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

Week 11 - Extra Reading - Krishna Kirshna Part A

Krishna Novel
iereadingguides.blogspot.com

Introduction:
  - I think the line "That he cannot but do what he does" is a really helpful for understanding why Krishna is so popular. It also removed the idea of free ill or moral culpability from his character. More this makes it harder to really root for someone but easier to forgive their mistakes.
 - I like that this author is admitting that while Krishna is a side character in most of the epics, as an extremely charismatic character they thought he deserved his own novel.

Prologue:
 - After only watching the Epified videos I think the contrast between young Krishna in those videos and the older, wiser Krishna portrayed here is really interesting. I can't imagine the Krishna from the videos saying anything about his own mortality.


Narada's Discourse:
 - I like using Jara and the Traveller to create a connection between the time that the story actually occurred and when it is being related. Knowing that Jara got the story from Krishna and gave it to the traveller now telling the reader gives his version of events some legitimacy that would have been lost if the author has just started with something along the lines of "long ago" or "once upon a time".

The Yadava Clan
 - I liked that this very quarrelsome clan is said to have descended from a very righteous prince. It makes sense that in a society with inherited power, even the best of beginnings can turn sour. 


The Magic Melody of the Flute
 - I thought it was super interesting that the author ties the story of Adam and Eve in with the story of Khrishna stealing the young women's clothing. Narratively, it serves to tie Krishna back to a time, in christian readers minds, when sin was not a thing yet.

Kamsa's Invitation
 - I really liked the twist of having Narada tell Kamsa about Krishna in order to hasten Krishna towards his destiny.
 - I feel like a lot of epics have the hero in a resting or exile time where they have little mini adventures in preparation for their real battle.






Bibliography

Parthasarathy, Indira. Krishna Krishna 

Week 11 Reading Notes - Epified Krishna Part B

Mathura
commons.wikimedia.org

Episode 11:

 - Has Brahma never been incarnated as a human? He seems really confused with how friendship works.
 - So does Krishna know which god he is? or just that he is divine?
 - Replacing children is creepy and it bothers me that no one noticed this.

Episode 12:
 - clearly ancient indian teenage boys and Oklahoma high school boys today are very similar. Only teenage boys would want a bunch of strength so they could punch a cow.
 - honestly the fact that the villagers are still shocked at anything Krishna does is ridiculous.
 - I like that krishna appears most powerful when using his music.

Episode 13:
 - "they could not live a moment without each other" except for all the times krishna has adventures with her bros
 - Ohh I like that Krishna can't marry Rahda because I can definetely use that in my Kamadeva diary. I had no idea this would happen when I had kamadeva curse Krishna.

Episode 14:
 - Yeah Krishna has a statistically impossible win record.
 - I like that Akrur technically did his job and still decided to warn Krishna.
 - The tension of Krishna knowing why he is being summoned works really well for this story.

Episode 15
 - "They all at once decided they would not let him go"  Have these people not witnessed Krishna defeat literally every single thing that has gotten in his way.
 - I am not at all surprised that Balhram came with Krishna. I feel like having a hero undertake a journey with one close companion is a really common theme for Vishna stories.


Episode 16:
 - LOL at Krishna and Balram going around the city. Just having fun and getting in some fights.
 - Wait Krishna's normal form is blue bodied? Is that normal? Or does the old woman just see his real form.

Episode 17:
 -  Yeah I bet Kamsa  is just now realizing that killing those other 7 kids was pretty much pointless.
 - Kamsa is a terrible villain with terrible plans. Honestly after everything else that Krisha has survived I don't know why Kamsa thought that would work.


Episode 18:
 - So an elephant didn't work and Kamsa set elephants? Kamsa is officially the stupidest villain out of any of the stories so far.
 - I like that the bow is being used differently in this story than in the Ramadava.


Episode 19:
 - I like that the city almost dissolved into anarchy until Krishna took charge. It is an interesting commentary on how little people have changed since this these stories were written.
 - Aww I'm glad that he finally got to meet his parents.


Episode 20:
  - I'm genuinely surprised that anyone was impressed enough by Kamsa to ally themselves with him, much less avenge his death.
 - I like that Krishna comes up with a genuinely innovative idea to escape attacks.




Bibliography
Epified Tv, Krishna, Part B 

Reading Notes Week 11 - Epified Krishna Part A

Krishna
www.newscrab.com

 - I really like this method of learning the story. Having something to watch while hearing the story makes it a really fun experience




Episode 1:
 - Slightly confused as to whether the couple was Kamsa's cousins and his sister intervened to stop him from killing them or if his sister was the one getting married.
 - Kamsa definetely could have found a less cruel way to kill his cousins children than smashing them against the wall.
 - The symbolism of the eighth child being the eighth reincarnation of Vishnu is interesting. I'm curious if eight is a symbolic number like 7 or 3 in Western traditions.


Episode 2:
 - The scene where they escape because some supernatural force has cause the guard to fall asleep is slightly remniscent of a passage in the bible where an angel causes the guards to fall asleep.
 -  Vasudev strait up kidnapped a child to sacrifice to his brother/cousin? in law


Episode 3:
 - Well I am glad that the little girl turned out to be a super powerful goddess but doesn't change the fact that Vasudev was totally willing for the random little girl to die.


Episode 4:
 - Kamsa slaughtering a lot of children in a effort to stop his rival from growing up is also similar to biblical stories.
 - Putana has possibly the worst murder plan ever. Even as a baby Krishna is a more effective killer.
- Also how did the mother or father not realize that their girl had been replaced with a boy.


Episode 5:
 - I like that Krishna was a big prankster from the time that he was really little. He had all these holy men coming to see him when he was a baby and then decides to become a little punk and steal butter.


Episode 6:
 - I think the emphasis on his adopted mother's role in Krishna's life is really interesting.
 - Also I think the twist of having Yashoda see the universe when Krishna opened his mouth was really cool. I'm curious if that always happens or just sometimes.


Episode 7:
 - I like the throwaway line about Krishna's attempt to learn music being more like a attempt to remember a long unused skill.
 - I also think its interesting how chill the village people are with their potentially supernatural children.


Episode 8:
 - Krishna remains a little punk. I like that even his mom is like "why does everyone put up with him?"


Episode 9:
 - So was Krishna purposefully making Indra mad so he could show off? Or was it a coincidence?
  - I think it is interesting that so far Krishna has failed at nothing. I'm curious whether he will mess up later in the story.


Episode 10:
 - This love story is very strange but somehow very sweet.



Bibliography
Epified TV, Krishna,  Part A

Tech Tip: Announcements Email

I don't normally look at announcements as I log into my Canvas. I normally just go strait to whatever assignment I need to do or module I need to fill out. I think that by subscribing to the email I will be more up to date with the class during these last few weeks. I think it could help me get back on track as I often forget about assignments when I don't have a reminder set.

Extra Credit Week 10 Reading Notes - Babbit Jataka Tales Part B

The Wise and Foolish Merchant
 - I thought it was really interesting that the wise man's original plan did not work out but he still managed to make the best of the situation. Instead of having an easier journey he will have a harder one. However, he will also make all the profit from the trip.

The Elephant Girly-face
 - First off, Girly-face is a dumb name for an elephant regardless of the "gentle and kind" justification.
 - The fact that Girly-face kills two guys and the king  is most concerned about Girly-face and not the people she killed is very interesting and slightly upsetting.

The Banyan Deer
 - I thought it was very interesting that the King not only granted the Banyan King Deer's life but the life of all of the deer. I also just want to know how, logistically, the deer were drawing lots to see who would die each day??

The Princes and the Water-Sprite
 - This seems like it either draws from the plot of the two major epics I've read and/ or influences their plots. A queen influencing her husband to put the wrong sun on the throne, combined with brother in exile is similar to the Ramayana. A water spirit messing with princes is similar to the story of the Pandeva brothers.

The King's White Elephant

Elephant
pixabay.com

 - I really liked this story, mostly because until the last sentence I was afraid that the King was going to kill the white elephant and was very relieved when that did not happen.
 - It also sent a very clear lesson about compassion and loyalty. The older elephant was shown compassion by the carpenters and repaid then with a loyalty he passed onto his son. That loyalty was rewarded by the carpenters releasing the younger elephant to go have a better life with the King.

The Ox Who Never Envied the Pig
 - This was a slightly morbid story. I did like the underlying message that hard work leads to a long life while overindulgence can be deadly.

Grannie's Blackie
 - I think it is interesting that the animals in these story's act almost like children to their owners. Blackie seems very similar to a teenage boy.

The Crab and the Crane
 - I remember this story from the first sets of Jataka's from the beginning of the year. I still really like it also the crab decapitating the crane is slightly gruesome for what I assume is a children's story.

Why the Owl Is Not Kings of the Birds
  - The crow flying around screaming he doesn't like how the Owl looks and that is why the Owl shouldn't be king doesn't even seem that far fetched given politics today.


Bibliography

• Babbitt. Jataka Tales. Reading Guide B