A different story of Hanuman's birth from Ananda Ramayana

Ever since the great sage Valmiki wrote the Ramayana,many poets got inspired and wrote many Ramayanas in different languages. In Sanskrit itself there are many Ramayanas apart from Valmiki Ramayana. One such Ramayana is Ananda Ramayana,also believed to be written by Sage Valmiki. But it differs from the original Valmiki Ramayana in having many strange and intersting tales which are not there in the Valmiki Ramayana. One such story is the birth of Hanuman. 

     According to the Ananda Ramayana, when King Dasharatha obtained the divine payasam (kheer) from Lord Agni on doing the Putrakameshti yaga for getting children,he divided the payasam into three equal portions and gave to his three queens, Kousalya,Sumitra and Kaikeyi. When they were about to drink their shares, a female hawk suddenly appeared, and snatching the bowl of payasam from Kaikeyi's hand,flew away! Thus Kaikeyi lost her payasam. Kousalya and Sumitra then gave half of their shares to her. Meanwhile, the hawk flew to Anjana mountain and threw the bowl there. Anjana, the wife of Monkey king Kesari drank that payasam and begot Anjaneya or Hanuman! This is how Hanuman was born. The hawk was actually an apsara called Suvarchala in her previous life. Once while dancing in Brahma's court,she missed a beat. Angered by this, Brahma cursed her to become a hawk. When she requested for forgiveness,he became compassionate and said when she threw Kaikeyi's payasam in Anjana mountain her curse would get redeemed. The hawk did accordingly and got redeemed of her curse, thereby becoming instrumental in the birth of Hanuman.

Previous stories of Lord Krishna's parents

Previous stories of Lord Krishna's parents

Everyone knows about the parents of Lord Krishna.His real parents were Vasudeva and Devaki,while his foster parents were Nanda and Yashoda.When Krishna was born,he showed his four armed form to Vasudeva and Devaki and told them that they were his devotees in their previous births and hence they had him as their son even in their previous births.In their first birth they were Sage Sutapa and Prishni and the Lord had born as their son called Prishnigarbha.In their second birth they were born as Sage Kashyapa and Aditi and the Lord had born as Vamana to them.Now they were Vasudeva and Devaki and the Lord had born as Krishna to them.This is told in Bhagavatam.The Brahmavaivarta purana tells another story of why Kashyapa and Aditi were reborn as Vasudeva and Devaki.Once Aditi, after her periods, decorated herself and awaited her husband for lovemaking.But her servants informed her that he was enjoying with his other wife Kadru at that time.Angered by this,Aditi cursed Kadru to be reborn as a human being on earth.Later, Kadru who came to know of this also cursed Aditi to be reborn as a human being on earth.Kashyapa reassured Kadru that he too would be born on earth to accompany her as he would get the association of the supreme Lord.He then went to Aditi and satisfied her desire,as a result of which Indra was born.Now as a result of these curses,Kadru was born as Rohini and Aditi as Devaki, while Kashyapa was born  as Vasudeva.Both Rohini and Devaki became the wives of Vasudeva.But Rohini was sent to Gokula to live under the care of Nanda to protect her from the wicked king Kamsa.Devaki was imprisoned along with Vasudeva by Kamsa to kill their children.The seventh baby of Devaki was transferred from her womb to Rohini's womb by Yogamaya and that baby was Balarama.The eighth child of Devaki was Lord Krishna whom Vasudeva shifted to Gokula to the side of Yashoda taking her girl child with himself.

            How could Nanda and Yashoda get the association of Lord Krishna as their son?The Brahmavaivarta purana tells a story for this.In their previous life they were a vasu (a type of demigod, totally being eight vasus) called Drona and his wife called Dhara.They did a severe penance for ten thousand years at Gautamashrama near Gandamadhana mountain to get a darshana or vision  of Lord Krishna (As per Brahmavaivarta purana Lord Krishna is the supreme God in Goloka even above Vaikuntha of Lord Vishnu though both are essentially same). But since they didn't get the darshana they prepared a fire and got ready to fall in it.Then a celestial voice told them not to do so and that they would get the darshana of Lord Krishna in their next life as their son.Accordingly, Drona and Dhara were born as Nanda and Yashoda and as a result of their previous penance they got Lord Krishna as their foster son.

          The Brahmavaivarta purana tells many interesting stories of previous births of many popular pauranik characters.

A Bird with two heads-A rare story from Panchatantra

A Bird with two heads- A rare story from Panchatantra 

This short story from Panchatantra teaches us that when we live together we have to adjust and live harmoniously with each other. 

      Once there was a Bharunda bird with a single body but two heads. One day one of the heads got a fruit and started eating it. It said that it had never eaten such a delicious fruit before. At this, the second head asked it to give him too a little to relish. But the first head said, "We both have the same stomach. Hence if I eat it's enough. Our stomach gets satisfied. Let's give the rest of the fruit to our wife. "

      The second head just kept quite. The first head then gave the remaining fruit to the wife who ate it,felt very happy and hugging and kissing him,spoke sweet words with him the whole day. The second head felt very bad at this and waited for an opportunity to take revenge on the first head. Then one day the second head found a poisonous fruit and picking it up told  the first head,"O cruel one who neglects others! Now I shall eat this poisonous fruit! "

  The first head told him in anguish, "O fool! Don't do so for both of us will die! "

   But the second head ate it up, and both of them died!

The Intelligent Brahmin -A rare story from Panchatantra

A rare story from Panchatantra 

The Intelligent Brahmin 

This story teaches us that we should keep questioning so that we get to know many things which come to our help at times. 

     Once a brahmin was going to some place through a forest.On the way, a demon caught hold of him and asked him to carry him on his shoulders. The scared brahmin carried him on his shoulders and walked on. As he was carrying him, he felt that his feet were as soft as the interior of a lotus flower, and asked him,"Why are your feet so soft? "

   The demon said, "I follow a sacred rite as per which I won't keep my feet on the ground when they are wet."

   The brahmin continued walking. On the way, they came across a river. The demon immediately jumped down and said, "I will now take a bath and worship the God. Till then you should stay here itself."

    And then the demon entered the river for the bath. The brahmin now thought that as the demon's feet would be wet he would not step on the ground, and immediately ran away from there. Thus, by questioning he got the clue to escape.

Stories of Holi Festival

Stories of Holi Festival

Let us recount shortly the stories behind the Holi festival.A story from the Bhavishyottara purana says that there was once a demoness by name Dhonda or Dhoonda,who was the daughter of a demon called Mali,who did penance on Lord Shiva and took a boon that she should be invincible,in that she should not be killed by humans, demons,gods,and by weapons,hot and cold seasons,or in the rainy season, and either in the day or at night, either in the house or outside the house.Shiva granted her the boon but warned her that if excited people shouted obscene words at her she would shrink and die.Arrogant of such a boon,she started torturing people, especially children and youngsters.She would shout Adaadaa and attack the people.At that time,a king called Raghu was ruling the earth, and saw that she could not be killed by weapons or mantras by anyone.Not knowing what to do he consulted his family priest Sage Vasishtha,who disclosed her secret,and then said that all youngsters should join together fearlessly the next day on the full moon night of the bright fortnight of Phalguna month,and put a bonfire using all dried sticks and grass.Then,they had to chant mantras called Rakshoghna mantras (protective mantras), and then circumambulate it, laughing, clapping, and singing.They had to sing obscene and vulgar songs in local language.The fire sacrifice, obscene songs,and laughters would make the demoness weak and die.Accordingly the people did and the demoness died.This is commemorated by making bonfire and singing and dancing on the full moon night of Holi and playing colours the next day.The reason for singing sensual songs on Holi is this, and it is a release action for a controlled life in the whole year.It also denotes the arrival of the spring season when fertility and creation is begun.The throwing of colours is to express the blooming of flowers.Thus,Holi is a part of the Vasantotsava, spring festival.A version of the story says that the demoness was also called Holika,and hence the name Holi.It is also said that Holika means that which destroys evil and that is the purpose of the bonfire.

    Another story is that there was a demoness called Holika,who was the sister of Hiranyakashipu.When Hiranyakashipu could not kill his son Prahlada who was devoted to Lord Vishnu,he tried to kill him through his sister as a last resort.Holika had a boon from Agni that she wouldn't get burnt in the fire.Hence she took the boy Prahlada on her lap and sat on the pyre.However, because she tried to harm a great devotee, the boon turned reverse,as she got burnt and Prahlada came out safe.Another version of the story is that she had a magic blanket on covering which she wouldn't get burnt.However wind blew and the blanket flew over Prahlada's body and he got saved and she got burnt.In order to commemorate this,a bonfire is made.

    It is also said that Lord Shiva burnt Kamadeva, the god of love on this day when he tried to distract him from his tapas,so that he would get attracted to Parvati and thereby marry her to beget a son to kill the demon Tarakasura,who had obtained the boon from Lord Brahma that he should die from Shiva's son.His logic was that since Shiva's wife Sati had died he couldn't have any son.When Kama was burnt,his wife Rati was about to immolate herself when a voice told her that Kama would come back to life when Shiva would marry Parvati.Parvati,who was none other than Sati reborn, did tapas to please Shiva and he married her.Kama was restored to life,but was bodyless from then onwards and could be seen only by Rati.It is said that the bonfire is done to commemorate this event of burning Kama,and hence is called Kamadahana.The idea is that bad desires should be burnt and good desires should be favoured.Also, the idea that Kama is seen only to Rati indicates that Kama or desire should be expressed outside as an art,and enjoyed inside, personally.

      Krishna is generally shown playing Holi colours with Radha and gopis, the cowherd girls.Local legends say that Krishna was living in Nandagav,or Vrindavan, while Radha was a resident of the village Barsana, near Nandagav.Krishna used to visit Barsana on this day and play Holi and mischief  with Radha and her friends while she and her friends would hit him with sticks and drive him out.This is commemorated as Laathmaar Holi,where the boys of Nandagav go to Barsana to play Holi with the girls there.The girls of Barsana, like Radha hit the boys,who are like Krishna,with sticks,and they try to protect themselves with shields.After this they all play colours and enjoy the celebration.

  Thus,Holi has many stories.It is mainly a festival of enjoyment where love and creative spirit of spring season is celebrated and people of all castes,creeds and sections are brought together.

Story of Kacha and Devayani

This is the story of Kacha and Devayani which appears in the Adiparva of  Mahabharata.

    Wars were frequent between Devas, the gods and Asuras, the demons. The Asuras who died were revived to life by their guru Shukracharya by his knowledge of Mritasanjeevini mantra, a hymn which could bring back the dead to life. But the guru of Devas, Brihaspati didn't know this mantra and hence could not revive the dead gods to life. Hence the gods decided to send one of them to Shukracharya to learn this mantra, and they selected Kacha, the son of Brihaspati for this task. Kacha agreed readily and went to Shukracharya as a disciple who accepted him. Kacha served him as an obedient disciple, took his cattle for grazing and did many other works. He also had to entertain Shukracharya's daughter Devayani by singing, dancing, talking to her, getting her flowers etc.He was doing all this with respect as a guru's daughter, but she began loving him seriously. Meanwhile, the demons,who doubted that Kacha had come to learn the secret mantra, found him alone grazing the cattle, and killed him off! The cattle returned but Kacha did not, and Devayani, worrying much, begged her father to find his whereabouts. Shukra, by his divine vision, understood what had happened, and chanting the mantra brought Kacha back to life. Devayani felt very happy. However, the demons again killed Kacha, cut his body into pieces, and threw them to dogs and jackals to eat, thinking that he could not be revived. But when Devayani cried for him, Shukra again brought him back to life by chanting the mantra. Next the demons did a different plan. They killed Kacha, burnt his body, and mixed his ashes in wine, and gave to Shukracharya himself to drink! Shukra, without knowing, drank. When Devayani again missed Kacha and begged her father for him, Shukra chanted the mantra, and Kacha became alive in his stomach! He related him what happened to him at the hands of demons, and now Shukra had no other way but teach Kacha the mantra, so that he would come out tearing his stomach and thus killing him, and then revive him to life by the mantra. He did so,and Kacha learning the mantra, came out of Shukra's stomach, and then revived the guru to life by chanting the mantra.

     Now,Shukra got extremely angry on the demons for giving him the wine and got angry on himself for drinking it. He scolded the demons, and then cursed that if ever Brahmins drink wine, they would incur sin.Hence,from then on brahmins were restricted to drink wine. 

     Now, Kacha, having his purpose served, got ready to leave. Devayani now expressed her love to him. But he told her that he never saw in the direction of love but just treated her as a guruputri. And moreover, since he came out of her father's stomach, he was now like her brother, he said. Angry at this, Devayani cursed him that the mantra would be of no use to him. Kacha too cursed her that she wouldn't get a brahmin husband and said that even if he couldn't use the mantra, he could teach it to others. So saying, he left.

The Serpent Friend -A Jataka Tale

A Jataka Tale

The Serpent Friend

This story shows how difficult one feels when someone asks him his favourite object, and how such asking can break friendship.

     Once, when Brahmadatta was ruling Varanasi, Bodhisattva (Buddha was first born as Bodhisattva who took birth as many animals and men and then was born as Buddha) was born in a rich brahmin family.After sometime,a brother was born to him.As they both grew up, their parents died.They both became disinterested in materialistic life and became ascetics.The elder set up his hermitage on the upper bank of the river Ganga, and the younger one on the lower bank of the river Ganga.

       One day,a serpent king by name Manikantha came from his palace and took a stroll on the banks of the river Ganga in the form of a celibate.He came up to the hermitage of the younger one, and saluting him,sat at a place.Both talked to each other and became friends.From then on, the serpant came everyday to his hermitage in the form of the celibate.It became difficult for them to leave each other.As their friendship increased, the serpant, before going, would take his real form, and encircling the ascetic in his coils,open his huge hood,and take rest for some time.This scared the ascetic.Day by day,he became very weak and pale due to the fear of the serpant.

         The ascetic one day went to the hermitage of his elder brother.The elder brother,on seeing him, enquired him why he was so weak.The younger one told him his story.At this, the elder asked him,"Do you like that serpant king come to you or not?"

       "No!", answered the younger one.

        "Does the serpent king wear any ornament when he comes to you?", the elder brother asked.

        "Yes,he wears a jewel", the younger one said.

         "Ask him to give you that jewel even before he comes inside your hermitage.He then goes away without encircling you", the elder said.

           The younger brother agreed and returned to his hermitage.The next day, the moment the serpant king came, the ascetic asked him to give him his jewel.The serpent king, without sitting, went away.When he came the next day, standing at the entrance of the hermitage itself, the ascetic said,"Yesterday you didnot give me the jewel.You must give me today!"

             Hearing this, the serpant king went away.The third day, even as the serpent king came out of the river, the ascetic said,"I have been asking you the jewel for three days.Please give me your jewel today!"

            At this, the serpent king said,"I get a lot of foodstuffs and drinks from this jewel.You have been begging too much!I shall never give you this.I shall henceforth not come to your hermitage too!You have been scaring me by asking my jewel just as a young man scares one holding a well sharpened knife!"

            So saying, the serpent king disappeared in the river.He never came again to the ascetic's hermitage.The ascetic got relieved from the serpant king.But however,he again became even more weaker.One day,his elder brother came to see him.Seeing him even more weaker,he asked him why he was so now.At this, the ascetic answered that he was weak as he was now missing his friend and had got depressed.The elder brother understood that he couldn't live even without that friend.And he exclaimed,"Once we know that a substance is the favourite of a person,we should never ask him that!If he is asked too much,he develops hatredness against the seeker.Just see, this brahmin asked the serpent king his jewel,and he disappeared!"

             He then advised his brother not to worry about this and returned.Gradually both achieved perfection in spirituality and went to Brahmaloka.

                                A tale from Manikantha Jataka

Stories Of Yugadi Festival

Stories of Yugadi Festival

Yugadi,as the name itself suggests,is the day of the beginning of a yuga or era.It is also called Ugadi, which comes again from ugama or beginning of the era.It is told in the Brahmanda purana that Lord Brahma, the creator, created the world on this day,ie: the first day of the bright fortnight of Chaitra month, the pratipad or padya of Shukla paksha of Chaitra maasa.Hence,it is the New Year's day for Hindus.Lord Brahma is worshipped along with the Panchanga or calendar and the Panchanga is heard.Misdeeds committed previous year are repented(prayashchitta)by prayers,shanti prayers are chanted to ward off evils,and the presiding deity of the year (if Yugadi falls on Sunday,Sun is the presiding deity of the year.If Monday, moon, and so on), along with other deities and Lord Vishnu are worshipped.It is customary to eat a mixture of neem leaves and jaggery to indicate that sorrow and happiness both should be taken equally in the same spirit.

        It is said that the king Shalivahana got coronated on this day,and started his own calendar called Shalivahana Shaka.This is a lunar calendar, and hence the Yugadi celebrated on this day is called Chaandramaana Yugadi.This is celebrated in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra,while in some places like Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Bengal,where a solar calendar is followed, Yugadi is celebrated in mid April.This is called Souramaana Yugadi.In Kerala,it is known as Vishu, while in Bengal it is known as Vaishakhi.

        The year is called Samvatsara in Sanskrit,and from this day,a new Samvatsara or year commences.There are totally sixty Samvatsaras and they keep repeating like a cycle.There is a popular legend of how these Samvatsaras were born.This can be traced to Bhavishya purana, according to which,Sage Narada once went to Lord Vishnu at Shvetadweepa and asked him to explain the nature of maaya or illusion.Vishnu took him to a place which had a lake and said they had to bathe in that lake before meeting Sage Vasishtha who was living there.Vishnu first bathed and came out.When Narada bathed,he immediately turned to a beautiful girl! Now being Naradi,he got confused and wandered around.At that time,a king called Taaladhwaja came around hunting,and seeing Naradi of astounding beauty,fell in love with her.He asked her who she was, and Naradi, having forgotten her past, said she was an orphan.Taaladhwaja immediately took her with him and married her.He enjoyed with her for twelve years in various beautiful places like pools, gardens and hills.In the thirteenth year,she became pregnant and gave birth astonishingly to a big gourd!When the gourd was cut open,fifty boys came out!All these grew to become strong,sturdy youths,and they in turn had children and grandchildren.However,all these men once quarrelled amongst themselves like Kauravas and Pandavas and killed each other! Naradi couldn't control her grief and cried beating her chest, calling God.Taaladhwaja too sat by her side lamenting.Now,Lord Vishnu came in the guise of a brahmin along with few other brahmins,and explained her that time cannot be surpassed by anyone, however mighty he would be.The brahmins told her that this was indeed Vishnu maaya and asked her to take bath and do the last rites of the dead ones.And when she took bath, she immediately turned out to be Narada! Lord Vishnu took him to Shvetadweepa and told him this was indeed the nature of his maaya.Whatever he had experienced was illusion.

        The story ends here.But a popular legend says this in a different version, where,Narada once felt like having a wife and approached Krishna.He asked him to give him one of his sixteen thousand wives.Krishna told him to take anyone who was not with him.Narada visited each one,and saw that there was a Krishna with everyone!A tired Narada went to the river Yamuna and dived in it for relief.When he got up,he had turned to a beautiful girl!A sage saw her and married her.Every year she begot one son from him,upto sixty.Tired of begetting so many children, and remembering her past,she appealed to Vishnu to stop this and give her original form.Vishnu appeared and said that he himself was the sage and all this was his maaya.He then made the sixty children Samvatsaras and made them each rule one year (Based on Gorur Ramaswamy Aiyyengar's writings).I am however not aware of the original source for this version of the story.The story of the Bhavishya purana might have got modified in folklore in this way.

     Thus,it is generally accepted that Samvatsaras are the children of Narada when he was a female.The names of these Samvatsaras are,Prabhava,Vibhava, Shukla,Pramoda,Prajapati,Angira,Sreemukha,Bhaava,Yuvaa,Dhaataa,Eeshwara,Bahudhanya,Pramaathi,Vikrama,Vrisha,Chitrabhaanu, Swabhaanu,Taarana,Paarthiva,Vyaya,Sarvajit,Sarvadhaari,Virodhi,Vikriti,Khara,Nandana,Vijaya,Jaya,Manmatha,Durmukha,Hemalambi,Vilambi,Vikari,Sharvari,Plava,Shubhakrit,Shobhakrit,Krodhi,Vishwavasu,Paraabhava,Plavanga,Keelaka,Soumya,Saadhaarana,Virodhakrit,Pareedhaavi,Pramaadi,Ananda,Rakshasa,Nala,Pingala,Kaalayukta,Siddharthi,Raudra,Durmati,Dundubhi,Rudhirodgaari,Raktaakshi,Krodhana, and Kshaya. The present Samvatsara is Sharvari.

        It is said that Lord Vishnu took up the Matsyavatara or Fish incarnation on this day.Briefly recounting the story of Matsyavatara,a demon called Hayagriva had stolen the Vedas from Lord Brahma,and the time for pralaya or dissolution of the world was nearing.At that time,a righteous saintly king called Satyavrata was ruling the earth.One day as he was offering libations to gods a tiny fish came in his handful of water.The fish told him that bigger fish would devour it,and asked him to protect it.He took it in his waterpot to his home.However, by overnight the fish grew to the size of the pot.The king shifted it to a bigger bowl,and very soon it grew to it's size.The king then shifted it to a pool,and then to a lake, and when it grew upto the size of the lake too he shifted it to a river and finally to the ocean.By now he was convinced that the fish was some great soul and asked it who he was.The fish said it was Lord Vishnu himself.Lord Matsya then told him to collect all the species of plants and animals,one sample each, and get ready with the seven sages in a big boat in seven days, and he would come back to take all of them to a safe place, for dissolution of the world would occur.The king did so, and the fish returned by seven days, now with a horn on it's head.He asked the king to tie the boat to his horn with the divine snake Vasuki,and the king did so.The fish pulled the boat crossing the ocean,when it rained heavily drowning the whole world.On the way, the fish killed the demon Hayagriva and recovered the stolen Vedas.He then brought the king and others to safe land and explained him philosophical teachings till the onset of the next kalpa,or the day of Brahma.He then blessed the king to be born as Vaivasvata Manu(Manu is the head of an epoch called Manwantara,and there are fouteen Manus for fouteen Manwantaras, the present being Vaivasvata Manwantara), son of Surya in the next kalpa,and the sages and other lives would continue the creation.The philosophical teachings of Lord Matsya came to be contained in Matsya purana.

        It is also said that Lord Rama returned to Ayodhya from his forest life on this day,and got it celebrated.

       In Maharashtra, Yugadi is celebrated as Gudi Padwa,a flag hoisting ceremony.A long bamboo pole, decorated with silk, and a copper or silver vessel placed over it, with a garland of sweets and neem leaves tied over it is fixed on the terrace of the house.It is called Gudi and worshipped,then removed by sunset and the sweets and neem leaves are distributed to everyone.It is said that it is a flag hoisting to commemorate the killing of Vaali by Rama.But it has a basis in a story from the Adiparva of the Mahabharata.Accordingly,there was a king called Uparichara Vasu who was ruling the kingdom Chedi.He was however always doing penance instead of ruling.Lord Indra, the king of gods got a doubt that he was doing penance for acquiring his post.He appeared to Vasu and advised him to do his duty of ruling the kingdom, rather than doing penance,if he wanted to go to heavenly worlds.He also said that he would be his friend thereafter, and gifted him an airplane and a lotus garland called Vaijayanti maala.He said that he could go to any place in the universe in that airplane.He also gifted him a bamboo pole, saying that it would give him anything he asked.He himself settled in the pole in the form of a swan.Vasu took all these gifts and stopped his penance.He worshipped the bamboo pole and Lord Indra in it and did the same every year, beginning a celebration called Indrotsava,or the festival of Indra.The day on which he received the bamboo pole and started it's worship was this day, and hence it is celebrated as Gudi Padwa.The king's name Uparichara became adjective to him,as he then often travelled in the sky in the airplane given by Indra (Upari-above,chara-moving).

       Thus, Yugadi, the new year's day of Hindus is a very important festival, which is very much rejoiced.It is considered to be one of the four most auspicious days, the others being,Vijayadashami,Balipadyami, and Akshayatritiya.It is also celebrated as the beginning of the Vasanta Navaratra, the nine night festival of the  spring season, the other Navaratra being Sharannavaratra,or the Navaratra of the Autumn season or Dasara.

Kuvalayamala, a Jain novel in prakrit, translated to English

Kuvalayamala, a prakrit Jain  novel of ancient India has been translated into English and published by Sapna Bookhouse. It is in two big volumes. Similar to many Jain stories and long novels this also has a combination of love, romance, adventure and admonitions along with many short stories interwoven. Some other Jain stories of this sort are Samaradityakatha, Tarangavatikatha, Champakashreshthikatha, Vasudevahindee etc.  which are not available easily and some being totally lost. All these stories took form after Brihatkatha, or the big story collection of Gunadhya in a prakrit language called paishachi. Though this is not extant, it's Sanskrit equivalents, Kathasaritsagara of Somadeva, Brihatkathamanjari of Kshemendra and Brihatkathashlokasangraha of Budhaswamin are present. All these contain wonderful stories which can be used to produce many many films like Bahubali. After this, Panchatantra of Vishnusharma, Hitopadesha of Narayana, Vetalapanchavimshati of Shivadasa and Jambhaladatta,  Shukasaptati of Chintamanibhatta, Purushapareeksha of Vidyapati, Bhojaprabandha of Ballalasena, Simhasanadwatrimshika of different authors, Jatakamala of Aryashura and many other story collections came in Sanskrit. Big novels like Banabhatta's Kadambari, Dandi's Dashakumaracharita, Soddhala's Udayasundarikatha, Dhanapala's Tilakamanjarikatha etc. are wonderful stories in Sanskrit.  Similar to these, Jains too wrote large collections of stories in Sanskrit, Prakrit, Apabhramsha, Kannada, Gujarati etc. Harishena's Birihatkathakosha, Merutunga's Prabandhachintamani, Rajashekhara's Prabandhakosha, Bharatakadwatrimshika of unknown author, Dhurtakhyana of Haribhadrasuri, Dharmapareeksha of Amitagati, Trishashtishalakacharita and Parishishtaparva of Hemachandra, and many books called Kathakoshas by various authors in Sanskrit and Prakrit, Vaddaradhane of Bhrajishnu and Dharmamrita of Nayasena in Kannada, Long novels like the present one, and Vasudevahindee of Sanghadasagani,  a Jain version of Brihatkatha are some examples. Jains also have Mahapurana, by Jinasenacharya.Similarly Buddhists have Jataka stories said to be of Buddha's previous births, a huge collection of 545 stories and Dhammapada attha katha in Pali, Avadanakalpalata of Kshemendra,Jatakamala of Aryashura,  Divyavadana, a set of 38 long stories in Sanskrit. All these being more of folk and moral stories coupled with Vedic stories, more of Dharmic genre, of Vedas, Upanishads, Ramayana, Mahabharata, the 18 Puranas and 18 Upapuranas form an extremely huge collection of traditional Indian stories! This, along with folk tales from individual states and languages, temple legends, pilgrimage and river legends along with historical legends form a highly rich collection! Many of our stories especially the Jain and Buddhist influenced western fairy tales and Arabian nights.

The Story of Syamantaka Gem

Chitrakatha

Here are two pictures,one from Bombemane,an old magazine published in Kannada,Hindi, Telugu and other languages and the second from the popular Amar Chitra Katha.Both are showing an encounter of Lord Krishna with Jambavan, the chief of bears.This is the famous story of the Syamantaka gem, narrated in the Bhagavatam, Vishnu Purana, and Harivamsha.Let us briefly see the story of this.

     Satrajita was a Yadava chief who was a great devotees of Lord Surya, the sungod.Surya, pleased by his devotion,gifted him a special gem called Syamantaka gem,which would bestow lots of gold everyday,and also there wouldn't be any physical or mental distress,famine,or any sorts of ill happenings surrounding it's presence.Once Satrajita wore it and went around Dwaraka,and due to it's effulgence,he appeared very bright! People mistook him to be Surya himself and went and told Krishna who was playing dice, that Surya had come to visit him! Krishna laughed and told them that it was Satrajita who was wearing the Syamantaka gem and not Surya.Later, once Krishna told Satrajita that such gems would be better to be with King Ugrasena rather than himself as the king could help many people with it.But Satrajita didnot agree.After this,one day, his brother by name Prasena wore the gem in his necklace and went for hunting.In the forest however,he was killed by a lion, which took the gem attracted by it.Later the lion too was killed by Jambavan, the chief of bears,who again took the gem to his cave and gave it to his child to play with.Now when Prasena didn't turn up even after two days, Satrajita got worried and blamed Krishna that he himself had killed his brother for want of the gem.People too got a negative opinion on Krishna.Krishna however, not getting perturbed, decided to get rid of the ill fame upon him. He went along with some elders to the forest.There he found the dead body of Prasena near which there were footprints of the lion.They all followed the lion's footprints and next found the dead body of the lion and next to it the footprints of a bear.They then followed those footprints and reached Jambavan's cave.Krishna told the elders to wait outside and went inside the cave.He there saw a baby bear playing with the Syamantaka gem in the cradle.Krishna tried to take the gem when the mother bear saw him and screamed! Jambavan immediately came out and fell on Krishna.Both fought fiercely but none could win or lose.The fight went on for twenty eight days and finally Jambavan realized that Krishna was none other than Rama whom he had served in Tretayuga.He stopped fighting and saluted Lord Krishna saying he knew who he was.Krishna then touched him softly all over and all his wounds and pain disappeared.He then told Jambavan about the gem, and Jambavan gave him the gem.He also gave his daughter Jambavati in marriage to him.Krishna then went out of the cave but saw that all the elders had returned to Dwaraka.Krishna then came to Dwaraka and showed everyone the gem and cleared his ill fame.He then gave it to Satrajita and told him all that had happened.Satrajita felt ashamed for blaming Krishna.In order to get rid of his guilt,he offered the gem to Krishna himself along with his daughter Satyabhama in marriage.Krishna accepted Satyabhama but gave him back the gem.

        After this incident, Krishna and Balarama went to Indraprastha to attend the Rajasuya yaga of the Pandavas.Now, Satrajita had once promised Akrura,Kritavarma, and Shatadhanva, the three Yadavas that he would give his daughter Satyabhama in marriage to any one of them.But since he gave her in marriage to Krishna, the three got angry with Satrajita and conspired to kill Satrajita.The other two provoked Shatadhanva to kill Satrajita and take the gem.Accordingly one night Shatadhanva killed Satrajita and taking the gem,ran away! In the morning, Satyabhama, seeing her father dead,got shocked and rushed to Indraprastha to tell Krishna about this.Krishna and Balarama went in search of the three Yadavas.Now Akrura and Kritavarma,on hearing that Krishna was after them, left Shatadhanva and went into hiding.Shatadhanva gave the gem to Akrura and ran away.Krishna and Balarama found Shatadhanva and chased him upto Mithila where Krishna killed Shatadhanva from his discus.But he didn't find the gem with him.Now Balarama went to Mithila to become the guest of the king there while Krishna went in search of Akrura.It was at this time that Duryodhana came to Mithila and learnt the art of mace fighting from Balarama.Krishna, on coming back to Dwaraka went in search of Akrura and finally found him.Akrura apologized to Krishna and gave him the gem.Krishna told him that he would just show the gem to people so that he would get rid of his blame but told him to keep the gem himself though it was to belong to his and Satyabhama's son.Accordingly, Krishna showed the gem to people again and thus clearing his blame,gave it back to Akrura.Akrura was basically a devotee of Lord Krishna but somehow involved in the conspiracy.It is said that it was due to the curse of Gopis of Vrindavana for his mistake of separating Krishna from them.Thus everything settled.

The Best of Indian Wit and Wisdom, special bound edition of Amar Chitra Katha

The Amar Chitra Katha series of comics has brought out a beautiful special bound edition,'The Best of Indian Wit and Wisdom', having fifteen titles as shown here including the first one being,'The Adventures of Baddu and Cchotu',a folktale from Bengal.This is a beautiful edition covering many regional folktales, tales from the Panchatantra, Hitopadesha, Buddhist Jataka tales, Jain tales, animal tales from the Mahabharata, tales of jesters like Birbal,Tenali Rama, and Gopal,and tales told by Sri Ramakrishna paramahamsa.Thus, this volume is a collector's edition of Indian folklore, worth to be bought and gifted.

Great Indian Classics, Special Bound Edition of Amar Chitra Katha

A delightful coffee table bound edition of Amar chitra katha,containing twenty wonderful volumes of Indian literary classics retold in simple English language and colourful pictures,enjoyable for both young and adults. These are, Kalidasa's Sanskrit plays,Abhijnana Shakuntalam(as Shakuntala),Malavikagnimitram(as Malavika),and Vikramorvashiyam(as Urvashi),other Sanskrit classics,namely,Bhasa's play Swapnavasavadatta(as Udayana), Harsha's plays Ratnavali(as Ratnavali), and Nagananda(as Nagananda), and Shudraka's play Mricchakatika(as Vasantasena),Bengali classics of Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyaya,namely,the novels Anandamatha, Devi Choudharani, Raj Singh, and Kapala kundala, in the same names,Tamil classics ,namely,Ilango Adigal's epic Shilappadikaram(as Kannagi),Sundaram Pillai's play Manonmaniyam (as Manonmani), Tirutakkatevar's epic poem Jivakachintamani (as Jivaka),writings of poets Peruchithiranar and Peruthalaichathanar in the Sangam poetry collection Purananuru of their king Kumanan(as Kumanan), Kannada classics ,namely,Gorur Ramaswamy Iyyengar's short story Bhootayyana maga Ayyu(as Taming of Gulla), and Masti Venkatesh Iyyengar's play Kakana kote (as The Elusive Kaka),Punjabi classic,namely,Bhai Veer Singh's novel Satwant Kaur in the same name, Marathi classic, namely, Nath Madhav's novel Veer Dhawal,in the same name,and Malayalam classic, namely, C. V. Raman pillai's novel Marthandavarma, in the same name.These pictorial classics take us to a different world of bygone ages and enthrall us.

#ACKStory

Dashavatar Special Issue of Amar Chitra Katha

Lord Vishnu, the maintainer God of the universe, and one of the Trinity (the three principal Gods of Hindu pantheon,Brahma, the creator and Shiva, the destroyer being the other two) incarnated many times to protect the devotees and noble people and destroy the evil and miscreants.His incarnations are called Avatars.Ten of them are prominent and they are collectively called Dashavatars.These Dashavatars are,Matsya (Fish),Kurma (Tortoise),Varaha (Wild Boar),Narasimha(Half man,half lion),Vamana (Dwarf Brahmin), Parashurama (Rama with axe),Lord Rama,Lord Krishna,Lord Buddha, and Lord Kalki.Nine avataras have taken place and Kalki is yet to take place at the end of Kaliyuga, the present age of quarrel.The Lord,as he says in the Bhagavadgita, incarnates again and again to protect the good and destroy the evil.The stories of Dashavatars are very fascinating,amusing and evoke moral, righteousness, and devotion in us.The Amar Chitra Katha series of comics has brought out Dashavatar in a beautiful special issue with wonderful narration and pictures.This is good to be read by young and old alike.