Animal Avatars of Vishnu: Styles Brainstorm

Topic. I want to write my storybook about some of the avatars of Vishnu, specifically his animal avatars. From last week’s research, I know there are at least four really interesting stories about Vishnu while he was incarnated as different animals, so I think this will be a good, focused topic. The Wikipedia article for the Dashavatara, or the ten avatars of Vishnu, lists a fish, a tortoise, a boar, and a half-man/half-lion, and briefly explains stories for each. I think all four are stories I want to tell, which could fill a whole storybook. The story about Matsya, the fish, reminds me of the story of Noah’s ark, so I’m very interested in retelling that one. I also like the story of Narasimha, the half-man/half-lion, because it’s really a story of loop-holes, and I think I can make that fun.

(Vishnu as Matsya the fish. Web Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Bibliography:
1. Dashavatara. Website: Wikipedia.
2. Matsya. Website: Wikipedia.
3. Narasimha. Website: Wikipedia.

Possible Styles:

Interview with Vishnu. I could tell the stories of these early avatars of Vishnu through a first-person interview with him. That way, I could write the stories from his perspective, and the reader could hear them in his own voice. Through an interview, I can vary the tones in each story. For example, I read that when he battled a demon in the form of a boar, the battle lasted a thousand years before he finally won. So maybe he would be more bitter about that story and more proud of some of the others.

Pushpaka Vimana Frametale. The tale would take place on a spaceship named after the Pushpaka Vimana in the Ramayana. I wrote in one of my Reading Diaries about this. The idea comes based on this quote: “During his narration the story-teller would not miss any chance for a contemporary reference. He would compare the Pushpaka Vimana to a modern airliner, with the additional capacities that it could be piloted by mere thought and that its space could expand to accommodate as many as would want to get into it” (169). If I went with this, I would like to set it way in the future as a way to show how important these stories are—they would still be told thousands of years after they were first told and written down. With this, there are different ways I could weave in the animal avatars. Perhaps the crew is telling Vishnu stories. Or maybe different rooms in the ship are named after the avatars. Or the planets the ship is visiting. There are a lot of possibilities for this.

Zoo Trip Frametale. I had the idea that maybe the stories would be framed around a modern day zoo trip. I would go along the lines of a parent telling their kid each avatar story based on which exhibit they are looking at. So when they pass by the lions, the parent would talk about Narasimha, and so on for each animal incarnation. This would be a fun frame for me personally because I have a lot of fond memories of going to the zoo as a kid.

Basic Anthology. Since this is a very focused topic with a specific theme, I could do a simple anthology. As an unnamed storyteller, I could introduce the topic, the animal avatars of Vishnu, and then write a general description of Vishnu’s relevance in Indian Epics, as well as in Indian culture. Then I could tell the stories, and if I focused on writing those really well, then a basic anthology, though less exciting than my other ideas, might be plenty effective.