Topic Brainstorm

Sri Sita, daughter of Bhumi, wife of Rama, and mother of Lava and Kusha. Source: Flickr

Reincarnation
In the previous blog post we did on storytelling, I mentioned I really wanted explore this topic, and learn more about it. One of my favourite storybooks at the beginning was based on this topic, and I am still very interested in reading and writing about it! Specifically, I like the concept of Samsara because while I have heard about reincarnation before, this term was new to me. "To exist is to wander through an endless cycle of rebirth and redeath" was a sentence that came to mind when I first read about Samsara. If I do use this topic, I would hope to tie in karma as a part of samsara (and thus reincarnation), because it seems to be a central factor in the many "lives" of reincarnation. I am not sure yet how I would retell any specific stories, but contrasting reincarnations and incarnations such as looking at the reincarnation of Sita (Vedavati) vs her as an incarnation of Lakshmi, the shakti of Vishnu. I think I definitely want to use Sita as a character in any of my topics, because I really find the stories associated with her really interesting.
Animal Characters
This caught my eye just because of my love for animals, and I also like to see how different animals are characterised across different cultures and religions. Often certain traits are associated with specific animals depending on the context, like wisdom, trickery, good fortune and so on. For me, tricksters are usually played by monkeys, so it was interesting how in the Indian Epics and even the Jatakas they acted as 'wiser' characters and often the 'heroes' of the stories. Therefore, I could see myself probably exploring the monkey characters, especially Vali, who seems to have several takes on his personality and several sides to his morality. I'd like to read the comic about him "Vali: The Downfall of an Arrogant King". For the retelling, it would be cool to do perhaps a "Tales from the Monkey/Animal Clinic", where the narrator is a veterinarian or caretaker at the clinic and each of the patients is an animal character coming into to either get their regular check-up or tend to their injuries (perhaps from a battle that is actually part of their own stories). There could be dialogue between the narrator and the patient, such as the patient complaining about other characters from their stories (I thought Sugriva could be complaining about his troubles with Vali or vice versa) or the narrator leads the story more by giving her thoughts (such as "Sampati is quiet today. The grief over the loss of his brother still haunts him but it seems this day weighs heavier than yesterday). Or of course, a mix of both!
Motherhood
So far, I've seen two instances where women were banished with their children and had to raise them on their own in the stories we've covered: from Sita's tale and from Himbdi's tale, the latter of which I got to read through one of the Storybooks we picked for our favourites called "To Love and Lose". I really would like to perhaps give the mothers throughout the epics and stories a voice from their perspectives as mothers, often raising the incarnations of gods or bearing children for the gods and their incarnations. For instance, I thought it would be interesting to explore the wives of Dasharatha, Rama's father, who each bore a son or sons for him. I'd like to read their part in the comic " Dasharatha: The Story of Rama's Father". Another 'mother' I'd perhaps like to explore through a retelling is Bhumi, the goddess of the earth, the Hindu version of Mother Earth who also gave birth to Sita in some versions. If I did use this topic, I would also try to use mothers who were connected such as Sita, Bhumi, and the three wives of Dasharatha. This might help me get each retelling to flow into the other. I've read that Lakshmi, who Sita is supposed to be an incarnation of, is also a mother of Kamadeva, and so I could also tell her story as the goddess of prosperity but also as a mother herself.
Creation
I find creation stories really fascinating and the fact that Hinduism has so many has always been really interesting to me. I think many people grew up in places where there is only one belief about the creation of the world, and it is frowned upon to believe in others. I certainly did and so looking at the origins of the earth from different perspectives has always been exciting. I particularly like the creation story involving Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva that I saw in one of the videos by BBC radio I chose for a previous assignment. I particularly like the ideas on Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, the destroyer, because I think it ties back into the idea of reincarnation, and the cycling of existence. I haven't heard many creation stories in this context, and so I'd like to explore them more, including reading "Stories of Creation from the Brahma Purana". For retelling, I might look at more than one creation story, and I like the "Samudra-manthan". I used this page on Indian Mythological Stories to get a better understanding of this creation story. I am not sure how I would incorporate it, but Shiva's dance, the Nataraja, to signify his process of destruction for reconstruction of the universe was also an idea I really liked.