This episode isn’t about religion. It’s about how stories are shaped by culture, how people interpret them, and how those interpretations keep evolving.

How does storytelling explore questions about belief, memory, and moral complexity without fixating on an answer? Drawing from Buddhist cosmology, Hindu mythology, and oral traditions of South Asia, characters' mental and spiritual states affect their setting and consequences and can lead to predestined results.

We focus on the journey of Nara Simha, an immortal being who moves from a sterile immortal plane to the human realm, which is full of sensory and emotional intensity.

Can we imagine how karma works over lifetimes? How characters carry the consequences for their choices, and how people are remembered—sometimes worshipped—after death.

Gods and supernatural beings in mythology are allowed to be flawed. How does that carry through to storytelling?

We also discuss how real-world systems and social dynamics can shape fantasy worlds in subtle and direct ways.

Special thanks to our host and co-producer, Lisa G. For an audio-visual experience, check out the Myths & Samsara Podcast on YouTube. D.M. De Alwis is an author of Historical Fantasy, find out more at www.dmdealwis.com.

This episode is a reading of Vijaya's Story from Book IX of the Dipavamsa, the earliest chronicle of Sri Lanka. It tells the story of Prince Vijaya—his banishment and journey from the Indian subcontinent and his arrival to the Island of Lanka.

This reading is from the text found here: An Ancient Buddhist Historical Record edited and translated by Hermann Oldenberg and available online through the efforts of Buddhist monk, Ānandajoti Bhikkhu in 2018. This edition is based on a reprint of the 1879 edition made by the Pali Text Society in 2000. https://ancient-buddhist-texts.net/Texts-and-Translations/Dipavamsa/09-Vijaya.htm

The Dipavamsa is the earliest attempt to write a Chronicle of the Sāsana and the Kings of Sri Lanka, from earliest times up to the 5th c. A.D.

This reading gives both Pali and English versions. Please excuse mistakes introduced in my reading of the Pali text.

To find out more about me and why this podcast, visit https://www.dmdealwis.com/002-vijayas-story/.

Welcome to Episode 1 of Myths & Samsara!

In this episode, Eunah asks DM about the audience and the age group she writes for. The conversation shifts to how she writes animal characters and their place in a hierarchy shaped by Buddhist Cosmology. We explore this for human-animal relationships & storytelling.

Topics in this episode:

• Audience
• Hierarchy of animals vs humans in Buddhist cosmology
• Samsara (video only)

More about me:

I’m Diliny M. De Alwis, an author currently on submission with my fantasy novel. Learn more about me at dmdealwis.com.

Follow @dmdealwis on Instagram, Bluesky, & Threads!

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An introduction to Myths and Samsara.