BharatiyaStories

    The Journey of Cauvery to the South It was a time of great celebration. The entire universe was happy and rejoicing. What was the occasion? It was the wedding of Shiva and Parvati. The entire universe and all its inhabitants were going to the wedding. This resulted in an imbalance where the entire population from the South was going towards Kailash. This meant that the entire the south of the Bharatavarsha were left unattended. Lord Shiva asked a few rishis and others to go down south and to take care of the affairs there. He called Sage Agasthya and told him also to go south and be there. Sage Agasthya was a little reluctant as there were no holy rivers in the south that were suitable for religious activities. Sensing his hesitancy, Lord Shiva gave Sage Agasthya a little of the Ganga and told him to release it so that there is a holy river in the south not just for Sage Agasthya but for all the people who engage in austeritie

  Story on Damo – Calmness Yudishtra and the Yaksha The Pandavas had been exiled for a period of twelve years after their loss to the Gauravas in the game of dice. As per the conditions laid to the losers, they had to spend twelve years in the forest and the thirteenth year incognito. The brothers were discussing amongst themselves as to what should be the next course of action and how and where to live incognito. When they were in the midst of their discussion, they were approached by a brahmin. He said that he needed their help. Being kshatriyas, the Pandavas thought it was their duty to help a person in distress. They asked the brahmin how they could help him. He said that his wooden sticks (arani) that are used to kindle the daily fire had gotten entangled in the horns of a stag. The stag had run into the forest with the wooden sticks. The brahmin requested the Princes to recover his arani as he would be unable to perform his daily rituals without them. The Pandavas thought

    Agni an d the Kandava forest Once Lord Agni fell sick due to excessive consumption of the yagna ghee ( https://bharatiyastories.blogspot.com/2024/05/shvetaki-and-agni.html ). This excessive consumption happened due to the constant yagnas conducted by a king called Shvetaki . King Shvetaki was very fond of conducting yagnas. Once he wanted to conduct a hundred year yagna. As a prelude to that he conducted a non-stop yagna for 12 years where he poured ghee into the yagna fire non-stop. This surfeit of offering was what had made Lord Agni sick. A sick Lord Agni meant that he was not enthusiastic in accepting the offerings in the yagnas. The yagna fire in many sacrifices started looking dull and lustreless. This started affecting the yagnas all over the Universe. Lord Agni decided he needed some help to get better. He went to Lord Brahma and told him what happened. Lord Brahma gave Agni a solution that was simple. Lord Brahma

    We have seen earlier the story of Sukeshi who went to the ashram of the sages in the Magadh forest and learnt many dharmic concepts. ( https://bharatiyastories.blogspot.com/2024/02/pious-asuras-and-worried-gods ). Amongst the many things he learnt from the sages, he also got the knowledge of the ten basic principles of Dharma that is common to all people irrespective of their occupation (varnas). We had already covered two of these Dharmas through relevant stories. Please see the link below. Dasha Dharma 1.         Dhṛti – Patience ( https://bharatiyastories.blogspot.com/2024/02/dashdharma-patience-shabari.html ; https://bharatiyastories.blogspot.com/2024/02/dash-dharma-patience.html ) 2.         Kṣhamā – Forgiveness ( https://bharatiyastories.blogspot.com/2024/03/dashadharma-story-of-kaakasura-from.htmll ) 3.         Damo - Calmness 4.         Asteyaṃ - Not coveting/ stealing ( https://bharatiyastories.blogspot.com/20