Topic Research: To Battle We Go

Earlier this week I had come up with an angle for story telling regarding the Epic Battles topic. I am still kind of interested in doing something with the creation stories but not sure what it would be yet. For Epic Battles, my thought was that I would somehow incorporate these epic battles into modern day or other historical battles. Maybe I would futurize the battles that happened in the Ramayana or bring modern day technology back to Rama. Another thought that I had was to bring the characters from these epics into the historical battles. There are still some other ideas swirling around in my head but those were a few interesting ones that have popped up. I read a little bit about the Vimana which you mentioned in your notes last week. My thought was that it would be cool to incorporate flying chariots into the modern day because no military general has seen a flying chariot. I also read a few stories from Epic Indian Battles and thought that showing the battles through the eyes of a common soldier was a good twist in the first story. The author used different ways to depict the battles in each story which could also be a good way to test different ideas.


Another idea that I had was instead of involving the original characters, I could simply take the characteristics and events of the battle and shift them into a different time period. For example, the battle at Rama’s hut in the woods where he eventually injuries Shoorpankha could be represented by two knights fending off dragons and wizards or something, just a little brainstorming :)


If I had to make three possible stories I guess they would be:

1. Ravana’s Sister from the reading guide for Narayan’s Ramayana. The story would go similar to what I described above.

2. I assume that Rama and Ravana will fight at some point and that battle could be used for a story where I could use other viewpoints or place the battle in a different time.

3. There must also be a battle in the Mahabharata, so I could use that to add one of the other elements that I discussed earlier.


Finding resources for these kinds of topics and twists would be nice to see how I could incorporate these elements. I’m not exactly sure what I should be looking for in resources that could help me.

Ravana's city on Lanka

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