Topic Research: The Role of the Environment
Peepal Tree, also known as the Bodhi Tree, at Mansa Devi Temple
Image Link
The tree is unselfish and in the end the tree is rewarded for its unselfish acts by the king who originally thought only of himself. I think this is something that can be applied to humans' modern relationship with nature, although many people don't realize they are acting selfishly towards an unselfish environment. For my project I was thinking I could find more stories like these, maybe focusing on spirits and trees.
Bhagiratha and Ganga - Link
The hero in this story is the goddess Ganga who turns herself into a river. If not for her flowing waters, the souls would have never found peace. Another option for my project could be to use gods/goddess that represent parts of nature.
Sacred Trees of the Hindus - Link
This article talks about trees that are linked with important figures in Hinduism, even mentioning Rama living under banyan trees during his exile. It would be interesting to look at the different trees and what they are used for, who they represent, the importance, etc finding different stories to go with the actual trees. For this topic I could use the stories they reference in the article: Rama in the jungle, Markandeya during the deluge, and Krsna playing around trees during his childhood.
I felt like I still needed to search more for a topic. I chose environment but now I don't know how I want to narrow it down.
Mariah, I like where you project could be headed! I think the use of nature is are unique and nothing I would have been able to come up with myself! I also feel like once it all comes together your project would definitely be worth the read. Finding stories in the different epics of people and how they interacted with nature is so interesting.
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