Epic Observations About Indian...Epics.

The gods smiled. Again and again they smiled. The gods smiled down on a million men and gave them big strong muscles to string bows and lift mountains and so they did all of these spectacular things while the gods smiled all the wider. Their teeth are stars. When the great and wonderful whoever performed such great and magical feats of whatever the stories were written so the heroes could be lauded remembered revered mimicked by all of the ordinary people that the gods just acknowledge. But the women. That's it. That's every damn story. But the women. But they did this or that, don't forget that . But they weren't enough this or that, you're getting it now. Long ago it seems every single woman needed some sort of test or trial to prove that they were worthy but the measure of a woman's strength is not how much abuse she can bear because even women without the world's trauma are strong. A young woman read about histori...

The stardust was thick as the King chased the Comet deer, stone wrought into long legs and a twist of antlers, through the cosmos. He urged his charioteer faster, ever faster, as they sped after their prize. They were almost upon it when they heard a voice. The glowing emptiness of the king's eye sockets hunted the voice now, the deer momentarily forgotten. "That song must be the hermits." Two cascading forms, dark swirling purple ether tumbling into and over itself, drew closer. The king, hulking light and shining gold, rose to meet them. "King, please leave the deer be. It deserves to live, no?" "Of course," rumbled the king. The hermits tumbled into the shape of a bow, then led the king away to the grove of their hermitage, tucked in the tendrils of a supernova. The kings strayed from the hermits who lead him when he spotted a swirl of fair maidens, luminescent green ether, delicate and bright. He watched them, quickly falling in love w...

It had been 20 generations since it rained. Around The Mountain, next to a mountain stream, the last of humanity clung to life. They grew their food and kept their records and moved along one day at a time. Many of them were barren, and so children were surrounded by great celebration. There was one couple who were blessed with a great many children: eight, to be exact. However, most of their children died. Only two of their boys survived to reach adolescence. Their eighth son, Krishnu, was very respected in their community. When he was young, all the women fawned over him. As he grew and proved himself an excellent farmer and explorer, the men lauded him. He led expeditions further and further into the forgotten world, exploring caves and palaces, looking for remnants of the past, trying to find something their careful historical records may have missed. On one journey, they came across a temple full of scrolls. The men handled them tenderly, looking through to see if there...

Leona was tired. It was hot, and she had been working all day at the local Waffle House. It was hard work, but it fell to her, and she would do it without complaining. The little ones had to be fed. Leona poured another cup of coffee, pushing the image of her father lazing about on the couch while her siblings ran circles around him out of her mind. She smiled at the customers, the only way she was allowed to bare her teeth. When her shift was finally over, she trudged home. It was only two blocks away, but it felt much further when she had been standing for hours upon hours. She could tell, when she stepped through the door, that her mother had gotten home before she had. Her pressed shirt with it's fancy embroidered logo on the chest hung by the door. Her mother had recently gotten a job at a much better restaurant, and she was making great tips, which was great for all of them. A small gaggle of children rushed by her in the hallway on her way to the kitchen, lovingly tug...

The stars twinkled above, but they were blurry through the thick windows that kept them safe from the crush of space. Ami stomped her boots again to get some more of the moon dust off her boots. It clung so horribly to everything, and she didn't want to upset her parents again.  Ami set her boots down with a dull echoing thud by her parents' boots and called out for them. Her mother called back from the kitchen area. "Come here, dear, I'm trying to decide what we should have for dinner." Even though her parents were the king and queen of the colony, they didn't spend much time in the grand palace. Her parents prefered the smaller module attached to the back of the palace, where the echoes of the ancient gods were not so loud and constant. "We should try something new, mother. It could be fun." Ami's mother nodded and pressed a button on the screen. The food producer began to whir, and Ami's mother turned her attention to a smud...

The young woman was wearing the most elaborate sari the old woman had ever seen. The young woman's dark nose was wrinkled in disdain at the scent of incense smoke that wafted through the tent. The old woman lit another stick of incense. "I have told you all I can, child. You should not marry. Wait until an auspicious time." "Could you read the stars again?" the young woman begged. "Child, I have read all the signs and portents. Nothing will change today." The young woman let out a huff and turned, spinning on her heel and rushing out of the tent. The old woman remained seated. She wished for the millionth time in her long life that she had been born in the time of Rama or the Pandava brothers, in a time when her knowledge would've been respected. Those of that time were heeded without question, sought out by the greatest of kings. The only people who sought her out were love-struck women who were called superstitious by their friends. Whe...

She had been clear. She was not to be questioned. Ever. But he questioned her, and so she ran away with his eighth daughter, with the promise to return her in a time. She raised her daughter as a goddess, despite her humanity. She raised her daughter to be as she was. Unflinching. Unforgiving. Unstoppable. King Shantanu, of course, had wanted sons before, but now all he wanted was his dear daughter back. He wanted one of his offspring to survive. When Ganga returned with his daughter and said that her name was Devavrata and she was to be respected in the utmost and inherit his kingdom, he agreed. He would have agreed to anything. He was a desperate man. As Devavrata grew, she was afforded every luxury. She excelled in everything. Then, her father fell in love with a fisherman's daughter, and he promised away her throne and her chance to bear children. Devavrata had been raised by Ganga, and she remembered her upbringing. She wanted her throne. She disappeared, and her f...

The dim dive bar was smoky. Sita knew her throat would be dry tomorrow. The dark wooden paneling on the walls made the room feel smaller; it wasn't a comforting smallness until about four drinks in, usually. Ahalya and Sita went to the bar on Saturday nights to watch other people karaoke, stumbling drunkenly through lyrics they only half knew. It was endearing, watching people put their all into something that had no reward, other than the joy of belting into a microphone. "You could do that, you know," Ahayla commented after a particularly drunk man had powered through a spot on rendetion of a Taylor Swift song. The shouting coming from his table was deafening. They were obviously enjoying themselves. Sita shrugged. "We come to watch. You know I'm really not a performer." Still Ahayla persisted. "Come on. You finally got rid of Rama. We're not just watching tonight. We're celebrating. If you sing something, you can pick a song for me t...

Ravana's owner had just brought home two new kittens. He could smell them through the bedroom door. His owner had cooed to him about keeping them separate until they got used to each other's scents, and fed him near the door, so that he would be near them. It wasn't going to work, though. This was his house, and he didn't want to share. It was a few days before his owner scooped him and carried him into the living room, scratching him under the chin the whole way. It was enough to temporarily distract him, that is, until she set him down next to two frolicking kittens. They paused their play to watch him with wide eyes that were too big for their little heads. They abandoned their toys to sniff Ravana. "Ravi, this is Sita and Rama. They're going to live with us, okay? You be sweet to them." Ravana refused to make eye contact with his owner or the kittens, who were now circling him curiously. He would bide his time, then he would teach these newco...

It was cold. Always too cold. What had it been like...to be...what was it? Too hard to remember. Too hard. Then suddenly, light. As the stone crumbled away from Ahalya's form, everything came rushing back. She had been tricked, then punished. Now a beautiful man was talking to her, and old habits kicked in, stretching her lips into a courteous, humble smile even as her hands curled into fists. " May you seek and join your revered husband, and live in his service again. Let not your heart be burdened with what is past and gone. " Rama was saying, and then he was walking away. Even before he had left, though, Ahalya had decided for herself that she would not be going back until she was ready. Ready to make him pay. That had been a year ago. Every night she woke from that nightmare again and again. She had found out by asking around that Indra's sentence had been lessened, which only fueled her more. It fueled her as she learned to aim throwing stars, hol...

"I bet you won't do it." Buddy frowned at Devon. Devon was always taunting him, trying to get him to do things he shouldn't. He hugged too hard, and he even tried to bite him once. Buddy tried to play nice, but it was hard sometimes. Today, Devon was trying to goad Buddy into picking flowers from the house on the end of the street. All the kids on the block were scared of the house on the end of the street. It was dark, with an overgrown garden, and it had a tall wire fence around it to keep people out. It took up the entire end of the cul-de-sac. All of the kids used to just avoid it, but ever since someone had realized they could squeeze through the fence, now all of the kids dared each other to sneak onto the property to ring the doorbell or pick flowers from the garden. "You're just scared." "No I'm not," Buddy replied in his most grown-up voice. "It's just that my Mommy says I can't." "Buddy's scared!...