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.

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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.

A short quiz on Lord Ganesha

A short quiz on Lord Ganesha 

1.According to one Purana,once Parvati created a doll for fun and put it in the river Ganga and immediately it got life who became Ganesha. Thus, Ganesha had two mothers Parvati and Ganga, as a result of which he has a name. What is this name? 

2.According to one Purana, Parvati wished to have a child, for which Shiva told her to do a vrata (rite) on Lord Vishnu, by which Krishna himself would be born to her. She did so and Lord Krishna himself incarnated as Ganesha. Which Purana describes this special and unusual story? 

3.A gandharva out of pride once stamped the foot of Sage Vamadeva who cursed him to become a rat! He became a gigantic rat destroying everything on his way. He also destroyed Sage Parashara's ashrama where Ganesha was present. Ganesha got angry and with his noose,held the mouse and brought it to his feet. The mouse asked his forgiveness and Ganesha made him his vehicle. Who was this gandharva who became Ganesha's vehicle? 

4.Once,on the request of gods Ganesha fought with a demon called Analasura, a fiery demon and swallowed him. As a result of this, he got heated up and started burning. All the gods came to cool him with various materials but could not. Finally, when this material was put on him, he got cooled, for which he loves it and blessed that whoever offers him this would get blessed by him. What is this material? 

5.Ganesha on the request of a great Sage, wrote down a great epic which he dictated. Ganesha put a condition that the Sage had to dictate continuously  without stop for which the Sage put a condition that he had to understand every verse before writing.Thus it went on like this when Ganesha too had to think for some verses. Who was that Sage and which was the epic? 

Answers 

1.Dwaimatura

2.Brahmavaivarta Purana. 

3.Krauncha

4.Durva grass. 

5.Veda Vyasa and Mahabharata