First Indian Epics Blog

Hindu Origin Stories: Samudra Manthan The Samudra manthan is the story explaining the origin of amrita, which is the drink of immortality. The creation process involved both the gods and the demons of the Hindu world. The churning of the Ocean of Milk , in a bazaar art print, c. 1910's; the Suras or gods are on the right, the Asuras or demons on the left Purusha Purusha was a cosmic man that was sacrificed by the gods to create life. Later, the Purusa concept would change, but I like the cosmic man sacrifice angle. Prajapati In the Shatapatha Brahmana, Prajapati takes the form of an egg and evolves into the cosmos. He then later emerges from the egg and creates the earth and the heavens.

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 ind...