Week 2 Reading Overview

The Ramayana that I have selected to read is the Public Domain version. I decided on this one because of the variety of authors that have taken part in the creation of it and the fact that there is writing from before 1923. I have spent quite a bit of my college experience comparing the writings of poets, theologians and philosophers so looking at the different styles interests me. I also enjoy seeing different illustrations and how they are interpreted and put into text.
For the two comics that I will read, I have chosen: Tales of Balarama and Vasantasena, A Dancer. I chose both of these comics because I am interested in the beginning of change within the topic of land formations and I love stories with a good twist. I'm also curious about the "mysterious king" in Tales of Balarama.
The Mahabharata ("Abracadabra" by the Steve Miller Band)  was one of the videos that I focused on due to the fact that I really like the original song Abracadabra. I thought that it worked really well and I found it enjoyable and educational. The second video was Indian and Greek Mythological Parallels. I focused on this one as well because as a Letters and Religious Studies dual major, I have studied quite a bit of the Roman/Greek gods and their functions. The similarities between the Indian and Greek gods is really interesting because it shows the spread of culture throughout the world. There are many gods, but some of the time and more often than not, they are the same god with the same function, but have different names. A good example of this would be Isis, who is known by many names.

(Image Information: Hanuman in ornate garments carrying the mountain; Source: Wikipedia)

The reason I chose this image to close my blog with is because I enjoyed the ornate way in which Hanuman was dressed for the task of carrying the mountain. I don't know much about Hanuman yet. However for a task such as this one, I feel as if it is too much. Other depictions that I saw were in clay or had him less decked-out. This brought him to the front, as if he is more important than the mountain he is carrying. It also reminds me of Atlas, who is shirtless and bent over carrying the world. I know that a mountain versus the world is different, but it is still a land mass being supported by a higher being. 

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