Viswamithra

Viswamithra

There was a very powerful king called Kaushika. One day while hunting, he and his army reached late at night the Ashram of Sage Vasishta. Sage Vasishta requested Kaushika and his army to be his guests. Kaushika uproariously laughed. He could not understand how this poor age could feed him and his army. Then Agasthya called Nandini, a cow who was the daughter of the heavenly cow Kamadhenu. He requested the cow Nandini to supply food for Kaushika and his army. So much food and so much variety was supplied that Kaushika and his army enjoyed their food and were satisfied. Kaushika then told Vasishta, “This cow should be with a king like me so that I can give food to large number of people. What is the use in her being with you?” Vasishta replied that “the cow has to come to his ashram of her own accord as he was a Maharshi (Great sage). And so I cannot give him to you.” Kaushika became very angry and started attacking Vasishta. Vasishta took his holy Stick and planted it before him. This stick prevented all the weapons used by Kaushika and his army. Kaushika had o return back empty handed. As soon as he reached his kingdom, he gave it to his sons and started to do Tapas (prayer involving meditation). After a very long time Brahma appeared before him. Brahma asked him, “Kaushika, what can I do for you?” Kaushika replied,” I want to become a sage like Vasishta.” Brahma replied, “I can make you a Raja rishi (Kingly sage) but not a Brahma rishi like Vasishta.” Kaushika again went on doing taps till he became a Brahma rishi like Vasishta. He was then called Viswamithra (Friend of the universe).

Valmiki

Valmiki

Once upon a time there was a extremely efficient hunter. He used to kill lot of animals and feed his family. One day Sage Narada met this hunter. Sage Narada told him hat it was a sin to kill animals that did not do him any harm. Then the hunter replied that he was doing it only to feed his family. He also felt that the amount of sin will not be much because it would be shared between his family members. Sage Narada wanted the hunter to find out whether his family members who shared the income were willing to share his sin. The hunter felt that would but decided to find out. To his surprise he found that none of his family members including his wife was willing to share the sin that he is committing. The hunter went back to Sage Narada and told him, “Sir I do not want to commit any more sin. Kindly help me to get pardon for all the sins committed by me. Sage Narada told,” The only way I know is to chant the names of “Rama””. Though the hunter tried to repeat the name “Rama”, somehow he was not able to do it. Then Sage Narada advised hi to shot the name “Mara”. The hunter started to repeat “Maraa, Maraa”. Slowly what he repeated it fast it became, “Rama, Rama,” He forgot all his surroundings while chanting. Slowly an ant hill rose all round him. Narada who again visited the forest woke him up and told him that he has got rid of all his sins. He also named him Valmiki after the ant hill which was called Valmeeka in Sanskrit. Valmiki became a great scholar due to his devotion. He wanted to write an epic based on a great man. Sage Narada then told him the story of Rama and requested him to write it. Valmiki wrote the story of Rama. It was called Ramayana. Valmiki was the first poet to write an epic in Sanskrit and he was called “Adhi Kavi.”

Sugreeva and Vali

Sugreeva and Vali

Vali the son of Indra and Sugreeva the son of the Sun God were brothers. Their mother was a monkey called Aruni .Vali was the elder and became the king of monkeys and lived on Kishkinda Mountains. Vali was given a boon that he would absorb half the strength of the enemy facing him. Once an asura called Dundubi troubled them a lot. He was extremely powerful. So the brothers went to fight with Dundubi. The war went on for a long time. Being defeated Dundubi ran to hide himself in a cave. Vali decided to enter the cave to pursue the Asura. He asked Sugreeva to close the cave with a big stone and wait for hi outside. If blood comes out, he should assume that Vali is dead and crown himself as the king. Sugreeva waited for a long time. Dundubi by his magical powers made blood appear outside the cave. So Sugreeva assumed that Vali is no more and crowned himself as the king of monkeys. After some time Vali killed Dundubi and threw his body out of the cave. The body fell on a sage who was doing his prayers in Risha Mooka Mountains. The sage became very angry and cursed Vali that, if he enters the mountain he will die. Vali marched to Kishkinda and confronted Sugreeva. He was very furious. Though Sugreeva explained the facts, he refused to believe him. Sugreeva along with his supporters fled to the Rishya Mooka Mountains.

When he was living there, Rama with Lakshmana arrived near the mountains in search of his lost wife Sita. Hanuman who was the minister of Sugreeva met him and talked to him. He explained to Rama the situation of Sugreeva. Rama agreed to kill Vali and wanted Sugreeva to help him search for Sita.

Since Vali automatically would get half his power if he faced him, Rama sent Sugreeva to fight with him. Vali who looked very similar to Sugreeva thrashed him and sent him back. Because they were looking very similar, Rama could not help Sugreeva. So he put a garland on the neck of Sugreeva and sent him again to fight with Vali. This time when they were fighting, Rama sent an arrow from his hiding and killed Vali. Sugreeva was crowned as the king of monkeys. He helped Rama in finding out Sita and also helped him to recover her after killing Ravana.

Story of the golden squirrel

Story of the golden squirrel

Dharmaputhra was the eldest of the Pandavas. He used to give all his wealth to charity. Nobody returned empty handed after seeing him. He was very proud about that. One day, he gave food to ten thousand people. When many of them had taken food and washing their hands, Lord Krishna and Dharmaputhra could see a strange sight. One squirrel which had half its back of golden colour was rolling in the water used for washing hands. After every roll, it used to see its back. Lord Krishna called the squirrel and asked him, “Your conduct is strange. Can you tell us what you are doing?” The squirrel replied, “Not far away from here there lives a very poor Brahmin, his wife and son. They work very hard throughout the day. With whatever they earned they would buy food. They would divide this food in to three parts for each of them. One day when they were about to take food, they heard a knock at their door. When they opened, they found a poor starving man. He said he was very hungry and wanted some food. They called the poor hungry man inside. They then divided their food in to four parts and they gave one part to the poor man. But after eating that food the poor man sad still he was hungry. Then the father gave his portion. After eating that the poor hungry man told, he was still hungry. Then the mother gave her share. After eating that, the poor man told, still he was hungry. Then the son who was a young boy gave his share also. After eating that that poor man said, his belly was full and washed his hands. That water fell on my back. Wherever it touched it became golden. Unfortunately it was not sufficient to make my entire back golden. I know that Dharmaputhra is famous for his charity. That is why I came here. But my back is not becoming golden.” Then Krishna told Dharmaputhra, “Cousin, see the difference. You are giving since you have lot. But the poor Brahmin family was giving even if they did not have.”

Samyuktha and Chyavana

Samyuktha and Chyavana

Samyuktha was a princess. She used to love to play in the forest. While once playing in the forest, she saw a big ant hill. When she was playfully searching the ant hill, she saw two shining points. She took a stick and drove them inside these points. Blood started to come out from there. The servants of Samyuktha opened the ant hill and found a very old saint called Chyavana sitting and doing meditation. Because of Samyuktha, he had lost both his eyes. Father of Samyuktha forced her to marry the blind Chyavana so that she can look him after. Taking pity on her, Chyavana prayed to Aswini kumars, who were the doctors of Gods. The Aswini Kumars came and were not only able to give him eye sight but also make him young. The medicine which made him young is the famous “Chyavana Prasa”. Samyuktha and Chyavana lived happily

Sampathi and Jadayu

Sampathi and Jadayu

Sampathi and Jadayu were two eagle brothers. Sampathi was the elder brother. One day they were trying to find out who was flying higher. Jadayu being young started flying higher and higher. He was nearing the sun. Sampathi told him not to o near the sun, because the heat will burn his feathers. Jadayu did not care. Then Sampathi flew higher than Jadayu and spread his wings wide to protect him. Because of this Sampathi’s wings got burned and he fell down on the earth. He started living near the sea. Jadayu started living near Panchavati on a tree. He became a close friend of Lord Rama and Sita. One day Jadayu saw that Ravana was carrying Sita in his lane. Jadayu fought with Ravana and fell down dying. When Rama came back Jadayu told Rama how Ravana has taken Sita and then died. Rama wept a lot to the loss of his friend

Later when Hanuman and other monkeys were searching for Sita, they were not able to find her and started discussing what all happened. Sampathi heard all this and cried a lot to hear that his younger brother has died. He came out of his cave. Because eagles can see a long distance he was able to see Sita sitting in Lanka. He told the monkeys about it and died.

Sabari the great devotee of Rama

Sabari the great devotee of Rama

Lord Rama was a very great man. People loved him a lot. They gave him whatever he wanted and took care of him. There was an old lady called Sabari who lived in the Dandakaranya Forest. She was a great devotee of Rama. Rama in search of Sita reached the house of Sabari. Sabari was thrilled to see Rama. She wanted to give him food. The only food that was available to her was wild fruits. She was not sure whether a particular fruit was sour or sweet. But she did not want to give any sour fruit to Rama. So she ate a part of the fruit which she plucked, threw away all the sour ones. She thus offered half eaten fruits to Rama. Rama loved her a lot for her great devotion and blessed her.

Ravana and his brothers

Ravana and his brothers

There was a Rakshasi called Kaikasi. She was the daughter of a great Rakshasa called Malyavan. At that time the devas were all powerful and the Rakshasas lived in hiding. One day Malyavan saw the wealth and strength of Kubera who was the son of a sage called Visravas. Coming back home he advised his daughter Kaikasi to approach Visravas and request him to marry her. Visravas refused but when she went on serving him and requested him, he agreed. Four children were born to them. They were Ravana, Kumbhakarna, Vibheeshana and a daughter called Surpanaka

As per the advice of Malyavan and Kaikasi Ravana, Kumbhakarna and Vibheeshana went to do Tapas (meditation and prayer) to Lord Brahma. After a long time Lord Brahma appeared before them and wanted to know what boon he can give them. Ravana requested that he should not be killed by anybody. Lord Brahma told him that, he could not give him that boon as it went against nature. Then Ravana asked him that he should not be killed by anybody except monkeys and man. Brahma gave him this boon. Kumbhakarna wanted a boon so that no one can defeat him (Nirdevathwam). But the devas made him ask for always sleeping (Nidrevathwam). Vibheeshana asked for Bhakthi to Lord Vishnu.

Ravana and Gokarna

Ravana and Gokarna

Ravana then waged war against the world. He won over all his enemies and troubled them. He thus reached Himalaya Mountains n which Shiva and Parvathy were living. Ravana wanted them to come to him. He uprooted the mountain and shook it. Shiva who was all powerful pressed the mountain with his toe. Ravana’s twenty hands broke in to pieces. Then Ravana started singing Sama Veda. Shiva became very pleased with him and gave him One Shiva statue. He told him that if this statue was kept in his city of Lanka, nobody can conquer it. But he also told him that on his way to Lanka he should never keep it on the ground. While Ravana was taking the statue to Lanka, he needed to take bath. At that time he saw a boy playing in a field near the tank. He did not know that the boy was Lord Ganesa himself. Ravana requested the boy to hold the statue for some time so that he could take his bath in the tank. The boy told him that he would hold it till he counts one hundred. Ravana unfortunately got delayed and the boy kept the statue on the land. The statue became fixed there. Though Ravana tried his best he could not remove the statue. That place is the famous temple of Gokarna.

Parasurama the dutiful son

Parasurama the dutiful son

There was a great saint called Jamadagni. His wife was called Renuka. They had four sons and the youngest was Parasurama. Daily Renuka used to go to the river and bring water to Jamadagni so that he can perform his pooja. One day when she went to the river, a king called Kartha Veeryarjuna troubled her. She felt bad and ran back to her house. Since she did not bring water Jamadagni got very angry wand wanted his son Parasurama to kill his mother. As a good son, he did it but started crying. Jamadagni wanted to know why he is crying. Parasurama told him that he wanted his mother back. Jamadagni due to his magical powers brought back Renuka alive

Nala Damayanthi

Nala Damayanthi

There was a very pretty princess called Damayanthi. All the princes and even Gods wanted to marry here. Her friend showed her a picture of king Nala. She liked him. Her father arranged for her swayamvara. In swayamvara all the eligible princes are invited and the bride was asked to choose whom she likes. She was not sure whether Nala would attend her swayamvara. So she asked a divine swan to go and tell him that she wanted to marry him. The swan flew to Nala’s place and told him about the swayamvara of Damayanthi. Meanwhile four gods also wanted to marry Damayanthi. They all assumed a similar form as Nala. But when Damayanthi saw that their eyes were not batting, she understood that they were Gods. She chose Nala and married him.

Though Nala was a very good king, he liked gambling. Unfortunately he was not an expert and most of the time lost whatever he waged for. On one occasion he lost his kingdom. He was forced to go out of his kingdom along with Damayanthi. He found that for his sake Damayanthi was suffering. So when Damayanthi was sleeping, he ran away. On the way he fell in a forest fire and was turned black. Meanwhile Damayanthi reached her father’s place. Nala traveling a lot reached the kingdom of Rithuparna. Nala was an expert in driving chariots. So he became the chariot driver to king Rithuparna.

Damayanthi’s father was searching for Nala everywhere. One of his messengers who came to Rithuparna’s kingdom could recognize Nala. He went and told Damayanthi’s father about it. Damayanthi’s father then sent word to only Rithuparna, that there is going to be a second Swayamvara on the next day. Though Rithuparna wanted to attend it, the time was not sufficient to reach Damayanthi’s place. But Nala promised him that he would be able to help him. Nala then drove Rithuparna to Damayanthi’s place. Damayanthi and her father recognized Nala. They promised help to Nala. Rithuparna who was an expert in gambling agreed to teach Gambling to Nala. Nala taught him the science of driving. With the new knowledge, Nala went to his kingdom, gambled and got back his kingdom. Damayanthi and Nala lived happily ever after

Killing of Bakasura

Killing of Bakasura

This is again the story of Pandavas. This happened before they married Panchali. They were wandering in the forest along with their mother Kunthi. At last they reached a village called “Eka Chakra”. The villagers happily received them and gave them a house. All the Pandavas used to beg in the morning and give whatever they got to their mother Kunthi. She used to give half the portion to Bheema because he was very stout. The other half was equally divided among the five. One day, Kunthi saw the woman of the next house was crying. She asked for the reason. That woman told, “Madam, in this village there is an asura called Bakasura. He used to kill many people and destroy our fields. So we all went to him and requested him to accept food from one house. He would also eat the man who takes the food. Today is my turn. I have only one son. Today he will be eaten by Bakasura.” Kunthi consoled her and told her, “Unlike you I have five sons. Pease only give the food. One of my sons will take it to Bakasura.” She then Ordered Bheema to take the food to Bakasura. Bheema was more than happy. He took the food near to the cave where Bakasura was living and started eating the food. Bakasura came out and told, It does not matter, if you eat the food because, I am going to eat you.” After finishing the food, Bheema fought with Bakasura and killed him. The villagers of Eka Chakra were very thankful to Bheema.

Janaka and Sita

Janaka and Sita

There was a kingdom called Mithila. The king of Mithila was Janaka. He was a very wise king and taught several sages. Unfortunately he did not have any children .One day when he was ploughing the land, the plough hit a box. Inside the box was a very pretty girl baby. He brought her home and called her Sita. Janaka also had prayed Lord Shiva and got a great bow. This bow was very heavy and needed twenty people to lift it. This was a kept in a corner in the palace of Janaka. One day while Sita was playing with a ball, it went below the box in which this bow was kept. Sita lifted the box with one hand to get her ball .Janaka was seeing this and decided to give her in marriage to anyone who can lift the bow and use the bow. When Sita grew up Janaka arranged for a contest to find out who could lift the bow and use it. Though many kings came they were not able to do it. At this time Rama was brought to Mithila by sage Viswamithra. Rama lifted the bow easily, bent it and broke it. Janaka gave Sita in marriage to him

Hanuman the mischievous child

Hanuman the mischievous child

Hanuman was the son of a Monkey called Anjana and the God of Wind. He was very mischievous. One day when anjana was very busy, Hanuman asked her for food. She told him to pluck any red fruit and eat it. At that time the Sun was raising in the east and it was red. Hanuman thought that it was a fruit and jumped towards Sun God. Sun God became very worried and asked his friend Indra to help. Indra came on his white elephant and beat Hanuman with his diamond mace. Hanuman fell down on the ground dead. The wind God saw this and became very angry and sad. He hid himself in a cave. Because of the absence of air all people started dying. Then Lord Brahma went to the place where wind god was hiding and requested him to come back. He promised him that Hanuman will never die and also he requested all Gods to bless him. Hanuman thus became a very strong monkey.

Dushyantha and Shakunthala

Dushyantha and Shakunthala

Apasaras are dancers in the court of Indra. One of the very pretty Apsara was Ramba. She and Sage Viswamithra had a girl child called Shakunthala. Since both were busy, Shakunthala was brought up in the home of Sage Kanva. She grew up in to a pretty lady. Once when Sage Kanva was away, King Dushyantha came to the house of Kanva. He land Shakunthala liked each other and decided to marry. The marriage was celebrated in secret. Suddenly Dushyantha was forced to leave. He gave his ring to Shakunthala and asked her to bring it along with her when she came to see him. When Sage Kanva returned, he sent Shakunthala along with a junior sage to the kingdom of Dushyantha. On the way, while washing her hand in a river, Shakunthala lost her ring. When she reached the palace of Dushyantha, he did not recognize her. She did not have the ring also. So she lived in a nearby forest. She also got a son called Bharata. Meanwhile, the ring which fell in to the river was swallowed by a fish. This fish was caught by a fisherman in the kingdom of Dushyantha. When he cut open the fish, he saw the king’s ring. He took the ring to Dushyantha. As soon as he saw the ring, Dushyantha remembered all about Shakunthala. He searched for her and found her out. Shakunthala pardoned him and came to the palace of Dushyantha. Their son Bharata later became the king. Our country Bharata gets its name from this son of Shakunthala.

Drona’s test to the Pandavas

Drona’s test to the Pandavas

The Pandava’s and Kouravas were growing up together in Hasthinapura. Bheeshma was searching for a suitable teacher to them but was not getting one. One day the boys were playing ball in the ground near the forest. Unfortunately their ball fell in to the well. They were not able to play. At that time a sage like man came there. He asked them, “You look like princes. Why are you not playing? “They told him, “Sir, Our ball fell in to a deep well and we do not know how to recover it. “ That man laughed and told, “I will help you.” He then took his bow and arrows. He shot one arrow on the ball. He shot another on that arrow. Another arrow on the second arrow and so on. Then using the arrows as handle he took out the ball. That day the children reported this to their grand father Bheeshma. Bheeshma immediately decided that the sage like man was the great teacher Drona. He approached Drona and requested him to teach the Pandavas and Kouravas the art of war. Though he was teaching them very well, all people could see that Arjuna was really becoming an expert. There was a general complaint that Sage Drona was partial to Pandavas. One day Sage Drona called all the family members of pandavas and Kauravas. He told them, “Today I am going to test all these boys. Please watch what I do.” He then gave a big room each to Pandavas and Kauravas. He also gave them 1000 rupees. He told them, “Please fill up the room, that I gave you fully using this money.” Kauravas went on purchasing hay, sand, old articles etc and filled up their room. However Pandavas went to the shop and purchased lamps, oil and wick. They placed the lamps in different places and lit them. The family members could easily see that Pandavas were clever and have filled their room with light.

Then Drona tied a doll of a bird on the top of a tree. He asked each of the Kouravas to shoot the bird in the neck with an arrow. When they were trying to shoot, he would stop them and ask, “What do you see?” all of them replied things like the tree, branches and the bird. When it was the turn of Arjuna he replied, “I see only the neck of the bird.” Then Drona explained “This is the reason why Arjuna excels. “

Durvasa and the Pandavas

Durvasa and the Pandavas

The pandava princes lost their kingdom to Kauravas in gambling. As a result they were forced to go and live in the forest. Lot of their friends including sages used to visit them in their forest. They found it very difficult to give them food. So Panchali the wife of Pandavas prayed the Sun God. He gave her one Akshaya Pathra which would give any amount of food in a day, till Panchali takes her food. With the Akshaya Pathra the Pandavas were able to give food to all their guests.

The Kauravas wanted to trouble them further. They requested sage Durvasa to visit Pandavas late in the after noon. Durvasa as a very short tempered sage who used to curse people when he gets annoyed. Durvasa reached the forest after Panchali has taken her food. Anyway the pandavas requested the sage to go and take bath in the river so that they can keep food ready. They did not know what to do. Panchali prayed Lord Krishna. Lord Krishna came before them immediately. He said to Panchali, “Sister, I am hungry, give me some food.” Panchali was perplexed and started crying. Lord Krishna asked her to bring the akshaya pathra. In the corner of the Akshaya Pathra, a leaf of Amaranth was sticking. Krishna took the leaf, ate it and drank some water. He told Panchali, “Thanks a lot, my belly is now full”. He then went away. At that time Sage Durvasa was taking his bath. Suddenly he felt that his belly was full. He was worried that he had made Pandavas cook food for him. He came and excused himself. Like this Lord Krishna solved the problem of Pandavas

Dasaratha and the blind parents

Dasaratha and the blind parents

There was a king called Dasaratha. He was capable of fighting ten enemies at the same time. He also knew how to send an arrow to the source of the sound. One day, he went for hunting in the forest. Though he spent lot of time chasing several animals, he could not kill any of them.

At this time one sage boy called Shwetha Kethu, came to the forest carrying his very old father and mother .They were both blind. They wanted some water to drink. So he placed them on a foot of a tree and walked to the nearest river. He was taking water from the river.

Dasaratha heard the sound of his taking water from a distance. He thought that I was an elephant drinking water. So he took his bow and arrow and shot an arrow. This arrow hit Swethakethu on his chest. He shouted in pain. Dasaratha ran there and found that Shwetha Kethu was dying. Shwetha Kethu pardoned Dasaratha’s mistake and requested him o take water to his old parents. Dasaratha agreed and took water to them. They took the water thinking it is Shwethakethu but once Dasaratha told them the truth, they became very angry and cursed Dasaratha, “In future you will also part with your son.” This is why Dasaratha had to send Rama to the forest even though he did not like it.

Agasthya and Vathapi

Agasthya and Vathapi

There was a great Sage called Agasthya. He was very dwarf and stout. At that time there lived two asura brothers called Vathapi and Ilwala. Vathapi could take any form and Ilwala knew the trick of raising the dead. These two asuras used to invite guests. Vathapi would take the form of a goat .Ilwala would kill the goat and cook it and offer it to the guest. Then Ilwala would call, “Vathapi, come back”. Vathapi then would tear the abdomen of the guest who has eaten him and come out. This way Vathapi and Ilwala killed and ate lot of good people. One day they invited Agasthya. As usual Vathapi turned in to a goat and Ilwala cooked him. Agasthya ate the cooked Vathapi. At this time Ilwala called, “Vathapi, come out.” Realizing the trick, Agasthya patted his belly and told, “Vathapi, get digested.” As soon as this words were uttered, Vathapi got digested. Ilwala ran for his life