Indian Epics

 Old:  A s Rama took the throne, he could not forget his loyal follower, Hanuman. The powerful monkey deity had saved his brother, wife, and aided in the war effort. For all he had done, Rama must surely reward Hanuman greatly. He remembered the great mountain that Hanuman had seized to bring the medicine fruit to bring back his slain soldiers and brother. Thus, Rama decided Hanuman shall became the king of the Himalayas so that he may protect India from invaders and watch over the medicine plant for Rama. Upon hearing the news Hanuman, flew to begin his kingdom.  New:  As Rama took the throne, he could not forget Hanuman. The monkey deity had saved his brother, wife, and aided in the war effort.  For all he had done, Rama must surely reward Hanuman.  He remembered the mountain that Hanuman had seized to bring the medicine plant back to his slain soldiers and brother.  Rama decided Hanuman shall became the king of the Himalayas so that he may protect h...

 Part B of the Mahabharata finally got into the meat of the conflict between the two sets of cousins. In particular, I enjoyed reading some of the stories of Arjuna after he was exiled. Arjuna's name is very prominent among Indian boys, especially as Arjun, so it was interesting to read some of his feats. One aspect of the story that really caught my attention was how much importance was placed on gambling. It seems almost hard to believe how the warriors were forced to gamble or be shamed. Perhaps it was an aspect of Indian culture back then, but it does seem gambling ultimately might what causes the Great War between the cousins. Part B also included more stories on swayamwaras which were also prominent in the Ramayana. Like Rama, Arjuna also had to prove his worth with a bow and arrow, this time having to hit a target rather than breaking the bow of Shiva as Ram did. The last story was also interesting to read, specifically about the swastika. We are so ingrained to consider the...

 Like with the Ramayana, I decided to go with the public domain version to begin my reading. I have read the story before as child, so I had some understanding of the epic which offset the difficult language at times. Compared to Ramayana, I feel that there are way more characters than Mahabharata. It got confusing at times to remember who was who, and I often had to use the links associated with the characters to remember their roles. I see myself having to utilize a character list of the Mahabharata to make sure I do not get confused between characters. Pertaining the story itself, it was interesting start to the epic. It is quite different compared to the Ramayana and part A really focused on introducing characters and setting up the battle between the Pandavas and Kauravas. One thing I am looking forward to reading about is how Bhishma as he has seems to much influence between the kingdoms and their rearing. The story really set the reader up with what to expect for the battle ...