BharatiyaStories

  Renuka and Jamadagni Bhishma was lying on the bed of arrows. Having been defeated by Arjuna, Bhishma fell but did not die. He had a boon that he could choose his time of death. He was waiting for Uttararyana Punyakaalam when the sun starts its northern movement towards the northern hemisphere. Yudhishtira being the knowledge seeker, used this period to get the knowledge and wisdom of Bhishma. This is called as the Bhishma – Yudhishtira Samvaad and continued for six days. The following story was one told by Bhishma to Yudhishtira during this conversation. Yudhishtira asked Bhishma how did the practice of giving footwear and umbrellas as an offering to the ancestors in the shrardh ceremony started. Bhishma narrated this story to Yudhishtira. Sage Jamadagni loved archery. He was happy when he honed his archery. He loved to set himself difficult targets and shoot at them. All this was nice except that his wife Renuka was his assistant. Since arrows were limited and took time to...

  Vikram and Betaal – Story 6 We saw how King Vikramaditya (Vikram) went to the cremation ground at the instruction of a sage to get a dead body and found a ghost. It agreed to come on the condition that the king should not talk till he reached his destination. The ghost had been telling him stories and tricked him into talking by putting an interesting question. The ghost also threatened him saying he will die if he knew the answer and did not answer. Vikram had the problem of either knowing the answer and dying or opening his mouth and letting the ghost go. He chose to answer as obviously he had to live to do the sage’s bidding. Here goes yet another trip and yet another story. Bringing a dead lion alive Once in a village called Sabarvani, there lived a brahmin called Saranga. Saranga was not only learned but was well trained in many other aspects such as medicine, magic and tantra. Saranga had four sons – Madhava, Rishiskesha, Aditya and Rudra. As was the practice, Saranga...

The earth becomes Pruthvi There was a time when Mother Earth decided not to share her wealth with humans. She was angered at the misuse and arrogance of humans in using her resources. This resulted in famine, hunger and death. Sounds very familiar to what we hear now? Misuse of natural resources results in climate change, drought, floods and untimely rains. This story from the puranas highlights the need to treat Mother Earth with respect. The earth had no ruler after the death of the cruel ruler Vena. The Saptharishis realised something needs to be done as a land without a ruler will be the breeding ground of Arajaga or lawlessness. They used the power of their penance to generate a being from the right thigh of Vena. From that came a very evil looking person emerged. The sages realised that this person was evil and shouted Nishada Nishada. Nishada means sit. But the evil dwarf like creature ran out of the yagna shaala. With his exit all the evil from Vena’s body had left. The s...

  Vikram and Betaal – Story 5 We saw how King Vikramaditya (Vikram) went to the cremation ground at the instruction of a sage to get a dead body and found a ghost. It agreed to come on the condition that the king should not talk till he reached his destination. The ghost had been telling him stories and tricked him into talking by putting an interesting question. The ghost also threatened him saying he will die if he knew the answer and did not answer. Vikram had the problem of either knowing the answer and dying or opening his mouth and letting the ghost go. He chose to answer as obviously he had to live to do the sage’s bidding. Here goes yet another trip and yet another story. The three suitors There lived a famous priest in one of the village near Ujjain. It so happened that he was blessed with a very beautiful. If there is a beautiful girl in a home, there will be young men who will be interested. The girl, named Mandravati also had a problem of plenty. She had many suit...

  Vikram and Betaal – Story 4 We saw how King Vikramaditya (Vikram) went to the cremation ground at the instruction of a sage to get a dead body and found a ghost. It agreed to come on the condition that the king should not talk till he reached his destination. The ghost then started telling him a story. Here goes.   The Exchanged Heads In a village near Kashi there once lived a washerman named Dhavala. Once while at the pond to he spotted a beautiful woman. He realised that she was the daughter of another washerman. Dhavala fell in love with the girl and pleaded with his parents to get him married to the girl. His parents were also happy to find a girl in a nearby village and both families agreed. The girl, Madanasundari and Dhavala got married. Madanasundari came to live with Dhavala in his family home. As was the practice in those days, the families went to each other’s village to attend festivities. Once Madanasundari’s brother visited her home to invite Dhaval...

  The Power of Association There is a saying “Tell me who your friend is, and I will tell you who are.” Association and friendships are that important in shaping our thoughts, deeds and speech. Sanatana Dharma believes association with the wise and the devout automatically brings benefits – not just to humans but also to the animals and birds. This nice story depicts the importance of association with the wise and devout. Sage Narada had a doubt. It is one thing to pray to the divine and get blessings but how does doing service to the rishis and the learned gets divine blessings. The sage decided to go to his favourite God in the Ksheerasagara (milky ocean), Lord Vishnu. He paid his respects and asked “Lord, what is the importance of associating with bhakts and devotees? Is it not better to serve you directly?” Vishnuji smiled and said “Go to the Naimisharanya forest. There will be a tree at the southern end where there is a...

  Vikram and Betaal – Story 2 We saw how King Vikramaditya (Vikram) went to the cremation ground at the instruction of a sage to get a dead body and found a ghost. It agreed to come on the condition that the king should not talk till he reached his destination. The ghost then started telling him a story. Here goes. The Sensitive Queens In the beautiful city of Ujjain once ruled a king who was valorous and dharmic at the same time. He was a good ruler and gave good and impartial judgement. As was the habit in those days the king had multiple queens. In this case, the king had three queens. The first one was from the nearby kingdom. She was well accomplished and beautiful. As the eldest queen he was a good friend and counsellor to the king on the right path. The second queen was from the far off easter kingdoms. She was very beautiful and was good at music and dance. She was also a good swords person and helped the king in his military strategy and war preparations and plan...

  The Lord and his pretender – Paundraka Vasudeva We all hero worship many people – sportsmen or sports women, leaders, scientists, teachers and in many cases even actors / actresses. We buy clothes like theirs, try and copy their mannerisms, way of talking etc. We think this is a modern day phenomenon? Certainly not. It was happening 5000 years ago during Krishna’s times. Once in a kingdom called as Karusha there was a king by the name of Paundraka. Paundraka was a friend of King Kamsa. Naturally being a friend of Kamsa, he was against Krishna. He was also jealous of Krishna’s popularity. Knowing his weakness, all his friends told him he is equal to or better than Krishna. They foolishly even encouraged him to dress up and behave like Krishna. Paundraka was foolish and vain enough to believe them and start doing the same. He painted his body dark blue in colour, attached some arms with shanka and chakra. He carried a flute too. Unfortunately, a donkey dressing as a peacock d...

  Story of Nriga (Bhagavatha purana) This was the time when Krishna and Balarama were young men and enjoying their time. Although Dwaraka a small kingdom was very rich in natural resources and wealth. Naturally the princes of this kingdom, Balarama and Krishna were treated with great affection and respect. Once the princes along with their friends had gone into the forest for a day of fun. In the heart of a lush forest near Vrindavan, young Krishna and his friends are gathered under the shade of tall trees for a joyful picnic. Mats made of woven grass are spread out, holding simple clay plates filled with fruits, sweets, and butter. The boys are laughing, some playing the flute, others feeding birds or reclining on the grass. Suddenly, their play is interrupted by a strange sound. A curious boy peers into an old dry well nearby and gasps. One by one, the boys—including Krishna, easily recognized by his peacock feather crow...

  Vikram and Betaal – Story 1 We saw how King Vikramaditya (Vikram) went to the cremation ground at the instruction of a sage to get a dead body and found a ghost. It agreed to come on the condition that the king should not talk till he reached his destination. The ghost then started telling him a story. Here goes.   The three special brahmins Once upon a time there lived a brahmin called Vishnuswamin. He had three sons. In the olden days, it was very common for sons who were part of the Vedic varnas to stay with their father and help him in his duties. The main duties of the people of Vedic varna was to chant the Vedas, perform yagnas (fire sacrifices) for the sake of the world and also to teach the scriptures to students who come to the Vedic school. Let us come back to our story. Vishnuswamin was once doing a yagna. For the purpose of that particular yagna he needed a tortoise. (Funny, isn’t it?) Vishnuswamin sent his three sons to go to the seashore and get him a tor...

  Vikramaditya – the Journey Begins Betaal Pachisi wrote a set of beautiful stories 2500 years ago in Sanskrit. These stories cover a whole lot of issues and are famously known as the Vikram and Betaal stories. The hero of the stories as the name indicates is King Vikramaditya also known as Vikram. Let us start with the first story of how Vikram meets Betaal. Betaal means a ghost. Once upon a time there was a strong and powerful king called Vikramaditya. He ruled over a province near the river Godavari. He was a fair and intelligent king. Once a sage visited the king and gave him a fruit and asked him to keep it safely. The king in turn gave it to his finance minister who kept it in the treasury with the gold and silver. After that regularly the sage came to the court and kept giving the king fruits. All these fruits were in turn kept in the treasury. This went on for some time. One day, the king gave the fruit to a monkey sitting on the wall. The monkey smashed it and inside...