Anthony Hui Indian Epics 996

Bibliography: Chitra by Rabindranath Tagore Arjuna Source Scene 1: Chitra, who is a woman, was raised to be a man since his dad was not able to sire a boy. She ran into Arjuna in the forest and instantly fell in love. For the first time, she hated being raised a boy. Arjuna, however, swore a life of celibacy for the next 12 years so he cannot be her husband even though she asked. So she went to the god of love Madana and Vasanta and asked to be extremely beautiful for one day so she can wow Arjuna. They instead made her super beautiful for a year. Scene 2: Chitra, now a beautiful woman, runs into Arjuna in the forest. Arjuna is extremely smitten and wants to get married but Chitra knows this is just an illusion and tells him to go away. Scene 3: Chitra and the gods talk about why she didn't bag Arjuna. Scene 4: Chitra and Arjuna talk about how their love is temporary with some COOOOOL metaphors Scene 5: The gods talk about how Chitra is taking a long time to...

Bibliography:  Jataka Tales  by Ellen C. Babbitt The Wise and Foolish Merchant There were two merchants, one wise and the other stupid. The stupid one agreed to go first through the desert because everything would be fresh but the wise merchant knew he would create the path for him to go. While the dumb merchant was going through the desert, he ran into a demon who tricked him into throwing away all of his water by telling him there is a forest with a ton of water over there. The merchant did just that but then realized that there isn't any water there so he was dehydrated and hungry and the demons were easily able to take them away. Later, the wise merchant goes through the forest and the demon tried to trick them again but he knew they were demons and did not throw away his water. He later found the empty goods of the stupid merchants so he took those and sold them for a profit. The Elephant Girly-Face This king had an elephant named Girly-Face because he was so gentle...

Bibliography: Jataka Tales by Ellen C. Babbitt The Monkey and the Crocodile: A crocodile's mom wanted to eat a monkey's heart so her son tried to trick the monkey by giving him a ride to another island that has a bunch of fruit. The crocodile was stupid though and he tried to drown the monkey but the monkey told the crocodile he left his heart at the tree. The crocodile went back to the tree and the monkey went straight up the tree so the crocodile can't catch him. The second day, the monkey crossed to the other island by hopping on a rock. The crocodile then waited until nighttime and hid on top of the rock to try and catch the monkey when he is leaving. The monkey noticed that the rock was a lot bigger than usual and called out to the rock. The crocodile is stupid and responded. The monkey then tricked the crocodile into opening his mouth and hopped back to the other island by hopping on his open mouth. The crocodile then stopped bothering the monkey. The Monkey ...

Bibliography:  Cradle Tales of Hinduism  by Sister Nivedita Krishna turns 12 and Kansa is getting desperate so he holds a wrestling tournament with some of the best wrestlers in hopes of defeating Krishna there. He invites Krishna, who agrees. Kansa then gets cold feet and tries to get an elephant to kill Krishna but he kills the elephant instead. He then fights all of the wrestlers one by one and kills them all and then goes and kills Kansa. Everyone is kinda sad that Kansa is dead. Krishna then frees his parents Krishna's story then merges with the Mahabharata as he meets the Pandavas and Arjuna. It ends with the war at the end of Mahabharata where everyone dies. The final part talks about the final days where Yudishthira was the ruler. There was some massive calamity that was coming and everyone was distressed. People started killing each other for some reason? Krishna was in meditation but someone went and killed him too but he went to heaven so it's all good. Kri...

Bibliography: Cradle Tales of Hinduism by Sister Nivedita Brutal opening chapter. It starts with a prophecy about a tyrant named Kansa. The eighth child between his sister and husband would end up killing him so Kansa locked them in a prison and would personally go kill any of the kids they had. Their 8th child ended up being a Vishnu avatar??? So they used some magic to sneak out and trade the boy with some random guy named Nanda's daughter (told to them by a prophecy). Kansa then kills the daughter instead. Krishna then gets established as some miracle baby that can do crazy things. And when he grew up to be like 8-9, everyone pretty much worshiped him. People soon realize that he is better than this peasant life and would eventually grow up to do bigger things. Brahma then tested Krishna to see if he was actually Vishnu by stealing cows. Krishna found the cows and Brahma was satisfied. Then we read about how cool Krishna. The first story was him beating this big snake tha...

Bibliography: The Indian Heroes: Mahabharata - The Princes of Elephant City by C.A. Kincaid Editor: So... does everything look good? Bhima: It looks great! Arjuna: There's nothing I would change! Yudhishthira: Perfectly written! Nakula: I love it! Sahadeva: I second everything that was said! Karna: Wait hold up... where's my story? Editor: What do you mean Karna? Karna: Like how I was abandoned? How I was denied everything because of the caste I was raised in? My hatred against Arjuna? Our rivalry?? Everything that led up to my defeat? You know, basically my entire life story and my reason for existence? Editor: Oh yeah that. We decided to cut it out because we didn't think it would be popular. Karna: Wouldn't be popular??? It's like one of the most well known parts of the Mahabharata! Editor: I don't have any ill will by this but I think I know what people want more than you. Karna: What? Editor: Ok sounds like everything is good the...

One thing I liked more in this version is they went more in-depth on how each of the Pandavas went into hiding. Even though it was a brief couple of sentences, Kincaid's version talks about each of their journeys to go into hiding, which I don't believe happened in the public domain version. This version made a few minor changes such as Bhima rolling up Kichaka into a ball after killing him. While it isn't anything major, I think this small change characterizes Bhima a lot better. Unfortunately, this version completely disregards Karna and Arjuna's rivalry. During the war, Karna was treated as just another side-character. He literally just shows up, his chariot gets stuck, and he gets killed by Arjuna. It makes me a little upset since Karna is my favorite character. I do understand it though since this version is essentially only talking about the Pandavas. Overall, I enjoyed it. It was a different perspective and it was short too so it helped refresh some of the ...