The myth of Kamsa is told in a series of nested myths that are an excellent study of karma as a process over many lifetimes. But its primary location is within the Krishna myth cycle, where Kamsa plays a role in Krishna’s nativity and his first great battle with…
Kamadhenu was born of Kasyapa and his wife Krodhavasa. Kamadhenu (desire- fulfilling milk cow) gave milk to the devas (gods), at any time and in any quantity they wanted. She was also known as Surabhi (the fragrant) and Nandini (delight). The family of cattle came from Kamadhenu. (Another source…
There are two versions of Kama’s birth. According to the Mahabharata, Kama is the son of Dharma, who was born from the right breast of Brahma. Dharma had three sons: Kama, Sama, and Harsha. All were very handsome like their father. According to Kalika Purana, Kama was born from the…
Kalmashapada (one with polluted feet) was the name given a great king who had been turned into a man-eating rakshasa (night-wandering demon). Before the curse, he was Mitrasaha, king of Ayodhya, who lived in happiness with his beautiful queen Madayanti. There are three versions of how he was cursed….
Kalki is the form that Vishnu will assume at the end of this cosmic age, the Kali Yuga. As Kalki, Vishnu will appear in a human form riding on a white horse. He will bring a fiery end to the world, reward the virtuous, and punish the wicked. With…
In the Krishna myth cycle Kaliya was a great serpent, born of the progenitor Kasyapa by his wife Kadru, mother of the serpent kingdom. Kaliya lived in the Kalindi River (also called the Yamuna) and was well known because of his association with Krishna. Kaliya had a thousand hoods…
The story of Kalipriya is brief but nonetheless important. It represents the point of view of the devotional groups and the abundant grace (prasada) that they promised. Kalipriya was absolved of her sins and received the merit (punya) to offset all her bad karma simply by performing a month-long…
Kalindi was the daughter of Surya, the sun god. She was blessed to become a sacred river, also known as the Yamuna. It flowed from the Kalinda mountain and entered the Ganga at Prayaga, a very sacred confluence. At the birth of Krishna, his father Vasudeva had to switch the…
Kali (strife) was the personification of evil (adharma), as well as the worst throw in a game of Indian dice. He could also be called the god of sin and of bad luck. Kali was born as the fifteenth of sixteen sons of Kasyapa and his wife Muni. In an…
Kalavati worshipped the sage Durvasa and was given the powerful five-syllable mantra (pancakshara mantra) in praise of Siva (sivayahnamah). By its use Kala- vati became a saint. Kalavati married King Daharha of Mathura. When he approached her, he noticed that he became overheated. Kalavati told him that, because of…
Kalanemi was a rakshasa (night-wandering demon) who was dispatched by the asura (demon) king Ravana to prevent Hanuman, the monkey god and loyal servant of Rama, from reaching the magic Drona mountain. Hanuman needed healing herbs for the wounded Lakshmana during the Rama-Ravana war. Kalanemi appeared as a brahmin in…
As time is a great imponderable, it is related to death. The two words, time and death, are the same in Sanskrit. Kala is popularly known as Yama. Born from the union of Surya (the sun god) and Samjna, daughter of Kassyapa-prajapati, Yama (Kala) was given the duty to retrieve…
Kakshivatasuta was one of two daughters of the brahmin Kakshivan. Kakshi- vatasuta (also known as Ghosha) contracted leprosy. She had mastered hymn writing and composed a mantra that praised the physicians of the gods, the Asvins. They responded to her praise and cured her. She then was able to marry….
The story of Kakshivan is quite fragmentary, with some pieces quite ancient mixed with pieces from later mythology. Kakshivan was born according to a custom by which a priest would be requested to give the king a child by his childless queen. King Kalinga was without an heir. He…
King Kakshasena, praised as an examplar in the Mahabharata, was the son of King Parikshit and grandson of King Avikshit. Kakshasena achieved an honored place in Hindu mythology because of his generous support of the priesthood. The lists of such donors included great kings of the epic period: Shibi, Pratardana,…
There are two versions of the origin of Kaitabha and his brother Madhu. The version in the Puranas said that Madhu and his brother Kaitabha were born from the earwax of Vishnu. Vishnu was ending his cosmic sleep reclined upon the serpent Sasha (also called Ananta) floating on the…
The Mahabharata describes the location of Kailasa. Kailasa is situated on the southern side of Mahameru (Maha-Meru), the great mountain. It is said that there are two celestial abodes on Mount Kailasa, one of Siva and Parvati and the other of Kubera, god of wealth.
Kaikeyi was one of the three (some versions say five) wives of King Dasaratha. She had been a princess of the kingdom of Kekaya, seven day’s journey from Ayodhya. When Dasaratha was summoned to svarga (heaven) to help the devas (gods) in a war with the asuras (demons), Kaikeyi…
The asuras (demons) had become invincible in war because their priest, the brahmin (Sukra, knew the art of bringing the dead back to life (mritasanjivini). No sooner would the devas (gods) kill the asuras than Sukra would perform the mritasanjivini and they were alive again. The devas dispatched their…
In the Rama myth cycle in his previous life Kabandha was a Gandhara called Visvavasu. He was born to a gandharva called (Sri Visvavasu, who was also known by the name Danu. Visvavasu performed a penance (tapas) and received the boon of immortality from Brahma. Arrogant about this boon,…
Ka is the first consonant in the Sanskrit alphabet, although, since Sanskrit is a syllabic language, one should say that it is the first consonantal-syllabic. Ka is also the ordinary word for who. It was used in an agnostic hymn of the Rigveda that asked “who” created all this, and…
One day a group of hermits led by Sanaka came to Vaikuntha to see Vishnu. They were stopped by Vishnu’s doorkeepers, Jaya and Vijaya. But the sages took offense and cursed the doorkeepers to be reborn three times as demons (asuras). The frightened doorkeepers begged the angry brahmins for forgiveness,…
Jatila was the name assumed by (Siva when he was disguised as a brahmin. Siva sought to test Parvati because she was doing tapas (austerities) in order to obtain him as her husband.
Jatayu was one of two sons born to Aruna, chariot driver of Surya (the sun god), and Shyeni, a divine bird. In his youth Jatayu was saved by his brother Sampati as they raced toward the sun, Sampati allowing his wings to be burned as he shielded Jatayu from…
Jarasandha, mighty king of Magadha, was born by double magic, first from a brahmin and second from a giant demoness (rakshasi). His parents had been childless. They enlisted the sage Kakshivan (some texts say Candakaushika) to help. As the sage meditated, a mango fell in his lap. He gave…
According to one version in the Bhagavata Purana Jara was hunting and shot an arrow through a bush at the sound of an animal. But the blind shot hit (Sri Krishna in the foot, that only area of his body not protected by the magical potion from the sage Durvasa….
According to the Devi Bhagavata Janamejaya was but an infant when his father King Parikshit died from the poisonous bite of Takshaka, king of the serpents. At an appropriate age Janamejaya was crowned king of Hastinapura. When he learned exactly how his father had died, Janamejaya sought a way to…
Janaka’s father, Nimi, king of Mithila, was childless and asked the venerable brahmin Vasishtha to preside over a ritual (yajna) for a son. Vasishtha was preoccupied with another ritual and asked the king to wait. King Nimi left without making any commitment and then found another priest named Gautama…
Jambuka’s ascetic practices threatened the very foundations of Rama’s perfect rule as king (ramarajya). Jambuka was a Sudra who had adopted spiritual exercises (tapas) that he was not entitled to practice. Rama had returned from twelve years of exile, and his rule in Ayodhya seemed to fulfill dharma (righteousness)…
This tree bore fruit throughout the year, fruit the size of elephants. The branches of the Jambu tree reached to heaven. The juice of the fruit flowed as a river. According to the Bhagavata Purana the Jambu tree was watered by devas (gods) called Siddhacaranas. Near the tree lived the…
Jambha was the leader of the asuras who snatched away the pot of amrita (nectar of immortality) from the sage Dhanvantari when he emerged carrying it during the churning of the Milky Ocean. Jambha, along with his demon cohorts, was tricked by the beautiful woman Mohini, the form taken…
There is a lot of confusion as to whether Jambhavan was a monkey (kapi) or a bear (riksha). Valmiki’s Ramayana presented some stories of Jambhavan as a bear and other stories of him as a monkey. In one version Brahma sent the celestial damsels (apsaras) to be reborn around…
Jamadagni was born by a miraculous birth in which his caste was determined not be birth but by a magical portion of rice pudding. His father, the sage Ricika, a wonderous and powerful magician (siddha) gave his two wives different portions to determine the qualities of his future…
This myth presents two competing spiritual paths: one of austerities (tapas) and another of spirituality located in a householder’s life. Jajali had developed into a great ascetic. One day as he was doing a standing meditation, a pair of birds built their nest in his matted hair. So began…
Jahnu gave his kingdom to his son and retired to a quiet spot to do austerities (tapas). However, cosmic events disturbed his meditations. King Bhagiratha had been successful in his austerities to get Siva’s help in bringing the sacred river Ganga to earth. And when it came, it flooded…
This is a Puranic myth about dharma a father who failed to keep his dharma and sons who kept theirs. Jada was a brahmin who became an unscrupulous businessman. But he was robbed and killed and reborn a pisaca, a hunger ghost. His sons were quite moral and did…
There are three terms (isa, isana, isvara) that all come from the root, is (to have power). All can be translated as “lord,” or “the one who possesses power.” Theseterms were applied to many of the devas in the Vedic period—Indra, Mitra, Varuna, Soma, and Savitri. In late Vedic…
There are a number of references in the Rigveda to Indrani but her story was not told. She was chosen by Indra as his wife from among many other goddesses because she was said to be the most voluptuous. But in the Puranas Indrani became Saci, daughter of Puloma,…
In the Bhagavata Purana Indradyumna was a saintly king who was engaged in deep meditation. One day he was visited by the sage Agastya. Indradyumna did not notice the arrival of Agastya, who took the king’s neglect for an insult. Agastya was enraged and cursed Indradyumna to become a…
Indra’s mythology underwent more change than that of perhaps any other god in the Hindu pantheon. Indra appeared in the oldest hymns of the Rigveda as the god par excellence of the warriors (ksatriyas). This stratum of hymns was so ancient that Indra and Varuna were referred to as…
myth of Ila is about the plasticity of gender, with Ila moving back and forth between male and female in the same lifetime. Ila’s father, Vaivasvata-Manu, was the son of Kasiyapa prajapati and Aditi, the first parents in this myth. Her sons were all celestials and divine (adityas) yet she…
In the Rigveda, ida was a word for food or refreshment, especially milk. In the hymns ida worked metaphorically as the refreshment given to the devas (gods) as praise. Thus, it connected with vac (sound) and could be personified as Ida, the goddess who instructed the first Manu concerning the…
Hiranyaksha was the elder twin of Hiranyakasiipu. Their stories are intertwined through four lifetimes: first as Jaya and Vijaya when they were Vishnu’s door-keepers, then their first rebirth as Hiranyaksha and Hiranyakasiipu, a second rebirth as Ravana and Kumbhakarna, and finally their third rebirth as Sisiupala and Dantavaktra. Hiranyaksha…
Hiranyakasiipu was a worthy opponent of Lord Vishnu, born repeatedly, which necessitated multiple incarnations of Vishnu to conquer this powerful asura and restore dharma (righteousness) to earth. A demon of this magnitude would have quite a lineage and an appropriate source of his tremendous powers. There was a time…
Hiranyahasta’s story came from a time when gods had sons with princesses. Hiranyahasta’s mother was Princess Vadhrimati, who was married to a eunuch. Despondent that she could not have a child, Vadhrimati prayed to the Asvins, the divine twins. The physicians of the devas happily fulfilled her desire. Hiranyahasta…
The word hiranyagarbha is found in the Vedic literature referring to the primeval origin of the world within a golden womb or shell. It remained an image that was not greatly developed. For further details, refer to chapter 1 on creation myths, “Cosmogony, Theogony, and Anthropogony.”
In this late myth in the Padma Purana, Kubera, god of wealth, is portrayed as a devotionalist (bhakta). He had a wonderful garden with beautiful flowers that he used in temple worship each day. One day his gardener, Hemamali, came back from a visit to the lake of the gods,…
While Brahmanical ideology taught that killing a brahmin (brahmahatya) was the worst of sins and required loss of caste, Puranic mythology told of those who had killed a brahmin and escaped becoming outcaste (candala). This alternative view shifted the focus to devotion (bhakti) and its outward signs in gifts of…
In the Pancavimsa Brahmana the story is told that four devas began a sacrifice (yajna) with the agreement that the offering (havirbhaga) would be shared equally. They were Agni, Indra, Vayu, and Yajna. But Yajna stole the offering and drove the others away with a divine bow given by…
Havyaghna had a miraculous birth, being created from the smoke of a sacrificial ritual (yajna) of the sage Bharadvaja. Havyaghna (“leavings of the sacrifice”) began eating the leftovers (havis) of that yajna. Bharadvaja asked the demon why he would do this. Havyaghna explained that he was the Krishna that Brahma…