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.

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

Previous Story of Manthara

Why did Manthara spoil Kaikeyi's mind?

A tale from the Ramopakhyana of Mahabharata

We all know that it was Manthara who spoiled Kaikeyi's mind and made her ask Dasharatha to send Rama for exile and coronate her son Bharata instead.As per Valmiki Ramayana there was no reason for her to do so and she was basically a wicked lady who would not tolerate such happy events.However the Mahabharata gives an interesting story for this.In the Mahabharata,there is Ramopakhyana,or the substory of Lord Rama, narrated by Sage Markandeya to Yudhishthira to console him in the forest saying that previously too many people had suffered like him.In this story,it is told that when all the gods went to Lord Vishnu to ask his help to vanquish the evil Ravana,he said he would incarnarte as a human being.At that time,Lord Brahma told the gods to take birth in different beings like monkeys and bears from their parts to help Lord Vishnu.He then told a Gandharva lady called Dundubhi to take birth as a hunchback woman and told her what she had to do.Thus,as per his advice,she was born as Manthara, the maidservant of Kaikeyi, and brought about the stoppage of Rama's coronation by poisoning Kaikeyi's mind.As a result of this,Rama had to go to the forest and then with the series of events involving abduction of Sita by Ravana, he killed Ravana which was the main purpose of his incarnation.

Previous Story of Putana

Putana's previous story

We see in the Bhagavatam that Kamsa sent the demoness Putana to kill baby Krishna.Putana disguised like a beautiful lady and mesmerizing Yashoda and other gopis,she took baby Krishna to breastfeed him and thereby kill him by her poisonous breast milk.Krishna saw her like his mother and while sucking her breast,he also sucked off her life! Putana fell down taking to her gigantic form and died.Later Nanda and others could not lift her heavy body and hence cut her body into pieces and burnt them.As they burnt,a divine fragrance emanated indicating that Putana had become pure due to the touch of Lord Krishna and attained liberation.Thus though Putana was a demoness, she attained liberation since she was killed by Lord Krishna.The Brahmavaivarta purana continues the story saying that a divine chariot came and took her to Goloka, the supreme abode of Lord Krishna.It also narrates Putana's previous life story.Putana, in her previous life was King Bali's daughter by name Ratnamala.When Lord Vamana, the dwarf incarnation of Lord Vishnu came to beg three steps of land from King Bali,his daughter Ratnamala saw the small boy Vamana and felt motherly affection for him.She felt if she had a son like him she could breast feed him.Lord Vamana understood her mind and allowed her to breastfeed him in her next life as Putana.Once she breast fed the Lord,she got rid of all her sins and went to Goloka.

Some stories of fools from the Kathasaritsagara

Some stories of fools from the Kathasaritsagara

     Once there was a merchant who had a foolish son.He went to an island called Katahadweepa to sell fragrant aloe wood.But in that island since none knew about aloe wood,they did not buy his aloe wood.However,he saw that they were buying charcoal, and he burnt all his wood, and getting charcoal out of them,he sold the charcoal for it's rate.He then returned home and appraised himself for his'cleverness'!

        Once a foolish farmer ate some fried sesame and felt it was very tasty.He then, thinking that if he sowed fried sesame, the same would grow and sowed fried sesame.When nothing grew, people laughed at his foolishness!

          One night,a fool thought that since he required water for bath and fire for the insence to worship God,it would be good if both were together.He hence put charcoal in the drum of water and slept.The next morning he saw that the charcoal had lost it's heat and water had become dirty!

         Once a fool thought that his wife's nose was flat and his teacher's nose was long and straight.Feeling that his wife should have such a long and straight nose,he cut off his teacher's nose while he was sleeping and brought it.He then cut off his wife's nose too and put his teacher's nose in that place.Nothing grew there,but he made both lose their noses!

         Once a foolish cotton trader went to sell his cotton,but none bought it seeing that it was impure.He at that time saw that a goldsmith was selling his gold after purifying it by heating it in fire.Seeing this,he too tried to purify his cotton by putting it in fire and all his cotton got burnt, making people laugh at him!

          Once a foolish person went to his father in law's house for the first time.Seeing in the kitchen white plain rice kept for cooking by his mother in law, he got attracted to it and put a handful of it into his mouth! Exactly at that point of time, his mother in law came in, and he, out of shame, could neither swallow the rice nor spit it out!Due to this, his cheeks became swollen up! Seeing this, his mother in law thought he had some disease and brought in her husband.Seeing him,he brought a doctor.The doctor thought he had a swelling and made a slit in his cheek.And out came the rice grains, and people laughed at him!

Previous Stories of Ravana -5

Previous Stories of Ravana-5

Penance of Ravana and others

Dashagriva and Kumbhakarna, having taken birth, grew up in the forest being terrific to the world. Kumbhakarna especially was highly intoxicated, and would eat up great sages! And he was always dissatisfied even after eating too much! Vibheeshana, however,was always righteous, and self controlled.

      One day, Kubera came to see his father Vishravas in his Pushpaka Vimana plane. Seeing him shine with effulgence, Kaikasi went upto Ravana and said," O son! See your brother who is so effulgent! You being his brother are equal to him! But just look at your state now! You too are equally powerful like him! Hence,try to become as great as him!"

     Hearing his mother's words, Ravana became very intolerant and said,"O mother! I hereby make an oath that I shall become equal to or even greater than my brother! You don't worry!"

     So saying, Ravana in anger, decided to do a severe penance along with his brothers! He thus went to a pilgrimage place called Gokarna with his brothers to do penance. 

     All the three brothers began severe penance following holy rites. Kumbhakarna during summer, established four fires at four corners, with sun as the fifth fire and thus did penance sitting between five fires. In the rainy season,he sat below the showers of rain and did penance. And in the winter,he stood in cold water and did penance. In this way,he did penance for 10,000 years! 

    Vibheeshana did penance for five thousand years standing on one leg! His penance completed with this, the apsaras danced in joy and Devas praised him! They showered flowers on him from the sky! Vibheeshana then again continued penance on Lord Surya for another five thousand years! Thus,he did penance for ten thousand years!

    Ravana did penance for ten thousand years without taking any food! As he completed one thousandth year of penance,he sacrificed his one head in the fire! In this way,he did penance for nine thousand years and sacrificed his nine heads! After finishing his ten thousandth year of penance,he got ready to sacrifice his tenth head too! And Lord Brahma appeared along with gods immediately! 

     Lord Brahma said,"I am happy with your penance! Ask for any boon! Let your efforts not go wasted!"

     Ravana felt happy at this and said folding his hands,"O Lord! There is no other fear apart from death for all living entities! Hence I wish for immortality!"

    At this Brahma said,"Immortality is not for you! Hence ask for some other boon!"

         Ravana then said,"O Lord! I would then desire to be free of death from the hands of Nagas,Yakshas,Daityas,Danavas, Rakshasas, and Devas! I am not worried of other animals and humans! They are just like grass for me!"

        At this,Lord Brahma said,"O best among Rakshasas! It shall be as you said! I shall also grant you another boon! All your heads you have sacrificed in the fire shall sprout back! I shall grant you another rare boon! You shall be able to take the form you wish!"

       As Brahma said so,all the heads of Ravana came back to him!

      After granting boons to Ravana, Brahma went upto Vibheeshana and told him to ask boon. Vibheeshana, folding his hands,said,"O Lord! If you are pleased I am satisfied! The boon I seek is that, even if I am struck in the greatest misery my mind should be situated in Dharma! Let me get the knowledge of Brahmastra even without being taught! Let me follow the dharma of any stage of life I get into!"

      Lord Brahma felt very happy with him and said,"O son! You are indeed righteous!It shall happen as you said! Though you have obtained rakshasa life, your mind shall not get into adharma! Hence I shall grant you immortality!"

        Thus granting boons to Vibheeshana, Brahma then went upto Kumbhakarna to grant him boon. At that time,all the gods folded their hands and said to him,"O Lord! Please don't grant any boon to Kumbhakarna! You know how much he is tormenting the world! He has already eaten seven apsaras in Nandana garden ,ten servants of Lord Indra and many sages and men! He has done so much havoc even without getting any boon! He shall eat up all the three worlds if he gets any boon! O Lord! Somehow bewilder him in the form of a boon so that all the three worlds shall be benefited also!"

       As the gods requested Lord Brahma like this,he remembered his wife Saraswati. She immediately appeared and folding her hands asked for any service. And Lord Brahma said,"O Saraswati! Stay in the tongue of Lord Brahma and fulfill the task of gods!"

     Agreeing to this, Saraswati entered Kumbhakarna's tongue. When Brahma asked him to beg a boon, Kumbhakarna said,"O Lord! It is my desire to be sleeping for many years!"

    "So be it!" Brahma said and left for his abode with the gods. Goddess Saraswati also left. Now Kumbhakarna got back his intelligence and chastised himself,"O! What mistake did I do? Why did I say so? Surely I must have been mesmerized by the gods!"

     Thus,all the three brothers took boons and went to a forest called Shleshmataka and lived there happily.

To continue

Previous Stories of Ravana -4

Previous Stories of Ravana-4

Birth of Ravana and others

Sumali lived with his family in the nether world,Rasatala for a long time in fear of Lord Vishnu. By this time,Kubera the treasurer of gods occupied Lanka. After some time,Sumali started coming out of Rasatala with his daughter Kaikasi and began wandering around the earth. At that time,he once saw Kubera going in his Pushpaka Vimana to meet his father. Seeing him so radiant like fire,Sumali got astonished. After coming back to Rasatala,he thought over," By doing what can we progress? How can we prosper?"

     He then called his daughter Kaikasi and told her,"Dear daughter! This is the right time to give you in marriage to a proper bridegroom! Youth will pass away! Many young men are not coming forward to marry you in the fear that you may refuse! We all are in fact trying to search a good bridegroom for you! Do one thing! You go yourself and marry Sage Vishravas, who is the son of Sage Pulastya and the grandson of Lord Brahma. If you marry him,you may beget sons as good as his son Kubera!"

    Accordingly, Kaikasi, respecting her father's words,went to the place where Sage Vishravas was doing penance and stood before him. It was evening then and he was performing a fire sacrifice. Kaikasi, without thinking that the period of evening was terrific for sensual thoughts, bent down her head and began scratching the ground with her toe nails. The sage, seeing her, asked her,"O noble lady! Whose daughter are you? Where have you come from? What can I do for you?"

      Kaikasi then said," O sage! You can know yourself! But I shall still tell as you have asked.I am Kaikasi, the daughter of Sumali. I have come here as per my father's suggestion. The rest of the matter, you can know yourself,O sage!"

     The sage went into a trance and by his divine vision,he understood why she had come. He then said to her,"O lady! I understand that you have come here to beget children from me! But the time you have come is not right! It's the evening time not proper for such thoughts. Hence, the children born to us will be cruel Rakshasas!"

    Hearing this, Kaikasi got scared and said folding her hands,"O sage! I don't want your children to be cruel like that! Please offer good benediction!"

     The sage then said again,"Since you requested,your fourth son will be a noble and righteous one befitting my clan!"

     Thus, Kaikasi married the sage Vishravas. After some time,she gave birth to a rakshasa who was of a terrific form! He had ten heads, twenty hands, big face,red lips, and big canine teeth! As soon ashe was born, female jackals started spitting fire balls! Birds of prey began circling in anticlockwise direction! Clouds thundered like donkeys and rained blood! Meteors showered from the sky! Earthquake occurred! Fierce storms blew! Sea gushed forth! Sage Vishravas seeing the child having ten heads named him Dashagriva. This Dashagriva became famous as Ravana later.

      Next was born Kumbhakarna,a great giant. There was no body as huge as his! And then was born a girl child called Shurpanakha,who had terrific face! At last was born Vibheeshana, the righteous. As soon as he was born, flowers showered from the sky! Gods played the kettledrums in pleasure! They said,"Great! Great!" from the sky!

Previous Stories of Ravana-3

Previous Stories of Ravana-3 

 War between Lord Vishnu and the Rakshasas

  The three Rakshasas, Malyavan,Sumali and Mali, having obtained nice boons from Lord Brahma and having settled in a nice city called Lanka,now began tormenting the gods and sages. They all went to Lord Shiva and prayed him to protect them by killing those wicked Rakshasas. But Lord Shiva,as he had benedicted Sukesha, the father of the three demons,he said he couldn't kill them and asked the Devas and Rishis to go to Lord Vishnu with the same prayer. The gods and sages accordingly went to Lord Vishnu and prayed him with the same request. Lord Vishnu assured them fearlessness and agreed to kill the demons. At this, the gods and sages felt happy and returned to their abodes. Now Malyavan who came to know of this, told his brothers the same, telling them that Lord Vishnu was very powerful, asked their opinion. At this, his brothers said,"O brother! We too are powerful! Lord Vishnu doesn't have any enemity with us! But it is the Devas who have provoked him to fight with us! Hence let us ourselves attack the Devas!" Malyavan agreed to this. The three brothers then marched to the abode of Devas with a huge army of Rakshasas. At that time,a lot of I'll omens occurred, but the Rakshasas didn't care. Once they reached heaven, a messenger of gods immediately rushed to Lord Vishnu and told him of his arrival. Lord Vishnu immediately wore an armour,took his arms and left for the battle on Garuda,his giant bird vehicle. As soon as he arrived, the Rakshasas got shaken just by the wind blown by Garuda's wings! The Rakshasas then showered lots of arrows upon him! But they all entered his body just as all the worlds would enter him at the time of deluge! For a moment they made him breathless by surrounding him from all sides and attacking him! But then Lord Vishnu began showering lots of arrows upon them from his Sharnga bow and cut off the heads of many of them! Many Rakshasas got scattered away far and wide from the onslaught of his arrows which were showering like rains from the clouds! He then blew his conch Panchajanya very loudly at which the Rakshasas shook with fear! Many of them fell from their chariots! Horses stood still and elephants lost their power! The Rakshasas, unable to bear the onslaught of his arrows, the sounds of his conch and the twang of his bow, ran away in fear towards Lanka! Now,Sumali came forward to fight with Lord Vishnu. He covered Vishnu with his arrows and roared loudly filling courage in the Rakshasas! At this Lord Vishnu shit an arrow and cut off his charioteer's head! Without the charioteer, the horses of Sumali's chariot ran helter skeler and took him far away! Then, Mali attacked Lord Vishnu with his arrows. But just as a self controlled person doesn't get disturbed by mental afflictions,Lord Vishnu, didn't get disturbed. He then shot his arrows and dropped the crown of Mali! He then cut off his chariot flag, and his bow, and killed his chariot's horses! However,Mali didn't flee from the battlefield but came rushing with a mace. He hit Garuda's head with the mace! At this,Garuda turned back with pain and thus made Vishnu turn back! The Rakshasas,seeing this,roared in happiness! Vishnu however,sat opposite on Garuda and immediately hurled his discus, Sudarshana Chakra at Mali and cut off his head! Mali thus dead,Sumali and Malyavan became depressed and turned towards Lanka. By then,Garuda, having recovered from pain turned back and Vishnu chased the Rakshasas. Seeing this, Malyavan turned to him and said,"O Vishnu! You do not seem to know the ancient dharma of Kshatriyas! One who kills those who are running away from war shall not go to heaven! Anyway,if you want to fight,I am standing before you! Show me your prowess!" At this,Lord Vishnu said,"O Rakshasa! I have assured fearlessness to the Devas who were tormented by you! Hence I shall kill all of you even if you flee to Patala, the nether world!" Malyavan,very angry at this,took a spear and hurled it at the chest of Vishnu which stuck there! Vishnu plucked it from his chest and hurled it back at Malyavan. Malyavan's armour got torn by this and he too fell unconscious! He however again got up and hurled a spear with thorny sticks at Vishnu's chest and also hit him with his fist! This made Vishnu move behind by the space of a bow! At this, the Rakshasas praised Malyavan! Malyavan then hit Garuda too! Garuda,angered by this, blew off Malyavan just with the wind of his wings very far! Seeing this,Sumali, with his army rushed to Lanka! Malyavan too, who fell far away,ran to Lanka with his army in shame. Lord Vishnu however didn't leave the Rakshasas. He further chased them to Lanka. The Rakshasas,who fought many wars with him couldn't bare him and ran away with their wives and children to Patala, the nether world leaving Lanka! They lived there under the leadership of Sumali. Thus narrating,Sage Agastya said to Lord Rama that the Rakshasas whom he killed were called Paulastyas,who came from Sage Pulastya. Mali and others who were before Ravana were even more powerful than him! Only Lord Vishnu could kill them and he, Rama was Lord Vishnu himself. To continue