Week 6 Story: Rama Bends The Bow

Update: You can find the final edition of this story here!


Long ago, during the time of Rama and his many adventures, King Janaka set forth a challenge to any man that would accept. The challenge set forth by the king was of vast importance for many people. King Janaka was known to have a daughter, Sita, that was far more beautiful than any man could possibly imagine. She was known far and wide for her wondrous looks that would leave any man with a desire to be with her. At the time, Prince Rama was unaware of Sita's existence. It just so happened that he would cross her path as he was visiting the allied kingdom of King Janaka.

Rama had recently been on an expedition to ride the surrounding areas of evil demons that had been terrorizing the lands. His brother, Lakshmana, was accompanying Rama on their recent journey to the allied kingdom. As Rama and his brother were walking about the royal garden of the allied kingdom, Rama was able to catch a glimpse of the beautiful princess Sita. An instant connection was born when the two locked eyes.

The crazy thing about Sita and Rama is that they were both connected by the heavens. Rama and Sita were avatars of two gods that were heavenly lovers. It was not a coincidence that they would find each other in such a moment.

The next day, Rama went straight to the King and his monarch to take on the challenge of stringing Shiva's bow. Many men from far and wide had attempted this challenge without the slightest bit of success. However, none of these men were Rama. Rama, the avatar of Vishnu, had strength and power that no ordinary man could ever possess. He took the bow in his hand and strung it with ease. The ground began to tremble and a loud bang rang across the city. Everyone looked on in disbelief at what Rama had so effortlessly done.

With Rama's incredible feat of strength, he was permitted to wed Sita. Their many adventures together were just coming to fruition.

(A photo of Rama stringing and breaking the bow. Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Author's Note: The story I told was a retelling of Rama's incredible feat of winning over his wife Sita. I kept the details mostly the same to the source. I just added my own personal voice to the story. The outcome is the same in the source story. Rama is able to win the hand of Sita in marriage and the rest is history.

Bibliography: The Divine Archer by F. J. Gould. Source: archives.

Reading Notes: Mahabharata, Part B

So I continued with the second part of the reading today. There are a lot of different stories and loads of information. I decided to take notes over the one that I liked the best.

• Vidura is one of my favorite characters from all of the stories
• He is not considered to be eligible for the royal positions
• However, he is still a prince and cares greatly for his family
• I appreciate his loyalty and dedication to his family
• He could be bitter about having a mother that was not a royal
• However, he warns his family of the imminent danger that they were in
• I think the escape from the palace is really cool
• It was an interesting plan to have a miner dig a passage out of the palace
• I was expecting something to possibly go wrong, but it did not
• It was not until the evil captain was burned
• The lac palace went down in flames with the guard house
• I thought the celebration of King Dhritarashtra was premature
• I was really excited to see the big reveal when he finds out that they did not actually die
• It was unfortunate to see the woman and her family died
• However, it is a vital bit of information that sets up for later on in the story

So, I think the House of Fire would be a really awesome story to retell. I think I will alter a few things in my retelling though. I would like to add in more chaos and conflict. There is a really cool opportunity with this story to expand it and make it more detailed. I would possibly like to explore the events that unfold afterwards. 

(A picture of a book on a beach. Source: Flickr)

Bibliography: The Mahabharata, A Summary by John Mandeville Macfie. Source: PDE

Reading Notes: Mahabharata, Part A

The start of the new reading began today. I really enjoyed some of these stories. I think the reading style is easy to follow and entertaining. I took some notes over the stories that I liked the best.

• Each character is introduced with an elaborate backstory
• I usually do not write much about character's before their introduction
• I might try this kind of writing style
• I liked the first few sections that gave the read a lot of information
• I found that it can be a bit too much at times
• There are lots of names to learn quickly and apply to the reading
• I think I could maintain my own writing style while also adapting to these stories
• I would like to possibly write a whole story as an "intro"
• The idea of taking women in battle was one that I had not seen 
• I was expecting a more heroic adventure or tale
• Taking the women as victors for a battle was a bit different
• The stories are definitely more on the erotic side as no details are held back
• I found this to be a contrast from the Ramayana
• I think I could retell Pandu's life and some of his brief adventures
• It was a but unfortunate the way he passed
• He had been cursed and would end up dying in the arm's of one of his wives
• I think there could be some cool stories to tell from this
• I could also just create my own stories
• What if he did not sell his possessions and go live in the forest?
• Would he have survived the curse?
• I would like to explore this idea a bit more

I found that some of the stories contain lots of small bits of information. I noticed everything builds upon itself as new characters are constantly introduced along with new kingdoms.

(A reading squirrel. Source: Pixaby)

Bibliography: The Mahabharata, A Summary by John Mandeville Macfie. Source: PDE