Being in animal guise. Reminds me of shape-shifters or were-creatures. 
• Arrows with golden feathers. 

10. The Sons of Pandu

• A funeral pyre, or a sati, is when a widow burns herself on her husband's funeral pyre.  

11. Gandhari and Dhritarashtra

• Being blindfolded. 
• A blind person.

12. Pandavas and Kauravas

• A royal city. 
• Chariot
• Lions

13. Bhima and the Nagas

• Nagas are snake creatures. 
• City of serpents in the Underworld.
• King of the Nagas.
• A draught of strength. (Had the strength of Giants.)

14. Drona

• Brahmin are priests, teachers, and protectors.
• Kshatriya (warrior) is the ruling and military class. 
• Guru (teacher) 

15. Drona Trains the Princes

• Becoming the greatest archer. (Or crossbow-er OR gun-totter in modern times. 
• Becoming a mighty swordsman (or woman!) 
• Someone being the most modest, perfect, and fearless.
• Knowledge of astronomy. 
• These qualities are interesting when comparing these knights to the chivalrous Knights from the Middle Ages.  

16. Ekalavya

• Being outside of a caste system, but having their own culture and society. What an interesting on concept. This would make an interesting story comparing royalty to, well, rags.

17. The Contest

• A mock fight that gets serious 
• Displaying skills in a tournament (takes me back to Arthurian Legend and Lore!) 

18. The Arrival of Karna

• An unknown warrior! A mysterious stranger...
• His eyes "flashed fire." 

19. Drona's Revenge

• Garuda, a large bird creature.
• Cover the ground with "rivers of blood."
• The sky "rained" arrows.

20. Duryodhana's Jealousy

• Telling lying tales.
• Deceit and treachery! 
• An evil and cruel Prince. 
• A wicked plan: soak furniture in oil, so it can be burned easily, and then the palace is to be set on fire, with the inhabitants in it.

Reading Diary B: Wilson. Rama's Quest

Rama's Quest Part B:

(Image Source)

Section 9: The Battle Begins

• Being alone with "Night".
• Lying to the princess, telling her that the prince is dead. Even uses magic to make an illusion of his head.
• Fainting heart was revived.
• The sound of brass instruments and snarling and growling.
• A God-like radiance, supernatural magic.
• "Remember the greatness of my heart, be true to thyself."
• Mission: to clear the world of evil. (Rakshasa) 
• Story Idea: a story about Rakshasa, or demon Hunter's. I previously thought of having a duo of brothers or sisters. Like the show Supernatural, but they only hunt demons (or Rakshasas.) Perhaps they hunt them because the demons killed their parents. Their ultimate goal is to kill Ravana, King of the Demons.

Section 10: Kumbhakarna Awakens

• The Demon King, Ravana, has a brother named Kumbhakarna. He is mischevous, but without malice. He is fairly dim.
• Dancing maidens.

Section 11: The Fight Continues

• Rama, friend of all living (good) creatures (Unless Rakshasa are not considered to be "living"?)
• Narada, messenger of the Gods.
• God takes a form of a human in order to kill the evil of the world. 
• Referring to the story idea in Section 9, maybe one of the brothers (or sisters, depending which one I pick to go with) is actually a God or Goddess of the hunt, and they are imbued with supernatural abilities as a result, sort of like with Rama.
• Beautiful, magical weapons. The magical bow.
• An army of creatures (in this case, monkeys.)
• Kumbhakarna falls dead.
• Fighting in a chariot.

Section 12: Rama's Victory

• Chariot of the Gods.
• Fighting between Light and Darkness. 
• "Aim for the heart, the seat of darkness." Maybe that is the only way to kill Rakshasa (or demons) is similar to vampires: a stake through the heart!
• Maybe demon Hunter's also use a bow or a crossbow (to make it a little more modern,) or perhaps even a gun to take it even more modern. Maybe the gun has wooden bullets. (This will be used in the story proposed in Section 9.)

Section 13: Sita Tested

• "Rama is victorious. Ravana is dead."
• A palanquin is like a lectica (from the time of the Greeks and the Romans.) A box carried with poles and people carry this vehicle.
• Princess dressed in beautiful clothes and jewels and perfumed.
• "The demon of great jealousy took" them over.

Reading Diary A: Wilson. Rama's Quest

Rama's Quest Part A:

(Rama. Image Source)

Section 1: Rama and Sita

• "A deep shadow in this city of sunshine."
• A sacrifice to gain the God's favor.
• Rama has extraoridinary strength, skill, bravery and beauty.
• A large amount of creatures will be useful to someone at some time.
• A community of hermits.
• A band of demons! (What if the story is about a popular rock BAND that is comprised of DEMONS, in other words, a band of demons!)
• Tarika, the ogress.
• Attacking with a bow, and having great archery skills.

Section 2: Rama's Exile

• Winning a lady (or man) through a tournament, or contest.
• Banished for 14 years.
• Lovers that cannot be seperated. ("I will follow you into Hell...")
• A royal chariot.

Section 3: Bharata and Rama

• An exiled individual being begged to come back.
• Golden sandals.
• Going from hermitage to hermitage.

Section 4: Life in the Forest

• Magical powers. Hermits who possess magical powers.
• The princess being dressed up in beautiful garments.
• A wife and husband hermitage.
• Rakshasas.

Section 5: Ravana and Sita

• The damsel in distress, taken by the Rakshasa.
• A hermit taking form of a warrior.
• Guarding a treasure.
• A rainfall of flowers.
• Ravana, King of the Rakshasa.

Section 6: The Monkeys

• Taking form of a Golden deer.
• A dying vulture tells a tale.
• Sugriva, the monkey King.
• Moving as fast as the wind.
• Being carried on someone's back.

Section 7: Hanuman in Lanka

• Hanuman, son of the wind.
• A garland of scarlet flowers. (More flower imagry)

Section 8: Sita and Hanuman

• Isle of Rakshasas
• Many stolen women in the lair of the evil demon king. 
• "A lion among men."
• Prince of monkeys.
• Hanuman's tail set on fire.
• Spirit of the Sea, Queen of the Ocean.
• In order to gain access into Ravana's realm, they must build a mole, which I looked up and found is a type of pier or structure built on an ocean.
• What if Ravana's Realm is a demonic world. (Story idea: focusing on world, exploring what the world of demons would be like. Use it to introduce Ravana and his Prince's and princesses. Ravana will be more humanized and a hybrid of the Western conventional idea of a demon and the concept of vampires.)

Reading Diary B: Ramayana (PDE) Part D

Reading Diary B: Ramayana (PDE) Part D

Reading Part D:

(Sita)

The Bridge

• Jumping across great distances via super powers.
• Varuna: Hindu God of water, night sky, and ocean. Also keeps the souls of the dead.
• Linga, sign of the God Shiva.

Rama Attacks

• Powers of illusion.
• Golden city.
• Spies

Indrajit

• A great winged mount.
• Weapon called a Nagapasha or Nagastra, a Naga (or serpent) weapon.
• Fighting Rakshasas.
• Story idea: A story loosely based off of the show Supernatural. So, two brothers (or sisters) who hunt supernatural creatures, and in this case they will hunt a Rakshasa. It will be a Young Adult short story set in our modern time.
• Vayu, the wind God.
• Story idea: the Gods are misbehaving and it takes a human to set them straight and return things to their natural order.

Kumbhakarna

• Kumbhakarna, the mightiest of all the demons. He once terrorized the Universe.

Hanuman and the Mountain

• Agni, God of fire.
• Brahmastra, a weapon created by Brahma. 
• An appearance with the Wind God again.

Lakshmana and Indrajit

• Antagonist convincing the love interest that the protagonist is dead in order to steal the love interest away!
• Sometimes demons look more human, other times more obscure. Some can even fly. (I imagine them having leathery bat wings.)

Ravana's Lament

• Symbols: a lotus, cup, dagger, trident, mace, curved sword, rope, discus, dagger, elephant goad, axe, sword, spear, snake, noose, and a book.
• Ahsoka grove.

Ravana and Lakshmana

• Riding a chariot into battle.
• More monkeys and bears.
• The captitol of Raskshasa (as the setting for a story. The city would be red and black, and evil looking. With sharp and metallic buildings.)

Indra's Chariot

• Falchion, and royal bow and quiver.

Battle of Rama and Ravana

• A Garuda-weapon, made by an Astra.

Ravana's Death

• Idea of the chosen one fullfilling a quest destined from the gods.

Mandodari's Lament

• Setting: a palace.
• Wielder of a discus.
• Chanting mantras.

Sita and Rama
Sita Tested

• Test by fire. Calling on Agni, the god of fire for the test.
• A pyre.

Pushpaka

• Pushpaka chariot.
• Dandak Forest. 

Rama and Bharata

• Q factor: sandals.
• Imagry of sword and throne. (Game of Thrones!)

Rama Crowned King

• Takes 14 years, but Rama is now King.
• Shiva, Brahma, and Ganesha make an appearance.

Valmiki's Hermitage
Sita Departs

• Sita means "furrow, the place of sowing."
• Rama's story is made into an epic of an oral tradition. (Probably how we now have the copy of the epic, is because of years of Ramayana as an orally told epic.)
• Nagas, snake creature.

Rama Departs

• He departs the world to become Vishnu again.

Reading Diary A: Ramayana (PDE) Part C

Reading Diary A: Ramayana (PDE) Part C

(Ravana)

Reading Part C:
Sugriva and Hanuman

• Monkey kings and monkeys, this is too much for me. I hate stories with talking animals, or stories focused on animals. (Well, unless there are cats!)

Sugriva's Story

Sugriva and Vali

• A nice smilie: "shout like troubled ocean's or like tempest's deafening roar."
• Some nice lines, "passion lit his eye" and "thoughts of wrath like withered blossoms from thy bosom cast away."

Vali's Death

• Dishonorable death by an ambush. Interesting and controversial concept.
• Nice simile, "Like a snake of deadly poison flew his arrow swift and low."

King Sugriva

• More of the monkey kingdom (UGH!)
• Vanir translates to "monkey."
• King Sugriva is the new king. A game of thrones, more usurping.

The Rainy Season

• Someone in exile cannot enter a city. An interesting concept that makes great complications for a character.
• A lament, like a poetic monologue. This was both pretty and pleasant to read. I may insert one of these into my story. It's also a nice change of pace. Filled with beautiful lyrics and nice similes and metaphors.

The Armies

• A drunken and lazy King (or Queen, or ruler.)
• A talking vulture. (More talking animals--my favorite...)

Sampati

Sampati and Jatayu

• Writing is more lyrical and poetic, which I prefer to read. Maybe I should write my story in a poetic and lyrical manner?
• This story is in first person, which is my preferred point of view. However this point of view is rare to see in myths and (so far) Indian Epics.

Hanuman's Leap

• More talking animals, this time it's bears. At least bears are more interesting. 
• What about a were-bear, or a shapeshifter who can turn into a bear? 
• Story idea: about shape-shifters, or were-creatures. Maybe about a teen who transforms, unaware that they are a shape-shifter or a were-creature. Perhaps they are orphaned or adopted, and so do not know the origin of their family (who it turns out are shape-shifters or were-creatures.)
• A sea Rakshasi!

Hanuman in Lanka

The Ashoka Grove

• Ashoka trees. 
• "Sita, Queen of the stars."
• She-demons, Rakshasi. But these are horrible creatures with strange and animalistic appearances.
• A large mansion.

Sita and Ravana

• Marble palace, stairs made of coral and the floor made of gold.
• Rakshasi guards.
• Plantain trees.

Hanuman and Sita

Hanuman Captured

• A nice line: one breaking trees like "wind itself."
• Fight involving a bow and arrow.

Hanuman and Ravana

• Using fire as a weapon.

The Burning of Lanka

• NO MORE MONKEY ARMIES!
• Setting something on fire, using a cotton soaked in oil.

The March on Lanka

• A human fearing the magic of demons.
• Magicians.

Ravana's Court

• "Ravana's Mustache".
• Ravan, Monarch of the mighty Rakshasa.
• "Iron-toothed."

Vibhishana

• A virtuous demon.
• A Demon King. A cool idea. Maybe a story about the Demon King's Prince or Princess, and the perks and pitfalls of being demonic Royality. Also create a world for it. A world that is filled with demons and fantastical creatures. A basis for my Storybook? Stories about the princes, princesses, the servants, and the human prisoners. (Themes: forbidden love between a demon and a human, forbidden love between a royal demon and a poor demon, and a story about the princess or prince who just wants to run away.

Week 2 Reading Diary B: Ramayana (PDE)

PDE Ramayana Reading B:

(Image of Ravana)

1. Bharata Returns

2. Dasharatha's Funeral

3. Rama and Bharat
4. The Sandals

• A magical pair of sandals.
• Bark clothing
• Going to a jungle
• Garment of someone important signal authority

5. Anasuya

• Hermits
• Sages
• A strange birth
• "Robed and jeweled"
• Rhyme scheme, lyrical, poetic

6. Viradha

• Rakshasa, a demon whose appearance is much more different then in the Western world. (What about a story about the Rakshasas? Make them seem more humanize do but like vampires, since they want to drink the blood of humans. In this story the anti-hero would be the Rakshasa, and the enemy would be the hero (maybe Rama) who strives to kill the Rakshasa. This story will be YA and in our time period)

7. Agastya

• Another sage, Agastya. He gives him weapons.
• Given a sword and weapons he needs in the future. (The Q factor! Via James Scott Bell.)

8. Shurpanakha and Rama

• Female Rakshasa, seems like an Succubus. Oh, okay. Nope, shes's like a zombie.
• Human flesh is food of Rakshasa. (Zombie like. So they drink human blood, and eat human flesh.)

9. Lakshmana and Shurpanakh

• Cutting off her nose 
• Rakshasas hunting the hermits
• An army of Rakshasas 

10. Battle with Khara

• Eclipse
• Hide in a cave as one battles. This has the girl in the cave and the man fighting. A story idea would be gender-bending this.) 
• Blazing arrow

11. Shurpanakha and Ravana

• Lord of Rakshasas.
• Rama: An exiled youth as a hero.
• "Who. Is. This. Rama?" 
• Tranquil radiance in his (Rama's) eyes.
• Scarred being wanting to scar a beautiful creature.
• Even the Rakshasas was scared of the King.

12. Ravana and Maricha

• Chariot
• Another hermit 

13. The Golden Deer

• Turning into a deer. (Shapeshifters, were-creatures.) 
• Enchanted by a deer.

14. The Chase

• The Rakshasa has disguised as a golden deer, using Rama's voice. 

15. Ravana and Sita

• Ravana disguised As a sage of the forest (a Brahmin.) 
• Everyone seems to want Sita.
• Ravana wants to be her husband! 
• The trope: villain wants the love interest of the hero.
• Metaphor: Ravana is a jackal, Rama is a lion, Sita is a lioness. 
• Ravana takes Sita.

16. Jatayu and Ravana

• Jatayu, a mighty bird, fights against Ravana.
• Like a trail of breadcrumbs, Sita drop her Jewelry.q

17. Sita in Lanka 

• The demon King attempts to seduce her. (Very demon-like, and much like an incubus)
• Money and power cannot buy you everything. 

18. Rama and Jatayu

• Jatayu informs Rama as to what has happened.
• The trail of jewelry is found. 
• Going to the afterlife in a blazing chariot! 

19. Kabandha

• Kabanda the Rakshasa. He wanted to be burned, and it got rid of his curse. 
• Burning someone to rid them of a curse and return them to their original form. (Interesting concept!)  
• The Rakshasa all look quite unique 

20. Shabari

• Another hermit, awaiting Rama's arrival.