Week 9 Storytelling: The Monkey In The Trees

       Long ago in a land far, far away lived a couple in a city known as Mumbai. The couple had two sons, named Vali and Sugriva who were very nice, well-mannered boys. They were well known among community members and was always willing to help other people with tasks. Sugriva was the younger brother and always looked up to Vali as a role model, a confidant and a leader and he wanted to be just like his brother when he grew up, but little did he know that things will turn out very badly.

Many years passed and Vali and Sugriva’s parents passed away. Sugriva became possessed by the evil goddess named Kali, when she promised him that he could have all the powers he wanted, only if he would help her out with a few chores. Of course, Sugriva, being a kind-hearted person, agreed to help Kali. It is now that things turned out for the worse. Kali convinced the younger brother to kidnap Vali's fiancé, because she had a sacred Hindu gemstone that Kali needed desperately. Vali realized the brother’s evil plan and took his fiancé to flee to the forest where he knew he would be protected. Unfortunately, Vali was not able to protect Yamai (his fiancé) and she was soon captured by the evil demon’s slaves.

It was a stormy day when Vali roamed through the forest. The wind was howling and leaves rattled loudly when he heard voices in a far distance. At first he thought that it is just the wind, but as the sounds came closer, he realized that it sounded like men, instead. He was scared and thought that it was the demon’s slaves who came back to find him, and having many powers, he quickly turned himself into a monkey. This was however, no ordinary monkey. He was four-foot-tall, dark brown and had big eyes and was able to jump high in the sky from one tree branch to the next. All of a sudden there was a WHOO HOO sound and the two men got so scared, when they saw a flying monkey, that they immediately withdrew their weapons from their shoulders. 

In front of them appeared the monkey who asked the men, "what is it that you are doing in my forest?" The two men did not know what to say at first, but then answered, "We are here to search for Yamai, the princess who got captured by the eval goddess, Kali. We need to find her for Vali's sake, so that he can return to Mumbai and help the people of Mumbai."  Vali was so happy to hear that his people were willing to help him find his lover and so it came that he changed himself into a human. The two men were in such shock, that they had to blink twice to make sure that this was not a bad dream. 

"You will be greatly rewarded for your bravery and it will not go unnoticed", said Vali. What plan do you have in mind to capture Kali? I heard that she is unstoppable. The two men discussed their plan with the monkey and disappeared into the forest to set forth with their discussions.  

Picture Of A Monkey In The Trees. Source: Static

Link to Ramayana Public Domain Part C

Author's Note: My story is based off of the Ramayana PDE- Sugriva and Hanuman. In the original story, Rama and Lakshmana go on a search for Sugriva and stumble upon a monkey who will lead them to Sugriva. In my version of the story, I decided to change the scene of the story and start it off with a family who lived happily in a town, but when the parents passed away, one of the brothers became possessed by an evil goddess. The characters' roles were also reversed and instead of a monkey turning into a beggar, my character started off as human being and turned into a monkey. The characters were also given different names and played different roles. Instead of meeting the monkey chief, my character met two men from his town, who will help him fight off the evil goddess and save his fiance.

Week 7 Story: The Princes And The Frog

The Princes And The Frog 

Many years ago, there was a young prince who lived in a palace with his mother, father and brother outside Hastinapura. They were very wealthy, so the young boy led an extraordinary life with his family. He was kind-hearted, beautiful and hard - working. Everyone in the kingdom loved him! 

One sunny afternoon, the prince was playing in the gardens of the palace. He was playing with his favorite toy, a ball. This was no ordinary ball, because it was a golden ball, given to him before his mother passed away. It was the only possession that he had left to remind him of the close bond that he had with his beloved mother. The prince loved throwing the ball high up into the sky, where the sun made it shine brightly with flashes of light. Every time, he would try to throw it higher into the air, in the hopes that it will touch the clouds, until one day he threw it so high into the sky that he could not see where it landed. He immediately began to panic and cried out to his brother for help! The prince’s brother saw the ball fall into an old well. They both tried endlessly to get it back, but unfortunately they were unsuccessful. “I want my ball back!” The prince began to cry louder and louder.

Out of nowhere, they heard a voice. “What seems to be the problem, boys?” They both looked around and saw a frog sunbathing on a rock. Not knowing who spoke to them and not seeing anyone around, the two young men ignored the frog and continued trying to reach for the ball in the old well. Again, they heard someone asking them, “What seems to be the problem, boys?” They faced the frog who magically turned into a thin, Brahman, dark in hue. The boys were so shocked and had to blink twice to make sure that they were not dreaming. “My name is Drona, and I am here to help you get the golden ball back, but I must receive something in return for my good deed," the Brahman said. “We will give you anything you want! Our father is the king and he can grant you your wishes. Tell us what you want, O Brahman.” The Brahman spoke and said, “If you allow me a seat at your supper table and give me a meal prepared for a king -I will use my skills and powers to get you your golden ball back.” 

“Absolutely! We promise you all your wishes.” And so, Drona used his magic powers to create a weapon out of a handful of grass to retrieve the golden ball. The boys thanked the Brahman and rushed back up the hill to the castle to deliver the good news to their tutor. “Bhishma! Bhishma! As we were playing in the gardens, my golden ball fell into the well and because I cried so loud, a frog appeared and turned into a Brahman and returned the ball to us!” Bhishma was stunned by the news that the boys delivered and knew immediately, in the back of his mind, who they were talking about. He was, however, confused as to why Drona was in the vicinity and asked the people from the kingdom all about what had happened to the great sage's son. 

Suddenly there was a knock on the kingdom's front door and when one of the soldiers opened it, the frog came hop! Hop! into the kingdom.  The two boys ran toward Drona, the frog, and carried him to to the supper table where they placed him on a chair next to Bhishma. The frog transformed himself into a Brahman and it is then that Bhishma knew he found the best trainer possible, to teach the two princes how to shoot. 

Frog Sunbathing On A Rock. Source:Pixabay

Author's Note: For this week's story, I focused on How The Princes Learned To Shoot. I immediately thought of a childhood story called The Princess and The Frog and that is what I based my version of the story off of. In the original version of the story, the princess was a spoiled girl and nobody liked her. She had a golden ball as a toy and lost it in a pond, when a frog helped her retrieve it, in exchange for friendship. The princess agreed to it, but as soon as she received her ball back, she ignored the frog and ran from him.


I decided to keep my characters as well as the scene of the story the same as the Mahabharata episode, but made the Brahman appear to the boys in the form of a frog, before he turned himself into the royal preceptor. I also kept the plot of the story the same, only changing minor details, such as using a golden ball that had sentimental value, instead of an ordinary play ball. I wanted to give a twist to my story and that is why I made this part up. The golden ball is the main element in my story and focus was also placed on how Drona met Bishma and I also focused on how he is not only rewarded for his good deed, but how he became the princes' teacher. 

Bibliography: Myths About The Hindus And Buddhists by Sister Nivedita. Reading link to How The Princes Learned To Shoot.
The Princess And The Frog Wikipedia reading link.

Portfolio Introduction

Feeling quite overwhelmed by the endless possibilities of epics to choose from, my encounter thus far with the unknown literature has quite been an adventure.
This is my portfolio based on the current course, called Indian Epics. Throughout my portfolio I hope to evoke how powerful epic characters are and how the earliest civilization invented reading and writing - allowing each reader to travel to an imagined world.

1. The Battle of Rama and Hanuman's Revenge
The rhyme of Hanuman trying to save Sita. Hanuman has an encounter with Ravana and burns down Lanka.

2. Vyasa And The Bean Stalk
Vyasa needs help writing his story, but he trusts no one. Who will he meet when the bean stalk starts growing? 

3. The Princes And The Frog 
There once was a prince with a golden ball, but when he lost it in a well, it's a frog who would save the day.

4. The Monkey In The Trees
Vali's fiance is kidnapped by the evil goddess, named Kali. Who is it that will come to her rescue?

Week 6 Storytelling: Vyasa And The Bean Stalk

Vyasa And The Bean Stalk

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away lived a boy known as Vyasa. He was only thirteen years of age and lived with his parents in a small house in Hastinapura and grew up very underprivileged. Vyasa was a great author and wrote all kinds of stories, but was particularly known for the Mahabharata, which was a very important epic among the Indian community.

A horrible winter storm once hit the town of Hastinapura (where Vyasa resided with his parents) and his mother got so sick from the flu, due to all the germs being blown around. The only remedy that could cure her was known as Kadha, which required herbs, spices, cloves and ginger; so one morning she said to her son, “Vyasa, I am extremely sick and feeble, so you must please take money from the box that is stashed under the stove and go to the spice market for me and get all the ingredients necessary to make Kadha.” Vyasa did not like to go to the market, because he was too busy working on his next novel, but since his mother was so sick, he knew he had to hurry and not waste any time. His mother told him that he could ask one of the five Pandava brothers to help him finish his novel, but he did not think that they were worthy of such an important task. In fact, he trusted no one and could not think of a single person to be trusted with this important, delicate undertaking. This novel was way too important to him, as it contained everything there was to know about things on heaven and earth. 

As Vyasa was on his way to the market, he met Brahma -the god who created knowledge and the universe -who had a few beautiful, shiny beans in his hands. Vyasa stopped to look at them, and the Brahmin told him that they were of great value, and tried persuading him to buy them. At first, the boy was very hesitant and explained to Brahma why he could not buy the beans. “You see, Brahma, my mother is extremely ill from the flu and I need to get to the spice market to buy her the ingredients to make Kadha so that she can get better and take care of me and my father. I am so sorry, but I just cannot buy your beans.” 

Brahma told Vyasa that he knew about the novel that he was writing and said, “I know where you can find the perfect scribe, worthy of knowing and explaining everything there is about things on heaven and earth.” Vyasa’s eyes lit up from happiness and he demanded to know where such a person was. “Her name is Ganesha – remover of obstacles. The only way to get to her is by planting these beans and waiting two days for it to grow.” Vyasa was so desperate and immediately exchanged the beans for the money. 

When he brought them home to his mother, instead of the Kadha ingredients, she was very annoyed, reprimanding her son for his recklessness. He was very sorry and his mother took the beans and tossed them out of their bedroom window and sent Vyasa to bed. Three days later, he found that the beans had grown, till the bean stalks reached over the top of the mountains. “I wonder if Ganesha truly is up there,” said the boy to himself. “There is only one way to find out!” And so Vyasa grabbed his pen, writing pad and a gift for Ganesha and started climbing the bean stalk.

He climbed for a long time and became tired real quick. So after resting for a moment he went on, and at last reached the top of the bean stalk and found himself staring at an unfamiliar place. While Vyasa was observing the castle, a very strange-looking woman came out and advanced towards him. Vyasa took off his hat to the old lady, and she said, pointing to the castle, “Welcome to the Chedi kingdom. Ganesha is expecting you. Follow me and I will take you to her.” Vyasa was surprised and wondered how on earth this lady knew that he wanted to converse with Ganesha. With a confused, yet happy face, he followed the lady into the big castle. They climbed up the stairs to a dark, quiet room, where Ganesha was sitting on a royal carpet in the middle of the floor. 

“Ganesha, deva of wisdom, I heard that you are invoked as patron of letters and learning during writing sessions and I humbly come to you, in dire need of your assistance,” said Vyasa with a soft voice, in the hopes of not disturbing her. 

“Yes…I am the most worshiped deity around and have profuse knowledge about writing. How may I be of help to you?” Vyasa strenuously sat down next to the elephant- headed deity and started telling her all about his novel – that he trusted no one with the highly skilled task.

...To Be Continued.... 

 Boy Climbing A Bean Stalk. Source: Wikimedia 

 Author's note: For this week's story, I decided to focus on the Mahabharata - Vyasa and Ganesha. In the original story, Vyasa did not trust anybody with helping him write the Mahabharata and so Brahma appeared to him and told him to go to Ganesha for help. He did so and Ganesha agreed to help him, on the condition that he does not stop writing. Kadha is a natural remedy used to cure sore throats, colds and the flu. According to an article I found, Kadha means "herbal tea". More information and the recipe for it can be found by clicking on the following link: Kadha.
I decided to give the characters different roles and flipped Ganesha's gender into a female version. After reading the story, it inspired me to use the background of Jack and the beanstalk. Vyasa took on the role of Jack and he had to climb the beanstalk in order to get to Ganesha. My story ended where Jack finally got to the top of the beanstalk, met Ganesha and told her the reason for being there. I left out the story of his birth, because I can use that section to write my next story. 

Bibliography:PDE Mahabharata: Vyasa and Ganesha
Jack And The Beanstalk story from Wikipedia 

Week Four Storytelling: The Battle of Ravana and Hanuman's Revenge

 The Battle of Ravana and Hanuman’sRevenge

When something is filled to the edge

It tends to always overflow

And cause Hanuman to jump over the hedge

Jambumali pulled out his sword and struck it at Hanuman

The blade of his sword bent like a rod

And Hanuman just gave him a nod

The mighty monkey then pulled out a whip

Giving the rakshasas a hard zip

The rakshasas fired at Hanuman with bow in hand

Nothing was able to touch him

And the rakshasas landed on their knees and hands.

The two enemies were waiting on the battlefield in Lanka- the city of gold

In the small town that is 100 years old

Jambumali then also stood with bow and arrow in hand

To try and get Hanuman to land

He was hurt by an arrow

But quickly went flying over the buildings like a house sparrow

Everybody in Lanka was watching the commanders on the battlefield

As it looked like a real explosive minefield

Prince Aksha was flanking his army as they rushed across the field

And started up the hill toward Hanuman

To prepare for the victorious big kill

And as they began to climb

The evil rakshasa monsters with their big scary eyes turned to slime

Disappearing from one's sight

And even their dust faded in the bright light.

Indrajit, conquerer of Indra Loka, joined the battle with one million shafts

In order to capture Hanuman and give him a big nasty graft

The flying monkey was able to escape them all

And Indrajit then quickly realized that he, the flying monkey, was not able to be mauled

Hanuman was captured and bound by a big old Brahmin

Who was known by all as big mama

The rakshasas once more tried to capture Hanuman and this time were successful

They tied him up with barks and cords but the monkey did not fear

Because Sita, the goddess of wealth, was very near

Coming on with a dreadful pother

Burn him! aat him! kill him! The rakshasas cried to one another

Ravana was so upset by the monkey’s action and story of Rama

That he wanted to slay the monkey, but was quickly warned by counselors of bad karma

Why don’t you release Sita and I will save your life
Otherwise, I will have to cut you open with my kukri knife!

This made the king even more upset and he ordered his men to bind Hanuman’s tail with cotton soaked in oil

The evil monsters did so and decided to add a spark coil

Relishing a secret plan, he teased the rakshasas and led them around the town of gold

This made them go ganja and run around the city that's old

Sita’s spy came running to her all confused

To give her the horrible bad news

Grieving dreadfully, she prayed out loud unto the fire god

To turn her body into hell fire like the naturally footless snake that is tightwad

So that she can save Hanuman’s tail by having the fire controlled

And making his long tail so very icy-cold

Hanuman saw this as a sign

To burn down all of Lanka into ash

And save Sita in a dash

 ( Hanuman Flying Over Lanka With His Burning Tail. Source: Wikipedia Commons ) 

Author's Note: For this week's reading, I decided to take the story of Hanuman Burns Lanka and turn it into a rhyme. The story is about Hanuman who tried to save Sita after she was captured by Ravana. Ravana was enraged by Hanuman and therefore set the monkey's tail on fire and in return, the monkey (Hanuman) jumped from building to building, burning down the town of Lanka. In the original version, Hanuman visited Lanka all on his own before the arrival of Rama where he acted as a spy. In my version of the story, he gets captured as a soldier before burning down the town. I left each character just as they are in the original story and used words from the scene to make my rhyme. The plot and scenery stayed the same as well.  If too much detail is added, it might make the poem long and boring.  The picture used shows Hanuman flying over the town of Lanka with his burning tail. I really enjoyed reading the story. I decided to try something new and different by writing this poem and experienced around with different words to make it rhyme.

Bibliography:  Reading Link To Myths of Hindus and Buddhists: Ramayana By Sister Nivedita