Indian Epics Blog

"Save me, Alex!" (source) After dispatching the patrols sent on his tail, Alex made his way back towards the outskirts of the village, to the compound of Samu Al-Hayeed. Moving under the cover of darkness, Alex dispatched guards and patrols using nothing but his combat knife.  Finally, Alex reached the perimeter of Samu's compound. The sandy flats surrounding the high wall of the compound were illuminated by blinding floodlights. Machine-gun emplacements flanked the front gate, and the wall was topped by barbed wire. But Alex knew that defenses are only as strong as their weakest link. He circled the compound, staying just out of the range of the floodlights, until he came to the utility pole that supplied the compound with all of its electricity. Alex reached into his rucksack and produced a satchel charge with a timer, the last of his explosives. He climbed to the top of the utility pole and set the charge, he then made his way back outside the entrance of th...

"You can give up Art Girl or you can give up your life"  (source) The sun had just set, and Alex was moving silently through the maze of stucco desert houses. His objective: Invade Samu Al-Hayeed's compound and rescue his wife, the beautiful and talented Art Girl. Alex paused as he heard the nearby shuffling of footsteps. Despite his best efforts to move stealthily, there was no way he could cover his tracks through the sand and gravel. He'd set some traps to slow down his pursuers, thin their ranks, and allow him time to think of a plan.  Alex left the house he was in and made his way through the village moving towards the town square in the center, making sure to leave behind easy-to follow tracks. Once he reached the square, he carefully retraced his steps, back to a nearby storefront. He entered the store and booby-trapped the ground floor, moving up to the second floor and taking up a sniper position looking out of the balcony. His plan, if it ...

The final battle (source) Hello again everyone, NitroDubbz here. Today we're reading more Mahabharata. So Yudhistira decides to send Krishna to Hastinapura to ask for the five villages, which is refused. Then Duryodhana prepares for war, assembling millions of troops, but it starts raining Fanta Orange, which is a bad omen. Arjuna sees all of his cousins and family preparing for war, and his confidence wavers. He decides that the kingdom isn't worth killing his kinsmen. Krishna then explains to him that the Kauravas had already destroyed themselves through their bad karma brought about by their selfish acts of betrayal. Arjuna then regains confidence. The battle begins and one-by-one the Kauravas and their allies are dispatched. Bhima fights Duryodhana and fulfills the vow he made to "smash his thigh" for disrespecting Draupadi.  After the battle, Yudhistira has second thoughts, he starts regretting all the blood that they shed and wishes he could live ...

(source) Hey everyone, Nitrodubbz here again back with more Mahabharata. The Pandava brothers are still in exile, this time they come across a lake while looking for some stuff that an ascetic lost. They're all thirsty so they drink from the lake and die, when Yudhistira comes along, the God of the lake (secretly Yama) tests him to see if he is pure of heart. When Yudhistira answers his questions correctly, he revives his brothers and grants them the ability to remain incognito, allowing them to live in a city without being recognized and exiled back into the wilderness for another twelve years. They go to this city, I can't remember the name, but the king's name is Virata. Their cousins get concerned that the twelve years is almost up, and the spies have returned with no reports of the Pandava brothers because of their blessing granted by Yama. However, they hear of a rumor that the general of Virata has died, so they figure it might have something to do wit...

(source) Hey everyone, NitroDubbz here again with Narayan's Mahabharata. The Pandava brothers all got married to Draupadi and now have gone off and built a prosperous city in the desert. Yudhistira then gets cleaned out in a game of dice by his cousin Sakuni, who is working with his other brothers to try and weaken the Pandava brother's empire because they are jealous and worried of their growing power and influence. However, Sakuni goes too far and Vidura, the advisor to king Dhritarashtra, warns that Sakuni is only going to anger the Pandava brothers and make their vengeance twice as bad. Dhritarashtra, initially ignoring Vidura, changes his mind when he is moved by Draupadi's prayer to Vishnu that was answered with a miracle. He grants her several boons, restoring the freedom of the Pandava brothers and their kingdom. Then the Pandava brothers get invited to another game and lose all their stuff and are banished to the wildnerness this time. Then Vidura goes and j...

(source) Hello everyone, NitroDubbz here! It's that time of the month again, more readings! This time it's the Mahabharata. I chose to read the R.K. Narayan translation, since last time I enjoyed the Narayan Ramayana so much, I thought I'd go with his version of the Mahabharata. Okay so there's a lot to take in here. There are way more characters and backstory than in the Ramayana. I'm going to be summarizing more than analyzing, but that's for my own sake so I can try to keep everything straight. It's also difficult even ignoring the foreign names, because I think we remember people by their attributes and personalities, but there's not much characterization in this story so it's very difficult to keep track of everyone. So essentially there are three princes, a blind one, a pale one, and a normal one, who all have a bunch of kids. The Pandava brothers and some other people seem to be the focus of this story. Their master, Drona, who ...

(source) *CRACK-CRACK-CRACK* The sharp report of gunfire filled Alex's ears as he lay prone behind a small stone wall. He pushed the mag release button on his assault rifle and felt around his vest for another. "Damn, last one" He smacked the new magazine into place and snapped the charging handle back. Slowly, he inched his way along the low wall, pausing to listen for footsteps. He came to a small hole in the wall where he was able to peek through. He saw ten enemy combatants, and a machine gun emplacement. Behind them, the compound where his wife, Art Girl, was being held. Her name wasn't really Art Girl, of course, but that's what her codename had been in the mission. Art Girl was kidnapped by Samu Al-Hayeed, leader of the "Nice Guys" terrorist group, an ironic name, since they were anything but. Fortunately, Alex, Art Girl's husband, just so happened to be a U.S. Marine. He and his squad had been dispatched to extract Art ...

O_O (source) Hello again everyone, NitroDubbz here. I am back with F.J. Gould's version of "The Ramayana", called "The Divine Archer" This version of the Ramayana comes with a map of India that is very helpful. As for what's different in this version of the story, there's more focus on Hanuman in this version. Hanuman is informed to Sita's location by a vulture, and he battles a serpent as a test of courage. Also instead of growing huge and stepping across the ocean, he leaps across rocks to get to Lanka. In this version, Sita's "purity test" is explained in more detail. Rama is forced through public opinion to send Sita out into the wilderness, where she bears him children. Then she returns to see Rama and her sons, only to disappear into the underworld to rest because she is weary. Not exactly a happy ending, I prefer the other version. Well, that's all for today folks. Until next time, I'm NitroDubbz. https://b...

 "Hey there baby, lemme introduce you to mah stand: Macho Man" *poses*  (source) Howdy everyone, NitroDubbz here. That picture doesn't really have anything to do with today's post, but I love Johnny Bravo so I decided to put it there. I picked "The Divine Archer" by F.J. Gould for my extra Ramayana reading. It's pretty much the same as the Narayan version, although it is very condensed. I will say that there's much better personification of Rama in this version. There's more background at the beginning including the birth of Rama, which does a great job of characterizing Rama and showing why the citizens of Ayodha adore him so much. Anyways, that's all for today everyone. Until next time, I'm NitroDubbz. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc2.ark:/13960/t0wp9vr87;view=1up;seq=42

"Wh-what is this raw power emanating from this man?!?" (source) Here is a link to my website: https://sites.google.com/view/nitrodubbzportfolio/home

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Who needs Jatayu? (source) Hi everyone, NitroDubbz here. At the beginning of the story I didn't really understand what was so bad about Ravana, up until the point where he stole Sita away he didn't seem like an unreasonable guy. But the dialogue between him and his counsel shows that he allowed himself to be filled with conceit after he was granted the powers of the Gods. I believe that the inclusion of Sugreeva's brother, Vali, was a great primer. Stories need thematic continuity, and Ravana's hubris mirrors the hubris shown earlier in Vali. One of my favorite characterizations in the entire story happens at the very end, after Rama has struck down Ravana. He is examining Ravana's corpse and he notices a large scar on his back. Even after Ravana stole Sita and waged war and acted so dishonorably, Rama is still concerned with his treatment of Ravana when he expresses concern that he may have "shot Ravana in the back". This is a perfect exam...