Week 10: Narayan's Mahabharata (pp. 83-179) Assignments - Reading Guide A - Reading Guide B - Mahabharata Resources

Story Retelling

Your assignment is to choose one of the story retelling suggestions listed below. If you want to write on a different topic, contact the instructor first (make sure you do that at least one day before the deadline so that you can receive an answer back in time).

Author's Note. You need to include a brief author's note in which you explain the storytelling style you chose along with any important changes you made to the original story in creating your own version.

Image. You are required to include at least one image with the story, along with a link to the webpage where you found the image, plus information about the image. You are free to re-use the images you find at the course website, or you can choose some other image to use that you find on the internet. Remember: even if you are re-using an image from the course website, you need to provide image information about it.

Title. You need to include the words "Storytelling for Week ___" in the title you give to the post, along with a title for your actual story (for example, "Storytelling for Week 2: Inside the Mind of Manthara")

Length. Your Storytelling post needs to be a minimum of 300 words long (maximum 1000 words). Make sure you do a spellcheck and a word count, and that you proofread your post by reading it out loud.

When you are done, complete the Gradebook Declaration.

Yudhishthira and the riddles of the Yaksha. Retell in your own words the riddle contest between Yudhishthira and the Yaksha at the lake. You should pick out the questions and answers that you like the best from the complete list of questions and answers here. Make sure you introduce the scene of Yudhishthira coming to the lake and being challenged, and make sure you pick out at least seven of the riddles to include (notice that each statement of the Yaksha includes many riddles, so you will probably want to break them up into individual questions and answers. For example:
          What is that which does not move after birth?
          An egg does not move after birth.
and so on. Also, make sure you tell the riddles in your own words, removing any of the archaic or old-fashioned language and using the best words you can think of to make the questions and answer).

Karna and Paraśurama. Describe with as much vivid detail as you can the scene between Karna and Paraśurama, when Paraśurama falls asleep with his head in Karna's lap, and Karna will not do anything that might awaken his guru, even when he is attacked by a vicious demon. Make sure you provide a detailed description of the centipede-demon, and that you include Paraśurama's exact curse on Karna. Does Karna say anything during this encounter? Even if you decide that he remains silent, what is he thinking?

Sikhandin - Amba. Bhishma recognizes Amba in Sikhandin, and this is why he cannot fight against Sikhandin: although Sikhandin is a great warrior and one of the commanders of the Pandava armies, Bhishma sees the woman in him and cannot attack. Narayan does not tell the story of how Amba obtained reincarnation in the form of a man in order to obtain vengeance, but you can read a brief summary of that story in the Encyclopedia: Amba. Tell the story of Amba's penance in the forest, her encounter with the god Śiva, along with any other parts of Amba-Sikhandin's story that you want to include.

Jayadratha and Draupadi. Here in Narayan's version of the story, you read about how Arjuna killed Jayadratha to avenge the death of his son, Abhimanyu. There is actually much more to Jayadratha's story than that, because he had raped Draupadi in the past, and had been captured and punished by the Pandavas, but then set free. Read about Jayadratha and Draupadi in the Encyclopedia, and then write your version of Jayadratha's death at the hands of Arjuna, with Krishna's help. Make sure your story includes dialogue between Arjuna and/or Jayadratha and/or Krishna at the moment that Arjuna is about to kill Jayadratha: what do these characters have to say to each other after their long and violent conflict?

The statue of Bhima. Tell a version of Dhritarashtra and the statue of Bhima based on the thoughts that go through Bhima's mind as he watches this scene take place. What does he think as he watches "himself" crushed to death in the arms of the old blind king, his uncle? Remember that Bhima himself has killed people in his embrace this way (perhaps most notoriously, general Kichaka, whom Bhima killed with his "hugs"). This scene had a therapeutic value for Dhritarashtra, but what effect can you imagine this scene had on Bhima?

Ganga comes for Bhishma. When Bhishma is finally cremated on the shores of the Ganges, his mother the river rises up to receive his soul. What encounter do mother and son have at this moment? What do they say to one another? (You might want to re-read the story of Bhishma and his mother from the beginning of the book, on p. 2.)

Modern Languages MLLL-4993. Indian Epics. Laura Gibbs, Ph.D. The textual material made available at this website is licensed under a Creative Commons License. You must give the original author credit. You may not use this work for commercial purposes. If you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under a license identical to this one. No claims are made regarding the status of images used at this website; if you own the copyright privileges to any of these images and believe your copyright privileges have been violated, please contact the webmaster. Page last updated: January 15, 2005 1:35 AM