Krishna was a lovable, divine character from whose flute came divine music and one who was the darling of Brindavan. His uncle, Kamsa, tried his best to kill him as Kamsa was destined to get killed by this divine being. Thus, Kamsa sent Poothani, Shakatasura and Trinavartha in various guises but each one was killed by the young Krishna. Even after Krishna located to Brindavan, Kamsa hounded him in various ways but turned out to be unsuccessful. Together with Balarama, Krishna got rid of ma...

Hanuman was born to Anjana, a vanara woman who was cursed by Brihaspathi for having pestered him to marry her. Hanuman was extremely radiant at birth and as a little baby, had once jumped into the sky to eat up the sun thinking it was a fruit! During a scuffle among Devendra, Rahu and Hanuman, Indra injured the child Hanuman and Vayudeva got angry with him. In retaliation, he took away the child and went into a cave. The world became bereft of air and Brahma had to intervene to ease the si...

Known by various names, Ganesha is a divine force, a remover of all hurdles and one who is worshipped before doing any good work. The story of Ganesha here is based on Brahmavaivartha Purana. Lord Sri Krishna was born as Ganesha to Siva and Parvathi after she completed the Punyaka vratha, the king of all vrathas. As dakshina, Sanatkumara asked Parvathi for her husband if she wanted to enjoy the fruits of the vratha completely.It is said that Shaneshwara who was under his wife's cur...

The Vedas and Upanishads are part of the Indian literary and cultural heritage. This series of books is a revelation of how one must lead life and what skills are to be acquired in order to live meaningfully with courage and fortitude. The stories that you would be reading are those of well known great sages, of our protectors such as Indra, Agni and Varuna as well as of lesser known personalities such as Naabhaaga and Satyakama Jaabaala. All these as well the story of Nachiketa's persever...

Sri Rama , an avatar of Lord Vishnu, was born to King Dasharatha and Queen Kausalya after the king performed the Aswamedha and Putrakameshthi yajnas. Rama and his three brothers had all the qualities of kshyatriyas and endeared themselves to one and all in Ayodhya. Sage Viswamitra once came to the king's palace and requested for Rama to be sent to protect his yajna from two demons' interference. Much to the king's consternation, Rama and Lakshmana left with the sage. The sage initiated Ram...

Ravana was born to Kaikasi and Vishravasa, and Pulatsya (son of Prajapathi Brahma) was his grandfather. Kumbhakarna and Vibhishana were his brothers and Shoorpanakha was his sister. As he was born with ten heads, he was known as Dashagreeva, Dashanana, etc. He went to Gokarna with his brothers and performed such severe penance that Lord Brahma appeared before him and granted him a boon by virtue of which he would be immune to death at the hands of devas, danavas, yakshas, nagas and garuda....

Vali and Sugreeva were born to a vanara maiden as a boon from Indra and Suryadeva respectively. Vali was crowned the king of Kishkinda. As a result of a number of boons he became invincible. When Ravana challenged his might, he simply carried the demon under his arm and smashed him down thus humiliating him. Ravana had to bow down to him and seek his friendship. There ensued a battle between Vali and Dundhubi, who came in the form of a wild buffalo. Vali destroyed him completely and hurled...

Arjuna was Kunti and Pandu's son born when Kunti invoked Devendra. At the time of his birth, a loud thunder proclaimed that he would be equal to Vishnu in courage, to Shiva in prowess and would uphold the name of the Kuru clan. He was Drona's best student who learnt the use of Brahmastra upon saving his teacher from the fatal grip of a crocodile. He was able to fulfill his guru's wish and thus brought King Drupada to Drona. He agreed to fight against his own guru and proved that he was sup...

Known as Bhishma Pitamaha, Bhishma was actually Devavratha, King Shanthanu and Mother Ganga's son. He received a boon from his father that he could choose his own time of death. He vowed never to get married and remained the constant guide, teacher, philosopher and friend to the Pandavas and the Kauravas. He kept his promise of never contesting the King's throne . Accordingly, after his father's death he made his brothers, Chitrangada and later, Vichitravirya, the kings. After both died, h...

Narada, Lord Brahma's son, was asked to leave Satyaloka, be born twice as a human being in order to understand the trials and tribulations of earthly life. So first, he was born as a gandharva when he invented the Veena. Second, he was born as a son of a housemaid who worked in a brahmin's house. Thus his mind was filled thoughts of God and service to Him. God appeared before him saying that he had fulfilled his purpose. Soon after, there was the great deluge and everything was destroyed. ...

Sage Vedavyasa, great grandson of Sage Vashista, was also known as Dwaipayana and Badarayana. He classified the Vedas into 4, wrote the Brahma Sutra, and divided the Puranas into 18 Mahapuranas. He initiated four of his disciples–Paila, Vaishampayana, Jaimini and Sumanthu – into the Vedas and invested with them the responsibility of continuing the tradition. Sage Vedavyasa had the power of seeing into the past and the future. Thus he convinced Drupada that the Pandavas were semi-divine and...

Vidura was Ambika's maid's son and an incarnation of Yamadharmaraya. He was born along with Pandu and Dhritarashtra.He was unequalled in righteousness and an expert in ethics. In fact, even Bhisma used to consult him on various matters. Vidura married Parasavi, King Devaka'a daughter. His guidance to Kunti and the Pandavas was invaluable. He helped the Pandavas to escape from the burning lac palace. Vidura gave very valuable advice to the Kauravas too but they did not take it the way the P...