BharatiyaStories

  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...

  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...

  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...

  Pundalika and Pandarinatha   Temples are often built by kings and the wealthy as a thank you for blessings. Have you seen a God who is patiently awaiting for the devotee to find the time to attend to him. Surprised!!! Who is this God and which is the temple? This is none other than our dear Vittala of Pandarpur. So how did he come there? In the thick forest called Dandirvan there lived a young man called Pundalik, the son of Janudeva and Satyavati. He was a spend thrift and was irresponsible. He abused local people and extorted money to take care of himself. Even his own parents were not outside of his ill deeds. Pundalik harassed them and periodically took money from them for his activities. Frustrated and ashamed with the behaviour of their son, Pundalik’s parents left on a pilgrimage to Varanasi. Even this Pundalik did not allow. He decided to accompany them with his wife. Even in the route, he made his parents tend to the horses and other chores. The parents were...

  The story of a bhakta – Narahari Sonar- Part 1 Narahari was steadfastly refusing to even visit the Vittala temple. While this a cause for anger and amusement for many, for Narahari it was a matter of irritation that the towns folk kept asking him to go to this temple. One day while Narahari was sitting in his shop, a merchant he knew from the neighbouring town came to Narahari. Narahari enquired about his family and other matters. The merchant then told Narahari that he had come to give him some gold work. He added “It is going to be a challenging task for you. One thing about Narahari was he was very proud of his skill. He also liked a challenge. Narahari eagerly replied “ Tell me. I have been doing too much of routine work. I want to do something challenging.” The merchant replied “As you know I remained child less for many years. I had prayed that if I get a child I shall make an offering. I want you to help me complete my offering.” Narahari was happy to get some chal...

  The story of a bhakta – Sakkubai- Part 2 We saw in the last story about Sakkubai, a young girl born in a pious and humble family in Pandarpur. The father of a young man from the town of Karaveerapuram Krupanaraya came to Pandarpur and asked Sakkubai’s father for her hand in marriage to his only son, Oaduraya. Sakku’s dad gladly agreed without knowing that the whole family – Krupanaraya, his wife Gayyalibai and the bridegroom, Oaaduraya were mean, unkind and miserly and were disliked in their town. Sakkubai came to her new home fully of hope and happiness. A different truth awaited her. She was pushed into a life of slavery doing household work, fetching water and even pounding grain from morning till night. Her mother in law did not even give her proper food. Her husband and father in law instead of intervening were also mean and angry with her all the time. Sakku’s parents once visited her and were tearful to see their precious daughter wearing torn clothes and looking thin ...

The story of a bhakta – Sakkubai Once upon a time, in a small village near Pandarpur there lived an old couple. They were humble, pious and hard working. They did not have any children of their own and prayed to the Lord of Pandarpur to bless their home with a child. The Lord of Pandarpur blessed them with a beautiful girl chid. The happy couple named their daughter Sakkubai. Sakkubai, was very devoted to her parents and imbibed their sense of bhakti and love for Vittala of Pandarpur at a very early age. She used to assist her mother in the chores in the house. She used to gather flowers for the puja, clean the puja mantapa and participate in the daily rituals with her parents. When Sakkubai reached marriageable age, her parents looked for a suitable bridge groom for their daughter. During that period there was a beautiful town on the banks of the Krishna river called Karaveerapuram. Karaveerapuram had lush fields, beautiful water bodies and flowers and fruit orchards. The town...

  Know your Hero(ines) # Trailblazers Discovery of one lady courtesan by another. Bangalore Nagarathnamma was a famous dancer and courtesan who lived in the 20 th century was famous as a path breaking woman in many respects. This story is not about her. This is about another courtesan and literary woman whose work Bangalore Nagarathnamma brought to the fore. In 1910, Nagarathanamma resurrected the work of another courtesan who lived in the 19 th century Muddupalani. Muddupalani’s work Radhika Santawanam was a treatise to the Bhakti path depicting the love between Radha and Krishna Muddupalani was a celebrated courtesan and scholar during the reign of the Maratha king Pratapasimha in the 18th century Thanjavur. Muddupalani wrote Santawanam (Appeasing Radhika), a sringara-prabandham popular in Telugu literature with 584 verses which depict Radha’s unfailing love for Krishna and her jealousy as he is married to a younger bride Ila. The work was published in 1887 and was...

  Know Your Dharma Why do we blow the conch? (Content Courtesy – Sanathan Dharma – Knowledge, Science and Wisdom) When the conch is blown, the primordial sound of Om emanates. Om is an auspicious sound that was chanted by the Lord before creating the world. It represents the world and the Truth behind it. As the story goes, the demon Shankhaasura defeated devas, takes the Vedas and went to the bottom of the ocean. The devas appealed to Lord Vishnu for help. He incarnated as Matsya Avataara - the "fish incarnation" and killed Shankhaasura. The Lord blew the conch-shaped bone of his ear and head. The Om sound emanated, from which emerged the Vedas. All knowledge enshrined in the Vedas is an elaboration of Om. The conch therefore is known as shankha after Shankaasura. The conch blown by the Lord is called Paanchajanya. He carries it at all times in one of His four hands. It represents dharma or righteousness that is one of the four goals (purushaarthas) of life. T...

  # Dasha Dharma Patience 1.          Dhṛti - Patience 2.          Kṣhamā - Forgiveness 3.          Damo - Calmness 4.          Asteyaṃ - Not coveting/ stealing 5.          Saucam - Cleanliness 6.          Indriyanigraha – Control of senses 7.          Dhīr – Righteous Action 8.          Vidya – Pursuit of knowledge 9.          Satyam - Truthfulness 10.        Akrodho – Control of anger daśakaṃ dharmalakṣaṇam ।।   We had seen the story of Sukeshi who went to the ashram of the sages in the Magadh forest and learnt many dharmic concepts. ( https://bharatiyastories.blog...