The idea of demons and demon warriors is so fascinating to me, so the idea of doing a project based around them sounds pretty appealing. Another thing that draws me in to the idea of doing a project based around rakshasas and asuras is the fact that they are so prevalent in the Ramayana. Ravana, king of the rakshasas, is a major character in the Ramayana and there is endless information on him and stories about him that can be found on the internet, making it easier to do the research for this project. I would like to possibly learn more about the origins of Rakshasas and how they were first created. I would also like to learn more about Ravana and read more stories about him.
Research so far: At this point, I have read lots of stories involving Rakshasas and Ravana through the Ramayana readings, so I have a little bit of background knowledge through the reading. I have also read some of the Wikipedia article on Rakshasas in general, as well as the article on Ravana, along with reading one of the past story books based on Rakshasas.
2. Possible Topic: Geography Stories: Traveling India.
My personal interests are very centered around being out in nature and enjoying the mountains, so I would be very interested in doing a project based on any of these features. I like the idea of doing a project on the Himalaya mountains due to their significance and impact on the physical geography of northern India as well as the role they play in the stories of the Indian Epics. My own personal love of the mountains draws me in to the thought of writing about this topic, as I have always wanted to some day travel to the Himalayas. I would like to learn more about how the Himalayas and Mount Kailash play in to the stories of the Ramayana. It is very fascinating when myths and stories draw on real life geographical locations that you can actually visit, it makes the connection to the story more tangible.
Research so far: I have done a little bit of reading about Mount Kailash on Wikipedia but other than that, I have not done very much research outside of what I already knew about the mountain range before entering into this course.
3. Possible Topic: Gurus, Yogis, Rishis.
To be honest, I do not know very much about gurus, yogis, and rishis at all, and that is partly what interests me in doing a project on this subject so I can learn much more. They just sound really fascinating to me, there are many different types of gurus and they are all masters in something unique and different. I would like to learn more about all of the different gurus through the storybook readings and how they tie in to Indian Epics throughout history.
Research so far: I have done some reading on the wikipedia article about the different terms used and I will scroll through the storybooks about gurus to learn a little more.
4. Possible Topic: Warriors, Battles and Weapons.
This sounds like it would be a project filled with action, which would definitely keep me interested the whole time. Battles and fighting in general both play a huge role in the stories of the Ramayana as Rama constantly has to kill enemies and fight of Rakshasas. I think there is a lot that can be one with this topic since there is so much of it involved in the Indian Epics. I am also drawn to this topic because of the magical weapons that are used by Rama, the stories behind these weapons seems really interesting and I would like to learn more about this.
Research so far: I have done some reading on the Vajra, along with the Sudarshana Chakra, but other than that I have done no other research. I intend do read Wikipedia articles about the various magical weapons and who they belonged to and how their owners came about owning them in the first place.
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