Extra Credit Reading Notes: The Indian Heroes: Mahabharata - The Princes of Elephant City

 Part A - 7 Hidimba and Baka

    After fleeing from the burning house, Bhima and his family rest in the nearby forest. Hidimba smells them and sends his sister, Hidimbi, to bring them to him to eat them. However, Hidimbi fell in love with Bhima when she saw him and warned him. Eventually, Hidimba came over since his sister took too long and fought Bhima. Bhima kills him and has a relationship with Hidimbi. 

Bhima Fights Baka the Asura by Ramanarayanadatta astri(1965). Source: Wikimedia

    Eventually, the family settles in a village that is being "taxed" by Baka. The tax is a blood tax in the form of human life. Luckily for the town, Bhima comes back to the family, from his relationship, and fights Baka. He winds up killing Baka and the family leaves for Panchala.

Bibliography

"The Indian Heroes: Mahabharata - The Princes of Elephant City" by C. A. Kincaid.

Reading Notes: PDE Mahabharata, Part D

69

    As Duryodhana was dying, Ashwatthaman, Drona's son, Kripa, and Kritavarman were given permission to attack the Pandavas while they slept. As they approached the gate, they encountered Shiva and retreated. Ash then there himself into a fire to receive the good graces of Shiva. Shiva then entered his body and helped them slay the sleeping Pandavas as revenge. Duryodhana died happy knowing of what his son did.

 

Ashwatthaman propitiates Shiva

before the night raid on the Pandava camp. Source: British Museum

Bibliography

"Mahabharata Online: Public Domain Edition" Part 69 by Dutt and Mackenzie.

Reading Notes: PDE Mahabharata, Part C

60

    Intense atmosphere described. War drums, evil omens, blood everywhere, animals howling, and "thunder" was taking place. The armies had been fighting all day. The Kauravas had the advantage for a bit because of Bhishma's power. Him and Arjuna fought but called a truce at the end of the day. Sounds like Kaurava forces took heavy losses. Day 2, Bhishma attacked but Arjuna drove him back. Day 3, Pandavas continued to drive back the Kaurava army. Heavy losses at this point. Bhisma  then drive back the opposing force after being taunted by Duryodhana. Bhima won the fourth and fifth days. On the sixth day, Bhima over extended and almost got killed from being surrounded but was saved by Arjuna's son, Iravat. Bhisma won the seventh day and cut down the standard of Yudhishthira. The 8th day, Bhisma's chariot fell and Iravat was slain. Bhima's son, the rakshasa Ghatotkacha got revenge for Arjuna. 

The Pandava and Kaurava armies face each other. Source: Wikimedia

Bibliography

"Mahabharata Online: Public Domain Edition" Part 60 by Mackenzie.

Week 8 Progress

    I am happy with my progress so far. I am most proud of being able to relate my stories with Halo. I do not have a good weekly routine as I procrastinate a lot and am not as motivated to do the work since I am about to graduate. The class assignments I enjoy the most are the short ones, the shorter, the better. I have used some extra credit options to catch up in commenting and to get some extra points. I think things have gone well in developing my blog and site.

    The changes I would like to make is not to procrastinate as much, but I probably still will. I mainly just want to avoid getting behind as I am about to start a class (8 week class), and I have other classes to focus on, like my Capstone with a project we are starting. There is nothing new I really want to do in this class or change about my blog/site.

Air Force fly-over by R.A. Killmer (May 2007). Source: Flickr

    This picture motivates me as it reminds me I am close to graduating and I will be able to focus on my career with the Air Force.

Week 8 Comments and Feedback

     The comments and feedback I receive I would consider to be fair to good in terms of quality. I think the ones I find most useful are the ones that highlight an error I made, like misspelling of words or unnecessary commas, or the ones that highlight something I did good. 

    I feel like I am somewhat getting to know people, but not that well. I think that due to the online format, it is harder for me to really connect with someone, especially when it is mainly through walls of text. I am happy with my introduction as I think it serves its purpose well by giving a brief backstory about me. I am not sure what I will do differently in my feedback as I try to be specific when I can. I will leave my introduction post alone but I added some text to more clearly show my portfolio link incase some people had difficultly seeing the link.

You can learn from criticism. Source: cheezburger

    I chose this picture as I think it is important to understand that criticism is not meant to put you/someone down but rather to be utilized to improve whatever is being criticized. Learning from someone's criticism can allow you to further improve your work for that particular audience or maybe it can fuel a new idea for you. Overall, I think it is important to receive criticism and not be scared or distraught from it.

Week 8 Reading and Writing

     The reading and writing assignments are okay to me. They are easy but really time consuming for me. The hardest part is thinking of my own story as I never really do that, so I use Halo to help me out. I am happy enough with my blog and website. I am satisfied with the writing I have done in my stories, but writing the stories are not something I really look forward to. My biggest accomplishment in my writing is exploring/expanding my creativity at times that I have never really done before. My favorite reading so far is "The Cunning Crane and the Crab" as it is short, interesting, and easy to read. My reading notes do help with my story post, but I think I'm going to start shortening them instead of noting each chapter. I'm not sure if I discovered a specific strategy but I have been going from detailed notes on every chapter to less detailed and soon less chapters.

Master Chief from Halo by Gunner111 (April 2008). Source: Flickr

    This is my favorite image I have used so far because it is about Halo, one of my favorite video game franchises. I am not sure what else to do to get more from this class, but it has helped me think more creatively I believe. I guess I could try to stray from the Halo theme and try to be more original and creative, but that sounds like more work than I really want to do for this class.

Reading Notes: PDE Mahabharata, Part B

 21-30

    Vidura caught on to the plan Duryoudhana had set to burn his family. He managed to save his family's lives, but a different family was in the house and died, so people thought they died. They went into the forest and encountered rakshasas. Bhima fought and killed Hidimba. Bhima then married Hidimbi, Hidimba's sister, and had a son, Ghatotkacha. Bhima and his family then stayed in a town and he slayed the wicked chief, Baka, the same way he killed Hidimba, by breaking his back. The Pandava brothers then heard of, met, and wanted to wed Draupadi. Bow reference to Rama. Arjuna "won" Draupadi but she married all five brothers. They then created a city, Indraprastha. Arjuna exiled himself for 12 years for "intruding" on his brother and Draupadi. He then met Ulupi and had a son, Iravat. He also gained the ability to become invisible in water.

Indian Crocodile by N.A. Nazeer (March 2013). Source: Wikimedia

31-40

    Arjuna then encountered an alligator and saved himself with the invisibility. He then saved 5 water nymphs who were cursed to be alligators. He never saw them again after that. Arjuna then met Chitra and also had a son with her after 3 years. Arjuna then met Subhadra, married her too, and stayed with her until his exile was over. They went back home and made truce with wife 2 (I think). 5 brothers, 5 sons, and the 2 wives at this point. Krishna and Arjuna helped "feed" Agni a forest in exchange for many celestial weapons. With Indra defeated, only six creatures survived. Arjuna saved Maya from the fire and was built a very nice palace in gratitude. The Pandavas (brothers) grew very powerful and killed Sishupala. Duryodhana, a cheating gambler with loaded die, "won" Draupadi and Yudhishthira because Yud could not refuse a game due to norms. Dur then took her by force. Bhima was very upset and Yud still did nothing. Vidura then showed up and undid all the wrong doing that took place but allowed for another match to exile the Pandavas. They lost again and were exiled.

Bibliography

"Mahabharata Online: Public Domain Edition" by Arnold, Besant, Devee, Dutt, Ganguli, Kincaid, Macfie, Mackenzie, Nivedita, Seeger, and Tagore.

Week 6 Story Lab: Microfiction: Snatch and Grab

Snatch and Grab

    B went searching for women he felt would be worthy of being married to his brother. His first stop was a gathering of the royal families at the city center. He drove around and noticed three beautiful princesses that were talking to each other. B immediately stopped his van, shot the nearby bodyguards, and instructed the princesses to get in his van. He escaped during the chaos and confusion. He then arrived at his brother's house and let him have his pick.

Van by Albert (November 2014). Source: Flickr

Opportunity

B saw the princesses. B took the princesses.

Author's Note

    My stories are based on the Mahabharata PDE. At one point in the story, Bhisma kidnapped three princesses for his half brother Vichitravirya so that he could continue the blood line. They eventually let one of the princesses go because she was already in love with another king. I tried to take a modern approach, hence the van and shooting. 

Bibliography

"Mahabharata Online: Public Domain Edition" by Arnold, Besant, Devee, Dutt, Ganguli, Kincaid, Macfie, Mackenzie, Nivedita, Seeger, and Tagore.

Reading Notes: PDE Mahabharata, Part A

1-10

    Vyasa authored the Mahabharata and told it to Ganesha who would only write it down if his pen would not stop. One day two children, one boy and one girl, were born in a river and a fisherman got them out, so he showed the king. The king took the boy and left the girl to the fisherman and his wife. The girls name was Satyavati. Vyasa was born on an island, he arranged the Vedas, and is Sat's son. Ganga married a king and drowned 7 children, but left the 8th one, Devavrata/Bhishma with the virtues of the Vasus, when the king yelled at her and she departed. Satyavati married the king, and she had two sons, Chitrangada and Vichitravirya. Chit died after waging war for 3 years, so Bhishma took over since Vich was still a kid. Bhisma killed many and kidnapped 3 princesses to become brides for Vich. Amba left to be with her king, but was rejected by him too so she went AWOL. Shiva then met with her and wanted revenge on Bhishma and Shiva said she will slay him. She entered a fire to be reborn into a man to slay Bhishma. Dhritarashtra and Pandu were born, the blind and the pale one respectively. Pandu was a warrior and leader. Karna was born, and became a mighty bowman after being put in a basket and sent downriver. Pandu died after hugging his favorite wife as was foretold by a "deer" he hunted.

Bhishma fight in Swayamvara by Ramnadayandatta Shastri Pandey (1968). Source: Wikimedia

11-20

    Dhritarashtra had now taken over the throne. Duryodhana, his son, was born and was evil but he could not kill him. Duryodhana tried to poison and drown Bhima. However, he was not destined to die and reached the underworld, where he was given strength and returned to his world. Drona and Drupada were once friends who grew apart and Drupada renounced Drona when they met again. Drona then trained the princes with weapons. Ekalavya wanted to be trained by Drona and cut his thumb off to show his dedication. There was a combat contest and Karna showed in the evening and challenged Arjuna. Duryodhana and Karna teamed up against Arjuna, Drona, and Bhishma. However, battle was avoided when Bhima came and spoke to them. Drona then had his warriors, the Pandavas and Kauravas, attack Drupada's kingdom. They managed to capture Drupada, and he agreed to be Drona's friend and keep half of his kingdom. Prince Duryodhana then convinced his father to build a wooden building to kill his cousins and Queen Kunti so he could take over.

Bibliography

"Mahabharata Online: Public Domain Edition" by Arnold, Besant, Devee, Dutt, Ganguli, Kincaid, Macfie, Mackenzie, Nivedita, Seeger, and Tagore.