Week 14: Buck's Mahabharata (pp. 307-412)Assignments - Reading Guide A - Reading Guide B - Mahabharata Resources |
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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.
PLEASE READ CAREFULLY: I have published a blog post with the words "Storytelling for Week ___" in the title, along with a specific title for my story. My post is between 300 words minimum and 1000 words maximum. I have spellchecked and proofread the post. I have included an author's note. I have included an image, along with Image Information. |
The death of Bhishma. Buck reports to us some of the things that Bhishma says before he dies, but what are his thoughts? What are the memories that come back to him? What does he see? How exactly has his chosen this moment to die and what does he experience at that moment when he makes his choice? Use your imagination, looking back over everything you have seen Bhishma say and do, in order to create a picture of his thoughts at the moment of his death.
Yudhishthira and the dog. Buck tells the story of what happens when Yudhishthira is left alone and challenged by Indra about the dog. But what about the journey beforehand? Before Draupadi and his brothers die one by one, what do they have to say about this dog? Use what you know about each character to imagine how they would react to this dog accompanying them, and Yudhishthira's loyalty to this creature (and note that the very positive associations with dogs from our culture do not apply in the ancient epic tradition: dogs are regarded basically as unclean animals, as Indra explains to Yudhishthira in their dialogue).
Parikshit. Although Parikshit is a baby and cannot speak, he has lived through an intense experience: being wounded while in his mother's womb by the Brahma-weapon launched by Aśwatthaman, and then being brought to life by the powers of Krishna. Write a description of how you imagine these events as Parikshit felt them: what are the sensory impressions and feelings that he experienced? How did the power of the Brahma-weapon manifest itself to him in the womb? How did the healing powers of Krishna manifest themselves? Using your own words, try to imagine what this was all like for Parikshit.
Kunti decides to go into the forest. Buck provides a bit of information (p. 393) about Kunti's choice to go into the forest when she is questioned about this by Bhima. Expand on this some more, thinking about Kunti's reasons for going into the forest. You can do this in terms of an inner monologue in Kunti's own mind, or in a dialogue form (either more dialogue with Bhima, or with her other sons, or with some other character of your choice).
Vidura. As Dhritarashtra explains, Vidura is practicing severe austerities, living on air, and no longer speaking. Buck shows us what happens when Vidura encounters Yudhishthira (pp. 395-6), but since Vidura does not speak, we do not have any sense of what Vidura is thinking and feeling during this intense encounter. Provide an inner monologue where you explain Vidura's reactions, and what he experiences as he encounters Yudhishthira and then becomes one with him. You can also include something about how Yudhishthira experiences this merging with Vidura, expanding on the version provided by Buck.
Jara and Krishna. Provide your own version of the scene in which Jara accidentally kills Krishna, giving as much sensory detail as you can (you can either narrate it from a first-person point of view, or tell the story in third person). Imagine sights, colors, sounds, sensations. As you think about this strange story of Krishna's death, you might think about the fact that the hunter's name, "Jara", means "worn out" or "old age." That might affect how you decide to imagine your own version of the story.
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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 |