Clara's Blog

The Mahabharata narrates the rivalry between the two groups of cousins, the Pandavas and the Kauravas, whose family drama ensues an all-out war. The Mahabharata all begins with the birth of Vyasa – wait, does it begin there or before him? He’s not even a Pandava or Kaurava, is he? Okay, I’m going to figure out this family tree first.  Mahabharata family tree ( Wikipedia ) We’ll start with Satyavati, who was born from a fish and a king. Making her half-fish and half-woman. So that makes her a mermaid, right? No wait, I think she was a human woman who just smelled like fish. Okay so, she was raised by a fisherman and meets Parashara, a rishi who takes away her fishy smell in exchange for embracing him. This trade left her with a beautiful scent and a son, Vyasa. Next, there is King Shantanu, son of King Kuru. Shantanu’s first wife was the goddess Ganga. Together, they had like seven or eight kids, but she kept throwing them into the Ganges. For obvious reasons, this ...

It was a bright day in Lanka when Indrajit and his wife, Promila, received the devastating news about Indrajit’s brother, Birbahoo. Indrajit fell to the ground with sorrow mourning Birbahoo, who had been killed earlier by Lakshmana and Rama in battle. Using little time to grieve, Indrajit swore to avenge his brother by killing Rama and Lakshmana and starts preparing himself for the fight. He was reluctant to leave his beautiful wife, but ensured Promila he will be back that evening. Promila had heard the stories of the mighty Rama and feared for Indrajit’s life. Promila decided to roam her beloved garden to calm her nerves, but this only made her thoughts worse. As she anxiously paced around her garden, she noticed something was different. This beautiful garden that once brought her serenity and joy felt so lackluster now. She realized being without Indrajit made her feel incomplete and empty. She couldn’t stand a day without him; how would she continue if he didn’t return home? ...

Sita and Rama returned to Ayodhya filled with joy that their long and exhausting years of exile were finally over. Under Rama's reign the city flourished. There were no diseases, plenty of crops grew during the harvest season with plenty of rainfall during the rainy seasons. Despite Ayodhya's success under Rama's reign, rumors about his queen, still circulated between around the city questioning her loyalty to the king while she was Ravana's hostage. "Sita was not faithful to Rama while she was captured by Ravana, how could Rama stay with a woman who stayed with another man?" they would say. Sita knew what the people said about her, but after proving herself to Rama, she didn't acknowledge what they thought because Rama knew her virtues. Eventually, his people's criticisms convinced Rama to send Sita back into exile. Rama battled internally with losing the respect of his subjects and banishing his innocent wife. He finally decided to tell Sita that s...

Once, in a tropical rainforest, a Sloth was comfortably hanging in a tree as he usually spends his days. He spent every day, all day in trees sleeping and slowly eating, but rarely went down to the forest ground in fear of predators. Sloth had become very wise because he had spent many years hanging in the trees, observing the rainforest and the animals that inhabited it. Other animals despised Sloth for his wisdom, especially the Tiger’s wife. Tiger’s wife demanded her husband, Tiger, to find Sloth and bring him back to her so she can eat his heart. This seemed like a daunting task for Tiger, since the Sloth lived so high in the trees, but she refused to take no for an answer. Tiger knew exactly where needed to go to find Sloth, since Sloth doesn’t move too often. Tiger approached Sloth and said, “Sloth, don’t you ever get tired of staying in the same tree day after day?” Sloth replied, “Sometimes, but I am too slow to travel across the rainforest and it can be dangerou...