Week 12 Reading Notes: Krishna: The Enchanter, Part B

Jursasandha is still having a war with Krishna.

The brothers run from him and make it look like they jumped to their deaths. The king of Magadha thinks he destroyed them.

Balarama Gets Married

Balarama marries Revati. Meanwhile Krishna wants to marry a girl named Rukmini because of her intelligence and beauty. She has five brothers, all of who hate Krishna because of their loyalty to Shishupala. She sends a messenger to tell Krishna what's happening. 

The two  come up with a plan to elope.

Rukimini's brother gives Krishna a chance to give up Rukmini and leave but Krishna fights him. When he's about to kill her brother, she stops him. Rama shaves half his head instead. Balarama explains to Rukmini that her brother deserved what he got and not to hate them for what they've done.

Balarama always justifies Krishna's actions.

Krishna and Rukmini get married while Rukmi vows to get revenge on Krishna.

p.159

An Incarnation of Kamadeva Is Born

Krishna's son is born. His name is Pradyumna. He is kidnapped by a demon and is thrown into the ocean and eaten by a fish. Some fishermen catch the fish and find the baby inside its stomach. Mayavati (Kamadeva's husband) finds him, raises him, and trains him to fight a demon.

She takes him to Krishna's palace. Rukmini recognizes him. Krishna is falsely blamed for a crime.

Krishna suggested that Satrajit give his gem to King Ugrasena but he gives it to his brother, Parsena for a day. Parsena is killed by a lion and Jambavan, a bear, finds it and gives it to his son to play with. 

Satrajit wonders if Krishna killed his brother for the gem and a rumor is spread.

A story can be made about the gem and how it travels from person to person.

Krishna investigates what happened to Parsena. Jambavati and Krishna fight for 28 days and finally work out their differences. 

Syamantaka Gem
Image Source: Sarang

p. 168

Ugrasena Court

Krishna explains how he got the gem and proves his innocence. To atone for his crimes, Satrajit gives his daughter to Krishna to marry and also the gem. He is murdered because by two men who wanted to marry his daughter. They killed him as revenge and took the gem. The men are scared when they find out Krishna is after them.

Krishna sounds like a bounty hunter. 

Week 12 Reading Notes: Krishna: The Lord of Dwarka, Part A

The Sons Reunite with their Parents

Krishna and Balrama's birth parents forget that they are their sons and treat them like they're gods so he casts a spell on them to make them forget about his divinity for a little bit.

Krishna also visits his grandfather, Ugrasena, who was also imprisoned by Kamsa and makes him king of Yadavas again and the people return to the kingdom. They had originally fled to neighboring kingdoms.

Krishna and Ugrasena
Image Source: Wikipedia

p. 116 Krishna and Balrama's Guru

The brothers go to the ashram and are taught by sage Sandipani. Based on tradition, they make an offering to their guru. The guru asks that Krishna restores his son who drowned at a seashore called Prabhasa. The boys set out to the seashore and speak to the ocean that assumes the form of a human. The ocean reveals that an asura disguised as a conch shell lives in the ocean took the sage's son away. He kills the demon and takes the shell to the Yama, the Lord of Death and fetch the guru's son. 

p.118 The Messenger

Krishna sends a messenger to let his adoptive parents, Nanda and Yashoda know that he and Balarama are okay. Nanda questions if his son even remembers him. The messenger stays at Vrindavana for several months talking about Krishna with the Gopikas before returning and telling Krishna about what's been going on back home.

Krishna and The Pandavas

Krishna sends his uncle, Akura, to visit the Pandavas in Hastinapura. Their father has died and Duryodhana has taken over the kingdom. Krishna wants to go check on them to make sure they're okay.

p. 120 Krishna and the Pandavas are close friends. 

It looks like someone(Akura) was watching the Pandavas when they were tricked into the gambling match. Akura is Kunti's cousin and talks to her about it. He tries to reason with Duryodhana's father and learns his favoring his own sons (Kauravas) over the Pandavas (no surprise there).

Kamsa's Wives

After Kamsa's death, his wives go back to their fathers and tell them what happened. The King of Magadha, Jarasandha wants revenge.  

Krishna has a small army. He blows his conch shell which scared Jarasandha's army. Jurasandha says he's embarrassed to fight Krishna alone because he is so young and lets Balarama fight with him.

At least he's fair.

The brothers destroy the army and let the king live. The king felt humiliated and was going to atone for it but was convinced by other kings that he could defeat Krishna.

p.133 Krishna vs. Kalyavana

Jarasandha attacks seventeen more times loses each time. On the eighteenth time Kalayavana confronts them because he thought he was as mighty as the brothers. 

The brothers create a fort city to protect the people. Krishna approached Kalayvana without weapons so he puts his weapons away too. 

Kalayvana is also fair.

Krishna makes Kalyvana chase him into a cave. In the cave, he finds a sleeping man that he thought was Krishna and kicks him. The man turns out ot be an asura and sets Kalayvana on fire with his eyes which turns him into ashes.

Week 11 Famous Last Words: So Close, Yet So Far

I can't believe how close it until the end of the semester. At the same time it feels so far! This week I was able to get a head a little on Storytelling and have written stories for all the upcoming weeks which I will be posting soon.

This week I have two midterms. I am really happy with my grades right now. Unlike some of my previous semesters, I've been able to keep them where I want them. Of course there's always room for improvements. Since I haven't had much homework this week, I 've been studying for midterms.

This week one of my professor's wanted to make our midterm review fun and is having a scavenger hunt for us. I'm hoping it isn't too cold since he wants us to run around campus to solve the problems.

My new puppy, Tuffy, finally got his first round of shots so that was exciting. He's also learning how to sit. Shiva has been taking great care of his new little brother and absolutely adores him. It's really entertaining to watch them play with each other. Of course since Shiva is the big brother, he likes to mess with Tuffy by putting his paw on him and taking his toys. Here is a short video of one of their antics:

Despite, finals, I have been able to find some time to relax. This weekend saw two movies with some friends. We saw the Blockers, which by the way was hilarious! We also saw A Quiet Place. That one had a lot of suspense and was very interesting since the people did not talk most of the time in the movie. Below is a trailer of the movie A Quiet Place posted from YouTube.