Continuing with his story, King Danda says- “Chitrangada stayed for a long period at Saptagodavar. She used to spend time by engaging in the worship of Lord Hatkeshwar waiting for the day she would meet her husband. Vishwakarma had become a monkey due to the curse of that sage and…
Narada asks sage Pulastya- “What did the demon Andhak do after entering Patal loka and how was Lord Shiva’s life at Mandar Mountain?” Pulastya says- “Andhak was infatuated by Girija’s divine beauty and his lust only became stronger as the days passed by. Although Prahlada tried very hard to convince…
Lord Shiva was so deeply attached to Uma that for 1000 years, he was possessed by only her thoughts. He forgot about his duties and as a result, there was anarchy all over the world. His obsession with Uma had also decreased his radiance. He decided to do penance with…
Swallowing of Lord Shiva’s sperm had subdued Agni’s radiance. The deities advised him to take Lord Brahma’s help. While he was on his way to Brahma loka, he came across a river named Kutila and requested her to hold Shiva’s sperm. She agreed and requested him to release it in…
After reaching Mandar Mountain, Lord Shiva instructed Vishwakarma to construct a home. Vishwakarma constructed a spacious home for Shiva, which was spread in the area of 64 Yojans. The home was decorated with Swastika symbols and its walls were made of gold. One day, Lord Shiva jokingly referred to…
Maitreya then related the description of the Manu’s daughters. Manu and Shatarupa had three daughters- Akuti, Devhuti and Prasuti. Akuti was married to a Prajapati named Ruchi. They begot two children a son and a daughter. The son later on came to be known as Yagya Avatar of Lord Narayana,…
Lord Vishnu, Brahma, the deities and the Ganas were pleased to hear about Shiva’s marriage. Lord Shiva went to his abode- Kailash Mountain to make preparations for the marriage ceremony. Lord Shiva’s marriage procession proceeded towards Himalaya Mountain. His appearance was quite terrifying with a tiger skin around his waist…
After paying a visit to Prithudak Tirtha, Lord Shiva returned to his abode. At that time, he was living at Mandar Mountain. After Lord Shiva’s contemplation, the Saptarishis arrived. After the formal salutations, Lord Shiva told the sages that his wife- Sati has re-incarnated as Uma. “All of you must…
Mena gave birth to three daughters and a son. The eldest daughter- Ragini was red complexioned and had red eyes. Kutila was fair complexioned and had beautiful eyes like that of lotus petals. The youngest daughter- Kali was dark complexioned and had beautiful eyes like the petals of blue lotus….
After creating all the movable and immovable living things, Lord Brahma created a beautiful lady. He was so infatuated by her beauty that he expressed his desire to procreate with her help. As a result of this grave sin committed by Lord Brahma, one of his four heads got detached…
Sanatkumar says- “Lord Shiva became pleased by his devotion and blessed Vena that he would manifest from his body as Andhak in his next birth. Due to the sins acquired by criticising the Vedas, he would be born in the family of the notorious demon Hiranyaksh.” Lord Shiva then asked…
Sanatkumar says- “The sacred places of pilgrimage named Shukra Tirtha and Soma Tirtha are situated towards north and south of Sthanu Vata respectively. Daksha Tirtha is situated towards its south and Skand Tirtha towards its west. The sacrosanct Sthanu Tirtha is situated just in between all these four places of…
Sanatkumar says- Describing the greatness of Sanihitya Sarovar, Lord Shiva told the sages that a devotee cannot attain salvation unless he pays a visit to this sacred place of pilgrimage. There is no other Tirtha like this one. “I would be easily accessible to a devotee who worships me with…
Continuing the process of creation, Brahma produced Sage Kardam from his shadow and asked him to observe penance first. Thereafter, Brahma dictated Kardam to acquire physical strength and the strength of his sense and undertake the process of creating his offsprings. As per his father’s dictate, Kardam observed severe penance….
Ashamed, the sages requested Lord Brahma to tell them the way to pacify Lord Shiva. Lord Brahma assured them that they would be forgiven if they took Lord Shiva’s refuge. Lord Brahma went to Kailash Parvat accompanied by all the sages. After reaching there, he eulogised Lord Shiva with deep…
The sages then asked Lomaharshan about the origin of Sthanu Tirtha and the importance of Sthanu Vata. They also expressed their desire to know about the reservoir named Sanihitya and how Indra had filled it up with mud. Sage Lomaharshan replied- “Once, Sanatkumar upon being asked by Balkhilya and other…
Sage Mankanak was the Manasputra of Kashyapa. He had seven sons, who were famously known as Marud Ganas. They are the one who hold all the movable and immovable objects of this world. Once, sage Mankanak injured his finger by the sharp edge of Kusha grass while he was trying…
Regarding the different stages of liberation, Suta told the sages that there were five stages of liberation capable of freeing a man from the sorrows of this world. 1) Sarupya (Similitude with the Almighty), 2) Salokya, 3) Sannidhya (living in the proximity of the almighty), 4) Sayujya (getting united with…
There are different methods of donating alms. One of the most sacred is known as tulapurusha. In this, a pair of scales is used. The person who is donating the alms ascends on one side of the scales and gold is placed on the other side until the scales are…
Idols have to be instated in temples. Vishnu‘s image should have either eight hands or four. If there are eight hands, the arms to the right should hold a shankha (concha-shell), a gada (mace), a shara (arrow) and a padma (lotus). The arms to the left should hold dhanu (bow),…
During ancient times, there lived two demons- Rambh and Karambh who would torment people. As both were sonless, they decided to do severe penance by keeping their bodies submerged in Panchmad River with a desire of having sons. Indra becoming fearful, took the guise of a crocodile and killed Karambh…
Pulastya says- “Lotus flower manifested from Vishnu’s navel in the month of Ashwin. Similarly, other vegetation also manifested from the different organs of the deities- Kadamb tree from the palm of Kamadev, Dhatura tree from the heart of Lord Shiva, Khair tree from the middle portion of Brahma’s body,…
Pulastya says- “After being enlightened by the sages on various subjects, Sukeshi returned to his capital. He taught the demons all that he had learnt. As a result, all the demons became very virtuous. The newly attained virtuosity and religiousness made the demons invincible and powerful. Sukeshi’s capital was situated…
Sukeshi was the son of demon King Vidyutkeshi. He was a great devotee of Lord Shiva. Being pleased by his devotion, Lord Shiva had blessed him with invincibility and gifted him a city, which was situated in the sky. Sukeshi was a virtuous and just king. Once, he had gone…
Sage Narada was curious to know how the demon King Andhak behaved with the deities. He asked Pulastya in this regard. Pulastya replied- “After ascending the throne, Andhak did a severe penance to please Lord Shiva and received a boon according to which he could neither be killed by the…
The gods and the demons always fought with one another. In the process, many demons and gods were killed. This was no problem for the demons. Their teacher, Shukracharya, knew the art of mritasanjivani and immediately brought the dead demons back to life. But the gods who were killed stayed…
Fearing Lord Shiva’s wrath, Lord Vishnu went to Hrishikesh and remained aloof for quite some time. Shiva’s anger generated so much heat that it was enough to melt the eight Vasus. As a result, a river named Sita started flowing from there. After being attacked by Lord Shiva, the deities…
Lord Shiva had committed a grave sin of Brahmahatya. All his efforts of separating Brahma’s skull from his left palm went in vain. In the meantime, an entity named Brahmahatya appeared before him and entered into his body. Lord Shankar decided to go to Badrikashrama to atone for his sins….
Pulastya says- “This way, both Shiva and Sati lived above the clouds till the end of rainy season. When autumn season arrived, both decided on returning to Mandar Mountain. Daksha had organised a grand Yagya in which he had invited all the prominent deities and sages except his own son-in-law,…
Describing the reason behind the manifestation of ‘Trishakti’ (Three goddesses manifesting from the bodies of Brahma Vishnu and Shiva), Lord Varaha A told Prithvi— There lived a mighty demon named ‘Andhak’ who used to torment the deities. After being driven out of the heaven all the deities sought lord Brahma’s…
“It is double the area of Kraunch dweepa and covers the ‘clarified-butter’ ocean from all sides. There are seven prominent mountains as well as seven rivers in this island.” This way Lord Shiva disappeared after having finished the narration of all the prominent islands.
This island is twice the area of Shak dweepa. There are seven prominent mountain ranges in this island which are known as ‘Kula Parvatas’— Kumud, Unnat, Drona, Kank, Isha, Mahish and Mandar. There are seven prominent rivers flowing through the various parts of this island– Pratoya, Shiva, Chitra, Chandra, Vidyullta,…
Dwelling upon the prominent islands, Lord Shiva told the assembled sages—“Jambudweepa is spread in the area of one lakh yojan and it consists of numerous Janapadads. It is inhabited by ‘siddhas’ and ‘charanas’ and is blessed with incomparable natural beauty.” ‘A total number of nine ‘Varshas’ lie within the territory…
All the sages listened with rapt attention to the description Lord Shiva made of the Almighty Narayan. But, they had few more queries in store, so they asked Lord Shiva– “O Lord of Uma! Please tell us about the expanse of the Earth- the situation of mountains and the prominent…
Once, Lord Shiva while describing about the incident when he had a divine glimpse of Lord Narayan, told Sage Agastya — ‘Purusha’ is none other than Lord Narayan himself and Prakriti is the medium through which he manifests his powers. I have been fortunate to have a divine glimpse…
There were many sages present at the yagya organised by Agastya. Some of them asked Lord Shiva as to why he had created some scriptures which appeared so confusing to human beings. Lord Shiva revealed to them that he had done so to protect the brahmins from the curse of…
Once, Sage Agastya had organised a grand yagya in which he had invited all the deities and sages. Lord Vishnu, Lord Brahma and Lord Shiva also went there. Agastya was puzzled as to who was the most superior among all three of them. He asked Lord Shiva in this regard….
Telling about the origin of this stotra, Sutji said–‘Lord Shiva had created this stotra praising the glory of Lord Nrisinha and invoking him to protect the world from the wrath of Matrikas. The stotra goes as follows — Namastestu Jagannath Narsinha Vapurdhar; Daiteshwar Endra Sanharinakha Bhukti Virajit. Nakh Mandal Sambhinna…
The famous battle of ‘Tarakamaya’ had ended. The deities after having defeated the demons had once again regained the control of heaven. Lord Brahma being satisfied with the postive outcome of the war was engrossed in his meditation when Sanatkumar arrived and asked–“O Lord! I am anxious to know about…
“The rituals for the installation of silver or gold idols are similar to that of copper or bronze idol. Prithvi requested lord Varaha to reveal the name of deities whom a devotee can worship at home. Lord Vishnu replied- “A devotee can worship any deity at home but worship of…
Lord Shiva told Prithvi- “Gonishkraman tirth is situated in the Himalayas. Sage Aurva had his hermitage at this sacred place which was incidentally burnt to ashes by lord Shiva. Aurva cursed Shiva as the result of which Shiva started wandering throughout the world in a restless manner.” “Once, lord Shiva…
Lord Varaha told Prithvi- “This holy place is named after Ruru, the daughter of Devadutt and an apsara named Pramalocha. Devadutt came from the lineage of sage Bhrigu. Once Devadutt did an austere penance to please lord Shiva. His penance continued for ten thousand years. Indra became worried and sent…
Prithvi requested lord Varaha to shed light on the famous penance which sage Shalankayan had performed. Lord Varaha narrated the following tale- “Long long ago sage Shalankayan did an austere penance to please me (lord Vishnu). There was a ‘sal’ tree nearby and the sage was ignorant of the fact…
Chandra deva had once performed an austere penance to get absolved from the curse of his Daksha Prajapati his father-in-law. During the course of his penance Chandra deva made a Shivalinga and worshipped it. Finally lord Shiva appeared and agreed to dwell in that particular Shivalinga as per the request…
On one particular occasion, Shiva addressed Parvati as ―Kali.‖ The word kali means dark and Parvati thought that Shiva referring to her dark complexion. She did not realize that Shiva was merely trying to tease her a bit. Greatly incensed at the imagined slight, Parvarti decided that she would meditate…
This austerity commences on the third day of the bright half of the Hindu month-falgun and lasts for a year whereby a devotee observes fast on the third day (bright half) of every month that follows. According to the tradition a devotee can either worship ‘Shiva-Parvati’ or ‘Sri Hari- Lakshmi…
Making a revelation to Vyasa that the Almighty God manifests himself whenever the civilization is endangered by the dominance of sinners, Lord Brahma said– ‘In Dwapar yuga, Lord Vishnu incarnated as Sri Krishna to protect Dharma from being subjugated by ‘Adharma’, which had become all pervasive at that time. He…
Those of the gods who had survived the battle and were still free started to pray to Brahma. ―What can I do for you?‖ asked Brahma. Why are all of you looking so despondent?‖ ―You are the one who is responsible for our misfortune,‖ replied the gods. ―You have granted…
Lord Brahma then went on to describe the famous tale of Ramayana the mere listening to which absolves a man from all his sins. He began by giving the details of Sri Ram’s lineage and said–‘I (Lord Brahma) manifested from the Lotus originating from the navel of Lord Vishnu. Sage…
Continuing with his narration, sage Mahatapa said – “During ancient times, there lived a mighty demon named ‘Andhakasur’. Andhakasur had become arrogant because of a boon of immortality received from lord Brahma. Being tormented by Andhakasur, all the deities went to seek lord Brahma’s help. Lord Brahma took the deities…