Indian Epics

- In Bhagavad Gita, Krishna is portrayed as a masculine warrior charioteer but in Dyaneshwari, Krishna is portrayed as mother Vitthal - Dyaneshwar saw Krishna as female terms. Krishna was a loving cow who provided comfort - The idea of mother Krishna was carried onto other poems - Idea of love and wisdom was greater than the gender of Krishna - There are many poems dedicated to the male devas compared to the female devas - Male devas lives in the heavens while female devas stays in earth and are associated with nature. - To Brahmans gender did not matter, but normal people took way more importance in the gender of the deities - New Hinduism put a lot of focus on desires - Male gods owed their divinity to their counterpart goddesses - Worship of gods without goddess is often frowned upon - Ardhanareshwara represent the equality of god since she is seen as the half woman form of Shiva - Islam gained foothold in India starting in 7th century which was seen as the gradual reject...

- Experts saying that Sarasvati dried up. People don't know if its referring to the actual river or symbolic language - Saraswati is considered to be the first creation of Brahma - Brahma falls in love with his daughter - This symbolically represents creators obsessions with his creation - Shatarupa becomes Saraswati's teacher after Brahma reflects his inner self - Absence of Brahma temple shows that people left their old ways, which was focused on materialism - Brahma is often linked with Saraswati to complete the triad of male and females - Saraswati is often portrayed alone and remains calm unlike other goddesss - Sharada becomes another way to represent Saraswati - Saraswati was based on Tara, Buddhist goddess - In Buddhism, women was seen as negative image - Saraswati is closely connected with music and literature - Lakshmi became a goddess who entraps with pleasure and Saraswati became who liberates with wisdom - Saraswati never stays with Lakshmi - Saraswat...

- Living seeks food and the death doesn't. Food is the fundamental need in the life - Lakshmi is the embodiment of food - Everyone comes for food. Food does not come to you - Elephant is associated with water - Lakshimi is the daughter of asura - Her connection with asura comes from the fear of materialism - Devas action favors humanity. Opposite of asura - Shukra is the presentation of creativity and bring back dead asuras - Vasant navratri is the goddess worship of spring and sharad navratri is the goddess worship of autumn - It says Lakshmi is the wife of Indra, but in the comments it says she is the wife of Vishnu. I don't know who is right - Rich is never feeling secured about their possessions. They constantly fear people around them - Lakshmi favors man of action - She is kidnapped by Ravana. Guessing that make her the wife of Vishnu since Rama is the reincarnation of Vishnu and his wife is the reincarnation of Vishnu's wife - Ganesha's from evokes L...

- Offerings were made to invoke gods who were normally dormant - People offered different offering to invoke god that is more Gauri and less Kali - Durga is wild but domesticated at the same time and presents restrained violence - Durga is Shiva's wife - Gods try to intervene in Kanya Kumaris wedding with Shiva since her powers are very strong - Devas fools Shiva by turning into rooster. Kanya Kumari is disappointed and watch over the sea by fighting the demons - Durga stands between the nature and nurture. - Over time, god became part of the family instead of something scary or to overwhelming. - Durga defeats Mahish asura. This represents Durga destroying the ego. - When human regresses to animal senses, this represents the asura. - Devas represents something that is over this world. - Nose ring is the representation of domestication. - Bhairava is the guardian of Vaishno devi. He tried to force himself on her before she beheaded him. He apologized and protected her f...

- Kali is nature, Gauri is culture - Prakriti came first then Brahma then brahmanda then sanskriti - Male form is mind and female form is the object around it - Only water exists when the world was born - Vishnu was sleeping in the serpant - Twin Asura emerged from Vishnu's earwax and caused trouble - Brahma saw that the twin asuras were killed by a goddess Yoga Nidra - Negative thought is considered to be Asuras - Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva creates, destroys, and sustains the nature - Brahmins are the record keepers of the brahmanas. - Shiva and Vishnu kills Brahmins. - Shiva kills Brahma when he tries to go after his own daighter - Vishnu kills Brahma when he kills Ravana - Brahma's ritual of yagna was abandoned over the ritual of puja - Gauri is wife of Shiva - Kali turns into Gauri after she is domesticated by Shiva. - Shiva is hermit thus not fit into civilized society - When asura attacked devas, Indra invited Shiva to command them - Parviti moves Shiva h...

- Kali is often portrayed with vulgar imagery - Kali's tongue was a weapon than it was a symbol for a wisdom and finally turned in to a symbol of shame. - Women's clay statue represented tamed nature - Nirriti was seen as a goddess of death and despair. Considered to be a predecessor of Kali - Dirgha Jihvi was killed by Sumitra that was sent by Indra. Dirgha Jihvi is also considered to be proto Kali because of the use of the vulgar tongue. - The Devi Mahatmya is the most famous story relating to Kali's tongue - In nature, violence is the nourishment - Shiva competes with Kali in a dance competition. Shiva tames Kali since women was controlled by men - Shiva and Shakti makes love and in one version she covers her head with lotus flower. - The version that Shakti is not shy, she sticks her tongue out, which shows that the nature is soverign - She became forbidden force after relating with Tantra - Ravana tries to offer sacrifice to Kali - Westerners saw Kali as a ...

- Men connected sex with women as immorality, misery and vulnerability - Like Samson, who loses power when he fell for a women - Women eventually became a commodity. Where men often bought or raped when he was lacking compared to other guys. - In a patriarchal society, women were often linked with nature (hence the name mother nature) and men were connected with the culture - In Japanese mythology, respect towards the men are established since if women spoke first, demon would spawn while humans were born if men spoke out first, - Serpent becomes a symbol for devil while winged creature is seen as a good symbol. - All the main characters in the Bible are considered male. - Women are portrayed as weak and something that should be taken care of Izanagi and Izanami

- Male anxiety is outdated is very interesting title - Chronos castrated his own father to leave Gaia's womb. - From the blood of Chronos's father rose Aphrodite and Arthemis - Chronos ate his own children to keep his position - Zeus was saved by Gaia and defeats Chronos - Gaia was side lined and this is a common theme in world mythology - Adya gave birth to Vishnu Brahma and Shiva. - Adya was burned down by Vishnu - Male gods often compete for a female rewards. This is another common theme in world mytholgy - Yami approaches Yama, who rejects her moves towards him. Yama dies since he left no offspring. Turns him into the god of death - Hera takes Zeus eye sight since men are fearful his ability to satisfying a women Greek Gods 

- Brahma tested Krishna since he found Krishna amusing. - Krishna realized that Brahma kidnapped his friends - For one year, Krishna made fake image of kidnapped cow's and friends. I don't know why he just didn't rescue them -  Brahma kneeled before Krishna realizing his divinity - Krishna did not kill Hastin, but tamed him. Taught that kindness is ultimate strength - Krishna came face to face with his destiny when he met up with Gargacharya . - Kamsa invites Krishna and sends Akrur. Akrur was a devoted Vishnu worshipper and tells that Kamsa is planning to kill Krishna. - Krishna leaves Vrindavan and villagers were sad - Krishna heals old woman in Mathura. - Mathura is filled with Krishna's heroism - Kamsa decided to use Kuvalayapida to kill Krishna. Krishna kills Kuvalayapida instead. - Krishna passes the bow challenge with ease just like Rama - Kamsa was finally killed - Krishna mets with Devaki for the first time - Krishna stays in Mathura and makes Ugr...

- Having enemies even before being born sounds miserable. - I like the introduction where the narrator states that everyone is part of Krishna's world. - Kamsa killed his cousin for foretelling his future. He promised that he will kill 8th child of Devaki. - Kamsa managed to kill 6 kids from Devaki. - God's protected Devaki's 7th and 8th child. - Devaki's 8th child was the reincarnation of Vishnu. - Vasudeva took Krishna and escaped from Kamsa's kingdom. -  Vasudeva replaced his son with a daughter of a cow herders.  - Kamsa feared when 8th child was born.  - When Kamsa tried to kill Maya, Durga intervened and told Kamsa that he is a fool for laughing at her for being a woman. Also told him that his death will be coming - Everyone visited Krishna and celebrated his birth - Demon kidnapped Krishna, tried to kill him - Yashoda was a very good mother to Krishna - Yashoda looked into Krishna's mouth and saw universe and everything. She realized that Kr...

I really enjoy reading the Jataka Tales. It is very light on reading and not overwhelming. Here are some of the stories that I enjoyed. The Princes and the Water Sprite I don't quite understand why the queen asked her last born son to be the king King sent the princes away into the forest until his death. Why didn't he just send the queen away? The wisdom of the eldest prince saved both sun and moon princes. So why did queen wanted to make sun the king again? The Ox Who Envied the Pig Little ox got jealous of the pig who was getting fed for the wedding. I already can see the bad end. His older brother tells the younger one that the pig is eating death. The story ends with the pig dying. Not the ending I was expecting. Story teaches us basically not to judge someones action until you know the background story. The Wise and the Foolish Merchant Two merchants decides that they cannot travel together due to shortage of supplies. Young merchant decides to go first and th...

I love fairy tales like these. Short and it teaches something that is valuable. Monkey and the Crocodile I like how "dumb" crocodile was emphasized He does act stupid when he tells the monkey that he is going to kill him How the Turtle Saved His Own Life Read this one in the beginning of the semester Very fun story to read The Merchant of Seri Tries to teach us the lesson of honesty and kindness since the merchant paid the old lady for her gold The Ox Who Won the Forfeit Teaching us to be nice since the ox repaid the kindness with his hard work. Buddha and Jataka Tales :wikimedia

- Kunti gained the mantra to summon any gods - Kunti abandoned her son at the river in the basket. - Pandu was revered as god in the forrest - Pandu was cursed by hermit. Pandu will die when he makes love - Pandu decided to stay in the forrest - Pandavas are born from Kunti's mantra - Gandhari gives brith to a lifeless lump - Vyasa divided the lump into 101 parts and kids were born from it - Kunti returns to  Hastinapura  with pandavas Image of Pandavas Wikipedia

- Watching the video was a great review the story once again. It got bit rusty for me but this video returned the lost memories very well. - Drowning the babies still seems very grim - Devavrat reunited back to with father, the king - Devavrat is a good son, giving up his kingly rights for his fathers marriage. - Old India seemed rough for women since they got rejected for even being kidnapped - 23 days of fighting. sounds tiring ( Image of Devavrata and Santanu : Wikimedia )

- Krishna wants peace between the two clans - Duryodhana plans to capture Krishna when he arrives to his kingdom - When Krishna shows his true power, Duryodhana realizes that he cannot capture Krishna. - Karna does not abandon Duryodhana's side on the battle - Dhrishtadyumna becomes the commander for the Pandavas side and Bhishma became the commander for the Kauravas. - Bhishma is wounded by Arjuna and Karna joins the fight. - Since Bhishma is out of the battle, Drona takes command of the Duryodhana's army. - Abhimanyu is killed by Jayadratha and Arjune becomes enraged. - Arjuna  successfully fulfills his promise of avenging Abhimanyu by killing Jayadratha. - Dhrishtadyumna kills Drona who was in despair  because he thought his son was killed. - Bhima kills Duryodhana's brother and drinks his blood. That is savage. - Karna is killed when his chariot gets stuck. He begs Arjuna not to kill him until his chariots free but Arjuna kills him after Krishna convinced him...

- Duryodhana begins to fight with Pandavas - Gods favor Pandavas greatly, sending gandharva to fight Duryodhana to prevent him from humiliating the Pandavas - As I read more into Mahabharata, my feelings for Pandava brothers change. I don't know if they will make a good protagonist since they can't catch a deer and dies from drinking water because Nakula, Sahadeva, Arjuna, and Bhima did not heed the lakes warning - Because the gods were on their side, the Pandava brothers comes back to life and recieves gift for their 13 year exile - Kichaka tries to sexually assault Draupadi, so Bhima kills him. - Susharman attempts to steal Virata's cattle after the death of their general, Kichaka. - Susharman successfully captures King Virata, but Bhima captures Susharman instead and frees Virata. - Karna fights with Arjuna and loses. - Uttara and Abhimanyu gets married since King Virata finds out that Pandavas were in his court. - Pandavas requests half of the Duryodhana's ...

- This is some family drama here. I dont think Dhritarashtra should wage a war against pandavans - Sharing Draupadi as a wife seems disturbing. Maybe they were really open back then. But Rama kicked out Sita for getting kidnapped by Ravana. This is really confusing. - This new kingdom of Indraprastha sounds like a conflict waiting to happen - I think Pandavans disrespecting Duryodhana is not heroic. Its hard to tell that Kauravas are the bad ones in this epic novel. I find this novel similar to the trojan mythology in a way its hard to tell whos the good and bad guys - Can't believe   Yudhishthira gambled away his family - War is about to start over a gambling match. There is more to it than just a dice game but this signals the beginning of the tear between the pandavas and kauravas. - At least  Dhritarashtra frees the pandavan loyalties.  - Man... exile and poverty over a dice game? - I mean it feels like Pandavans are using their help from the god in a wrong wa...

- I know that this story is about a war between two clans. War stories always intriguing. - When Shantanu agrees to get married, the deal does not sound like a good one - It seems cruel how the wife drowns the babies. Even though they committed crimes in the heavens. - The eighth one gets to live and his name is Bhishma - Bhishma giving up succession so his father can get married to another women is mind blowing! - Because of Bhishma's sacrifice, Shantanu gets to marry Satyavati and bares two sons, Chitrangada and Vichitravirya. Hope they don't fight with Bhishma later. - Bhishma also gathers three women's for Vichitravirya. Thats insane. Most humble being i have ever seen. - I wonder how strange Vyasa actually looks.. and his origin story is very surreal.. talking about fish smell and getting pregnant by god. Sounds like greek mythology! - Dhritarashtra (blind one), Pandu (pale one), and Vidura (normal one) - Instead of having his own son's, Pandu just summons...

- When Dave breaks up with Nina over a email, it was very sad. Sound affect for her heart breaking was also very descriptive of her situation. - The art direction for this film is very surreal. When the gods were dancing to a tune right after the break, the imagery was very flashy and gave me a weird feeling at the same time - Part B is after the book the Ramayana. When Rama banishes Sita for getting kidnapped by Ravana seems very harsh and she was even pregnant. - Rama seems very jealous that she stayed with Ravana - Sita meets Valmiki while lamenting her current situation. - Its funny how the twins praise Rama even after their mother was abandoned by him for doing nothing wrong. - I feel with the male narrator when he said Sita should forget Rama for not treating her right - Rama wants to take the twins back and not take Sita back. Rama wants her to prove her purity again - Sita sinks into earth since her purity was proven by the mother earth taking her back. she lived a roug...

- Lakshmi is portrayed very fancy in the beginning of the movie. Never imagined how she looked like before. - When Shiva is dancing on the ring of fire, I don't know why but it was very funny - This movie did not start how i would have imagined. When I saw San Francisco in the opening I was lost for a second. - As the movie progressed, I realized this is like the shorten version of the Ramayana. - 14:20 scene was very violent but it was toned down due to the animation - The movie describes that Ravana wasn't that bad besides the fact that he kidnapped Sita. - They make fun of Sita when she was dropping jewelry all the way to the Lanka. - They say that the Hanuman was the reincarnation of Shiva, which I never knew - Ravana gets mad at Sita since he was being considerate to her but she kept rejecting him - Ends with her going through fire trial Image of Rama and Sita : Flickr