Skanda Purana begins with the eulogy of Lord Shiva– Yasyagya Jagat Srishta Viranchih Palko Harih; Sanharta Kalrudrakhyo Namastasmai Pinakine. (Meaning)— Salutations to Lord Shankar who has entrusted the job of creation to Lord Brahma– Who has instructed Lord Vishnu to nurture the world and who himself acts as the supreme…
Ghanta and Karna were brothers in some sources, but the older rakshasa was called by both names, Ghantakanta, as the myths were about him. Ghanta’s myth was nested within several others and modified in sectarian versions competing over who was the supreme deity, Siva or Vishnu. Ghantakarna came into being…
In the Devi Bhagavata the sage Nagabhushana (“one having snakes as his ornament,” a sage whose name was a pun, pointing to the object of the story, Siva) was deep in meditation at his forest hermitage. King Parikshit, grandson of Arjuna, came to him desiring water after a long hunt….
There were references to Gautama’s name in the Rigveda. In a hymn that was later literalized, Indra as a metaphor of the morning carried off night. Indra’s character became that of a seducer of sages’ wives, and Ahalya (“unplowed”), the wife of Gautama, became one of them. The number…
Garuda, or Garutman, as he was known in the Vedas, was appropriated in the devotional myths of the epic and Puranic periods as the servant vehicle of Lord Vishnu. The name Garuda has as its verbal root gri (to speak). In the Vedas Garuda is the metaphor for, or, for…
Ganga is the holiest river of India. She is the Mother who washes away all sins and redeems one from the fetters of life. There are many folk songs about the Ganga, which testify just how much the river has been personified, deified, and made an integral part of…
