Week 7 Story Planning: The Mahabharata Epified Plans

Space:  Pixabay

Source:  Epified Mahabharata Link to Video

For my next story I want to focus on the rivalry between the five brothers and the one hundred brothers.  I think I want rewrite their backstories with a twist.  It is interesting to me that the 100 brothers were described as demonic and they have a father who is blind and a mother who gave up her sight.  I want to explore why they are presented in an evil way- was it because they were not watched very well as children?  Is it because their father was greedy in wanting to inherit the throne? 

Additionally I would like to explore the backstory of the five brothers.  Are they presented as good just because their fathers were all gods?  What kind of special powers do they have because they were born from gods. It would be fun to develop each character and find out what each one can specialize in. 

This story could be interesting from sci-fi perspective.  The two sets of brothers could be from different planets.  The five brothers could easily be human or they could be descendants of gods from five other planets.  The 100 brothers could all be from the same planet and it could be a dark moon or it could be a planet with an evil god ruling it. 

The family tree in this version of the Mahabharata is much easier to understand, and now that I am following the storyline a little bit better I would like to incorporate this into my story.  I could also incorporate the mothers in the story and they could be from different planets or they could be from some of the same ones.  It would be easy to line up the different heirs to the throne and their families as rulers of different planets in an intergalactic space battle.  I mostly want to focus on the 100 brothers but I think this could be a cool twist. 

Reading Notes: The Mahabharata Epified part B

The Mahabharata Family Chaos:  Wikimedia

Pandu- cursed by a hermit
Kunti- summons gods to have children
Madri- Pandu's second wife

1st son: Udishtil- stays calm always even in battle
2nd son:  Bheen- is strong and fast like the wind- was tied and pushed into the lake and attacked my snakes
3rd son:  Arjun- will become a great archer

Madri has 4th and 5th sons.  Nahkul and Zeedhev

100 sons born to the blind brother and his wife- they came from a lump of flesh put into vats of oil and they are demonic.  There are bad omens. 

This section of the story helped me to understand the family tree of the Mahabharata much better.  I have made some notes here- although the names are probably spelled badly.  I think it could be interesting to talk about the 100 sons.  That was part of the story that I did not understand when I read the book but it is intriguing.  The birth story of these sons could be twisted in many different ways.  One idea I had while watching the video is that they could be similar to aliens.  This would  make the battle interesting between all of the cousins at the end of the book. 

I think there could be a good moral in the story as well because the parents are blind.  The story could say something about how you act when nobody is watching or it could represent that the love of a mother and father is blind in many cases.  The 100 sons could have easily gotten away with anything they wanted to if they were quiet about it because their father was blind and their mother gave up her sight.  Would it have been better if she had not tried to be honorable and given up her sight?  Would her sons be more honorable if she had kept her sight and held them accountable for their actions?  Is the pride and greed of their blind father  to blame for their demonic actions? 

Source:  The Mahabharata Epified:  Link to Videos

Reading notes: The Mahabharata Epic Video Part A

The King in the River:  Wikimedia

This week, I chose to watch the Epified version of the Mahabharata.  So far I have found it much easier to understand the story because the animations help me to remember names a little bit better.  The family tree in this book is really long and complicated, nonetheless. 

I noticed more specific details about the family in the beginning.  There are a lot of similarities between Rama and Devavrata because they both just want to honor their fathers and make sure that they are happy.  Devavrata is an interesting character because he holds his vow of celibacy even after the fisherman's daughter's sons have a chance to inherit the throne.  It would make sense to me that he would go back on his vow after they all had a chance to be heirs, but he is an honorable character. 

I like the switch that they did with Devavrata and his half brother so that there could be a new heir to the throne.  It is interesting that everyone- the queens and mothers and all the people in the castle- went along with this idea. 

It could be interesting to do a story around Devavrata and his father Shantanu and his mother Ganga.  I find her story intriguing that she is a river goddess who came to earth just to have eight children.  Why did she let the last one (Devavrata) live?  I could open up this idea to make a unique story as well. 

Source:  Epified Mahabharata Videos:  Link to Videos

Week 6 Story: The Woman With 5 Husbands

We Can Do It:  Wikipedia

Seriously all of my husbands in this life and my past lives have taken me for granted.  They think every woman is weak and absolutely "needs" to be rescued on a regular basis.  In reality, none of them would know what to do without me. I make sure everything works out smoothly for them and they never have a clue.  I've been pretty challenged lately- trying to keep up after five husbands.  Let me explain how I got into this predicament. 

My name is Holly and I have lived a few different lives- though I can only tell you about this one and my most recent past life because that's all I remember.  Basically in my last life, I was promised in marriage to this really gross ugly old lazy man who didn't even make sure I had enough food or clothes.  I was a respectable girl though and I didn't want to bring shame on my family, so I lived with it.  I put up with all of the filth and lack of food and pretty much anything you would want for a decent life.  So anyway at the end of this life, right when the old guy is about to kick the bucket he turns to me and completely transforms into this really attractive rich young guy.  I was like "seriously???".  He told me that this was his true form all along but that for some reason he had to test my honor and whatnot.  He asked what I wanted now that I knew he was an honorable man.  I told him I wanted to be loved by him as if he were five men.  Well- that was a bad choice of words on my part- this stupid guy took what I said literally and now here I am in my next life- literally married to five men. 

It's not all bad- they can be pretty endearing sometimes and all the attention I get is great- but they make SO. MANY. MESSES.  Literally and figuratively.  I have to clean up their messes in the house all the time- but they are also always getting into battles with their weird family members and then I have to go make sure they succeed or else we all look bad.  The latest one had to do with their cousin who is actually a king.  They started a big battle with him about something or other and then I had to go to work.  I went to their castle and met with the queen- she really enjoys having another girl around to talk to so she totally trusted me.  I started setting little things off around the castle generally making people have small quarrels, getting a little bit sick from something I slipped into their food- etc.  I even tried to get some secrets out of the king but he was a really creepy guy and tried to take my clothes.  I'm pretty close with the gods though so they had my back- as much as he pulled on my clothes, more and more material just kept appearing.  Eventually the queen figured out what happened and she got super mad at him but she agreed to let me stay another 13 days.  At the end of that period, my guys all came to attack at the same time.  They did pretty well in the battle since I had started problems in the castle before they got there. 

It can be a bit exhausting trying to keep up with everything but they're my husbands and I love them.  I can't say I want this reincarnation to go on forever but I'll enjoy it while it lasts.  And hey- someone has got to be around to take care of these five crazy guys. 

AUTHOR'S NOTE:  I was inspired to write this story by Nayaran's Mahabharata.  The story was based on a huge family and the five brothers were exiled to the forest.  I thought the parts about the woman they were all married to was interesting and I wanted to write a story that revolved around her and some of her parts in the story.  She did not have a lot of parts in the original book, but I used the basic plot of her life, her backstory, and the miracle with the cloth form the book, and I modified them. 

Source:  Narayan's Mahabharata:  Link to Reading Guide

Reading Notes: Narayan's Mahabharata part D

Source:  Narayan's Mahabharata Link to Reading Guide

Arrow:  Pixabay

The last section of the Mahabharata was mostly focused on a big battle.  I liked some specific parts of this section of the book for my story, but I think I will use the battle scene as a whole in my version of the story. 

One specific detail I thought was interesting was the man who was a god incarnated who could choose when he died.  He chose to die on a bed of arrows and one arrow was shot into the ground to give him a spring of water when he said he was thirsty.  He said that when he died, the battle should end then and there. 

I think I have decided what I will make my story like from this week's readings.  I want to make the role of the woman with 5 husbands larger.  My story will tell about her past life, how she got into this predicament in this life, and what she does now.  I think that she should be a strong character.  I want her to be a character that can and does take care of herself, even though her five husbands always insist on rescuing her.  I think she will secretly be the reason that they succeed in their battles, because she is working behind the scenes to make sure they succeed. 

I am not sure yet what theme I will go with for this story, but this plot seems like it will work well.  I will use several of the small details from the other sections of the book and I will try to incorporate them all into a story narrated by her. 

Reading Notes: Nayaran's Mahabharata Part C

Water in the desert:  Pexels

While reading part C of Nayaran's Mahabharata, I came across a few more interesting details that could work well in my story.  I am not sure which ones I will use or how I will fit them together yet but here is what interested me from this section:

I liked the part about the five brothers being exiled to a forest life.  When they were very thirsty and they came across the small pond, four out of the five were too impatient to treat it with respect.  The spirit that was overseeing the pond killed them instantly from drinking the water, but when the fifth brother came along the story took a twist.  He talked to the owner of the lake and he answered all of his questions.  It was a trying task, but from the respect that he showed for the lake, he was able to revive one brother- then when he chose his half-brother to honor his second mother, he was rewarded with the lives of all of his brothers being returned.  This part of the story seems to have a strong moral message and it could be interesting to use in a story. 

Another part that was interesting in the story was when the wife of the five brothers was staying in a castle with other royals.  She was supposedly very beautiful and the queen was worried that she would cause the men to go astray.  She told the queen that her five husbands would come after anyone who wronged her.  I am curious to see why she needed to stay at the castle another 13 days longer.  Perhaps this will help my story. 

Source:  Narayan's Mahabharata:  Link to Reading Guide

Story Planning week 5: The Mahabharata with a Twist

Five Brothers as Superheroes:  Flickr

This week I decided to go with story planning because I am having a harder time following the Mahabharata.  I have had a few ideas from my notes that I want to expand upon.  I want to focus on a small part of the story and turn it into a larger story. 

I really liked the part of the book that described the five brothers.  I could start a story that revolves around them and their adventures.  I found the part where they all married the same girl interesting because in the Ramayana, the men had multiple wives but not vice-versa.  This was an interesting twist, and I thought it could be interesting to highlight that in my story. 

When I googled "five brothers" for my image on this post, this superhero image came up.  I thought it could be an interesting twist if all of the five brothers were superheroes and they were all fighting to save the same damsel in distress.  This could also incorporate the part about the miracle where someone was trying to take her clothes, but they just kept reappearing. 

Perhaps in this idea some of the brothers are heroes and some are villains.  It could be funny to see them fighting back and forth over her, and maybe I could give her a really sassy attitude to where she doesn't even want to be saved in the first place. 

I may not go with the superhero idea, but instead just a modern day idea that focuses on the dress miracle.  Maybe this girl was a nerd and she went to prom and someone pulled the stereotypical drop-a-bucket-of-something-gross-on-the-nerd-girl move.  This girl could find out that she has a secret talent for making magic dresses that always appear when you need them.  She could open a store and help lots of other girls who are picked on and nobody would know what was going on. 

These are a few of my ideas so far, but hopefully the second half of the book will add to them.  I hope I can get a good story out of the Mahabharata.  I was pretty proud of some of my stories from the Ramayana, so hopefully this one will turn out good too!

Source:  Nayaran's Mahabharata:  Link to Reading Guide