Peter's India Blog

In the old ancient India, there was a mischievous, popular king named Uparichara. Uparichara was born into a life of enormous wealth and privileges: he didn't have siblings and was destined to become the king of Chedi. Uparichara didn't care about his future because he was destined to the crown, so he lived a life of sex, binge drinking, smoking medicinal drugs for recreation, and all sorts of indulgence until the age of 33. Another reason why he was so much into lust and indulgence was because of stress of being an important public figure. As a prince, he was expected to appear moral and exemplary to his people. Uparichara desperately wanted to become the king, but his father lived a long life: Uparichara's 88-year-old father who was his predecessor didn't want to turn over the crown to his son because he believed he failed his son's upbringing and moral character education.  One night in his dream, Uparichara saw frowned-faced gods and angels. Uparichara ask...

I really liked Mahabharata reading. It was obviously different from Ramayana.I thought the birth story of Vyasa was so interesting. Uparichara, who was the king of Chedi, gave birth to Vyasa in a very unusual and mythical way: "One day in spring, as he was flying through the sky, his semen fell into a river. It was swallowed by a female fish with the result that ten months after, when the fish was caught by a fisherman, two children — a boy and a girl — came forth." Honestly, this was the most fascinating birth story I've ever read. It made me wonder if it was Uparichara's mistake to drop his semen into the river. Vyasa might have been the king's unintended spill. The best thing that I liked about Mahabharata was its vivid description of the scenes, characters, and backgrounds. The character such as Ganga in human form (Goddess Ganga) was particularly detailed: "Suddenly there appeared before him a maiden of surpassing beauty. She was Ganga in human for...

Link to my Portfolio                                         Skyline of Seoul. Source:  Seoul Skyline

Note: This story was added to my  Portfolio . In old ancient India, there were two brothers who were both born as prince. The two brothers had vastly different, almost contrasting personalities. Sugriva, who was the older brother of the two, was ambitious, brilliant, yet humble. He was willing to listen and take advice from those who were beneath his royal dignity. The younger of the two, Vali, on the other hand, was even more ambitious than Sugriva, arrogant, and full of himself. Even as a little youngster, Vali would often slay his adult teachers and tutors in front of others when they tried to correct his arrogant and unruly behaviors. So everyone around Vali was so scared of him and minced words when they were speaking to Vali. Nonetheless, there was one exception: Sugriva, being an older brother with 8 more years of life experience, would say all he wanted to Vali despite knowing his unruly, explosive personality. Sugriva had always felt as if he was obliged to take ...

I really liked the vivid detail description of sudden natural phenomenon: The earth and the sea were immediately convulsed, and darkness covered the heavens; lightning flashed and thunder bellowed aloud; the mountains began to break in pieces. I liked how vividly descriptive of the natural phenomenon was.  I also liked another example of such description of the phenomenon: Dreadful were the omens of war that showed themselves: the earth shook, the clouds rained blood, a fiery circle fell from the sun.  It was very interesting to read about monkeys organizing themselves to fight one another. Sometimes they would play a role of a spy. I could literally imagine and hear how it was like in my head: "Then the monkeys advanced in order and swarmed about the walls, flooding the moat and striking terror into the hearts of the rakshasas; scaling parties climbed the walls and battered down the gates with trees and stones, shouting "Victory for Rama and for Sugriva!"...

I really liked the poem Shabari. It sounded like a song with lyrics. I could "hear" the poem as if a singer was singing next to me. It read and heard it somewhat like a rap song. I also like the content of the poem: "I trust no cares invade thy peace, While holy works and zeal increase; That thou content with scanty food All touch of ire hast long subdued; That all thy vows are well maintained, While peace of mind is surely gained: That reverence of the saints who taught The faithful heart due fruit has brought." I really like the rhyme of this part, and it sounded like Rama was a caring god. It was a "law of duty", but it wished good will for those who follow it. I thought it was very fascinating that Hanuman could take a shape of a beggar to disguise himself and approach strangers to find out what Sugriva wanted. It's also very interesting that monkey can be sacred and considered to be a form of god in Ramayana epic. It would be unimagina...

It was a very interesting read. Especially, it made me think about emotional toughness when Kaikeyi refused to cry and even asked Bharata to refrain from grief and sorrow about the death of Dasharatha by plainly saying, "thou shouldst not thus give way to grief, my son.” Bharata finally had enough with his stone-cold, tough, and purpose-oriented mother and told her, “I have lost my father and my elder brother. Of what good is a kingdom unto me now? O evil-hearted woman, thou hast bereft this house of all joy; thou hast slain my sire and banished Rama. But I will bring my brother back from the jungle; he shall be seated on the throne.” when he realized that Kaikeyi, his mother, did not seem to have any emotional capability besides accomplish her purpose.  From reading this very interesting story, I could tell that Bharata wasn't motivated by outwardly material things like power, throne, or wealth. He seems like he wanted to live with his brother Dasharatha without sl...