Wikipedia Trail - Rumpelstiltskin to Ghost

https://twitter.com/OnlineMythIndia

I originally found the idea to look up Rumpelstiltskin on the class twitter feed. I had kind of forgotten about this story but I remember finding it really interesting when I was younger. I think I was also a little afraid of Rumpelstiltskin because I think I had a hard time separating fiction from reality.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumpelstiltskin

I really liked getting to revisit this story as someone in my 20s now. I think there's kind of always this internal battle in my mind about who I feel bad for in this story because honestly they all kind of got tricked.

Depiction of Rumpelstiltskin
Source: Wikipedia Rumpelstiltskin

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poltergeist

I got interested in the word poltergeist because I had definitely never associated it with the story of Rumpelstiltskin before! I love stories about creepy stuff like this although the stories always really freak me out and make me scared. One of my favorite creepy things I like to watch is Buzzfeed Unsolved on YouTube. I really enjoy this show because they investigate creepy places but they're super goofy at the same time so it makes it less scary for me to watch.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirit

I was intrigued by the term spirit because I was wondering how it differed from the word poltergeist. Spirit is a more general term I feel like and a poltergeist is kind of specific in that it messes with you al little more.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost

Finally I was additionally curious about the difference between the term ghost and the term spirit. These were more similar than poltergeist was to either of them. It's a more general term as well.

Extra Credit Reading - Reading Notes (Shibi)

Pashu; Animal Tales from Hindu Mythology. Devdutt Pattanaik. (2014)

Shibi

In this story there is a dove who is flying around one day when a hawk tries to kill it and eat it. The dove cries out to Shibi and begs Shibi to save him. Shibi does because he pities the dove however after the dove flies free the hawk is left without his meal. The hawk explains this to Shibi and asks what he should eat now. Shibi tells him to eat a different dove, the hawk asks him how that is fair. It isn't fair to the dove who was chosen instead of the one who was spared and it also isn't fair for the hawk not to eat and for him and his children to starve. Shibi then suggests that he eat a rat and the hawk counters again asking how that is fair for the rat. Shibi finally tells the hawk that he can have his own flesh of equal weight to the dove that was spared. When they weighed the dove however, it weighed more than Shibi so they couldn't do this either. It was then that the hawk explained to him that nature shouldn't be messed with. All animals have been equipped with adequate abilities and the strongest and smartest will survive. I really liked this story because I think it had a really important message, I have to remind myself of this lesson often because I tend to pity the victim even though it's just the cycle of life.

Shibi weighing himself, even though it appears that he weighs more than the dove (in the story the dove weighs more
Source: Wikipedia https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kindness_of_Shibi.jpg

Week 7 Story

          Bhima knew that he could never defeat Drona while Drona still believed Ashwatthaman was alive. He quickly came up with a plot to fool Drona into believing that Ashwatthaman was dead. Bhima went out and found an elephant named Ashwatthaman and he killed it, this way he could exclaim that Ashwatthaman was dead and fool Drona. Bhima went to where Drona was and shouted many times that Ashwatthaman was dead.

          However, Drona refused to believe this news immediately. Wisely, Drona went to Yudhishthira because he knew that he was incapable of telling anything but the truth. Once there, he asked Yudhishthira if it was true and he confirmed the news.

          "Ashwatthaman is dead!" Drona heard Yudhishthira say three times, but what he didn't hear was "the elephant" after each Ashwatthaman. Drona was fooled by this trick and was deeply saddened. His son was so much of his reason for living, he felt the energy leaving his body slowly the more he fell into his own thoughts. Drona was so distraught from the news that he completely forgot about his divine weapons, sat down in front of his own chariot, and laid down his weapons. Seizing this opportune moment, the Pandava general Dhrishtadyumna found his sword and started towards Drona. He had planned on defeating Drona in one to one combat. Strangely though, before he even had the chance the sky appeared to have two suns for a moment. These weren't able to stop the attack though and Dhrishtadyumna's sword came down on Drona and cut off his head. The moment it was cut, both Drona's head and body slowly disappeared into the Earth.

Ashwattaman the Elephant
Source: Wikipedia, Ashwatthama

Author's Note

          I think I liked this story so much because I like when people use trickery in these stories. It makes them so much more interesting even if it is kind of sad for whoever is getting tricked. I tried to stay true to the original story line so I didn't change any of the plot but instead wrote it in my own words instead. The only thing I changed was at the end I made Drona's head and body disappear back into the Earth because it seemed slightly less gruesome than his head being tossed back into the thick of things. 

PDE Mahabharata: Death of Drona

Source. Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists by Sister Nivedita (1914)

http://ouocblog.blogspot.com/2008/06/pde-mahabharata-death-of-drona.html

Reading Notes Mahabharata (D)

PDE Mahabharata: Bhishma Falls

Source. Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie (1913)

http://ouocblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/pde-mahabharata-bhishma-falls.html

Bhishma is destroying things. Yudhishthira speaks to Krishna tells him that Bhishma will be defamed if he slays a woman. Krishna says that Arjuna must go with Shikhandin to Bhishma. Shikhandin was born a woman but was made male by a yaksha. Arjuna is really upset about Bhishma's fate because he loves him like a father but Krishna explains it has to happen. 

PDE Mahabharata: Drona in Command

Source. Mahabharata, Epic of the Bharatas, by Romesh C. Dutt (1898)

http://ouocblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/pde-mahabharata-battles-rages.html

Drona is now leading Duryodhana's army, he also says he is going to take Yudhishthir captive. 

PDE Mahabharata: Death of Drona

Source. Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists by Sister Nivedita (1914)

http://ouocblog.blogspot.com/2008/06/pde-mahabharata-death-of-drona.html

As long as the son of Drona was alive, Ashwatthaman, it was said that Drona could not be defeated. So Bhima knew that he had to trick Drona. To do this Bhima killed an elephant named Ashwatthaman and yelled in front of Drona that Ashwatthaman was dead, which he was technically just not the Ashwatthaman that Drona was thinking of. However, Drona still refused to accept this news until he heard it from Yudhishthira who is unable to lie. Yudhishthira confirmed that Ashwatthaman was dead but after every "Ashwatthaman" he said (indistinctly to Drona) "the elephant."

Depiction of Drona's Death
Source: Drona's Death

Reading Notes Mahabharata (C) - Week 7

PDE Mahabharata: Life in the Forest

Source. Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie (1913)

http://ouocblog.blogspot.com/2008/12/pde-mahabharata-life-in-forest.html

The Pandavas were understandably concerned about having to live in the forest. Yudhishthira discusses all the potential perils of the forest to the brahmins and one of them told him that he should call upon the sun god for aid. He did and Surya appeared and gave him a copper pot that always had food available for them. 

PDE Mahabharata: Arjuna and Shiva

Source. Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists by Sister Nivedita (1914)

http://ouocblog.blogspot.com/2008/12/pde-mahabharata-arjuna-and-shiva.html

Arjuna is told he needs to be the one to go up the mountain are receive a vision from the Great God. One day while up there, he was performing his morning worship. A boar came at him seeking to slay him. He shot his arrow at the boar but someone else's arrow got there first. He was angry at the person who shot it because he believed the boar to belong to him. He turns his arrow on the man who shot it and shoots but none of his arrows have any effect on him. So he says they should wrestle but that doesn't work either. Finally he realizes this is the Great God when he throws a garland of flowers at the image of the Great God and it appears on the person's neck immediately. He is given the divide bow and told not to use it until it is a last resort and not to use it against "feeble foes."

PDE Mahabharata: Bhima and Hanuman

Source. The Mahabharata, A Summary by John Mandeville Macfie (1913)

http://ouocblog.blogspot.com/2008/11/pde-mahabharata-bhima-and-hanuman.html

Hanuman is back! Here he has an encounter with Bhima which is crazy because they are actually half-bothers. They talk for quite a while, Hanuman tells Bhima about his adventures with Rama, the duties of different castes, in the "first-age" there is no need to perform any religious act, he shows Bhima his true larger form, and many other things! When it was time to depart from each other they hugged each other a lot. 

Statue of Hanuman
Source: Hanuman Image