Epics of India Fall 2020

Of the listed articles from Week 2, I chose to read Seven Ways to Crush Self-Doubt in Creative Work by John Spencer. This article is about guiding the audience through self-doubt. John Spencer says, "self-doubt is a part of doing something really difficult that you care about deeply." I agree with John's statement. Self-doubt comes into someones mentality when they don't want to fail at something they'd like to be successful with. John really ties this together with his second method, to abandon perfectionism. We need to value the learning aspect of everything as well. As John says, self-doubt can crush confidence. Of the seven ways listed to crush self-doubt, my favorite one was to abandon perfectionism. People fear imperfection. This can cause someone to avoid progression and quit the task because it isn't perfect. Reading this article is beneficial in this course because writing is intricate. It takes time for someone to write the "perfect" story...

 The topic I chose to write my Storybook over is Rama. I am not quite sure which storyline I'll be choosing, but I've found a few stories with Rama included.  The first story I read and chose for my Storybook is  Dasharatha: The Story of Rama's Father . The story is about Dasharatha, Rama's father, and how Rama came about. Rama's mother is Kaushalya. It all starts when a young aged Dasharatha kills a young boy while hunting during the night time. The young boy's parents curse Dasharatha for the accident and say, "Your son too shall be parted from you, and you shall die grieving for him. One day, in the middle of battle, one of Dasharatha's wive's saved his life. He promised Kaikeyi two wishes whenever she wanted them. After some ritual sacrifices, Dasharatha had three sons from three different wives. He had Rama from Kaushalya, Bharata from Kaikeyi, and Lakshmana and Shatrughna from Sumitra. All three wives and Dasharatha knew that Rama was the best...

This story can now be found on my Portfolio:  https://sites.google.com/view/ramabyajh/story-1 Therapist: Hello Bharata, My name is Mrs. Krishna. Welcome home to my new office here in India. My assistants have repeatedly told me that you must speak to me, urgently. So Mr. Bharata, how can this therapy session be of help? Bharata: I have been through a scandal, Mrs. Krishna. I've been working so hard to make the name of my own and the name of my family worthy. I just don't know what to do at this point. I have never dealt with such shame.  Therapist: Well, Mr. Bharata. Let us take this step by step. Explaining your situation to me can help me help you. So Bharata, what is going on between your family that has left you utterly so disturbed? Bharata: It all started when I left for Ayodhya to the kingdom of the Kaikeyas with the rajah Ashwapati. I knew my father's days were coming to an end. An entire seven nights passed until I reached back home. As soon as I stepped a foot int...

 For Part B of the reading for Week 3, I have decided to take notes over Bharata's Return. Dasharatha has passed away from age and Rama is in exile. Rama is still not in his hermitage because of Bharata's mother, Kaikeyi. She used her two wishes to make Bharata king and not Rama.  Arriving to Ayodhya, Bharata was told that Dasharatha has passed away and that Rama was exiled. Bharata was not content to hear the news and he began to cry on the floor. His mother, Kaikeyi, told him that he should not grief. Bharata was confused on the presence of Rama. Kaikeyi told him the entire story of what happened. She said that she did what she did for her son and that he should not sorrow because he is now the ruler.  Bharata still was not content with the news. Essentially, he questioned the importance of being a ruler if he lost his father and his older brother.  Bharata had mixed feelings over his mother now. He didn't want to take her life because he knew Rama would not have w...

 Reading notes over Part A of Week 3 Reading:  Dasharatha was king of Koshala and father of Rama. There is also Mithila who is ruled by Janaka, the father of Sita. The article tells a great description of Koshala in "King Dasharatha." Dasharatha is powerful and has two family priests, Vashishtha and Vamadeva. Dasharatha also has three queens: Kaushalya, Kaikeyi, and Sumitra. The Gods gift Dasharatha four sons after he does a horse sacrifice. Of the four kids that were born from the wives of his own, Rama was the most gifted. Rama is actually a human avatar who is actually Vishnu, a god. This was done this way because Ravana cannot be defeated by gods, but only human or a monkey. Vishvamitra asks for the help of Dasharatha's sons, Rama and Laskshmana, to battle against demons who are disturbing the priests. This was the start of their manhood. In a dark and suspenseful setting, Rama and his brother cut the ears and nose off of a rakshasan woman, Thataka. The priests then d...