Week 14 - Reading Notes - Francis and Thomas Jataka Tales Part A

The Little Gildmaster:

I think this is one of the few stories where the former incarnation is human and not animal. I liked seeing the necessity of relationship building to complete the task, rather than just finding money somewhere to pay the workers. 

King Makhadeva's Grey Hairs:

I will never not be confused by how long certain types of characters lifespans are in both the epics and the tales. It seems like humans should have normal life spans and then other creatures should be immortal but everything just seems very inconsistent. I’m curious whether there is an actual system to how old these characters are supposed to be or if it is all just random. 

The Feast For The Dead

If sacrificing the goat was part of a religious ordeal, why was there a punishment associated with it? And shouldn't the punishment rest on the person who ordered that goats be used in sacrifice, rather than the person forced to make the sacrifice?

The Discontented Ox:

I thought this version of the Ox and Pig story was fun because the authors created a little bit more backstory with the upcoming wedding. I didn't realize it was the same Jataka I read before until I was halfway through it. This particular story continues to be one of my favorites. I may try to somehow incorporate it into my Kamadeva story this week. 

The Peacock's Wooing:

Peacock
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Peacock_feathers_close.jpg

I get that the lesson of this one was "don't be a show off" but I still don't like that bird dad told his daughter she could marry whoever she wanted and then changed his mind.Bad form bird dad. Also I don't like that the original author's underlying message appears to be "dads pick a marriage for your daughter because she will choose wrong if you let her do it herself."

Bibliography

H.T. Francis and E.J. Thomas, Jataka Tales, Part A

Week 13 - Extra Credit - Learning Challenge

Lack of Sleep
https://imgur.com/gallery/dueSH

For this challenge I read the article "10 Proven Ways Teachers Can Improve Their Sleep". I thought this article was really good especially since I have a lot of trouble sleeping and maintaining a regular sleep schedule. I have noticed, especially in recent months that my body really needs me to start sleeping better. I knew that sleeping in pitch black was really good for you and that you shouldn't use a laptop for the 90 minutes before you sleep. However, I did not know that a decluttered room can help you sleep or that cold or hot feet could disrupt your sleep. I will definetely try to apply these tips to my own sleep schedule as the semester comes to a close.

Week 13 - Extra Credit - Wikipedia Trail - Sati (practice) to Partition of India

For this trails I started with a suggestion Laura gave me in her comments on my last story. She said that the story of Sati and Shiva tied into the practice of Sati/Suttee which I had only ever heard of as suttee. So the first article I looked at was Sati (practice).
 Sati or Suttee is an ancient practice where a widow immolates herself at her husbands funeral. To me the practice seemed like a truly tragic waste of life. The idea that it was glorified and encouraged for so long was disheartening. Out of all the images I thought the following one was particularly interesting.

Sati Ceromony
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sati_(practice)

From this site I followed a link to the Bengal Sati Regulation, 1829. I wanted to know how, when, and to what extent to practice had been regulated or stopped. Basically under British India the practice was outlawed in all provinces by 1829. The image that stood out the most in this article was the following. 



Plaque of the Last Legal Sati 
en.wikipedia.org

After reading this article I was curious to know exactly what territories where including in "British India". I clicked on a link to Presidencies and Provinces of British India. Turns out either the East India Trading Company or the actual Crown controlled most of India until about 1947. The following picture is a map of British India in 1909.



Map of British India in 1909
en.wikipedia.org

After reading about British India I wanted to know exactly when and how the occupation ended. So I clicked on an articled titled Partition of India. Before reading this article I hadn't realized how intergal Pakistan originally was in India. This whole trail was very enlightening and peaked my interest to know more about the British Occupation and its end.  

Week 13 - Extra Credit - Typing Test Tech Tip

Test 1: Keyhero: 52.36 WPM/ 92.5% Accuracy
Test 2: Speed Typing Online: 53 WPM/ 93% Accuracy


While I got almost the exact same result from both tests I liked the layout of Keyhero much better. I also noticed that I often mistype a and d and try to type commas instead of periods a lot. Moving forward I will try to watch out for these specific mistakes in my writing. I hadn't done speed typing tests since I was in high school and I really liked them. I think I could definetely work to improve my speed and accuracy.

Week 13 - Extra Credit - Back up and Review

Looking through the last week of announcements I really liked one graphic in particular. 

Tree Advice
oulbh.blogspot.com



I think the graphic is both fun and insightful. I love little graphics like this one. I also realized that I need to check up on the announcements a little bit more so that I don't miss fun stuff like this graphic. 

Week 13 - Reading Notes - Jataka Tales - The Giant Crab Part B

Two Horses
commons.wikimedia.org

Birds of a Feather 
 - I like that both the king and the dealers plans somewhat fail. The king and dealer both assuming that Chesnut and Strongjaw would destroy each other shows that ignorance isn't always tied to class. Sometimes the human characters just don't understand animals.

Spend a Pound to Win a Penny
 - I thought this story was a really interesting use of this title. I'm curious if that was the original title of the story or if the english editor added it.

Silence is Golden
 - This is probably my least favorite story so far. The little lion cub just wanted to make friends and they all hated him because he was different. I think its really interesting that this story was clearly valued by a society that placed a much lesser weight on individuality than our own.

The Quail and the Falcon
 - again this is another story that basically says "stay in your place". apparently ancient india was not a fan of pushing boundaries. That being said I did actually like this story better than the lion one. At least the quail won. 

The Bold Beggar
King Dainty sounds eeriely like Marie Antoinette. At least he seems generous at first with the beggar.


The Lion and the Boar
 - I like that the lion is mot greedy at all. He knows he is not hungry now but will be in a  few days and pledges to fight the boar then rather than immediately. 
 - I also thought it was interesting that the boars never really learned his lesson. He thought escaping his fate was the same thing as winning. Meanwhile the other boars knew the nature of lions well enough to save both his life and their own. 

The King's Lesson
 - I like that even though the king is assured her is good he still tries to better himself. 

Bibliography:
Rouse. The Giant Crab, Reading Part B

Week 13 - Reading Notes - Jataka Tales - The Giant Crab part A

*While I did read all the Jatakas from Part A, I only have comments for a few. 

The Giant Crab:

 -  I think this might have been one of the most violent jataka's I have read so far. I don't know what I was expecting but it wasn't a detailed description of a crab getting crushed to death by an elephant. 

The Hypocritical Cat:

 - It is interesting that some of the other Jataka's I read seemed to really praise cleverness and cunning plans but since the cat is also making a mockery of religion, this jataka condemns him.

The Wise Parrot and the Foolish Parrot

 - If you maid-servant is thieving enough that you have to lock up everything, you should probably just fire her. 

 - I'm glad the author agrees with me on that note. 

The Mouse and the Farmer

Mouse
wikipedia.org

 - Okay now I just want to know what the corn laws are. Were they are real law at one point? Did the author just think the phrase corn law was funny? (if so he was definetely right)

-       Also once again, this was a really graphic depiction of death a death for a jataka.

The Monkeys and the Gardener

 - I liked the distinction that the jataka made between cunningness and wisdom. While some of the other Jataka's have featured wise monkey characters, I think they have all been consistently cunning. I'm curious if that is a prevailing belief in ancient India?

The Goblin in the Pool

-       I think it is always interesting when the jataka don’t just have animals and humans interact but throw in a third, more supernatural, type of character, such as the goblin.

 -  I also like that the human and the monkeys needed each other to survive the goblin. The human would have waded into the pool and died if the monkeys hadn’t warned him. And the monkeys would have died of thirst if the human hadn’t shown them the trick with the reed. 

Bibliography

• Rouse. The Giant Crab, Reading Part A

Tech Tip - Pinterest Board

For this assignment I actually created a new pinterest account and made a board called Epics of India Portfolio Board. I pinned stuff from other board really easily. However I was completely unable to get the save from website function to work. I tried a few different times on several different pins and it still wouldn't work.

Week 12 - Extra Credit Reading Notes - Krishna Krishna - Part C

War against Jarasandha
wikipedia.org

Politics and Marriage
 - I really liked the scene between Krishna, Jarasandha, and Duryodhana. As someone who studies history a lot and follows modern politics closely, I enjoy that we can see what a great strategian Jarasandha can be. His subtley in making a big power play makes him very dangerous.  

The Final Duel
 - I like that Bheema doesn't forget the vow that was made after Draupadi was attacked. While i am still really weirded out by Draupadi being married to ALL of the Pandava brothers I like that at least some of them do seem to actually love her and care about her wellbeing.
 - I think it is interesting that the author notes how sad it is that there are so few witnesses to watch the fight. One thing I have noticed about most ancient ( and modern) cultures is the preminum placed on having witnesses to physical abilities or fighting abilities. 

Gandhari's Curse
 - The moral question the hunter, Jara, poses is a really interesting one. I think the core question he is asking is whether or not it is okay to do the wrong thing for the right reasons. I also thought Krishna raised a good point about a heroic death being much less of a punishment than living with your own guilt. 

Bhama, The Brave
 - It totally makes sense that a drunken fight about how committed the most heinous crimes during the war would be what set off the fall of the Yandavas. I think the fight between the men about who was most and least guilty during the war and whether the gods would pardon any of them gave a little more depth to this book than the other legends I have read. 

Krishna, The Psychologist
 - Not relevant to story writing or reading at all, but I loved that the author was like "these three losers" when talking about the guys moping around because they didn't get the girl . 


Bibliography 
Indira Parthasarathy, Krishna Krishna,  Reading Part C

Week 12 Story - Diary #3

Krishna and Radha
.flickr.com

Dear Diary,

Sorry it's been so long since my last entry. Getting burnt to a crisp in the name of love and then reincarnated as your good friend's son before re-ascending to your godly status can keep a god really busy. 

I will say, as much as I definitely did not enjoy getting incinerated by dear old Shiva, I am genuinely proud of why I did it. If I hadn't sacrificed myself Shiva would never have been reunited with his soul mate and the world would have descended into chaos. So you see, love really can save the world. 

Rati did a great job of handling my job while I was away. While she did modify my curse on Vishnu while I was away, her intentions were good. 

Apparently after Shiva killed me Rati was of course heartbroken. Shiva promised her that I would be reincarnated as a child of Krishna and then, once that body had died, I would return to my rightful place amongst the gods. That turned out to be a slight issue when Vishnu's next reincarnation was none other than Krishna.

 Because of course it was. 

Between the fiery death and my own curse preventing my rebirth it was not a super great time in my existence. To be fair, when I cursed Vishnu to lose his  next incarnations soul mate because of pride and be alone for that I life I certainly hadn't expected my reincarnation to be contingent upon Vishnu's reincarnation getting hitched. Luckily for me Rati had the perfect idea of how to still punish Vishnu for what we now refer to as "the incident" with Rama and Sita while making sure that I was reborn. 

While, Krishna (Vishnu) did marry, several times in fact (Rati wanted to be really certain that he would have kids), he was barred from being with his actual soul mate. When Krishna was a young man he fell in love with Radha, a village girl. Unfortunately for him, Rati is a genius. She disguised herself as the village priest, Gargacharya, and informed Krishna that he could not marry Radha because his destiny lay elsewhere. In reality, the only reason Krishna and Radha could not be together is because Rati was honoring my wishes. 

I do feel mildly bad for Radha, she had done nothing to incur Rati and I's wrath and be denied her soul mate. However, Rati made sure that she had a wonderful life even though she could not marry Krishna.

Well like I said before diary, saving the world, rebirth, and rejoining the gods can take quite a lot out of you. I think I'll rest now. 

Author's Note:
This narrative combines a few different sources along with a few of my own personal twists. Even though Krishna does get married and have Kamadeva's human incarnation, he is unable to marry his soulmate according to the epified videos. I wanted to find a way to still keep Kamadeva's curse intact without diverging too much for the story line. I also wanted to explain who was running the show while Kamadeva was dead. Having Rati modify and carry out the curse seemed like the most logical course. Kamadeva is slightly less snarky in this diary. I wanted him to be tired from the turmoil of the events between Diary #2 and Diary #3. He will be back to his normal self in the last diary. 


Bibliography

Wikipedia, Pradyumna, wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, Kamadeva, wikipedia.org
Epified Tv, Krishna, Part B