Indian Epics OU

Danger of the single story. Chimamanda used her experience of growing up in Nigeria in a happy home. She realized when she came to America that people often associated her with an African stereotype that she did not fit. As she came to realize she also was subject to judging and stereotyping people. She says that when people only rely on a single story of a person that they narrow their view and often are quick to judge others. I thought many of the points she made were very true. If people did more research and were not relying on a single narrative they may understand the world a little bit better. Her points made me reflect on my life and that I think everyone could be better about judging others less and trying to understand cultures unlike their own. Imaginary friends and real-word consequences- I found this video very interesting because it is a subject that I had never thought about. Even though I never thought about the effects of this I feel that it relates to me very much. ...

Kali is nature and Gauri is culture where not only the fit thrive but the unfit may also. In the Puranas men and women are used to explain the relationship between mind and the world around. It is important not to think of the stories as man and woman but as mind over matter. Do not think of them physically but symbolically. Yoga-maya is perceived reality filtered through the human mind. Shiva is the destroyer of culture because he withdraws completely from nature. His mind is completely clean and pure void of thoughts. Shiva's seed gives rise to six boys from the six star goddesses. The six headed skanda is made by fusing all the children together. Shiva is immortal so does not need to bare children because he will never need to be reborn. Parvati wants a child that shiva will not give her so she creates a child without a man. The child is beheaded but when realized that it was her child he replaced the head with the elephants head. The god who removes obstacles is what that child...

Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva were all born from the unfertilized eggs of Adya. Vishu agreed to be her lover as the other two would not but she had to give him a third eye. She said yes but he used it against her and turned her to ash. Three goddesses were born from the ash and became the wives of the three sons. Males fighting for the attention of females- due to insecurity men create social laws such as marriages. Men are not needed for reproduction for each woman. Many women become celebrated and you see groups of women pictured with only a single male. Females dominate in Mahabharata where women had the choice of the man and they would not be rejected. Virginity used to be thought of as a woman who was ready to give birth. Also a woman after childbirth. The shift of this meaning also showed the shift in worshiping women to looking down upon them. Urbanization was focused on obedience and was often enforced by men. Women are often associated with nature and just as men domesticate na...

December 10th was a cold day at Wild Lake Elementary school. The school was preparing for the first snow of the winter. The kids had all arrived bundled up in coats, hats and winter boots. Mrs. Meek was a Kindergarten teacher. Her classroom was filled with 18 five-year old kids. She had been teaching at the school for fifteen years and was used to days like this at school. Due to the weather the school planned an indoor playtime, since going outside was out of the question. After lunch it was time for the Kindergartners to play in the gym. Each class lined up in a single file line and made their way down the hall and into the gym area. Mrs. Meek and the other five teachers all lined up against the wall and kept an eye on the children. Voices seemed even louder than usual as they echoed against the tall ceilings in the gym. "Mrs. Meek! Mrs. Meek! Catch the ball," yelled one of her students as he flung a giant bouncy ball her way. It bounced off of her hands as she failed t...

Account of how Karma functions.... 1- The king married the river goddess but she made him promise that he would never question her decisions. Everyone was happy for them but after she drown their first child the king was sad. She did the same for the next six children and he said nothing, he did not question her. When she was about to do the same to their eight he learned the truth. They had been cursed to live mortal lives so she was to kill her eight children. She left with their last remaining child. 5- After the three princesses are kidnapped the eldest wanted to be let go. She went to her king who she loved but he rejected her because she had been taken by another man. She went back to the other king and asked for him to marry her. He was celibate and did not want to marry her even though he had kidnapped her and her life was ruined. She wanted to punish him for his crime. She found someone to fight him to the death. After 23 days nobody had won. Amba never got her revenge. ...

Emily ran down the hallway. "Its Halloween!" she yelled. Emily was 10 years old and had decided to dress up Jasmine her favorite Disney princess. Halloween was by far her favorite day of the year. Her love of candy and princesses all combined into one day.  Every year her family would go trick or treating around their neighborhood. Emily's favorite house was Mrs. Smith. Mrs. Smith always gave out a hand made surprise goody bag full of toys and chocolate. As dusk approached Emily got dressed in her Jasmine costume. Her mom, dad and brother all got ready to go trick or treating. As they left the house Emily saw ghosts, skeletons and spider webs. She went door to door happily saying "trick or treat" and receiving candy in return. The house on the corner had a bowl out front with a sign saying "please take one". So Emily happily took one piece of chocolate and continued to trick or treat. Finally Emily approached Mrs. Smith's house. To her surpri...

The Patient Buffalo- A mischievous monkey wanted to make a buffalo angry. First he tried jumping on his back but the buffalo did nothing. He bounced on his head but still he did nothing. He wanted to make the buffalo angry but nothing seemed to work. A fairy appeared and asked the buffalo why he did not make the monkey go away with his strength. The buffalo did not want to punish a little animal with a little brain. His patience won the fairies approval and she waved her wand so he could not face suffering ever again. The Noble Horse- There once was a beautiful horse who was noble and lived in a palace. When war broke out he was taken into battle. Each battle he won with victory and they captured the king as they prevailed. One battle the horse was wounded. He knew that the final battle could not be won without him. So he told the warrior to take him and he would lead him to victory one last time. He won that last battle but lay bleeding in the end. He said the warrior but let the ca...

Chief of the dogs Source:  goodhousekeeping The guilty dogs- A king drove a chariot into the city and put his horses up for the night. It rained down on the chariot and the dogs were tempted by the wet leather and chewed them to pieces that night. The king was so mad that he order all 700 dogs in the city to be killed. The chief of the dogs consoled them and said only the guilty should be killed. He thought the dogs of the palace could be the only dogs that had access to the chariot. The chief bravely went to the king to ask him to spare the city dogs. He was granted access to the king because of the love in his eyes. The king agreed to question the royal dogs and they were found to be the guilty ones. The king admitted his guilt and gave all of the city dogs lavish food and they were all allowed to live. The tortoise and the geese- An old tortoise was offered to be taken to a golden cave. In order for him to get there two geese offered to fly him while he held onto a sti...

Dimly lit bar Source:  shamrockbar It was Friday night and Ben headed over to his local bar. He walked over to the corner stool and took a seat. The room was dimly lit. A flickering light hung over a pool table to the right and above the bar a neon light buzzed. "Whatcha drinking tonight hun?" said the friendly bartender. Ben just pointed and the bartender happily poured him a glass. "Now I know you're not just going to sit here in silence all night. If you need someone to talk to I'm here to listen. My name is Kathy by the way," said the bartender. "Ben," he said as he managed a smirk. After the small introduction Ben managed to begin to tell the story of his sorrow. How he had met a girl but in the end realized he could never win her heart. They had met online using one of those dating apps; her name was Kelly. Her profile caught his eye with a photo of Kelly and her dog walking on the beach. After they hit it off on their first coffe...