Indian Epics Blog

Vahanas of the Gods: Wikimedia Commons   Lakshmi the Mother Goddess Lakshmi is the Mother Goddess as well as the Goddess of wealth, love, prosperity, joy, and beauty. She appears in The Ramayana as Sita, Rama's beautiful wife. Lakshmi is seen riding both an owl and an elephant. Elephants symbolize work, activity, and strength, as well as water, rain and fertility for abundant prosperity. The owl signifies the patient striving to observe, see, and discover knowledge, particularly when surrounded by darkness. As a bird reputedly blinded by daylight, the owl also serves as a symbolic reminder to refrain from blindness and greed after knowledge and wealth have been acquired (Wikipedia). Perhaps I could retell a story from The Ramayana and use this owl or elephant. Perhaps when Rama first sees Sita, or when Sita is alone in the hut and Ravana comes to take her away. The owl could also be pictured as Lakshmi's twin, the goddess of misfortune and strife, Alakshmi. Sources to use: The ...

Lakshmi the Mother Goddess Lakshmi is the Mother Goddess as well as the Goddess of wealth, love, prosperity, joy, and beauty. She appears in The Ramayana  as Sita, Rama's beautiful wife. Lakshmi is seen riding both an owl and an elephant.  Elephants symbolize work, activity, and strength, as well as water, rain and fertility for abundant prosperity.  The owl signifies the patient striving to observe, see, and discover knowledge, particularly when surrounded by darkness. As a bird reputedly blinded by daylight, the owl also serves as a symbolic reminder to refrain from blindness and greed after knowledge and wealth have been acquired ( Wikipedia ). Perhaps I could retell a story from The Ramayana and use this owl or elephant. Perhaps when Rama first sees Sita, or when Sita is alone in the hut and Ravana comes to take her away. I am sure more stories will come to mind whenever I finish reading the book.                 ...

 Indra, The Thunder God Indra: Wikimedia Commons I found Indra really interesting because he is a God that is in both the Ramayana and Mahabharata. I honestly did not know anything about Indra. I think I will enjoy learning about his elephant, horse, and thunderbolt weapon. Indra is also in Buddhism under the name Shakra/Shakka. Overall, I find the topic of Gods very interesting. I think I would want to tell stories about his elephant, horse, and thunderbolt weapon. Surya, The Sun God I chose Surya because he has sons that are in the Ramayana and Mahabharata. I do not have any prior knowledge of Surya. One interesting thing I read about Surya was that he is usually shown with seven horses. These horses represent the seven days and seven colors. I believe reading more about Surya's importance in both books we will be reading will be fascinating. I believe stories about Surya's importance to astronomy would be a good topic. Hanuman For the first week's assignment, I did a sto...