Week 14: Reading Diary B

The Pandavas and Dhitrashtra go and visit Bhishma, who has the power to choose his time of death. Bhishma isn't angered at the Pandavas at all and talks to Krishna and passes away. Yudhisthira is in depression due to the death, he brings about. When sleeping, he sees that he is able to go to heaven, but finds his brothers and Draupadi in hell and he curses the gods. He wakes up from that dream back in Kurukshetra and so he goes on with the coronation ceremony. Parikshetra, Arjuna's and Uttara's son, is born and is revived by Krishna. Arjuna's weapons were destroyed by Agni and the Pandavas and Draupadi abandon the world and head north, leaving Parikshetra as king.

Week 14: Reading Diary A

Duryodhana and Bhima fight, and Bhima defeats Duryodhana and Duryodhana waits for his death at the lake. While waiting he is visited by Ashwatthaman, who he makes the commanding general. Ashwatthaman assembles a night raid and raids the Pandavas camp, and kills most of the people at the camp. Only few people are left on either side after the battle. Krishna and the Pandavas who decided to sleep outside the camp find out and are outraged. Ashwatthaman uses the Brahma mantra to attack Bhima, but Arjuna uses the same mantra to counteract the attack. Dhitrashtra shatter a statue of Bhima thinking he has killed his son's killer.

Week 13: Reading Diary B

Vyasa comes to Hastinapur and sees bad omens and informs Dhitarashtra. He admits that he is not able to control his don, Duryodhana. Duryodhana appoints Bhishma as the genreal of his army.

Draupadi meanwhile was prays to Shiva for a child. He tells her that his wife is carryig a son, but when born it is a girl. He raises her as a boy. When she grows up he gets her married. The bride is dissapointed to find her groom is actually a girl. Shiva's daughter gets upset and goes and finds a yaksha who changes her gender.

The battle begins and Krishna tells the Pandavas not to worry about anything and continue the fight The pandavas are sad due to the fact that the will be fighting their own family. Bhishma is kiled by Arjuna and Shiva's daughter/son. Uttara is killed by Jayadharatha and in return Arjuna kills Jayadhartha. Drona kills Draupadawho in turn is killed by Draupada's son. Karna is killed by Arjuna with Krishna's help. Duryodhana goes to the lake with Sanjaya's help and stays there till the next day.

Week 13: Reading Diary A

The Pandavas chases a deer deep into the forest. And Yudhishthira passes a test set up by his father Dharma or Yama. They then decide to spend their thirteenth year in disguise in King Virata's court. They each had their own disguise which replaced their old identity.

Indra and Karna make a deal where Indra gets Karna's armor and earring and Karna gets a infallible dart that can be used once.

Kichaka, the army general,  really likes Draupadi and wants her, but even after her warning he pursues her. So, Draupadi sends Bhima who kills Kichaka. Since the army general is dead, Duryodhana plans an attack. Prince Uttara goes to battle, but attempts to run away due to him being scared. So Arjuna takes his place, uses his weapon which puts everyone to sleep and returns to the palace victorious. For the victory, he got to marry Princes Uttara.

Since the exile was over, Duryodhana refuses to give the Pandavas any land and so they decide to go to battle. Karna gets in an argument with Bhishma, therefore saying he won't pick up a weapon as long as Bhishma is fighting. Krishna pleas Duryodhana to stop the war and give about half of the kingdom to the Pandavas. He doesn't comply and they plan to go to war in seven days period.

Week 12: Reading Diary B

In this part, Arjuna is cursed to live like a eunuch for a year for refusing Urvashi. Bhima tells the story of Mankanaka and how Shiva had to come to stop his dancing. Then Yudhisthira tells the story of Rishyashringa's birth and how Urvashi provoked it. Rishyashringa had brought rain to the country of Anga.

The Pandavas goes to the Mount Kailasa, where Yudhishthira disturbs the silence and gets attacked by the mountain. Draupadi asks Bhima to get her a lotus flower and he does so by getting past Vishvaravana.

The Pandavas comes down from the mountain and save Duryodhana from the gandharvas and ruins his plans to embarrass the Pandavas.

Draupadi asks Vyasa to tell them the love story and he does so by telling the story of Savitri.

Week 12: Reading Diary A

In this part, Vibhishana and Duryodhana have a dice match in which Vibhishana loses everything he owns, when finally Dhitarashtra intervenes and frees everything. They then have one last dice roll the loser has to go on an exile. The Pandavas lose the dice game and go into exile into the forest, where they are visited by many individuals.

Nala was a king and he fell in love with Damayanti. She was so beautiful that all the gods wanted her as well, but Damayanti had fell in love with Nala as well. So all the gods went to her disguised as Nala, but she was able to figure out the correct Nala. So this made Kali ma and promised to ruin their life by taking all of Nala's possession. So Nala lost all of his possessions to his brother due to Kali and went to the forest with Damayanti with just one pair of robe for each of them. Nala thinking that Damayanti would go back to her father's left her alone, but she ended up trying to look fer Nala and got in trouble. That is when she finally went to her father's to get help from him. Nala becomes the charioteer of Rituparna and that is where he is recognized and asked to return to Damayanti. During this time, hi is bit by a snake and the poison causes Kali who possesses Kali to flee. And so they are happily reunited and he wins his kingdom back in a dice game.

Week 11: Reading Diary B

Dhritarashtra makes the Pandavas leave the kingdom and go live in a house. This house was made as a trap for the Pandavas by Duryodhana, but the Pandavas are warned ahead of time. Bhima sets the house on fire and the Pandavas escape using a tunnel, leaving everyone else the impression that they're dead.

They start living in a different village. Bhima defeats a rakshasa king name Vaka. They go to Draupada's swayamvara and Arjuna wins the competition and wins Draupadi. She marries all five of the Pandavas.

The Pandavas are welcomed back by Dhitarashtra and given a part of the kingdom for them to rule. Arjuna goes to visit Krishna and ends up falling in love with Krishna's sister. He marries her. Krishna and Arjuna help Agni eat Khandava forest.

This is when Duryodhana invite Yudhishthira to play dices.

Week 11: Reading Diary A

The story starts off by telling the story he heard from sage Sauti, who heard it a snake sacrifice. Sauti explains that the Mahabharata was composed by Vyasa, while Ganesha wrote it down. He then explains how Ganesha received his elephant head, which was Shiva trying to cover up his mistakes of ripping Ganesha's head off after being mad at him.

King Parikshit killed, who once killed a serpent, was cursed that he would die in the next couple of days by a serpent. The Naga Prince Takshaka arrived to kill him and manages to do so. Parikshit's son Janamejaya holds a sacrifice to destroy Takshaka and obtain revenge. Takshaka finds a hiding place with Indra in the heavens, which is revealed by Astika. He then asks Janamejaya to hault the sacrifice and he does as asked. Vyasa gets happy and tells his companion to tell the Mahabharata and this is where Sauti hears it.

The story starts off with a king in the heavens that falls in love with Ganga and so  reincarnates to return to Earth in the human form. After Shantanu (the king) becomes  king on Earth, he goes to the banks of the Ganga and falls in love with Ganga. She tells him that if they get married, he must not question her actions. So they get married and she gives birth to seven kids, one kid each year. Each time she would go drown the child, the eighth child is born and Shantanu begs to leave the child, Bhishma and disappears into the river.

The king of Chedi's sperm is accidentally dropped in a river and prints a fish. This fish is then caught by a fisherman and the baby girl, Satyavati, is raised by the fisherman. Sage Parashara falls in love with Satyavati and gifts her with the amazing scent of flowers. This scent makes King Shantanu fall in love with her. Bhishma, wanting his father to be happy, gives up his inheritance for Shantanu and Satyavati's child, Vichitravirya. Bhishma gets Amba, Ambika and Ambalika for his step brother Vichitravariya. Amba explains that she already promised herself to King Shalwa, so he lets her go. Vichitravariya dies before he can have children with his wives, so Satyavati asks her other son to pregnate Ambika and Ambalika. They each have a child with Vyasa and Bhishma deems Ambalika and Vyasa's son, Pandu the king.

Pandu marries his two wives, Kunti and Madri. Kunti has a mantra that allows her to be pregnated by a God. She tries this mantra out and gets impregnated by the Sun God, Surya. She gives this son, Karna, up. Pandu is then cursed to die if he ever makes love. So, he moves to the himalayas and allows Dhitarashtra, Vyasa and Ambika's blind son. Dhitarashtra marries Gandhari and create a hundred children. The first born was Duryodhana. Pandu also wanting children asks Kunti to use the mantra and creates tha Pandavas.

The Pandavas and Kaurava are taught skills by Drona, who asks his teacher fee;s by King Drapada. So they go and capture King Draupada. He then holds a show to show of their skills. This is when Karna shows up and is able to recreate Arjuna, Drona's best pupil, skills.

Week 10: Reading Diary B

Krishna goes to Hastinapur to plea for the peace and justice. Duryodhana hears about this and thinks about taking Krishna hostage, but realizes that it is impossible to take them hostage. Krishna also goes to Kunti and gives her the news about her sons.

The battle begins. Yudhisthira appoints Draupadi's brother as the commander in chief of his army, whereas Duryodhana appoints Bhisma as his Chief commander. The battle is supposed to take place Kurukshetra. Before the battle actually takes place, Krishna recites the Bhagavad-Gita, which tells Arjuna and the others to detach themselves from material objects. This is due to the fact that Arjuna is having a hard time thinking about attacking his own cousin brothers.

Krishna is attacked by Bhishma and he draws blood. This angers Arjuna, who shoots and wounds Bhishma. Bhishma no longer able to continue the war, Karna now joins in. Drona is now made the commander in chief of Duryodhana's army. Abhimanyu is requested to break the formation of the enemy. He breaks the formation, but is unable to escape. He is then killed by Duryodhana's son-in-law. Arjuna vows and completes this vow with the help of Krishna to kill Duryodhana's son-in-law.

Drona is killed by a lie that was told to him that his son was killed. Karna was killed by Arjuna when Karna's chariot got stuck in mud. Slowly, everyone is killed off, even Duryodhana is killed.

 After the war, the Pandavas return to Hastinapur. Dhritarashtra wants to kill Bhima in anger, so Krishna places a metal statue and Dhritarashtra crush this statue thinking its Bhima. Gandhari curses Krishna. Narada explains to Yudhishthira the causes of Karna's death. They perform a ritual for the dead. Yudhishthira after a lot of compeling agrees to become King.

Yudhishthira goes to Bhishma about learning about how to be a King. He passes away after lecturing Yudhishthira. Krishna is killed by a hunter as Krishna laid on the banks of the river. The Pandavas die one by one and Arjuna's son, Abhimanyu takes over the Pandava's line.

Week 10: Reading Diary A

In this part of the Mahabharata, Duryodhana looks foolish because he is captured by the gandharvas, who were sent by the gods and had to be saved by the Pandavas, who he was trying to outsmart and look foolish.

During their time in the forest, they meet a brahmin who had his possessions stolen by a deer and ask for the Pandavas help. The Pandavas runs after the deer and on their way, stop at a lake to get some water. Before drinking the water they are asked to answer some questions, but due to their failure to comply they all die except Yudhishthira. He is told this was a test from his father, Yama the god of death, and his brothers are then restored.

After their years in exile, they must spend one year in disguise and so they began this in king Virata's kingdom. They were all living there peacefully until one day when Draupadi gets raped by the King's general. Bhima kills this general and shocks the whole kingdom. The death of the general opens up the kingdom for attack and that is exactly what happens. During the attack , King Virata gets captured and Bhima fortunately saves him.King Virata's son, Uttara hears about a cattle raid that is going to go own and takes Arjuna as his charioteer. Out of fear Uttara wants to turn around, but Arjuna takes over the war and wins in behalf of Prince Uttara. King Virata apologizes to the Pandavas after learning their true identity an offers his daughter to Arjuna's son for marriage.

Krishna sends an urge to Duryodhana, that half of the kingdom be given to the Pandavas. During this process the Pandavas and Duryodhana prepare for war. They both go to Krishna for his support. Krishna says one can have his one million soldier where as the other one would get him. Arjuna asks that he be supported by Krishna and that Duryodhana have the allies of Krishna's million soldiers.

Many ask for the war to be stopped and Yudhisthira be accepted as the heir to the throne, while Duryodhana be exiled. King Dhritarashtha wanted to accept this, but couldn't do it in front of his son Duryodhana. Duryodhana compels him that he will win the war because he has a bigger and more powerful army. 

Week 9: Reading Diary B

Duryodhana is frustrated to learn that the Pandavas are still alive. He was hoping that the fire had killed them. He sends an invitation for them to come back and promises them a piece of his kingdom. The Pandavas come back and build a kingdom in the part that they are given.

Arjuna was sent off to exile due to interfering with Yudhishthira and Draupadi during Yudhishthira's time, so he leaves for twelve years. Yudhishthira is crowned king to their kingdom. Duryodhana challenges them to a game of dices knowing that there was no way that the Pandavas could win. Yudhishthara being the king can't deny a challenge. In the game of dice, Yudhishthara gambles everything away, including the Pandavas, himself and Draupadi. Dhritarashta gives Draupadi 3 wishes; she wishes for: the freedom of the Pandavas, the freedom of Yudhishthara and denies his third wish. Dhritarashtra fulfills Draupadi's wishes and also gives them their possession back. Duryodhana sends another invitation. This time the loser has to go in exile for 13 years and live in poverty for 12 years.

During exile, Arjuna achieves a lot of different weapons from the gods and start preparing for the war.

Week 9:Reading Diary A

The Mahabharata starts off with introducing Shantanu, who is a king, that is married to a woman that he met at the river banks. When they finally had kids, this woman would take them to the river and drown them one by one.When they had their eighth kid, Shantanu objects and demands an explanation. She tells him that she is Ganga and narrates the story about the eight gods and Vasistha's cow. She then goes into the river with their eighth child, promising to bring him back when he gets older. The eighth child is returned to Shantanu when he gets older; this child is Bhishma.

Shantanu falls in love once again, but this time with a fisherman's daughter. The father of this girl denies getting them married because his grandson would never get the chance of being a successor due to Bhishma. Bhishma steps down from being successor and makes a vow to not have any children. Making this sacrifice, his father and the fisherman's daughter are able to get married. They have two sons, one of whom dies shortly after being king. The other one was too young to take over as successor, so Bhishma takes care of the kingdom while he grows up. The neighboring kingdom had 3 princess that were looking for a prince. Bhishma wanting them for Vichitravirya (Shantanu's son) goes and seized them. One of them promised had already promised herself to another man, so he let her go. The other two both marry Vichitravariya.

Vichitravirya dies without leaving any successor. With no successor, Vichitravariya's mother gets worried and brings back her son with Parashara, Vyasa. Vyasa us supposed to get with Vichitravirya's widows and give her some grand babies. Ambika is repelled by Vyasa and therefore closes her eyes, therefore making a blind baby. Amblika is scared and pale, therefore making a pale baby. So, Amblika orders her maid to make a baby, Pandu, with Vyasa. The maid, who is attracted to Vyas, is able to make a normal baby named Vidura.

Pandu, married to Kutni and Madri, is unable to make successors due to a curse. Kunti was blessed with a mantra that allows her to produce a baby from the gods. Pandu asks her to use the mantra and achieve a baby of Yama. She agrees and uses the mantra to get Yudhishthira, the son of Kunti and Yama. She thens asks for a child from Vayu (Bhima). She gets Arjuna from Indra. Madri now uses this mantra and summons two sons, Sahadeva and Nakula. These children of Pandu are called Pandavas.

Pandas brother, Dhritarashtra, has 100 children, the oldest of whom is Duryodhana. These children are known as Kauravas. Dhritarashtra accepts his brother's five sons and wife Kunti and take them into his kingdom. The Pandavas always tended to pick on their cousins, especially Duryodhana causing him to not be too fond of them.

All of these kids were put under the care of Drona, who is their guru and teaches  them a lot. Arjuna one day saves him from a crocdila and in return Drona gives him a special gift. After this, Drona sets up a ceremony for all of his pupils. At this ceremony, Arjuna meets Karna, who challenges Arjuna. But before they can fight, Drona asks for a gift in return for the years of teaching and this gift is to capture Drupada, who had angered Drona. Drona takes half of Drupada's kingdom and then returns the rest.

Duryodhana, not wanting the Pandavas to take over his father's kingdom, tries to kill the Pandavas. They escape and disguise them as Brahmin and come across Draupadi. Arjuna bing the bow expert is able to win the challenge setup by Draupadi's father. As their mathoer tells, they must share everything and therefore they must share Draupadi. At this challenge, Arjuna also meets Krishna (Vishnu), who recognizes th Pandavas in their disguise.

Week 8: Reading Diary

Throughout this class, one assignment I always loved to do was the reading diary. I really like doing this part because it helped understand the story better. In my diaries, I used to just try and retell the stories in my own words to the best of my abilities. The best thing was when I didn’t understand a part or wanted someone else’s opinion, I could just go read peoples diaries from our class. This helped clear things up when I was confused. Even though in all my diaries I used the same style of writing, it was great to know that I could use whatever writing style that helped me understand better. It was also always nice to come back to the reading diary because this always helped write the stories and made the stories better. This was somewhat like while reading other classes and taking notes. I feel like this will help me further my reading for other classes. I will always make sure to take notes while reading for my other classes and this will make sure to improve my notes rather than just reading the book. It makes sure that I can come back to it later and also improve my understanding of the material. This assignment really has helped me and my other friends that I had talked about this assignment with. I also really liked how this assignment had a lot of ways to be completed. You could basically pick whatever style you preferred and worked best for you. So if one style wasn’t working for you, you were welcome to change styles the next week or whenever you did the next assignment. It was also always great coming back to what you had read about since there are times when there is a lot of things going on.

Week 7: Reading Diary B

In this part, Rama is on his journey back to Ayodhya. He stops in a couple of places before going back home, so he sends Hanuman to inform Bharatha that they are on their way back home. When they return, Bharatha takes care of the coronation ceremony and makes Rama the king once again. Hanuman, Sugriva, and Vibhishana leave; all bearing gifts from Rama for their support.

Rama hears gossip about Sita and how he lets her live with him, even after she stayed with Ravana. So, he orders Lakshmana to take her to the Gangas and abandon her there. Even though he is unwilling, he has to follow the orders of his brother.

It is believed that the separation of Rama from Sita is due to a curse that was cast on Vishnu a while back. Vishnu had killed some demons and a brahmin's wife, after the demon took shelter in the brahmin's house using King Aja's name. So King Aja's priest cursed Vishnu of separation from his spouse.

Once Lakshmana leaves Sita on the banks of Ganga, she gets the help of Valmiki, who was sent by Vibhisha and Narada. She stays at the hermitage of Valmiki and gives birth to Rama's two sons, Kusha and Lava. Kusha and Lava sing the Ramayana at the festival hosted by Rama. Rama finally realizes that those are his children and he talks to Sita. Sita takes a vow to Mother Earth to prove her innocence and goes to live underground. Lakshmana dies because of him breaking a private meeting between Rama and Time. Rama goes to Sarayu river and jumps in to end his life.

Week 7: Reading Diary A

In this part, Jambavan, Hanuman, and Sugriva manage to kill the magicians of Lanka. Then, before the battle Ravana dances and prays causing a wind storm. As he is doing this, Time or Kala comes down and curses his end. Ravana with his ego just blows it off and doesn't pay any attention to Kala.

Rama and Ravan go to war. Each time Rama cuts off a head, it grows back. Ravana takes the disguise of Indra, which scare Rama, but his charioteer knows that this is only a disguise. With his help, Rama slays Ravana.

Once Ravana is killed, Sita is brought back and made to prove her innocence in front of Agni. Then, Vibhishana is crowned king of Lanka and they start their journey back to Ayodhya. If they don't get there in time, Bharata had promised to kill himself if Rama didn't return in exactly 14 years. This is why they must hurry back.

Week 6: Reading Diary B

In this part of the Ramayana, Rama leaves Kishkanda to go to Lanka with his allies and troops. He faces a minor problem. Lanka is an island and doesn't have a bridge to get his troops to the other side. He gets angry and curses Samudra, the king of the Water, who tells him that a monkey named Nala has a boon that allows anything he throws in the water to float. So everyone comes together and helps them build a bridge.

Vibhishana, Ravana's brother, gets in a fight with Ravan and goes to help Rama. His only condition is that he won't get involved in the fight.

Rama crosses over to Lanka and gets situated with his troops. Ravana sends over many different spies to see what Rama is planning, but each time the spies get caught by Rama's peoples. Ravana even goes to Sita and gets his magicians to create an illusion of killing Rama.

The war finally begins. Ravana starts off by sending Prahasta to attack Rama. Rama's troops manage to defeat and kill Prahasta.  Ravana then sends Kumbhakarna to attack Rama. Rama's arrow manages to cut off Kumbhakarna's head off.

Now, he turns to his son Indrajit. Indrajit attacks Rama and his people from his invisible chariot and he kills Rama, Lakshmana, Sugriva, Nala, and Angada. He also wounded Hanuman, and Jambavan. Jambavan orders Hanuman to get the reviving herbs from the Medicine hill. He goes and gets the whole mountain and revives everyone that was hurt.

Ravana brings Sita to the battlefield and shows her Rama's dead body, but this is just an illusion to scare Sita. Indrajit then creates an illusion to kill Sita in front of Rama, but Vibhishana figures out it is just an illusion. Then, Indrajit and Lakshmana get in a fight and Lakshmana slays Indrajit.

Week 6: Reading Diary A

In this part, Hanuman is telling Jambavan, king of the bears, about Sita's abduction and as he is doing so nearby laid Sampati, Jatayu's brother. He learns about Jatayu's death and is sad, but informs Hanuman that Ravana had taken Sita to Lanka.

While Hanuman is on his way to Lanka, he gets tired and learns of a mountain that escaped from Indra, when he was clipping the wings of mountains. Hanuman seeks this mountain and uses it as a rest area. When he continues his journey, he comes across one of the rakshasi, who eats Hanuman whole. Hanuman terrified goes inside her body and rips her heart out and escapes through the ears.

Hanuman arrives in Lanka and takes the form of a cat and fights Lanka, who finally realizes this is the end of a curse. Then, he continues to look for Sita, but when he gets in trouble, his father, Vayu helps him come across the Ashoka grove. He sees Ravana trying to talk to her, but Sita just refuses to talk to him. Ravana tells his guards to go ahead a kill her, but a nice rakshasi had a dream of Rama and Lanka's destruction saves her.

When Hanuman gets a chance, he goes over to Sita and talks to her all about Rama and takes a message to give to Rama.When leaving, Hanuman due to his character, decided to create some mischief. So he pulls out the lawn and breaks a temple. He even kills Jambumali, and some royal guards. He finally gets captured by Indrajit, due to the boon given by Shiva.

When being captured, Ravana orders his brother, Vibhishana,  to cut off Hanumans head. He refuses and instead burns Hanuman's tail. Hanuman sets all of Lanka on fire and before leaving checks on Sita one more time, who gives him a pearl to take back to Rama. He then goes back to Kishkindha and reports his findings to Rama, who his enlightened to hear this.

Week 5: Reading Diary B

In this part of the Ramayana, Ravana convinces his uncle, Maricha, to help him abduct Sita. So Maricha transforms into a golden deer and appears in front of Sita. Sita thinking it is the most beautiful thing ever; she wants it and sends Rama after it. Sita gets worried and sends Lakshmana to go help her husband, Rama. When she is by herself, Ravana comes in front of her disguised as an old man. He grabs her and is running away, trying to get back to the South. When Jatayu sees what is going on, he goes to go help Sita, but after fighting with Ravana, Ravana finally wins and cuts off Jatayu's wings.

Sita learns that Ravana had been cursed by Vaishravana's son, Nalakubara, to have his head explode if he ever raped another women. She learns this from Indra, who had brought her food in Lanka.

When Rama and Lakshmana return, they see Jatayu and he tells them what had happened before he dies. Hearing all of this, Rama and Lakshmana decide to head south and go find Sita and win her back. When they are heading south, they come across Savari, who tells them all about Vali, Sugriva, and Sugriva's best friend, Hanuman. She tells them all the details of their lives unto the point of who their parents are, how they obtain the powers they had, etc. She also tells them about the fight between the two brothers, Vali and Sugriva. Sugriva had trapped Vali in a cave under the impression the Vali might have been dead since he didn't appear for a really long time and this was the cause that Sugriva had been exiled from his kingdom. Rama hearing this goes to Sugriva and Hanuman and helps Sugriva fight and kill Vali. Seeing what had happened, Vali feels bad because of his anger and tells his son, Angada to help Rama.

Sugriva thanks Rama and tells him that they will continue the search for Sita as soon as the rainy season is over. He becomes very happy with recent power he has achieved and starts drinking all the time because he could and so when Hanuman comes to him after the rainy season he finds Sugriva drunk and have forgotten about his promise to Rama. Hanuman reminds him and gets him sober and they go meet Rama. Sugriva sends an army full of his men including Hanuman, Angada, and Jambavan, the king of bears in search of Sita. The men come to their one month deadline and still don't have anything, making them stressed. They knew that if they returned everyone would be disappointed with them.

Week 5: Reading Diary A

In this part of the Ramayana by William Buck, we start of with Dasharatha found passed away in bed after the exile of his son, Rama. Seeing this, Messangers are sent to have Bharatha and Shatrughna return back to Ayodhya. When they get back, they go to Kaikeyi, who tells them what had happened and explains her story. Bharatha becomes upset and at once tells everyone to get ready to go get Rama and Lakshamana back. So as soon as Dasharatha's funeral ceremonies are completed, Bharatha takes people of Ayodhya and the queens to go get his brother, Rama. In the forest where they are looking for Rama, they get the help of Gahu, the forest king, and Bhadrawaja, a hermit. Both of these people only accept to help because they sense that Bharatha's intentions are well and is trying to do the right thing. When they finally reach Rama, Rama refuses to go back. Bharatha asks Rama for his footwear so it can be placed on the throne for the duration of Rama's absences.

Rama, Lakshmana, and Sita are visiting the hermit, Atri, who tells them the story of Mandakarni. Mandakarni performed many rites that got him to be really powerful, to a point where the gods were even scared of him and so they sent five Apsuras to seduce and make sure he didn't do anything irrational with his power. They succeeded and lived in the lake in harmony.

During one summer, they meet the sage, Agastya, who warns them about entering the Dandaka forest. He tells them that a demon named, Ravana is the master and controls it.

One day when Rama is telling Sita a story, she is abducted by a demon named Viradha. Lakshmana and Rama manage to capture him and kill him, but before they do Viradha says he is actually a gandharva named Tumburu, who was cursed to live as a demon until Rama killed the demonic form of him.

As they continued to live in Panchavati, they meet Surpanakha, who is the sister of Ravana. She falls in love with Rama and tries to get Rama to marry her, but Rama refuses to. So she attacks Sita in jealousy. Seeing this, Lakshmana attacks Surpanakha and mutilates her. She runs to Ravana's army chief, Khara, who then attacks Rama and Lakshmana. When Rama and Lakshmana defeat Khara, she runs to Ravana and tells him her situation.

Week 4: Reading Diary B

One day when Bharatha is at his grandfather's Dashratha decides that it is time for his successor to takeover, in this case Rama. He starts by setting up the crowning ceremony and telling everyone. When Kaikeyi hears this, she is really happy, but then gets convinced that this is the worst decision for her by Manthara. She reminds Kaikeyi about the two pending gifts that Dashratha owes her. She tells her that Kaikeyi should ask Dashratha to crown Bharatha as king and ask Rama to go on an exile for 14 years.

Rama, without questioning his father, started to get ready to leave for the forest. Rama, Lakshmana, and Sita set off to leave for the forest without their possessions, but had to stop because the elders of the village had caused the river to rise up and block their roads. The next day as they set out for the forest, they were greeted by Gahu, who tells them his story.

Gahu had been upset with Lord Shiva and got angry with his priest as well. He got up everyday and kicked Shiva's statue in anger. When he died, Shiva himself came to get him before Yama got to him. Shiva said that Gahu had been his biggest devotee, getting up everyday and remembering Shiva. Once they hear Gahu's stories, they end up heading south and send Sumantra back to Ayodhya. As he gets beck to Ayodhya, he reports to King Dashratha in his death bed. At this time, King Dashratha remembers the time about the Kid he killed and his blind parents and understands the true meaning behind this incident. The next day the people of Ayodhya wake up to see that their king had passed away.