Topic Brainstorm

 Reincarnation

I am interested in this particular topic because I am curious about reincarnation in the Indian tradition. I took a course previously and wrote a research paper about Buddhism and reincarnation, but I would love to learn about it in the Indian tradition. I know with Buddhism there is Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism and although they are somewhat similar they also have distinct difference. I am curious to learn about the similarities and difference in the Indian tradition. I would like to write stories about past incarnation's of specific characters. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reincarnation#Early_Jainism.2C_Hinduism_and_Buddhism

 

Elephants 

Ever since I was little, I have always loved elephants and thought that they were interesting animals. I would love to learn about elephants in Indian story telling traditions and what role elephants play in the culture. I really do not have much knowledge about elephants. I would write stories on the most popular Indian story telling traditions that involve elephants but I would like to retell them with a modern twist. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_depictions_of_elephants

Yoga

I personally have always loved yoga as an exercise, but I really do not know much about the history or what kind of role in plays in Indian epics. I would love to learn about the history of yoga and what kind of connection it has to Indian epics and Indian culture. Aside from knowing yoga is good exercise, I have no previous knowledge of it. I would write stories about ancient yoga traditions but possibly retell it from my point of view. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoga 

Avatars of the Gods

I am somewhat familiar with the avatars of the gods such as vishnu, kurma, varaha etc. I have always been interested about this topic and have found it fascinating to learn about. Although I am familiar with the different avatars of the gods/goddesses, I do not know much about the famous stories. I would write stories about specific gods/goddess but rewrite it in a bit of a more relatable way.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avatar

Elephants

(via Flickr)