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 

Week 12 - Reading Notes - Krishna Krishna Part B

Jarasandha Provoked
  -I like that the author forced the reader visualize exactly what Jarasandha would have looked like. It made the story feel slightly more realistic and gave you a sense of the character as a whole. I also thought it was interesting that a common theme amongst these legends is the vice of arrogance. That isn't true across all ancient cultures. In that same vein I think it is really fascinating how there are subtle differences between Kamsa and jarasandha's arrogance and Krishna's confidence.

The Retreat of Jarasandha
 - I really like that both Krishna stories I have read have him settling the people of Martura in a new city rather than engaging in some sort of siege warfare or city battle. It shows that while Krishna is certainly a warrior, he is more so a visionary and a leader. He focuses on the good of his people rather than his own pride.


Destination Dwaraka

Dwaraka Temple
commons.wikimedia.org

Rukmini's Wedding
 - I agree with the author/commentator that it is really interesting that Jarasandha decided that he would not kill Krishna because Krishna had not killed him but had humiliated him instead. On own hand Jarasandha could have believed that humiliation was a worse fate than death and so wished to inflict it on Krishna. Or Jarasandha could hold a sense of honor and know that since Krishna had spared his life he must spare Krishna's.
 - It is so sad that Krishna married Rukmini rather than Rhada, his soulmate, I will probably focus my next story on the complicated relationships that Krishna is involved in and how his time as Rama probably impacted those relationships.


The End of Jarasandha
 - I could also potentially work in Krishna's musings about love and how he does not agree with the societal standards governing love. I might have Kamadeva talk about how Krishna's thoughts either came from Kamadeva or did not.


Bibliography
Krishna Krishna, Indira Parthasarathy, Reading Part B