Indian Epics Blog

 As someone who overthinks a LOT I tend to struggle with giving negative feedback. I am always worried that I will hurt someone's feelings, come across as mean and too harsh, or will cause someone to think they are stupid (which I guess is the same as hurting feelings). For this assignment, I decided to focus on articles I believe will help me put my overthinking fears to ease. Feedback: Max Pixel How to Give Bad Feedback Without Being a Jerk First of all, I believe we have all heard of the compliment sandwich. You start off with a "Good Job!" or "Nice Work!" and then put all the "bad stuff" in between and then end with a final compliment. According to this article, there is data that shows the compliment sandwich actually braces people for impact, as the compliment was just softening the blow from your mean words. People also usually only remember the beginning and ending of things, thus, any negative feedback you give might just be drowned out by 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.                 ...

                                                                                    Rama and Sita: Wikimedia Commons Once upon a time there was a king that was very sad because he had no children. This king's name was Dasaratha. To become happy, he begged a sage to give him children. The sage was kind and gave the king a sacrificial rice that would allow his wives to become pregnant. When the king gave his wives the rice, they both had two children. The king was now overjoyed because he now had four sons: Rama, Lakshmana, Bharatha, and Sathrugna. Dasaratha did not know this, but his son Rama was the human incarnation of the supreme god Vishnu. Once the boys grew older, a sage by the name of Viswamithra, comes and tells Dasaratha that he need...

     Ravana killing Jatayu: Wikimedia Commons  Fearing that staying close to Ayodyha would inspire citizens to encourage him to return home, Rama and his group decided to move on. They set off towards Panchvati. During the journey, they met Jatayu, the Great Eagle. Jatayu was very close with Dasaratha and felt as a foster parent to Rama. He guided them to Panchvati. Once there, Lakshmana built them a hut; however, Rama still remembered his true reason for coming to Panchvati: to kill fiends and ultimately kill Ravana, the chief of the demons. To start his task, Rama set out to the woods where he met a beautiful woman. He discovers that this woman is in fact Ravana's sister. She claims that she rejects evil and wants to help Rama. She asks him to marry her. He immediately denies this claiming that he cannot marry her because she is not high enough class. She replies that because of her mother's class, she is able to wed anyone. Kamavalli, the woman, then sees Sita and...

                                                                                               Rama: Wikimedia Commons There was a king named Dasaratha who was sad because he did not have any children. He then finds a sage, Rishya Sringa, who performed a sacrificial fire that caused a supernatural being emerging with sacramental rice. When Dasaratha's wives ate this rice, they each had two children: Rama and Bharatha, and Lakshmana and Sathrugna. We find out later that Rama is the human incarnation of Vishnu, a supreme god. Later, Sage Viswamithra comes to see Dasaratha. He asks Dasaratha to allow him to take Rama to a sacred ground that is surrounded by evil. Distressed, Dasaratha initially says no, but th...