Week 9 Story Planning: The Syamantaka Jewel

This week I will be planning the story I want to write for next week.  I am interested in writing a story based off of The Syamantaka Jewel.  I really enjoyed reading this story and I think I could make a fun version of my own.  I decided to end the story upon Krishna's return to Dwarka. I have taken some more detailed notes to help me with my writing.

The story starts with the sun god, Surya, descending down upon Satrajit.  Satrajit was blinded by light until Surya took off the Syamantaka jewel.  Surya told Satrajit to ask him for a blessing to which Satrajit asked for the jewel, not knowing what it was capable of.  Surya granted him the great jewel.  
This jewel was stored away and was capable of giving Satrajit eight wagons of gold and keeping harm from Dwarka.  Eventually Satrajit became worried that Krishna might take the jewel from him because he is more worthy.  So, he passed it along to his brother, Prasena.  This jewel brings good things to one that is good and brave.  On the flip side, the jewel brings death to an evil or cowardly man.


Prasena went to hunt one day and a lion tore him to pieces.  The lion took the jewel to his den.  Jambavat, King of the Bears, saw the jewel shining and rushed down to the lion’s den and killed him with a blow from his paw.  Jambavat took the jewel and gave it to his sun, Sukumara.

The people in Dwarka started to wonder why Prasena had not come back.  They schemed that Krishna killed Prasena and kept the jewel for himself.  Kirshna heard these rumors and decided to find out what really happened.  He found the spot where the lion killed Prasena but would not return until he found the gem.  He followed the tracks and found the dead lion.  He then followed the Bear King’s footprints, which led to his throne.  


The cave was lit up with the jewel.  Sukumara was playing with it alongside his nurse.  The nurse saw Krishna and called for help.  Jambavat arose and charged at Krishna.  The two began to fight.  This lasted for the rest of the day, plus 21 days after that.  Krishna’s men had been waiting outside all this time and worried that Krishna had died.  They were too scared to enter and returned back to Dwarka, saying that Krishna was dead.  They had just finished his funeral when suddenly the sky lit up.  It was Krishna with the jewel.


Krishna explained that the bear ended up begging for mercy and Krishna spared him for the jewel and took his sister, Jambavati, to marry.  HE told the entire story and gave the jewel back to Satrajit.  Satrajit offered his daughter, Satyabhama, as another wife to Krishna.

Krishna Marries Jambavati (The British Museum)

Bibiography:
"The Syamantaka Jewel" by C.A. Kincaid. Link.

Week 6 Story Planning: House of Fire

I am doing something a little bit different this week.  Instead of telling a story, I am going to do a planning post for next week's story.  I have done a little bit of research on House of Fire from the PDE version of Mahabharata. 

Reading through the story again, I decided that I should go back to the previous episode, Jealousy, to make sure I understood why Prince Duryodhana wanted to get rid of the Pandavas.  Duryodhana told his father, King Dhritarashtra, that the Pandavas planned to take his kingdom from him.  The king had no reason not to believe his son so now Duryodhana could unfold his plan of building a palace filled with oil-soaked wood furniture.  The palace was built and Duryodhana went to convince Queen Kunti and her sons to come visit.  They agreed and the prince even got a crooked guard, Purochana, to come help him with his plan.  Vidura, half-brother of Pandu and Dhritarashtra, knew something was off from the start.  He suspected Duryodhana was up to something and immediately warned Yudhishthira.

Queen Kunti and her sons traveled to the newly built palace.  Yudhishthira remembered the words of Vidura and then came to see all the furniture soaked in oil and the ceiling built of wood.  All of this would surely burn without a doubt!  Yudhishthira warned his brothers and mother.  Vidura had a plan in mind to help the family escape when needed.  He sent a miner dig a tunnel from the floor of the palace out to the forest.  The night he finished digging, the princes and their mother went down into the tunnel and walked out into the forest it led to.  But, Prince Bhima decided that the evil guard, Purochana should not be let off the hook.  He went back to the palace and set flames to the guardhouse where Purochana perished. 

That night, beggars had come to the palace searching for sympathy.  The Pandavas had taken them in and given them food, wine, and somewhere to sleep.  As they were sleeping, the fire from the guardhouse had spread to the palace and the beggars had passed.  The next morning, the people of Varanavata saw the disaster and the remains of the beggars.  They thought that Queen Kunti and the Pandavas had died in the fire.  Everyone was in such sorrow for the noble family, except for Prince Duryodhana and his father.  They rejoiced.  Little did they know, Queen Kunti and her sons had
actually escaped!

After the more taking more detail notes on the story, I did some more research via Wikipedia.  I found an article titled, "Lakshagraha."  I learned that Lakshagraha translates to "The House of Lacquer" and it serves as a chapter in Mahabharata.  It mentioned how building the house was not only a plan of Duryodhanah but also his evil uncle, Shakuni.  I did not remember seeing anything about this in the PDE version of the story!  It also talked about how Purochana was an architect which I thought was an interesting tidbit.  The article wrote that Queen Kunti and her sons were invited to attend a fair being held at the palace, as well as staying their for some time.  The Pandavas lived in the house for a year and the tunnel was built in about 6 months.  Bhima and Purochana were also planning to kill each other from the start.  Purochana wanted to set the place to fire while everyone was asleep but Bhima never slept.  So, Purochana asked his wife and her sons for help.  They were to poison the food given to the Pandavas.  Bhima felt that something was wrong and ate all of the food, knowing that he had already been exposed to this poison as a child.  The Pandavas were sleeping but Purochana assumed them to be dead.  He was rejoicing and the Pandavas saw this as an opportunity to set the house on fire and the wicked perished.  Everyone assumed the Pandavas had died and only Vidura knew this was not true.  This story was slightly different and certain details were left out in the PDE version.

The Noble Pandavas (Wikimedia Commons)

Bibliography:

House of Fire from PDE Mahabharata by Laura Gibbs. Link.