Indian Epics Topics Brainstorm

1. Possible Topic: Hanuman. So far in the reading, I really like Hanuman’s character. Also, there is a lot of good content to work with for a storybook centered around him. From what I have found, he has a variety of different birth stories, which could work well for a storybook too. I looked at some of the past storybooks about Hanuman, and they were really neat.
Research so far. At this point, I have read about Hanuman’s first interactions with Rama. According to the Wikipedia page, Hanuman is in both Ramayana and Mahabharata, so I’m sure I can find plenty of good stories to retell about him throughout the semester. I read on there that in one version of his birth story, a kite took some of the rice Dasharatha had given to his wives to conceive Rama and his brothers, and a woman caught some of the rice and ate it, thereby conceiving Hanuman. That is very interesting, and I would like to look into it more. I also think that the story about mistaking the sun for a mango would be good for retelling.

2. Possible Topic: Animal Avatars of Vishnu. This seems like a good, focused topic. I could write a story about each of his animal avatars, but the whole book would still be centered around Vishnu. I think that would help me maintain a strong core theme. Also, I just like animal stories in general, so I think this would be a really fun project.
Research so far. The only avatars of Vishnu I have read about in the Ramayana so far are Rama and Vamana the dwarf. I looked at the Wikipedia page for the Dashavatara, the ten avatars of Vishnu, and I found some information about the following avatars: Matsya, a fish; Kurma, a tortoise; Varaha, a boar; and Narasimha, half-man, half-lion. Each of these avatars has a very interesting story I think would be fun to retell.

(Avatars of Vishnu. Web Source: Wikimedia Commons)

3. Possible Topic: Birth Stories. The birth stories I have read so far were fascinating. For example, the story of Vishnu’s incarnation as Rama was neat, and Hanuman alone has several interesting birth stories. I like the idea of writing my storybook about birth stories because they’re very imaginative, and they would also give my book a creation theme. There’s something kind of happy about new life, so it would make for a fun book.
Research so far. I haven’t read very many birth stories so far in the class readings, but I think I’ll come across more in the next several weeks in the rest of Ramayana as well as Mahabharata. I looked through a couple of past storybooks on birth stories and death stories, and they were really fun. I think this theme would be a good focus for a neat project.

4. Possible Topic: Brothers and Sisters. One of the themes that strikes me most so far about The Ramayana is Rama’s close relationship with his brothers. I think it would be interesting to explore the different dynamics of brotherhood. I could contrast Rama and his brothers with less forgiving brothers like Sugriva and Vali. I would also like to look into exploring the brother-sister relationships in the stories. I have a brother I’m pretty close with, so that might be something I would find very personally interesting.
Research so far. I have read a lot about Rama and his brothers so far. I think I could write several stories based on them alone. In particular, I liked the episode where Rama and Bharata argued because they each wanted the other to be king. I have also read about Ravana and his sister at this point, as well as Sugriva and Vali. I looked at the Wikipedia pages for the brother-sister pairs, and they were pretty brief in terms of the relationships between them, so I think I will need to find other sources for those.