Brainstorm Topics

  • Women of the Ramayana:
    • I know very little about the Hindu goddesses, but I think it would be interesting to do some creative writing on them. In present day, we are seeing a shift in how women are responding to how they have been wronged by powerful men. Women are no (rightfully) no longer staying silent and they are taking down powerful men, so I think it would be interesting to parallel what is happening today with female characters and stories from ancient Hindu texts. Sita seems like a good character to start with. She is not only a central character of the Ramayana, but she is overall a central character in the story.
  • Weapons of Gods:
    • I think exploring the weapons of the gods is a topic that you could translate into a modern day commentary on several different topics; militarization of police, conflicts in the Middle East, or, without getting too political, you could just make up some interesting stories. I think that the weapon choices that are made by the individual gods is also a good insight into their own personality in a way.
  • Creation Stories:
    • As a religious studies major, I have dealt with a lot of different creation stories, and even written one myself. So, studying unfamiliar creation stories and writing my own or new interpretation of old ones sounds like an interesting task. I am not very familiar with Hindu creation myths so it will all be new to me and I will be looking at them from a Western perspective, which can be an interesting twist sometimes. 
  • Ganesha:
    • Ganesha is interesting to me because not only is he one of the most recognizable Hindu gods, but he is one of the few that I know anything about (which is very little). Basically, all I know is that (in one version of his origin) he is the son of Shiva and Parvati, and when Shiva returns home from a long absence he sees Ganesha, doesn't realize who he is and thinks that he is there to steal Parvati from him, so he cuts off his head. Once he realizes who he was he replaces the severed head of Ganesha with the head of an elephant. I think this would be a fun story to do, but I would have a tough time not making it comical. 
Basohli Miniature, c. 1730. 
National Museum, New Dehli, Wikipedia.

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