Indian Epics Spring 2018

I think the topic I would most enjoy for my storybook would be supernatural characters of the Ramayana. I had mentioned writing of rakshasas/rakshasis, and have already read Goblin City  and written my own story involving rakshasis. I found The Wise and the Foolish Merchant  and thought this might be fun to rewrite. It involves rakshasas as well, but I like that here the man outsmarts the demons instead of being rescued. The Terrible Bell  is another rakshasa story I'd be interested in. It reads more like a false ghost story, reminding me a bit of Scooby Doo. Another supernatural character would be the mermaid Suvannamaccha, who I mentioned writing about for the love stories topic. I really enjoyed the story of Hanuman and Suvannamaccha  and would love to work with it later for my project. Mermaids have always been of interest to me and I enjoy love stories.  I would also like to write of yakshas.  The Princes and the Water-Sprite (Devadhamma) ...

The first topic idea I'm considering is creation stories. Nobody really knows for sure how everything came to be, so seeing how different cultures explain different aspects of the beginning of our world is so interesting to me. I know a little bit about Hindu beliefs on origins from an introductory religions course my freshman year. I think the infinite cycle idea that Wikipedia's Hindu Cosmology Article mentions is really interesting. The next idea was to write about supernatural characters. We read a story this week, Goblin City , about Rakshasas and it's actually the one I chose to write my story about. I enjoyed the sinister magical creatures and would love to learn more about other beings in Indian writings. Another creature called Asuras interested me. Wikipedia's Article of Asuras says they are like demigods but can be good or evil. That kind of confusion could make a good story. Another possibility would be food. I love food and trying new things. Reading ...