Week 13, Storytelling: Vikram

Budhi said “I am going to tell you about the great king Vikram. He was the king of Ujjain, India. He was famous for his intelligence, humbleness, generosity and virtue. He was loved among all his subjects. He went beyond and above to help any subjects who were in need. Ujjain kingdom had never seen a glorious king like Vikram.”

Shena asked “What did he look like Budhi?”

“Little girl, I have mentioned before not to interrupt me! I will let it go this time. However, if you do this one more time, you can go on your own way and never come back. Do you understand?"

“I am sorry Budhi, I will not repeat this mistake again. Please continue.”

“Okay, I shall answer your question as well. He looked as radiant as the sun, tall and handsome. Women fell in love with his beauty and intelligence. When they heard his voice, they willingly gave their heart to him. One day, a monk went to Vikram’s palace and asked for a place to stay. Vikram made sure that the monk had more than what he needed to have a good stay at his palace. The monk gave Vikram a fruit every day in return for letting the monk stay in his palace. Vikram gave these fruits to the treasurer. One day, instead of the treasurer Vikram gave the fruit to a monkey. When the monkey split open the fruit, a precious gem was spotted. Vikram called upon the treasurer and asked him what he did with the fruit and the treasurer replied by saying that he threw the fruits away. He humbly told the king that he could go look for the thrown away fruits and collect the gems. When the gems were presented to Vikram, He gave all the gems to the treasurer. Vikram then sent out a guard to fetch the monk. When the monk came in, he asked him why he was presenting him with such precious gems. The monk replied by saying that he wanted a favor and only someone as brave as Vikram was able to carry out such a favor. Without thinking, Vikram agreed to do the monk a favor. The monk asked Vikram to meet him at the forest next to the graveyard on the next full moon. The monk warned him that no one else could know about the arrangement between them. Vikram nodded his head as in agreement to what the monk said.  On the day of the full moon, Vikram dressed in camouflage and sneaked out of the palace. After a long walk, he finally met up with the monk in the graveyard. The monk seemed so happy to see the king and told him what the favor was. He wanted Vikram to go deeper inside the forest to go fetch a dead body, which was hanging from a tree. Without saying any word, the brave Vikram took off to find the dead body. After a long walk, Vikram found a sissoo tree that the monk mentioned. He noticed a dead body hanging from the tree. He soon realized that a goblin lived inside the body.”

Vikramadithya

Author’s Note

This story is based on the Story Twenty-Two Goblins written by Ryder. Twenty – Two Goblins are translation of Vikram and Vethal stories, which was written originally in Sanskrit. I made the talking tree the narrator of the story. In addition to that change, I have also used the real name of the character which was in Sanskrit than the English translation.

Bibliography

Twenty- Two Goblins by Rider. Website.  

Week 11, Story telling: Vikram

“I am going to tell you about the great king Vikramaditya, also known as Vikram.”  Said Budhi. “He was the king of Ujjain, India. He was famous for his intelligence, humbleness, generosity and virtue. He was loved among all his subjects. He goes beyond and above to help any subjects who are in need. Ujjain kingdom have never seen a glorious king like Vikram.”

“How does he look like Budhi?” Shena asked.

“ Little girl, I have mentioned before not to interrupt me! I will let it go this time, if you do this one more time, you can go on your own way and never come back. Do you understand?

“ I am sorry Budhi, I will not repeat this mistake again, please continue.” Shena uttered with fear.

“ Okay, I shall answer your question as well. He looked as radiant as the sun, tall and handsome. Women, upon looking at him fell in love with his beauty. When they hear his voice, they willingly gave their heart to him. One day, a monk went to Vikram’s palace and asked for a place to stay. Vikram made sure that the monk had more than what he needed to have a good stay at his palace.” Budhi continued. “ The monk gave Vikram a fruit every day in return for letting the monk stay in his palace. Vikram gave these fruits to the treasurer. One day, instead of the treasurer, Vikram gave these fruit to a monkey, when the monkey split open the fruit, a precious gem was spotted. Vikram called up on the treasurer and asked him what he did with the fruit and the treasurer replied by saying that he threw the fruits away. He also noted that he could go look for the thrown away fruits and collect the gems. Vikram gave all the gems to the treasurer. He then sent out a guard to fetch the monk. When the monk came in, he asked him why he was presenting him with such precious gems. The monk replied by saying that he wanted a favor and only someone as brave as Vikram was only able to carry out such a favor. Without thinking, Vikram agreed to do the monk a favor. The monk asked Vikram to meet him at the forest next to the graveyard on the next full moon. The monk warned him that no one else could know about the arrangement between them. Vikram nodded his head as in agreement to what the monk said.  

To be Continued.....

Vkram and Betal stories

Author’s note

I have not added anything to the story; I pretty much said the story as it is. I feel like I need to polish my story more since it lacks many details. I based this story off Twenty – Two Goblins. I am planning on going back and adding more details to this story.
Bibliography
To access the original story click here 

Week 9, Story telling; The Hidden Threasure

Once upon a time, there was a prince named Mahajanaka, son of king Aritthajanka. He was supposed to rule over Mithila; however before he was born his father was killed in a battle by the king Poljanaka. His poor mother, the queen of Mithila had to run away while she was carrying Mahajanaka to a neibhouring state called Kalachampa. A Brahmana took the queen under his wing and welcomed her to his home. His wife and he took care of the pregnant queen as their own sister.

One day Mahajanaka was playing with his friends and they all got in to a fight. Mahajanaka being the strongest child beat everyone up. They all decided to go tell their father about Mahajanaka. Then they realized that Mahajanaka does not have a father and made fun of him. He went home crying to his mom asking who his father is. Finally, the queen had to tell her son his identity and who his father is. Queen never told her son about his identity because she was scared that the enemies would come find them and kill the heir to the throne – Mahajanaka. After Mahajanka found out who he really is, he dreamt about taking back Mithila from Poljanaka. He started preparing for that day when he will take over Mithila.

When Mahajanaka came of age, he approached his mother and asked if she has any money to fund his trip.  When she asked why he wants the money, he replied by saying

“Mother, I think it is time for me to achieve my goal. I want to over throw Poljanaka and get back out kingdom. For that, I will need money to start a business and with the profit of the business, I want to fund an army to fight against Poljanaka.”

Hearing this, his mother was so proud. She offered him the money she had and he took off on a journey to start a business. While he was on the ocean, he encountered a storm and the ocean washed him out to Mithila’s shores.  When he was at Mithila, he learned that the king had died and whoever marries his daughter will become the king.

The princess had many proposals before, however she turned all of them down. However, when Mahajanaka entered, she was pleased with him.

The princess had agreed to marry Mahajanaka. Little did Mahajanaka knew that to marry the princess he had to pass three tests. With his intelligence, braveness and patience, he won all the challenged and married the princess. Thus, he became the king of Mithila.  

The hidden Treasure

Bibliography 

Amar Chita Katha: The Hidden Treasure 

Author's note

I didnt change anything about the story. Only thing I have done was cut out a lot of part and didn't explain the challenges. I might come back to this story and elaborate it a bit more. 

Week 7, Story telling: Gandharva

Gautham was well known gandharva among the gods and humans. He was humble and his talent for singing was extraordinary. When Gautham starts singing, both earth and heaven sinks in to his beautiful voice. Gautham has come of age and his parents were trying to find a suitable apsara for him. He received many proposals from suitable apsaras. Someone of them were even beautiful as the lotus and had a voice of nightingale. However, he did not find anyone suitable for him, he felt like all of them was missing something.

By the days go by, his parents started getting impatient with him. Finally his father decided to speak with him about their concern.

Gautham’s father – Son, many suitors came and showed interest in you, you rejected everyone! Don’t you realize that you are getting older and older, your mother and I would like to see you get married before we close our eyes.

Gautham- Father, I understand your concerns. However, I hope you do understand that I cannot make anyone my life partner without feeling a connection towards them. I have always been obedient towards you and mother and followed every word you have spoken to me. Please give me some more time to make a decision.

Gautham’s father- Of course son, but do consider your parents too. We are getting older and we do not have much time on heaven.

Gautham – yes father.

Gautham walked away feeling pressured to make a decision about his life partner. He decided to go for a walk in the forest to clear his mind and hoping that he will be able to narrow down his options of the proposals.

Gautham was deep in his thoughts when he accidently bumped in to a maiden. They both apologized to each other and walked away. Gautham started walking through the forest. He could not think about anything else except how beautiful the maiden’s eyes were. There is nothing special about her, however the way she looked at him drew him towards her. The next day Gautham waited in the same path hoping that she would pass by. For Gautham’s luck she passed through the same path. He stopped her and introduced himself and she introduced herself. Her name was Meena, she lives in the nearby village and comes to the forest every day to feed her cattle.  Gautham started becoming an everyday visitor and gave Meena company while the cattle went on to enjoy the tender grass in the forest. Slowly they fell in love. Finally, Gautham decided to inform his parents about his love.

Gautham – Father, Mother, I found someone and would like to get married to her with your blessings.

Gautham’s father- We are so pleased to hear than son. Whom did you pick from the proposals?

Gautham – Her name is Meena and she is a human who lives in the village next to the forest.

Both his parents were furious to hear this

With ranging anger his mother spoke, “We wanted you to get married to an apsara, not a mere human girl. She is an ordinary girl, not even a princess. We will not give you our blessings if you proceed with this”.

After many arguments and reasoning, his parents finally decided to meet Meena. When they met her they were impressed by her intelligence. They were pleased to see that meena was well mannered and humble. They agreed to give blessings for their marriage.

Author’s note

While I was reading the reading Diary, I came across vocabs gandharvas and apsaras. I had to click in the link provided and it took me to the Wikipedia page and I was fascinated by them. So I had to write a story about Gandharva. Since I am a big junkie for love stories, I had to turn this in to a love story.

Bibliography
Gandharvas, Wikipedia
Click here to access the wiki page about gandharva

Duryodhana and the Gantharvas, PDE Mahabharatha
Click here to access story telling which mentions gandharva

Gandharvas

Week 6, Story telling : Bhima and Hidimbi

September 25, 2015

How can my mother ask me to marry a Rakshasi? She is beautiful indeed, however I do not know her. She just showed up and I slayed her brother, and she is still saying that she loves me. My mom cannot arrange my marriage like this. I cannot refuse my mother’s proposal. I warned Hidimbi to not follow us and told her I will kill her if she does that, but that sneaky girl got my mom on her side. I think I have no other option now except to marry her and take her as my wife.

September 26, 2015

Today, I had to leave my brothers and mother to live with my wife. I am not so happy about that. She carried me on her back to live on mountains. She cooked for me and fed me. I am still getting used to her.

September 27, 2015

I woke up hearing her sweet voice. I did not know she could sing this beautifully. I cannot believe she sang songs for me, just for me. Today, I felt good about waking up next to her. I still refused to talk to her, because I felt like she used my mother’s compassion to get married to me. Around noon, I was drawn to the kitchen by this mouthwatering aroma to find her cooking. I tasted her food and instantly fell in love with her! I guess when they say “a man’s stomach is the way to his heart” is true.

September 28, 2015

She came and laid next to me during bedtime. For the first time I was looking forward to waking next to her. What is going on? Am I starting to fall in love with her? I cannot fall in love with her; my mother fixed our marriage.

September 29, 2015

She is such a beauty! I love spending time with her. I wish to bear a child with her. Our child will be as strong as I am and have her good qualities. I cannot believe a rakshasa turned in to someone who is more kind than a human is.

July 30, 2015

Today my son was born. I am the happiest man alive on the earth. I have a perfect wife and a healthy son with her. I cannot ask for anything else. She blessed me with a SON! Omg I cannot be anymore happier. I have to travel back to my mother and brothers and show them my son. 

Bhima and his family

Author's note

I wrote this story from Bhima's point of view. It is in a diary form. I got the idea for the story by reading some Diary Style storybook and from the chapter Bhima and Hidimbi. You can read the original story here

Week 5. Story telling: Beauty Does Not Represent Personality

Sanjay just got done with his midterm exams and turned in all his final papers. Unlike most of the students, he does not procrastinate, however, life had been so crazy for him lately and made him fall behind on school works. From OU campus, he drove twenty minutes to Lake Thunderbird to take a walk. He had to close out school from his mind for a while. He sat down under a tree, enjoying the warmth of the sun and feeling the soft wind against his face. He suddenly noticed a girl walking by- the most beautiful girl he has ever seen in his life. He was stunned by her beauty. She was wearing an OU class of 2017 shirt, jeans and a pair of toms. She quickly glanced at his direction and caught him staring at her. “Oh my god, her eyes are to die for” Sanjay whispered to himself. He could not take his eyes off of her. He fell in love with her beauty and wanted to ask her out right then. He gathered all his courage and went up to her planning on at least getting her number. “You are so beautiful, I want to marry you” without Sanjay even realizing those words slipped out of his tongue. She chuckled and kept walking. “What have I done, oh my god what have I done” he thought to himself. He ran after her and tried to speak to her again.

Sanjay- “Ummm that was awkward, I am sorry about that. My name is Sanjay”

She turned back, looked at Sanjay and smiled, and kept walking.

Sanjay- “ Soooo, what is your name? I am guessing you got to OU.

Mridula- “I am Mridula, yup, I go to OU”.

He felt like his tongue got tied, he started sweating, He tried to regain his courage, but her beautiful smile was making him beyond nervous. After talking for thirty minutes, he got her number and they texted for a week and he asked her out. Surprisingly, she said yes to him.

Weeks passed by, within a month, Sanjay could not stand Mridula. Her rude nature and selfishness was pushing him over the edge. “ Ahh, she is so beautiful but I cannot stand her personality. Why did I ask her out, I don’t think I can be in this relationship anymore” He thought to himself. He tried to find a solution for this problem. However, Mridula’s unkindful act and rudeness to others made him so sad. He did not want to break up with her because he thought that he will never find someone as beautiful as her.

Two months passes by, after Mridula came in to his life, his problems has only gotten worse. She never supported him in his decisions and always nagged and found fault in his actions. Finally, he realized that beauty is not what matters; it is one’s personality that matters. He started regretting asking her out based on her beautiful face rather than her personality. He finally broke things off with Mridula and swore to never make the same mistake he made. 

Beauty does not represent personality

Bibliography - King Shantanu and Ganga from PDE: Mahabharata

Author’s note

One thing I have noticed in most of the readings is that they give a lot importance in appearance of a woman and man equally. They portray evil woman as ugly like they portrayed Manthara as hunchbacked and ugly in Ramayana. In this story, I wanted to point out to the readers that there is something beyond a beautiful face to both men and women. Someone’s personality is what matters more than their appearance. I based this story off of PDE: Mahabharatha, chapter King Shantanu and Ganga. King Shantanu wanted to marry Ganga based off of her looks. I made Sanjay to look like a similar character to Shantanu. Sanjay and Shantanu both fell in love with a woman based on their beauty and had to suffer later, due to it. I am not trying to imply that people who are ugly has a good personality or people who are beautiful has a bad personality. I want the readers to look more into a person than their outwards looks before they judge.

Story Telling:, Week 2: Road Trip to Ramayana

Jaya and Dileep was going on a road trip to the neighboring state for vacation with their two daughters- Meena and Chinju.  Meena is 10 years old and Chinju is 13 years old. Every two – three years, they go from Kerala to Tamil Nadu to visit Velankani Church. On the way back they usually visit Mysore too. Meena was cranky because her mother woke her up before sunrise to get ready for the trip. Her favorite part of the road trip was site seeing. First thing she did when she got in to the car was lower her windows. She loves to feel the soft wind touching her face while the car moves. On the way to Mysore, they passed the Eucalyptus trees. While everyone seems to enjoy the fragrance of Eucalyptus, the smell only made her carsickness worse. They passed the Eucalyptus trees and continued their journey through a road that cuts through forest. Meena spotted a dear while they were on their way.

Meena- “MOM, MOMMMMMM, look there is a deer. Stop the car! I want to take a closer look at the deer. Dad, stop the car! I want to take the deer with us.

Dileep-“ No Meena, we cannot stop the car now! This area is filled with wild elephants and other wild animals”.

Meena started throwing a tantrum, finally dileep stopped the car. However he spotted some wild elephants coming at their way. Dileep decided to take off.

Meena- "I want you to stop the car now! I want that deer". 

Dileep tried to explain why he cannot stop the car now and they might get in danger if they did stop the car.

Meena started crying again

Jaya- "Dear, I agree that the deer is so beautiful and why you wanted to have it. You are not the only  one who wanted a deer. Let me tell you a story". 

Meena looked up to her mother wiping her tears off

Jaya- “Once up on a time there was a prince named Rama, who fell in loved with a beautiful princess named Sita. After their  marriage, Rama’s step mother tricked Rama's father in to banishing Rama to the forest for fourteen years. The loving wife Sita and loyal brother Lakshma accompanied Rama in to forest. One day Sita saw a beautiful deer wandering by their home in the forest. She has never laid her eyes on something as beautiful as this creature. She mentioned to Rama how beautiful the deer and that she must have it. To fulfill his beautiful wife's wish, Rama set out to catch the deer even though he knew something was not right about the deer.  Little did they knew that the deer was Maricha- a rakshasa. Maricha disguised as this golden deer as per the instruction of Ravana, the rakshasa king who wanted to kidnap Sita. Rama told Sita to stay where she is and to Lakshmana, he asked to never leave Sita's side till he returned. Lakshmana warned both of them against going after the deer. However, Rama was oblivious about his surrounding because he wanted to grant Sita's wish so bad. Ravana took the opportunity to abduct Sita while Rama went after the deer. After searching for Sita several times and after many wars Rama was finally able to get Sita back from Ravana."
Jaya continued saying " Look dear, you cannot be oblivious to your surroundings. It will invite danger like Sita and Rama."
Meena realized her mistake and said sorry to both Jaya and Dileep. 

Rama and Sita

Link to the original story

http://ouocblog.blogspot.com/search/label/PDE%20Ramayana
Bibliography
Gibbs, Laura. "Ramayana Public Domain Edition". Web blog post. Indian Epics: Images and PDE          Epics. 18 April 2014.Web.02 September 2015.

G

Author's note

My parents and I used to go on road trips when I was little; this story is inspired by that. I used to hate the Eucalyptus smell while everyone stopped next to the road to inhale in the fragrance. I loved the story of Rama and Sita and I was wondering how I can put it in to storytelling and a road trip idea came in to my mind while I was driving back to my apartment from library one day. I wanted people to think about what’s going on around them before they jump in to doing something. I am hoping that this story will help to get that point across the readers. For example, I was browsing at mall and stopped at Michael Kors and saw a beautiful watch and I wanted to just get it right then, even though I went over my budget that month. I ended up getting it and had to return it realizing I couldn’t afford it then. I felt like it was so stupid that I felt like I must have it when I could go without it and I became so oblivious about how I will pay my bills and other necessary items if I went and bought this watch. 

Week 1 Story Telling: The Foolish Ass

There lived two Asses named Jena and Jippy. Their owner was a very nice man who worked very hard to help his family sustain. Jena is like her owner- hardworking. On the other hand, Jippy likes to try to find a way out of work. One day, the owner took Jippy to his work to bring back salt to the village to sell it to the villagers. When Jippy got back home, he complained to Jena how heavy the salt bags were. Jippy also complained about how heartless their owner is and he wants to teach his owner a lesson. Jena warned him to not do anything stupid and reminded him how generous their owner is and how well he takes care of both of them. Jippy ignored Jena's words. The next day when Jippy was crossing the lake with salt bags, he slipped and fell in to water. His owner pulled him out of the river with great difficulty and examined for wounds or cuts. The owner only found very minor scratches on Jippy. They proceeded to cross the river. Jippy noticed that the weight on this back have lessened by more than half. 

Most of the salt is dissolved from the bags

When they got home Jippy overheard the owner talking about how less salt there is remaining and they won’t be able to make a profit out of selling the salt he brought home. Jippy approached Jena with joy and told  her “look Jena, I have a plan. I fell down when we were crossing the river and the salt I was carrying dissolved in to the river and I only had to carry half as much as weight.”

Jena responded by saying,  “oh ohhhh, I see where this is going”

Jippy- “Oh yes! I am going to fall again tomorrow. This way I will also teach our owner a lesson. If he can’t sell all the salt, he won’t make any profits from his business”

Jena- “Your plan is only going to invite danger, it is better to do your work properly”

Jippy turned his head back to Jena and planned to proceed with this plan.

The next day Jippy fell in to the river and carried half as much salt back home. Without the profit from the salt business the owner didn’t have enough money to buy enough food to feed both Jena and Jippy. Since Jena is hard working and is more useful to the owner, he fed her and not Jippy. Jippy was so aggravated that he decide d to stay in water till all the salt melted away.

The next day, Jippy fell in to the river again, this time when he got up; he felt that his bags got heavier. Jippy didn’t realize that the owner started sponge business and the bags he was carrying was filled with sponges. He reached home starving and tired from carrying the extra weight.

Ass caring a heavy load

Jippy realized his mistake and decided to follow his owner’s order and work hard from then on. 

Author's note: The story above is based on the fable "The Ass and The Load of Salt" taken from Aseop for Children by Anonymous, Illustrated by Milo Winter (1919). "The Ass and The Load" of Salt fable made me think about how we all try to put in less amount of effort and expect great results. Usually, when we don’t work hard enough and do our job properly, we end up with twice the work load. In this story, the Ass didn’t realize how blessed he was to have a caring owner who takes care of him, Instead of being thankful, the ass was always complaining and being ungrateful. I wrote this story to show everyone what will occur when we are not grateful for what we have and when we try to avoid work and go around it. The main twist in my story from the original story is that I added one more Ass named Jena, who is like her owner- hardworking. I chose two images to illustrate the story. Image one shows an ass with not heavy load and the second image show an ass with a heavy load. The first image was used to show how the salt dissolved and the ass only had to carry less load and second image is to show the extra amount of weight he had to carry due to his own actions.