Extra Credit Reading Notes: Mahabharata Part D

Hello VagaBuddies!

Finally, after much anticipation, I finished the Mahabharata! Things got pretty crazy here in real life (or IRL as the bloggers say). Not to date this blog or anything, but I am currently writing this post while in quarantine for coronavirus! Scary! But also a good time to catch up on readings, because it is important to finish the story!  Here are some thoughts on the thrilling conclusion of the Mahabharata!

Where I left off in my last post (soooooo sooooo long ago), Yudhisthira and crew were starting their final and hardest year of exile: spending a year undercover in a city. With their silly disguises, they almost get caught so many times. Arjuna reveals himself to the boastful prince in order to save them both from an attack by Karna, and Yudhisthira is accidentally cut during a moment of anger from the King. Apparently (which I say because it was never mentioned before), if Yudhisthira's blood is spilled on the ground, a huge curse is put on the one who caused the wound. So Draupadi had to act quickly and catch the blood before it reached the ground. Phew!

Arjuna and prince fighting Arjuna | paperstand.blogspot

One of the wilder parts of the big between the Pandavas and Duryodhana and crew is how they took down Drona, the old teacher of the Pandavas. To do this, they named an elephant after Drona's son, killed it, and then loudly proclaimed its death. Drona even asked Yudhisthira (who can't lie I guess?) if it was true, to which he replied, "yes," and then under his breath, "the elephant." This deception made Drona let down his guard for a moment in which someone else could come kill him. WILD

Overall, I thought the battle was meh. A good amount of action, but there were so many names that it was hard to really care about anyone in particular.

I also thought it was a bit selfish of Yudhisthira, whom I had consistently respected up to this point, to try to refuse the crown in favor of an ascetic life. He literally fought a war and then decided it wasn't worth it. Nice dude. I'm glad that Krishna was there to set him straight. It was also interesting to read how all the main characters passed, too. In the last couple pages, we saw how everyone else got their dignified deaths, and Yudhisthira actually just was raised into heaven.

Anyway, I am really glad I finished the Mahabharata, and, if forced to decide between recommending the Mahabharata or the Ramayana, it would be the Ramayana if for nothing else than the absolute gem of a character of Hanuman (What a hunk!)

Buon Voyage!






Mahabharata. Narayan. R.K. pp 131-179

Reading Notes: More Jataka Tales Part B

Hello VagaBuddies!

Welcome to the Reading Notes for Jataka Tales Part B! These stories were the spiciest stories out of all of them (And my favorite story of all the Jataka Tales!) Here is the reading list for this week:

Reading Part B
How the Monkey Saved His Troop
The Hawks and their Friends
The Brave Little Bowman
The Foolhardy Wolf
The Stolen Plow
The Lion in Bad Company
The Wise Goat and the Wolf
Prince Wicked and the Grateful Animals
Beauty and the Brownie
The Elephant and the Dog

One of the better stories in this reading was the story How the Monkey Saved His Troop, because I really liked the sacrifice that the Chief Monkey made to save his troop. However, I was curious about the actual distance between the trees. because if one monkey could stretch across and grip both ends, then surely all the monkeys could jump that distance!  Then the monkeys would be much easier saved, without needing the king to grant the chief monkey his life in order for everyone to make it out alive. Regardless, great story about heroism and bravery.

Without further ado, my favorite story: The Stolen Plow!  I loved this story so much mostly because I feel like I would react exactly as the second farmer would! I am not usually petty, but sometimes I get so in my head that I overreact! So when the first farmer stole the plow, and the second farmer reacted by stealing the other guy's fucking KID,  I instantly felt like I was the second farmer. And his response to the JUDGE was also so petty. Like imagine going up to a judge, someone who has the power to send you to prison, and you just use him as a way to further your petty plot. Imagine being called into a legal battle, and you bring up a completely separate incident as a justification for the current situation. It's ridiculous! And I loved it. 10/10 would definitely read more petty stories like this again.



















Bibliography:
Babbit, Ellen C. "More Jataka Tales" http://www.gatewaytotheclassics.com/browse/display.php?author=babbitt&book=morejataka&story=troop

Reading Notes: More Jataka Tales Part A

Hello VagaBuddies,

In this assignment, I read even more Jataka Tales! I am really enjoying these quick little fables! Here are the ones I read for this post:


Reading Part AThe Girl Monkey and the String of Pearls
The Three Fishes
The Tricky Wolf and the Rats
The Woodpecker, Turtle, and Deer
The Golden Goose
The Stupid Monkeys
The Cunning Wolf
The Penny-Wise Monkey
The Red-Bud Tree
The Woodpecker and the Lion
The Otters and the Wolf

One story that threw me off this week was the story of the Golden Goose. I felt like I knew what this story was going to be about, but instead the goose was a personified character and not just the possession of the woman like I had expected. However, it still ended in a way that I could predict, with the woman becoming too greedy and capturing the goose. Unfortunately for her, the goose's golden feathers stop being golden when they are plucked involuntarily, so the woman becomes poor again.

My favorite story this week was the The Tricky Wolf and the Rats, because it was filled with clever characters! As I have said before, I enjoy stories that center around clever (but not necessarily moral) characters. In this story, the wolf had a really good trick of pretending to be lame so that the rats would get close to him. He was capitalizing off of the rats' kindness, sure, but I really like this story because it ends with the rats winning. Although normally I wouldn't root for rats, the rats in this story were very kind to the wolf, and the king of the rats was able to figure out the wolf's trick. However, the rat just straight up kills the wolf, which I thought seemed a bit extreme but whatever. (To be fair, the wolf did kill several rats, soooo). Anyway, I am glad the rats won but figuring out the ruse.

The Tricky Wolf standing on his hind legs: Gateway to the Classics

Bibliography:
Babbit, Ellen. "More Jataka Tales." http://www.gatewaytotheclassics.com/browse/display.php?author=babbitt&book=morejataka&story=monkey