Hannah Mulder's Blog

(A photo of a woman in India. Photo by Nick Kenrick ) Gaia's Secret Parts 3 and 4 The Main Ideas of the Story These parts of the story talked about women's fertility and obedience in the beginning. Once upon a time, men were asked to domesticate women. To relate these topics, the video went through some of the mythology of each subject throughout different countries of the world. In Greek mythology women were deemed as the problem creators of life. Way back when killing a woman was absolutely forbidden, but as time went on men started justifying killing women. In the story, women were turned into objects of patriarchy. There was a stigma of what women were or should have been. 2000 years ago, in the Buddhism and Hinduism religions goddesses became important figures.  Devi allowed her sons to be in control, but she did not allow them to control her. Devi also allowed people to grow beyond the anxiety that has created partiarchy and the anxiety that was creat...

Gaia's Secret: Male Anxiety is Outdated Parts 1 and 2 The Messages within the Story Gaia is the Earth mother. (A picture that sort of represents the concept of Earth mother. Photo by Gravityx9 ) Males used to have to compete for females to the extent of fighting and killing each other for a woman's attention.  Over the years the status of women has been degraded. Women used to not be rejected or taken advantage of. Men eventually decided that rejecting women would protect themselves. In the beginning of time both genders owned their bodies, but over time men took over and began to degrade women. The Big Takeaway: Women were once independent and free of men and owned their bodies, however, over time things have changed and men now "own" women. The video talked about these issues that arose within the Indian culture and all over the world. To really get the messages through they told bits and pieces of Indian epics throughout the video. Bibli...

(The cover of the "Krishna Krishna" audio book.  Screenshot by me, Hannah Mulder) Part B Jarasandha Provoked Krishna became a politician. Jarasandha planned to attack Mathura. Krishna and Balarama went to scope out a new weapon, the boomerang. The Retreat of Jarasandha Jarasandha made it to Mathura just to find out Krishna was gone. Krishna trained the Pravarshana Hills people for war. Krishna planned to move the people of Mathura to Dwaraka, an island. Jarasandha went to Dwaraka for war but surrendered because of the threat of the new boomerang weapons. Destination Dwaraka The landscape of Dwaraka was described in this chapter. Narada laid out all the things that needed to be changed on the island before there could be inhibitors, but Krishna already had plans of his own for the new city. Rukmini's Wedding Rukmini is the daughter of Bhishmaka, the king of Vidarbha. Rukmini wanted to marry Krishna. Rukmi, Rukmini's brother, was a follow...

(A picture of the book cover. Screenshot by me, Hannah Mulder) This week I started reading the Kindle version of "Krishna Krishna." I have typed out the key part of each chapter below. Part A Introduction The introduction briefly explained Krishna's story. Prologue Jara, the hunter, was alone and convinced that he was the only living creature left on Earth until he shot his arrow, which ended up in Krishna's foot. Lord Krishna was not mad at Jara, in fact Krishna asked Jara to carry out one last mission for him. The mission Krishna had given Jara was to narrate his story. Jara told Narada Krishna's story so he could document it since Jara could not read or write. Narada's Discourse Gave a brief overview of who Narada was as a person. It explained the parameters that Jara was given when retelling Krishna's story. Krishna's complexity was compared to Rama's simplicity. Krishna had a great deal of respect for women. He helpe...

(A Man Dressed as Krishna. Photo by Pranav Bhasin) Part B An Overview of What Happened in the Second Half of Krishna's Story The second half of the story starts with Brahma witnessing Krishna, a god, sharing his food off the same plate with his friends. The Brahma set up a test for Krishna, which displayed that Krishna was a very humble person. Hastin was a wild, mean cow. Everyone was scared of this cow except for Krishna. Krishna set up a plan to play his flute and feed to cow for a month. At the end of the month, Krishna rode the cow into the city, and all the people of Vrindavan were shocked at the miracle. Krishna wanted to marry Radha, but his parent were not excepting of that proposal. Krishna's father took him to Gargacharya. Gargacharya told Krishna that his destiny was not to marry Radha, and he also revealed the truth about Krishna's birth parents.  Kamsa got back to his mission of trying to kill Krishna, so he sent Akrur to persuade Krishna to go ...

For this week's reading, I chose to watch the Krishna story through YouTube videos. I chose to do this because I felt like this option would give me a good overview and understanding of the Krishna story to begin with.   Part A A Summary of the First Half of the Krishna Story To begin, Krishna had enemies before he was ever born, and throughout his childhood as well, but he eventually became a king. Krishna's story started with the birth of the Pandava brothers. Kamsa the King of Mathura found out his cousin, Devaki, and her husband, Vasudev's eighth child would be responsible for his death, so he attempted to kill Devaki and Vasudev, however, Kamsa's sister pleaded with him and the couple ended up in jail. Kamsa killed the first six children birthed by Devaki. The seventh child was "transferred" to another woman's uterus. Devaki's eighth child was born a god and was never to be harmed. Vasudev took his eighth son and walked free of the u...

Epified: Mahabharata Videos Part B A Summary of What Went Down We started where we left on in part A. Kunthi had a big secret. That secret was that she had a long-lost son that she put in basket and sent it down a river. Pandu, Kunti, and Madri retreated to the forest. Pandu was hunting one day and shot a hermit couple. The hermit man cursed Pandu. The curse was that Pandu would die if he had intimate relations with a woman. Kunti uses her gift to call upon god to bear children. Kunti has 3 sons of her own and called upon the god sone last time to give Madri her twin sons. Pandu dies of his curse, leaving Kunthi with the 5 sons. Gandhari's first pregnancy ended up as an abiotic lump instead of a child. The lump was taken and split into 100 pieces, which turned into Gandhari's 100 sons. Kunti and the Pandavas returned to the kingdom, this made Duryodhan angry. Duryodhan decided he was going to poison the Pandava brothers. Only...

Epified: Mahabharata Videos I chose this "reading" because I am  visual learner and knew that this version would allow me to get a better understanding of The Mahabharata. Part A An overview of The Mahabharata It is the story of the Spirit of India. The whole thing is about how karma works. The idea everything happens because of previous events. A Summary of the Stories Bhishma is the long lost son of King Shantanu. King Shantanu goes back to the Ganga to find his son years later, therefore, Bhishma was grown. King Shantanu fell in love with a fisherman's daughter, but the fisherman refused to allow King Shantanu to marry his daughter. Bhishma vowed that he would never marry or sire any children, so his father could be happily married. One of Bhishma's brothers passed away leaving only one of them left to sire an heir, so Bhishma kidnaps three princesses from a different kingdom to become the wives of his one remaining brother. One of the princesses,...

The following text are my notes after reading Part D of the Mahabharata PDE Version. PDE Version of Mahabharata Part D Bhima and Duhshasana , by Donald A. Mackenzie found in Indian Myth and Legend In this episode, Bhima kills Duhshasana. There was action, however, I think the action could have been more drawn out. It was a shorter story, but to me it was definitely one of the most interesting.  It was written in third person and formatted in paragraphs. Ashwatthaman's Jewel,   by Donald A. Mackenzie found in  Indian Myth and Legend Draupadi is grieving over the death of all her sons, and demands Arjuna to take  Ashwatthaman's jewel from his forehead. Ashwatthaman's Jewel was basically his lifeline.  There was mild action in this episode. It was written half in first person and half in third person. It was also written in the format of paragraphs. (A sculpture of Arjuna. Photo by tbSMITH ) The ...

I have read part C of The Mahabharata. These are my notes. PDE Version of Mahabharata Part C  Bhima and Hanuman , by John Mandeville Macfie found in The  Mahabharata, A Summary In this episode, Bhima runs into the long living  monkey, Hanuman. Hanuman and Bhima are actually brothers. Hanuman ends up giving Bhima wise advice. There was mild action. It was written in paragraph format and completely in third person. The Court of King Virata , by Donald A. Mackenzie found in Indian Myth and Legend The five kings and their queen were sentenced to hide in plain sight for the last year of their exile. If they got caught, they had twelve more years in exile. There was mild action. It was written mostly in third person and in a paragraph layout. I found this episode super interesting. What a weird request? Krishna and His Army , by Annie Besant found in The Story of the Great War Krishna agreed to help Arjuna and Du...

The following text is my notes from three of the stories out of the PDE version of Mahabharata, part B. PDE Mahabharata Part B Notes: Birth of Draupadi , by Donald A. Mackenzie found in Indian Myth and Legend In this episode, Drupada made a sacrifice to get children. A son and a daughter were both birthed from a sacrificial fire. The action was pretty high and intense in my opinion. This episode was written in third person and in paragraph formatting. The photo below is of a rock engraving. There are five men, the Pandava brothers, and their wife Draupadi is on the far right end. ( Photo by Vaticanus ) The Story of Nalayani , by V. Venkatachellam found it Notes of a Study of the Preliminary Chapter of the Mahabharata This episode was about the karma Draupadi had put upon herself in a previous life.  The action was mild. It was written in the format of paragraphs and in third person. Nalayani was Draupadi in her previous...

I have chosen to read the PDE version of Mahabharata because I choose the PDE version of Ramayana, and I really enjoyed that format. PDE Version of Mahabharata Part A Notes: Dhritarashtra and Pandu , by Donald A. Mackenzie found in Indian Myth and Legend  In this episode, Vyasa is called on to produce children for Bhishma. We also met Bhishma's sons. It was written in third person. It was formatted in paragraphs. There was not much action; it was mostly an introduction episode. Bhima and the Nagas ,  by Donald A. Mackenzie found in Indian Myth and Legend Duryodhana tries to kill Bhima by poison, but it was a failed attempt. Nagas are underworld serpents. There was a medium to high amount of action in this episode. This episode was written completely in third person. This epic was in paragraph form. It reminded me of Riverdale, most likely because of the serpents, or the fact that the plot would probably actually happen on a River...

(A picture of the cover title. Photo by Fred Miller ) In the first part of Sita Sings the Blues , I did not get the correlation between The Ramayana storyline and the San Francisco couple storyline. In the second part, Dave breaks up with Nina and the correlation is that both Sita and Nina have this love for their men that they refuse to let go, so they both mope around waiting for their men to take them back. Unfortunately for Nina, Dave never came back to her. In part B, the story is really focused on Sita's pregnancy and her depression that was caused by Rama splitting up with her. One thing I found interesting in this version versus the version I read, was that Rama actually knew about Sita's pregnancy, and in the book he did not. This version also gave insight that the twins, Sita had birthed, were taught to praise Rama. With all that going on, Sita refused to give up hope that Rama was done with her for good. Eventually, Rama comes through the forest that Si...

I chose to watch Sita Sings the Blues because I watched Nina Paley's TED Talk for an assignment is this class last week. (A visual of Sita being kidnapped by Ravana from the film.  Photo by Tom Small ) This film has stuck to the main idea of Ramayana, however, the main focus of part A was the kidnapping of Sita. Many of the main characters of Ramayana were mentioned, but for very brief moments. The focus was really on Sita and Rama. It started out with the back story of Rama and Sita meeting, getting married, and then getting exiled, all of this was a rather quick overview. Then it depicts Rama and Sita in the forest being head over heels for each other. After that, the video goes through the battle scene and the golden deer scene, when Sita is taken from Rama. From there, it was all about the journey of returning Sita to Rama. Once Sita is back, she goes through the trial of innocence, if you would call it that. The film ends off with a nice musical touch of Sita s...

I have finished all four parts of  The Ramayana epic. My notes for part D are what follows. Part D Sita and Rama , by Sister Nivedita, found in Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists In this episode Rama orders Sita to come see him. In the end Rama listens to the people of his kingdom over his wife's own words. There is mild action in this episode, in my opinion. It is mostly written in third person, but there are some bits written in first person. I found this story interesting because it is a real world problem. I cannot tell you how many times I have been in the center of or witnessed a he said, she said scenario. The below picture is Sita purifying herself to try to prove her innocence to Rama.   (Photo by The San Diego Museum of Art Collection) Rama and Bharata , by  Donald A. Mackenzie, found in  Indian Myth and Legend , also by Romesh Dutt, also found in Ramayana, The Epic of Rama, Prince of India In this episode t...

I have completed The Ramayana, Part C reading. My notes are the text that follows. Last week, I decided to choose four stories from each section, and I found that I had too many options to choose from when it came time to write my story, so this week have decided to limit myself to three stories from each part. PDE Ramayana , Week 4: Part C Vali's Death , by Romesh Dutt, found in Ramayana, The Epic of Rama, Prince of India This episode was about Rama and Sugriva teaming up to kill Sugriva's brother, Vali.  This was written in poem form, and was narrated completely in third person. There of course was plenty of action, as should be expected. Rama's integrity ends up being compromised because he killed Vali in a discreditable way. The picture below is of Vali and Sugriva etched into some sort of rock or possibly even sand. ( Photo by Kandukuru Nagarjun ) The Armies , by Donald A. Mackenzie, found in Indian Myth and Legend , als...

(Above is a statue of Ravana. I chose this picture because I like to have a visuals of characters when I read. Photo by Arwen ) I have finished reading the PDE version of Ramayana, part B. The following are my notes. PDE Ramayana, Week 3: Part B Rama and Bharata , by Donald A. Mackenzie, found in Indian Myth and Legend : This episode is about Bharata going to the forest to try to get Rama to return to Ayodhya with him.  Most of this episode is written in a dialogue, which is rare. The action of this story is not the most exciting, but there is some action. This tale opens with Bharata going into the forest to look for his brother, Rama. The story closes with Rama stating that his father's orders cannot be undone considering he had passed away. The Sandals , by Donald A. Mackenzie, found in  Indian Myth and Legend : This tale is about Bharata giving his brother Rama shoe, but Rama refuses the gift because he feels he should live out his exile as it...

(Rama and Sita in what appears to maybe be the forest. Photo by Barry Silver ) I have read the PDE version of Ramayana part A. These are my notes. PDE Ramayana , Week 3: Part A: The story line of this section is that the Dasharatha, king of Koshala, had no heirs. Therefore, he and his three wives made some sacrifices and participated in some rituals, and soon Dasharatha had four sons. One of his sons, Rama, was stunning in every way. Rama met a girl named Sita, and they eventually got married. Dasharatha decided to make Rama the official heir, but some people protested this idea, and in the end Rama was exiled to a forest for 14 year, with him went his wife, Sita, and his brother, Lakshmana. Sita , by F.J. Gould, found in The Devine Archer : This story basically just explains who Sita is, and how she met Rama. The story is told in third person most of the time. The story starts with a detailed description of the setting in the moment. I would not personally say there ...