Epics of India

Figure 1:  A Barrett 50 BMG Sniper Rifle  Wikipedia Rama and Ravana eyed each other from across the battlefield. These two had been waiting to fight each other for weeks now, and all awaited their final confrontation and the climax of the Seige of Lanka. Rama stood tall, his AR-15 in hand. A 30 round magazine was already loaded, and each was cartridge blessed with the fires of Agni. Ravana gloated and taunted in the shape of the hermit which he had tricked Sita with. He gestures at Rama, telling him to fire the first shot if he so dared. And then the fight began. Rama leaps forwards, leveling his rifle at Ravana and pulling the trigger in a single smooth motion, a motion which had been practiced thousands of times. The 5.56 Agniastra round blasts off the top of Ravana's skull and explodes into a mass of hellfire, scorching the entire battlefield. Roaring from the pain of loosing his first head, Ravana assumes his true form, a terrible demon with ten heads and t...

Figure 1: Generic Depiction of Prank  Wikimedia The story that I found the most interesting was the episode where Doryadhana has several mishaps in the crystal palace. I think I'd like to rewrite this segment as a comedy scene. I'd keep the existing embarrassment where Doryadhana cannot differentiate between crystals and water. I'd also like to either establish Doryadhana as having poor eyesight or give the crystals unusual properties that make the mis-identification more understandable. Some other things that I would like to add. Make Doryadhana distinctly ungraceful both in his physical movements and manners. Add more jokes, such as misidentifying animals, tripping, humiliation by animals, and maybe a fire crystal that Doryadhana runs from in fear of burning himself. I'd also make it clear that the Pandavaras are having fun at his expense, and find his misfortune amusing. Mahabharata: Public Domain Edition  Various Authors

Figure 1: Drona and Drupada  Wikimedia The Mahabharata is incredibly different from the Ramayana, to the point that they seem to be the products of two entirely different processes. The Ramayana is quite focused on Rama, and feels very much like a superhero story. Rama exhibits almost only positive characteristics, but some of his characteristics feel at times contradictory and almost always generic. In this way, he reminds me of superheroes, written by different authors with input from different audiences, and then edited and retroactively canonized by random editors. Rama specifically reminds me of superman, a mishmash of every value of every subculture that inhabit the larger culture from which he arises. The Mahabharata on the other hand reads like a recent fictionalization of a political struggle. It barely feels like a story at all. Stories are usually written with the purpose of being a story, the Mahabharata begins with an incomprehensible exposition segment that d...