Topic Brainstorm

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To start the topic brainstorm, I browsed through the project topics listening. The first topic that stuck out to me was The Gods/Devas topic. This topic grabbed my attention because I've had an interest in Greek mythology, and a video from this week described the parallels between Indian and Greek mythology. I'm more drawn to this topic because it will allow me to learn about many of Hindu deities, instead of focusing on one. After researching the Hindu deities on Wikipedia, I saw there was plenty of material and information that I will be able to use for my project. 

The second topic I was drawn to was Karma. I've always believed in the spiritual principle of karma that good intentions bring good fortune and bad intentions bring bad fortune. While I have a basic understanding of karma, there us a lot to the theory and principle that I didn't know. After some research, I learned that the definition of karma is very diverse in Hinduism. Karma is also a theme that appears in every story, so I'm interested in learning the in depth theory of karma and why it is such a common theme. 

After researching varies topics I'm interested in learning more about Sita because of her involvement in many of the topics and the various ways her story is told. I noticed Sita originally because she falls under the Loving Couples category because of her relationship with Rama. I hate to admit I'm a sucker for love stories, especially dramatic love stories. Rama and Sita's relationship seems very complicated and filled with ups and downs. 

The last topic I chose was Women of the Ramayana. I think this topic stuck out to me because I read one of the past projects over this topic and thought it was very enjoyable. After reading about some of the women, I'm especially interested in the mermaid princess Suvannamaccha. I also noticed her name under the Loving Couple of the Ramayana. Originally, she was supposed to ruin Hanuman's plan, but eventually falls in love. I'm curious to find out what could have caused such a change in her feelings towards him. Suvannamaccha is in the Thai version of the Ramayana which I thought was interesting. 

The mermaid princess Suvannamaccha
Source: Wikimedia

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