In Vedic mythology Ushas was the goddess of dawn and the herald of all that was connected with the advent of the sun, Surya, supreme ruler of the heavens. She announced Surya, who brought along with her, light to make the pastures fertile, horses, chariots, wealth, and plenitude. The mighty…
Tantra has had many meanings: a class of literature (the Tantras), practices that are non-Vedic (tantrika), one of the religious sects of Hinduism. There is no single word in Sanskrit for Tantrism as a religious perspective, even though its additions to the Hindu tradition make it quite distinctive. Tantrism can…
Surya was a primary deity of the Aryans at the time of the earliest hymns of the Rigveda. The solar cult saw the sun as the most obvious symbol of life, consciousness, and divinity. For some time within each of the first three periods of Hindu mythology, Surya was…
This entry will focus on Soma as the plant and Vedic drink. For more information about Soma as a deva and as the moon, see the entry on Candra. In the Vedic period Candra, the moon, and Soma, the entheogenic (religious experience-inducing) plant, were connected by associations (bandhus) in the…
The Savitri is also called the Gayatri. It is recited each morning and evening by millions of Hindus. The Savitri is addressed to Savitri (the generator) who in the earliest Vedic lore may have been one of the attributes of the great sun god, Surya. The Savitri was also personified…
Samjna was the daughter of Vishwakarma, the divine architect. When she became the wife of Surya, she could not stand his heat, so she practiced austerities (tapas) in order to create a substitute. Finally, after having three children—Manu (the first man), Yama (god of death), and Yami (goddess of the…
The Rigveda precedes all other Hindu scriptures in age and sacredness. The name Rigveda is a compound of rik (verses of “praise”) and veda (book of “knowledge,” or “wisdom”). It comes to us in such a highly crafted language (Samskrita, Sanskrit) that it was believed to have been received by…
Describing the significance of worshipping Navgraha (nine planets), Lord Vishnu told Rudra — ‘One who worships the Navgraha with appropriate rituals attains all the four ‘purusharth’ (objectives of man’s life)- dharma (religion), artha (money), kama (sex), and moksha (salvation).’ He then went on to give various mantras related with the…
After being thrown out from his kingdom by Vishwamitra, Harishchandra reached the holy town of Varanasi, which was an abode of Lord Mahadeva. There Harishchandra saw Vishwamitra standing before him. Vishwamitra said- ‘A month has been completed now. Now, give me my Dakshaina.’ Harishchandra said- ‘There is still half an…
Matsya avatar story in english King Parikshit asked: ‘O Gurudev, Lord is omnipotent. Why did He then take Matsyavatar like an ordinary being bound by karma? I want to hear the tale of God’s Matsyavatar.’ Shukdev said: ‘O Parikshit, God is one. Still for the preservation of His devotees, He…
Rahu can be seen as the earliest Vedic astrological pre-science embedded in a story—the ascending and descending nodes created as the moon’s orbit intersects the ecliptic plane of the earth, used in predicting solar and lunar eclipses. Mythologically, Rahu was one of the great demons (daityas) at the Churning of…
The consort of Sr Krishna Radha is one of the most popular figures in Hindu mythology and is even understood by some to be a manifestation of the Supreme. Radha has many personas and a complex mythology. Radha is the young, innocent maiden coming into the forest at night in…
Pushan was the son of Surya, the sun, or an aditya, a son of Kashyapa (a progenitor) and Aditi. He was reduced in later mythology to a guardian of the roads, to toothlessness, and to an eater of gruel. Pushan was an early Vedic god (deva) who was connected with…
Prajapati was first a Vedic god (deva) of real importance, only to be reduced over the centuries to the function of a group (rank) of gods. Prajapati literally means the lord of creatures, of living beings. During the period of the Brahmanas he was the supreme being and father of…
Shukdev says, “Ten sons of the King Prachinbarhi were known as Prachetas. They observed severe penance under the sea. When they re-emerged, Chandra (the moon-the ruler of the vegetation) calmed them and presented a beautiful daughter of the apsara Prabhlocha, to them as their wife. From her, Prachetas begot prachetas…
Kunti was the aunt of Shri Krishna, mother of the five Pandavas and a sixth son Karna, and wife of King Pandu. Kunti was a heroine of the Mahabharata. As a child Kunti was given to a royal cousin, King Kuntibhoja, who was childless. She was given responsibility over…
Pulastya says- “When Lord Shiva became aware of Andhak’s imminent attack, he requested Nandi to summon all the Ganas who were more than 700 crores in number. Some of the prominent Ganas like Pashupat, Kalmukh, Mahavrati, Digambar, Maini, Mahapashupat and Vrishabhdhwaj arrived at Mandar Mountain to help Lord Shiva at…
A young Brahmani named Kauthumi, son of Hiranyanabha, challenged the royal priests of King Janaka in debate. But he lost his temper and killed one of them, thus committing brahmahatya (murder of a brahmin). He was cursed and became a leper that very day. After much suffering he followed…
In the Mahabharata war Karna had a divine birth. His mother, Kunti, was the daughter of King Shurasena. As a girl Kunti was in charge of arrangement in the palace for religious rituals. During a period of four months when the sage Durvasa performed rituals for the king, Kunti…
Sage Markandeya then goes on to describe about the splendours of Sthanu Tirtha- Surya was Manu’s father. Vena was Manu’s grandson. He was wicked and always criticised the Vedas. Being displeased by his irreligious son, Vena’s father left for the forest to do penance where he attained salvation. In…
The sages requested Lomaharshan to describe about the geographical condition of Kurukshetra. Lomaharshan replied- “There are 7 different forest ranges in Kurukshetra. They are- “Kamyakvan, Aditivan, Vyasavan, Phalkivan, Suryavan, Madhuvan and Sheetvan. Nine rivers flow across Kurukshetra- Saraswati, Vaitarni, Ashga, Mandakini Ganga, Madhustrava, Vasu, Kaushiki, Kaggar and Hiranyavati. Kurukshetra is…
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…
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…
Revealing the reasons for Goddess Durga’s re-incarnation, sage Pulastya says- “Goddess Durga is also known as Kaushiki as she had manifested from the cell (Koshika) of Uma’s (Parvati’s) body. After the manifestation, she went to Vindhya Mountain with the objective of killing the demons Shumbh and Nishumbh. She was accompanied…
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- “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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
“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…
Describing the majesty of Mathura, lord Varaha told Prithvi- “Mathura is very dear to me because this is the very place where I shall be taking incarnation as Krishna. Mathura is the most sacrosanct place and no other holy place can be compared to it. There are many other holy…
This austerity is related with the worship of lord Surya Narayan who is also known by several other names like Aditya, Bhaskar, Ravi, Bhanu, Diwakar, Prabhakar, etc. A devotee should observe a fast on the seventh day of any month and worship lord Suryanarayan. The fast should be broken on…
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…
In the Ramayana the tale is told that soon after the Pandava brothers began their forest exile, a rakshasa chief sent his sister, Hidumbhi, to capture them for his dinner. However, Hidumbhi fell in love with Bhima, the strongest and most physical of the brothers. The rakshasa chief came…
King Prajapal asked Mahatapa- “The thought of divine radiance taking the form of human radiance bewilders me. Please clear my doubts.” Sage Mahatapa replied – “When the almighty God willed to manifest himself in other tangible forms, an effulgence emanated from his being resulting into the creation of ‘Surya’ (The…
Fortified with Brahma‘s boon, Taraka started to rule the demons. After some years had passed and after Taraka had raised a strong army, he decided to attack heaven. A huge army of demons was accordingly raised. There were thousands of elephants, horses and chariots in the army. Apart from Taraka,…
Describing the period for which a particular planet is supposed to have its influence on the native, Lord Vishnu told Shiva– ‘Surya’s dasha continues for six years and brings turbulence, turmoil and agony to the concerned person. Moon’s dasha continues for fifteen years and is considered very auspicious as it…
While describing the chariots of all the nine planets, Lord Vishnu told Rudra–‘ The chariot of Surya deva (Sun) has an unbelievable expanse stretching up to nine thousand yojans. The axle of the chariot is one crore and fifty seven lakh yojans long and wheels are fixed at both its…
Describing the reason why this sacrosanct place was named Prabhas, Lord Shiva told Parvati– ‘I dwell in the entire area stretching between the ocean in the south and river Kaureshwari. Being situated at the western coast, this entire area is radiated by Surya’s light for a relatively longer period of…
On being asked by the sages about the prominent places of pilgrimage, Sutji named many holy places but according to him Prabhas Teerth was the crown of all the places of pilgrimage and was incomparable. Recounting a tale when Parvati had once asked Lord Shiva the same question, Sutji said–…
Sutji once narrated the following tale to the assembled sages- In ancient times there lived a mighty king named Trishanku. He belonged to Suryavanshi dynasty. One day, he asked Sage Vashishtha whether there was any such Yagya by performing which, he would be entitled to go to heaven with his…
When Agastya learnt of the problem created by Vindhyachal, he agreed to help the deities despite fully aware of the fact that once he left Kashi it would not be possible for him to see his dearest Kashi once again at least in his present birth. Before leaving for Vindhyachal,…
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…
―I will now tell you about Daksha and Sati,‖ Lomaharshana told the sages. Daksha had a daughter named Sati who was married to Shiva. Daksha did not like his son-in-law at all. When he organized a yajna, he did not invite Shiva to attend the ceremony. But Sati went to…
While performing a Shiva Yagya a devotee should make offerings to the ‘havanakunda’ made of iron or mud. Fire should be ignited in the havankunda following the methods as prescribed in the scriptures. He can then commence the actual worship. The devotee should make of offerings of ghee with Sruva…
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…
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…