Lord Vishnu, in his incarnation of Varaha (a boar), had liberated Prithvi (Mother Earth) from the clutches of Hiranyaksha, the mighty demon who had abducted her to Rasatal. After being rescued, Prithvi heaved a sigh of relief and looked at her saviour, who was smiling. She curiously asked lord Varaha-…
Indra had killed many of Diti‘s children, the daityas. Diti had wished to obtain a son who would kill Indra. But because she had not been able to adhere to the stipulated religious rites, the sons who had been born had become friends and companions of Indra. But Indra continued…
An ideal wife is one who obeys the commands of her husband without any inhibition. According to the scriptures the best time for a married couple to copulate is after the woman has had her menstruation, especially till sixteen days after her periods have commenced are considered best for this…
At the end of the last kalpa, there was a general destruction and the universe was flooded with water. Vishnu alone slept on this water in his form of Narayana. When it was time for creation to begin, Brahma appeared inside an egg. All the worlds that would be there…
As one progressively moves down the scale from satya yuga to kali yuga, the power of righteous diminishes and evil starts to triumph. In treta yuga people were righteous. The system of varnashrama dharma goes back to treta yuga. This is typified in the principle of four varnas (classes)…
While describing the significance of various consecrations, Lord Vishnu told Shiva that the union of man’s sperm and woman’s ovum results into the birth of a child. This union along with the whole process of foetus getting transformed into a baby is a lengthy affair during which it imbibes numerous…
There was a danava named Maya. Just as Vishvakarma was the architect of the gods, Maya was the architect of the demons. When the demons were defeated by the gods, Maya started to perfrom very difficult tapasya so that the gods might be defeated. Maya‘s meditation inspired two other…
―But what about mritasanyjivani?‖ asked the sages. ―You haven‘t told us how Shukracharya came to acquire this wonderful knowledge.‖ Lomaharshana told them the following story. The gods and the demons fought all the time and the demons were sometimes worsted in these encounters. Shukracharya consoled the demons. ―Do not worry,‖…
In the beginning, there was nothing in the universe. There was only darkness and the divine essence (brahman). It is impossible to describe the brahman, it has no traits that can be described. When the time came for creation to start, the brahman removed the darkness and divided itself…
Sharmishtha was the daughter of Vrishaparva, the king of the danavas. Sharmishtha and Devayani were great friends, until Indra played some mischief. The two friends had gone to bathe in a pond and had left their clothes on the bank. Indra adopted the form of a breeze and mixed…
Once, few sages asked Sutji about the means by which Lord Vishnu could be realized in Kali yuga- the era dominated by sin and decaying moral values. Sutji started by describing how Lord Vishnu on seeing the prevalence of sin in Dwapar yuga had to take incarnation as Krishna to…
Parvati asked Lord Shiva about the reason Chandra Deva had to install a Shivalinga at Prabhas Kshetra. Lord Shiva replied that Daksha had got married twenty seven of his daughters to Chandra Deva. Chandra Deva was very attached to Rohini, who was one of them and neglected others. When Daksha…
Markandeya said–‘Manu ruled over Ayodhya during Swayambhuva manvantar. One day, while he was going to sleep, he heard a peculiar sound, as if numerous small bells were ringing. He was perplexed and could not ascertain the cause of that sound so he asked sage Vashishtha about this. Sage Vashishtha made…
Once, Sage Vyasa requested Sanatkumar to reveal why Ujjainipuri was known by various names like Kanakshringa, Kushasthali Avanti and Padmavati. Sanatkumar replied– ‘Once, Lord Brahma and Lord Shiva arrived at Ujjainipuri in search of Lord Vishnu, who had disappeared from his abode. To their pleasant surprise they found Lord Vishnu…
Once, Sage Vyasa narrated the following tale to all the assembled sages– ‘Once, while wandering about, sage Narada arrived at Vindhyachal mountain. He was received with great honour and respect by Vindhyachal mountain. But, when the time arrived for Narada to take his leave, he took a deep sigh, which…
On being asked by Yudhisthira about the life-style of people in Kali yuga, sage Vyasa replied– ‘There will be a widespread prevalence of sinful deeds and lack of moral values in Kali yuga. People would become untruthful and would become critical of revered sages. Moral values would decline to such…
All the sages were curious to know about the holy places in the vicinity of Rameshwar. Sutji replied–Sri Ram replied went into exile accompanied by Sita, his consort and his younger brother, Lakshman. Ravan, the demon king who ruled over Lanka deceitfully abducted Sita. Subsequently, Sri Ram befriended Sugreev and…
Once, Shaunak and few other sages asked Sutji as to how could a man become free from the bondage of the world. They also inquired whether there was an existence of any such holy place capable of liberating a man from heinous of sin. Sutji replied–‘Ramteerth is supreme among all…
Vaisvasvata Manu‘s eldest son was Ila. When Vaivasvata Manu became old, he retired to the forest. Ila was appointed the ruler in his place. Ila set out on a voyage of conquest and travelled throughout the world. There was a forest named Sharavana, frequented by Shiva and Parvati. Shiva had…
The sages requested Lomaharshana. ―Please tell us the history of the solar line.‖ Lomaharshana complied. Aditi and the sage Kashyapa had borne the sun-god, Vivasvana or Surya, as a son. Surya had three wives, Samjna, Rajni and Prabha. Rajna had a son named Revata and Prabha had a son named…
Once, on being asked by sage Bhardwaj and few others about the grandeur of Ayodhya, Sutji replied–‘Ayodhya, a sacrosanct city is based on the bank of river Saryu. It is the very city where the famous king Ikshavaku ruled once upon a time. The term Ayodhya means unconquerable and consists…
Vishvavasu told Vidyapati–‘ I have heard this prophesy of Indradyumna’s possible arrival at Purushottam kshetra in the near future. Not only that, I have also heard that Indradyumna would become so impressed with Purushottam kshetra that he would settle down there for good after renouncing everything.’ Vishvavasu then requested Vidyapati…
Dwelling in length upon the majesty of Purushottam kshetra, goddess Lakshmi said– Purushottam kshetra resembles a conch in shape and is graced by the presence of lord Shiva. Towards its north is situated a temple of lord Neelkanth. A famous Shivalinga named Kapal mochan is also situated in the vicinity….
Lord Brahma soon after reaching Purushottam kshetra sat down and started meditating. He was so engrossed in his meditation that he remained in that state for a very long time. This resulted into total chaos as Yamaraj found that his power of causing death had no effect on people living…
Once, Sutji narrated the tale of king Parikshit to all the assembled sages—Parikshit ruled over Hastinapur. One day he went into a forest on a hunting spree. He saw a deer and managed to injure it with his arrow. But the injured deer disappeared from his sight. Parikshit chased the…
A king named Anga was descended from Svayuambhuva Manu. Anga married Sunitha, the daughter of Mrityu, and they had a son named Vena. Mrityu was an evil person. From his childhood, Vena associated with this maternal grandfather of his and thus came to acquire evil ways. When Vena became king…
Although the gods and the demons were cousins, they did not like each other and fought amongst themselves all the time. Many daityas were killed by Vishnu and the other gods. Diti was disconsolate to see her children suffer thus. She resolved that she would meditate so as to obtain…
Daksha married Panchanjani. Daksha and Panchajani had one thousand sons. These were known as the Haryakshas. Daksha asked his sons to create more living beings. But the sage Narada came and told the Haryakshas, ―You can‘t possibly create living beings unless you know where they are going to live. Have…
In the beginning, there was nothing in the universe. There was only darkness and the divine essence (brahman). It is impossible to describe the brahman, it has no traits that can be described. When the time came for creation to start, the brahman removed the darkness and divided itself into…
The demons named Shumbh and Nishumbh had received boons from Brahma according to which no deity, demon or Man could kill him. Shumbh and Nishumbh became excessively arrogant and started tormenting the deities. All the deities including Lord Vishnu went to Lord Shiva and requested for his help. Lord Shiva…
A demon named Pralamb had escaped unharmed in the battle fought between the deities and demons. As the deities were busy installing Shivalingas at different places, Pralamb started to torment their families in their absence. The deities got this information from Kumud who appeared at the time when the deities…
Lord Shiva and Parvati lived happily at Gandhamadan Mountain enjoying every bit of their conjugal life. Once it so happened that a small quantity of Shiva’s sperm fell on the ground while he was enjoying intimate moments with Parvati. As a result, tremendous amount of heat was generated and the…
Later on Lord Shiva sent the Saptarishis with the proposal of marriage to Himalaya. Himalaya received his distinguished guests with respect and enquired about the purpose of their visit. The Saptarishis replied–‘We have come to request you to give your daughter’s hand in marriage to Shiva.’ After consulting his wife,…
After the death of Sati, Lord Shiva became aloof and engaged himself in an austere penance. His lack of interest in performing his duties resulted into the predominance of sin in the world. A demon named Tarakasur had received a boon of invincibility from Lord Brahma. Only a child…
When Dhanvantri appeared with a pot of ambrosia in his hands, a demon named Vrishparva snatched it from him. All the demons then fled to Patal loka with the pot of ambrosia. Lord Vishnu disguised himself as an enchanting beauty and went to Patal loka. There, he found all the…
Sage Lomesh narrated the tale, which described how Indra lost heaven after he showed disrespect to Brihaspati– Once, Indra was enjoying the songs sung by Gandharvas when sage Vashishtha arrived. But, Indra was so engrossed in music, that he forgot to welcome his distinguished guest. Sage Vashishtha was enraged by…
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…
Ganessa’s mythology came to be nested within that of Ssiva and Parvati. The theriomorphic past, where animals are gods, has been sufficiently sanskritized and brahmanized for Ganessa, with all his associations as Ganapati, leader of the dwarf demons of Ssiva, to become pan-Indian, losing ancient tribal and regional origins….
Once, after having defeated the demons the deities had become very arrogant and proud. They started indulging in self praise. Suddenly they were started by the emergence of radiant light before them. All the deities became scarred and went to Indra. Indra sent Vayu to test the power of that…
There used to be a king named Vaivasvata Manu. He was the son of the sun-god Vivasvana. When it was time for Manu to retire to the forest, he handed over the kingdom to his son Ikshvaku. Manu then went to the foothills of Mount Malaya and started to perform…
The food taken by a man gets transformed into semen in the body. The semen is transformed to the woman’s womb during the time of intercourse where it gets mixed with the blood. It then develops into an egg. Gradually all the organs start to manifest. The body then attains…
There used to live a poor Bheel named Gurudruha. He was very poor. One day finding no food available in his house, he went to the forest to hunt an animal. Unfortunately he did not find any animal which he could hunt. Being hungry, he sat down on the bank…
There used to live a brahmin by the name of Sudharma, who belonged to the lineage of sage Bhardwaj. He was a great devotee of lord Shiva. Sudeha was his wife. Sudharma had no son. Sudeha desires for a son. She expressed her desire to Sudharma but he did not…
During ancient times, there lived a demon named Daruk. The name of his wife was Daruka. They used to torment the people living in that area. The residents of that area went to sage ‘Aursh’ and narrated about their miseries and requested him to end this menace. ‘Aursh’ assured them…
The demon king- Ravana did a tremendous penance to please lord Shiva and to get a boon from him. Even after his severe penance when lord Shiva did still not appear, he started offering his heads one by one to lord Shiva. This way he already severed his nine heads…
Narada requested lord Brahma to narrate how lord Shiva annihilated the demons. Lord Brahma narrated the tale of Tripurasur. “After the killing of Tarakasur, three of his sons started doing their penance. The eldest among them was Tarkasha, younger to him was Viddyunmali and Kamalaksha was the youngest. I (Brahma)…
During the ancient time there lived a famous sage named Gautami. The name of his wife was Ahilya. Once it did not rain for one hundred years as the result of which the whole area was affected by drought. Sage Gautami did a tremendous penance to please Varuna appeared before…
Once, Narada had gone to meet Vindhya mountain. Vindhya was very arrogant in his behaviour. Narada told him that Sumeru mountain was even greater than him and so his false pride had no basis. Vindhya became very dejected and disheartened. He went to Amgreshwar and started worshipping Shiva after making…
The sages curiously asked Suta about the purpose with which Parvati had decided to appear in the form of a Vagina. Suta narrated the following tale: “Long long ago, some sages used to do penance in a Shiva temple situated near Daruk forest. One day they went to collect woods…
After loosing their whole kingdom to Duryodhan in the gamble, Pandavas went to the dwait forest accompanied by Draupadi. They started living in a place which was donated by Velotra Sun. Duryodhan instigated sage Durvasa to torment the Pandavas. Sage Durvasa went to the place where Pandavas were staying, accompanied…