Epics of India

           There were once a family of three brothers who were walking along a road very late at night. The brothers soon grew to be parched, so they went to find a nearby source of water. Once they found a river nearby, they hurried towards it. They were so thankful to find this river because they thought that they might die of thirst. As they draw closer and closer to drinking the water, a shadow appears in the sky. They soon come to learn that this shadow is in fact, the shadow of death. Death told the three brothers that before they could drink the water, they were entitled to a wish.              The oldest brother requested a wand that was struck with magic. An object that was more powerful than any weapon. Death goes to a nearby tree and makes a wand from the branch. He strikes it with magic and gifts it to the elder brother. The second brother asks for the power to bring back loved ones from the dead. Death goes into the river and brings him a stone. This stone had that abil

The Forest and its Ghosts years had passed and a day came when Yudhishthira and his brother and their wife Draupadi adventured to the homage of their elders  they found they all their to save Vidura who had departed to a sacred place on the banks of the Ganges River to wait for Yama, the god of death Many people went to find Vidura but when they came to him, he was aged and starved  they all waited beside him while died and mourned tougher  the great sage Vyasa then appeared and said to the people that if they should bathe in the river at sunset, their dead loved ones will appear throughout the night  as the sun went down, they chanted mantras and went into the river  the waters began to heave and foam, and Vyasa spoke holy words and calling out the names of the dead all the heroes who had been slain appeared one by one  drums and trumpets were sounded and it looked as if the armies of the Pandavas and Kauravas were once again ready for battle  the ghosts crossed the river

Riddles at the Lake While still in exile, the Pandava brothers thought to leave the forest before they could leave, a strange adventure awaited them  one of them climbed a banyan tree to look for water they found a pond nearby and Yudhishthira sent Nakula towards it Nakula went and a voice said to him that he should answer some questions and if he does not he should not drink the water Nakula was so thirsty and afraid he drank the water anyways Nakula died instantly  Sahadeva followed him and was confused why his brother had died, he also did the same thing and fell dead Arjuna and Bhima repeated the same  Yudhishthira was next to approach the pond he was smart and responded to the voice, agreeing to answer his questions  Yudhishthira got all the questions right and the voice revealed himself in the form of Dharma: god of wisdom and justice  Dharma granted Yudhishthira two boons  he wished for his brothers to be restored to life and that they should have power to remain

Yesterday as I was having breakfast with a friend in town, and unexpected surprise happened. We were there for an hour, catching up on each other lives, not paying attention to what was happening in our surroundings. As we patiently waited for our waitress to bring the check, she came empty-handed. She told us that the man next to us paid for both of our meals. As we sat there speechless, we tried looking at the table next to us just to see that he was gone. We never thought  anything of the man sitting there, alone and reading a book. We never thought anything to when he got up from his table and told us to have a good day when he left. We never got the chance to say thank you, so to him and everyone else who takes the time out of their day to perform a random act of kindness: thank you. We are so grateful to you and the little things make our day immediately better. Leaving the restaurant, I felt bad. I felt bad because there are so many opportunities in a day for us to do good for o

The Gambling Match Duryohdhana was in a jealous rage when he saw others being praised for the trump of the Pandavas So he set up a gambling match to prove he is also worthy of praise he went before his father and asked if they could invite the Pandavas - Yudhishthira  the Pandavas agreed despite not knowing how to play and knowing the game may be played unfairly D practiced with his uncle, a renown gambler, to ensure that he wins  when the gambling match started, Duryohdhana asked his uncle to play and they both conspired to play together- one would roll the dice and one would place bets because their team was unstoppable, Yudhishthira lost everything even after lost all of his possessions, money jewelry, chariot, cattle, elephants, slaves, slave girls etc., he bet in Draupadi  Y lost yet again and Draupadi was handed over the Duyrohdhana as a slave Birth of Draupadi  When Drupada lost half of his kingdom, he sought to do whatever to grant him a son they held a sacr

King Shantanu and Ganga King Shantanu was wedded to the goddess Ganga  Ganga consented to be the human mother to the Vasus and cast them into the Ganges as soon as they were born so they could return to their celestial state  Ganga made each of them promise an eighth of their power onto her son who would live to stay human the goddess gave birth to the first son and casted him into the Ganges, the king was horrified  this continued seven times finally the king was disgusted by his mouth and broke his vow  she eventually came back to bring the king their one son named Devavrata  Vyasa and Ganesha the king Chedi, uparichara, scared other gods into thinking he was going to steal their power the gods sent Indra to bribe him with a flying car  he was flying one day and his semen fell into a river a female fish swallowed the semen ten months pass the female fish was caught by a fisherman and two children came out also the fisherman tells the king  the king takes the b

I was walking down the path in the park and suddenly saw the most angelic girl I have ever seen. She was the kind of girl you imagine halos on, an opera singing behind, and floating above ground. I was not sure how to approach her as I had been love struck. I walk up beside her and for the life of me could not produce any words or sound. This angel took pity on me and began to speak.  “Well hello there. Here you poor thing, let me give you some food and water.” I just could not handle myself. When I set my mind to want something or someone, I set out to achieve it. So, I demand this girl to marry me. Within seconds, the angel I once thought I knew turned a bright tomato red mimicking the devil. She scolded me with no remorse. She strikes me across the face as she told me she was betrothed to another man.  This angered me. This infuriated me. No one should dismiss me like this, for I am the best man in all the land. This girl was going to regret every shutting me down. I gr

Hanuman Burns Lanka Hanuman was destroying many Rakshasis in order to get to Sita He defeated arrows and lightening and could not be slain Indrajit sent a million shafts toward the Hanuman but he escaped them all knowing he was not human, Indrajit took a Brahma shaft and successfully bounded Hanuman Hanuman told his story and his allegiance to Rama while conversing with Ravana's minister  Hanuman warned everyone that in order to escape a soon death, Ravana should give up Sita this angered the Rakshasis and Ravana and they sought to light Hanumans tail on fire to kill him instead, Hanuman burned Lanka to the ground  Ravana at War Click here for link

The Scheming of Kaikeyi  here we are told that the real person behind Rama's banishment is, Manthara, Kaikeyi's servent When Kaikeyi heard of the news that Rama would be crowned king she was happy for him, she believed he would be fit, and thought her son Bharata would bask in the glory as well  Manthara convinced Kaikeyi with jewels and gifts that she could have if she came up with a plan to have Dasharatha make Bharata be king and Rama to be banished Manthara reminded Kaikeyi of her three boons Dasharatha gifted to her, and persuaded her to use one of them for this  Kaikeyi goes to talk to Dasharatha  Sita Stolen Ravana sees Sita waiting alone for Rama's return he goes to her and Sita, thinking he is a Brahman, gives him food and water Ravana orders her to be his wife at once and Sita grows angry and scolds him Rama seizes her to take her away, but Jatayu, a great vulture catches Ravana doing this As he departs to let Rama and Lakshman know, Ravana star

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Story #1 (Six Word Story): Sky Darkened, Earth Shook, Destruction Foretold I decided to write my story in three couplet words to try to explain as much as I could. This six word story is depicting the battle that is about to happen between Rama and Ravana, the eeriness of the sky and feelings are sensed by the readers. I made it vague because six word stories set up a precedence and the rest is up to interpretation by the reader. Based off of: Rama Attacks Story #2 (Two Sentence Story): Khumbakarna, went forth to battle, defeating flying trees and boulders that came hurdling toward him. Rama, courageous, shot a flaming arrow and beheaded the enemy.  I based this story off of the actual ending incident in the battle. Because the stories itself are very short, it is quite manageable to write two sentence story getting the plot across. I did not stray away from the plot events, I merely rewrote them in a shorter fraction. Based of off: Khumbakarna Khumbakarna's Death

Rama Attacks War was coming about, the sky darkened, the earth shook, and destruction was foretold Ravana's spies disguised as Monkey's to spy on the Monkey army and bring back news  The spies came back and advised him of Rama's power and encouraged him to surrender Sita to Rama  Fearful of Rama, Ravana decided to betray Sita He tells her that Hanuman and Rama are both killed, presenting her with a head and bow similar to that of Rama's Sita begged for Rama to kill her as she cry out mourning for her slain groom  Ravana's spies burst in to inform Ravana to prepare for battle  The head and bow then disappeared  Sita knew she had been tricked with illusions  Kumbhakarna The Rakshasas were in desperate shape and resulted to their last result to help slain Rama and the monkey army: to awake Kumbhakarna  Kumbhakarna was the mightiest of all demons, he ate humans and has a curse casted upon him He is forced to sleep for six months at a time and awake

Sugriva and Hanuman Sugriva and Hanuman disguised themselves to ask Rama and Lakshman who they were and what their business was Sugriva told Rama that his brother, Vali, drove him out of his kingdom and kidnapped his wife Hanuman was very happy to see Rama because they saw him as an ally who could help Sugriva Rama and Lakshman also explained that Rama was in exile  Everyone left to meet Sugriva in order to help him from his brother Vali Sugriva's Story  One night Vali was being attacked by an enemy and dragged the enemy into a hole Vali ordered Sugriva to watch the hole until the enemy came out; he watched it for one year Sugriva saw blood spill out of the hole and returned to the kingdom because he thought Vali had been killed Vali had not died and struggled to escape the hole because Sugriva filled it with a mountain Once Vali returned to the kingdom, he was so angry with Sugriva that he took away Sugriva's wife  Hanuman's Leap   As hanuman saw ot

The Difference Between Praise and Feedback I found this article to be very interesting because I had differencing opinions on most of it. The article says that parents should praise more on the actual work that went into something a child did rather than tell the child how good their work is. To me, this feels almost like a backhanded compliment. One could argue I notice this because I am grown and know what a backhanded compliment is, but if I were to be praised that I worked hard rather than complimented on the work that I did, my feelings would probably be hurt. The article also says that a parent should not praise their child for every deed they do because the child may think that in order to earn their love, they must do chores. Rather, a parents should be constantly expressing their love for them no matter what they do. I see this backfiring in a lot of ways. If my parents constantly showered their love on me for everything, I would probably believe that I could get away with wh