As I was looking through the
various Indian Epics storybooks, I found quite a few that I found interesting.
Three of them though, stood out the most and were very intriguing!
The first storybook I found
extremely interesting was Stories of an Elephant-headed God. Growing up as a
Hindu, stories of Ganesha had always been prominent and abundant in my
childhood. From his beheading to the noose stories, I have probably heard
almost all of the stories! The title did a very good job at describing the
overall content of the storybook. I also liked the simple layout and the ease
of navigation of the storybook!
The second storybook that
caught my eye was Arjuna: Essence of a Hero. This one is especially interesting
because my name, Parth, was the name Lord Krishna used to call Arjuna by. “Parth”
in Sanskrit means archer who never misses his target, which accurately depicts
Arjuna! Basically, Arjuna is one of the Mahabharata’s most prized warriors, an
archer whose dead eye accuracy made him legendary! He also becomes very close
to Lord Krishna, who is like a mentor to him. I liked the simple layout and
design of this storybook as well. The images in this storybook went hand in
hand in giving a visual display of the story that was told.
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| Krishna offering advice to Arjuna; Tales of Arjuna |
The third storybook that I
found intriguing was Epic Festivals of India. This I thought was fitting title because
of the vast assortment of festivals and holidays that accompany the Hindu
religion. I have heard that India is sometimes called the “Nation of Festivals”,
which I seem to think is very fitting as well. There is always something to
celebrate or something going on somewhere! Every festival or holiday that I
have heard of has always been a vibrant celebration with lots of lights and colors
and whatnot. I liked the simplicity of this storybook as well and it did a
really good job of providing an example of how many festivals and holidays
there are in the Indian culture!
It is so exciting that you are familiar with the epics already, Parth... and connected by way of your name! Since for many students, the epics are totally new, the Ramayana projects are more numerous than the Mahabharata projects but I am really excited when there are Mahabharata projects; it is my favorite of the two epics, although I have gained a lot more appreciation for the Ramayana by teaching this class over the years. And it is SO TRUE about the festivals: you could do a kind of infinite Storybook just about the festivals! One that I really liked, about a festival I had never even heard of before, was this one: Tales of Love at Karva Chauth (thanks to people's new projects every semester, I also get to learn all kinds of new things!). I hope you will have fun brainstorming some project topics/styles in the next couple of weeks!
ReplyDeleteI really like that third storybook Epic Festivals of India! I also agree that there is always something to celebrate in India and it is a colorful and fun atmosphere to be in. There is always an interesting story behind each festival and it is so unique! I also liked the other two storybooks you chose, the story about Arjuna and how Lord Krishna took him under his wing.
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