tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29737660441844296142024-02-08T10:13:38.632-08:00Mythology StoriesiPowerFourhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11060347301400621085noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2973766044184429614.post-38280227897348398382009-06-02T19:10:00.000-07:002009-06-02T19:11:23.950-07:00The Story of Ganesh - Race around the worldOn an occasion, Shiva and Parvati had been given a fruit by the gods and both the sons Ganesh and Murugan (Kartikeya or Skanda or Kumara Swamy) wanted it. Some legends claim the dispute was about who was elder of the two. Anyway The parents then suggested that the one who circled the world three times and came back first would get it as a prize. Kartikeya got on the peacock, his vahana, and flew around the world stopping at all sacred spots on the way and offering his prayers. But at every major stop, he would find Ganesha ahead of him and was perplexed.<br /><br />Ganesha understood that his vehicle, the mouse, would not be able to compete with Skanda's peacock and he could never beat Kartikeya.<br /><br />But he thought for a while and came up with a solution. He walked around his parents, Shiva and Parvati, three times, with great devotion. When his parents asked him why he was not circling the globe, he answered that his parents are the whole world. I need go no further to travel the whole world.<br /><br />Skanda on returning back learned of this, and accepted the superiority of Ganesha, and bowed to him.<br /><br />There are many stories about Lord Ganesh about his later part of life. We shall be adding more stories of Lord Ganesh in due course of time.<br /><br />GANAPATI BAPPA MAURYA!!!iPowerFourhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11060347301400621085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2973766044184429614.post-76835344081932075772009-06-02T19:09:00.000-07:002009-06-02T19:11:53.307-07:00The Story of GaneshIt was Ganesh's birthday and he had been invited for dinner at a devotee's house. Ganesh had a very heavy meal and was returning home on his mouse, when a snake crossed their path. Seeing this, the mouse got very frightened and ran away, in the process felling Ganesh. Ganesh fell and his stomach, which was very full, burst open. Seeing this the moon burst out laughing. Ganesh felt very humiliated, so he killed the snake and tied it around his stomach. He then gave chase to the moon who ran for his life. The moon managed to evade Ganesh and hid in his palace. Ganesh soon came there and stood guard outside, telling the moon, "Where will you go now? You have to come out sooner or later and then I'll take my revenge".<br /><br />It became very dark, as the moon refused to come out. This resulted in chaos on earth. The gods went and pled with Ganesh to free the moon. Ganesh finally relented and let the moon come out, but cursed him saying, " You hid in your house like a thief. Therefore, anybody who sees you on my birthday, will be implicated as a thief". This is the reason why we are not supposed to look at the moon on the auspices of Ganesh Chaturthi. This was also the reason why Shri Krishna was accused of stealing the Shymantaka gem. That however is another story altogether.<br /><br />There are many stories about Lord Ganesh about his later part of life. We shall be adding more stories of Lord Ganesh in due course of time.<br /><br />GANAPATI BAPPA MAURYA!!!iPowerFourhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11060347301400621085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2973766044184429614.post-1454584396567745722009-06-02T19:06:00.001-07:002009-06-02T19:06:29.865-07:00The Story of KALKI AvatarIn KALKI Avatar, Lord Vishnu will incarnate himself as KALKI, the machine-man, who will come riding his white horse and with his blazing sword in his hands. This is supposed to be a future avatar of Lord Vishnu. At the end of Kali Yuga (present eon) He will punish all evil doers in this world, destroy this world supposedly and recreate a golden age again.<br /><br />KALKI is the last of the avatars of Lord Vishnu.iPowerFourhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11060347301400621085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2973766044184429614.post-70912599596887479672009-06-02T19:04:00.000-07:002009-06-02T19:05:52.756-07:00The Story of BUDDHA AvatarIn BUDDHA Avatar, Lord Vishnu incarnates himself as BUDDHA, the ascetic prince who renounced the throne to lead the world on the path of peace. He is the founder of the BUDDHIST religion prominent across the world. In certain sects of Hinduism, he is considered to be a divine incarnation of Lord Vishnu. He was born the crown prince of the Kapilavastu to Suddhodana and Maya. He was named Siddhartha, meaning "All thing fulfilled" by the king. But his mother died soon after his birth but Prajapati, the sister of Maya, brought Siddhartha up.<br /><br />Buddha was saddened by death of living creatures, since his childhood days and used to question: "Alas! Do all living creatures kill each other?". He wasn't happy with any answers that were provided to him and he decided to find out the meaning and the absolute truth and he left his wife and child to a hermit's life in the forest and one day, became the enlightened one. His preachings spawned off the religion of Buddhism now popular across the whole world.iPowerFourhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11060347301400621085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2973766044184429614.post-6719057611511045042009-06-02T19:03:00.000-07:002009-06-02T19:04:43.017-07:00The Story of KRISHNA AvatarIn KRISHNA Avatar, Lord Vishnu incarnates himself as KRISHNA , the central character in the epic MAHABHARATA. In this biggest epic of Indian mythology a myriad of topics are covered, including war, love, brotherhood, politics etc. It is essentially the story of two warring groups of cousin brothers, the PANDAVAs and the KAURAVAs. As a part of the Mahabahrata, during the war KRISHNA, gives a long discourse to his disciple ARJUNA, collectively termed as Bhagvad-Gita. Krishna, during his child-hood was responsible for the killing of Kansa. Krishna is also considered to be an ultimate playboy who was resonsible for charming all gopikaas(cowherdesses) around him.<br /><br />Unlike Ramayana, Mahabharata deals with more down to earth issues like politics, human nature, human weaknesses, and does not attempt to idealise the characters as in RAMAYANA.iPowerFourhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11060347301400621085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2973766044184429614.post-16392255694563540352009-06-02T19:02:00.000-07:002009-06-02T19:03:20.511-07:00The Story of RAMA AvatarIn RAMA Avatar, Lord Vishnu incarnates himself as RAMA , the central character in the epic RAMAYANA. In this biggest epic of Indian mythology a myriad of topics are covered, including war, love, brotherhood,ideal man , son etc. It is essentially the story of an ideal king, son, father and man, RAMA. As an ideal son, he agrees to abide by wishes of his father King Dasaratha to spend 14 years in forest, along with his wife Sita and brother Lakshman. During the course of his stay in forest, the demon Ravana abducts his wife Sita. Ram then sets out in search of his wife. During this he makes friends with king of monkeys Sugreeva, and his devotee Hanuman. In the end he wages a war with Ravana and rescues Sita to return to Ayodhya and rule it as an ideal king for 1000 s of years.iPowerFourhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11060347301400621085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2973766044184429614.post-16462652542214937902009-06-02T19:01:00.000-07:002009-06-02T19:02:22.911-07:00The Story of PARASURAMA AvatarIn PARASURAMA Avatar, Lord Vishnu incarnates himself as a brahmana(priest) in this world. He was brought in this world to avenge all kshatriyas who had become arrogant and were suppressing the brahmans in the world. He was born to Jamadagni and Renuka, and belonged to the Brighu clan. Parashurama was always carrying an axe presented to him by Lord Shiva of whom he was an ardent devotee. Kartavirya a powerful king, once went to Jamadagni's home when he was out, and after a meal, stole the Kamadhenu cow, which was supposed to give endless quantity of milk. Jamadgni was enraged and he went and killed the king and brought Kamadhenu back. On hearing this the son of the king came back and killed Jamdagni.<br /><br />Parasurama was enraged at this and went and avenged the death of his father by killing all kshatriyas in 21 battles. His story is story of the supremacy of brahmans over the kshatriyas.iPowerFourhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11060347301400621085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2973766044184429614.post-81110618188177966292009-06-02T19:00:00.000-07:002009-06-02T19:01:28.087-07:00The Story of VAMANA AvatarIn VAMANA Avatar, Lord Vishnu incarnates himself as a dwarf priest in this world. BALI, the grandson of Prahlada was a very valorous and mighty asura. By his penance and might, he conquered the whole world. Indra and other gods fearing that he and asuras would conquer all the three worlds, went to Lord Vishnu for help. Lord Vishnu was then born as a dwarf Vamana in the household of a brahmana(priest). He went to Bali on growing up and asked for alms. Bali was delighted to offer him anything he requested even though his priest warned him that it was Lord Vishnu.<br /><br />Vamana then requested for the amount of land that could come under his three feet. Bali gracefully agreed. Lord Vishnu then grew in size and covered the earth and heaven in two stride. And due to lack of space, he put his third leg on Bali himself and crushed Bali to the nether or the Patala loka(underground world), thus helping the Gods out.iPowerFourhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11060347301400621085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2973766044184429614.post-60205739533908024752009-06-02T18:59:00.000-07:002009-06-02T19:00:10.304-07:00The Story of NARASIMHA AvatarIn NARASIMHA Avatar, Lord Vishnu incarnates himself as a semi-man,semi-lion in this world. The king of demons(asuras), Hiranyakasyapa, wanted to become immortal and wanted to remain young forever. To this end, he meditated for Lord Brahma and because of his severe penance, the gods were frightened and asked Brahma to pacify the king. Brahma was impressed by his austerity and granted him a wish. HiranyaKasyapa wished that he be neither killed by a man or beast, nor in daylight or at night and neither inside or outside a building. Having obtained the wish he considered himself the supreme God and frobade all worship of gods by anyone. But his son Prahlada, was an ardent devotee of Vishnu. This enraged Hiranyakasyapa very much. He ordered numerous ways to kill Prahlada including asking his sister Holika to sit with Prahlada in the fire. But everytime Prahlada escaped unhurt. Enraged, once he asked Prahlad to show him the Lord Vishnu. Prahlad said, "He is everywhere". Further enraged, Hiranyakasyapa knocked down a pillar, and asked if Lord was present there. Lord Vishnu then emerged as a half lion, half man from the pillar which was neither inside the house nor outside, and the time was evening, neither night nor day. He then killed Hiranyakasyapa thus saving the life of his devotee Prahlada.<br /><br />So goes the story of Hiranyakasyapa and the NARASIMHA avatar.iPowerFourhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11060347301400621085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2973766044184429614.post-16487811908660481682009-06-02T18:58:00.000-07:002009-06-02T18:59:11.880-07:00The Story of VARAHA AvatarIn VARAHA Avatar, Lord Vishnu incarnates himself as a boar in this world. A demon Hiranyaksha, had prayed for Lord Brahma and got awarded a boon that no beast nor man nor god could kill him. But somehow from the list of beasts the name of boar was missing. This proved to be his lacunae. He then started a campaign of plunder across the worlds. He pushed the world to the Pataal loka, or the under of the sea. He stole the Vedas, the holy scriptures from the Lord Brahma, while he was asleep and performed huge atrocities.<br /><br />To retrieve the Vedas and to save the world the Lord Vishnu assumed the role of a boar and brought out the earth from the under of the ocean, using its two tusks. It then killed Hiranyaksha and retrieved the Vedas from the asura and brought it back to the safe custody of the Lord Brahma.<br /><br />There are some alternative versions of the story of Varaha too.iPowerFourhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11060347301400621085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2973766044184429614.post-37710037543758936872009-06-02T18:56:00.000-07:002009-06-02T18:57:59.386-07:00The Story of KURMA AvatarIn KURMA Avatar, Lord Vishnu incarnates himself as a tortoise. It is an interesting story involving both the gods (Devtas) and asuras (demons). In the ongoing saga of battle between the gods and asuras, on one occasion the gods suddenly lost all their strength due to a curse by the short-tempered sage Durvasa. The sage had once presented a garland of flowers to Indra,king of gods, who carelessly gave it away to his elephant which trampled it.<br /><br />The Devtas approached Vishnu for help. Vishnu then asked them to churn the ocean of milk after adding medicines into the ocean. Mt Mandara could be used a the churning stick he said. He requested them to ask them help of Asuras in lifting the mountain in exchange for offer of the share of nectar of immortality that would ensue from the churning. Both the devatas and the asuras churned the ocean using the serpent Vasuki as the rope. At the start, playing a Machiavellian trick, Indra, king of the gods asked the asuras for the head end of vasuki. But asuras suspecting foul play, took the head end, only to be deceived as the poison from Vasuki was slowly weakening them. But as churning was proceeding the mountain was sinking and then Lord Vishnu took the form of the tortoise KURMA and kept the mountain afloat. As soon as the bowl of amrita, the nectar of immortality was out, the asuras grabbed it. Then Lord Vishnu took the form of an apsara, a beautiful maiden, and seduced the asuras into letting her distribute the nectar and also to abide by her order of distribution. As soon as the devatas were served the maiden disappeared thus totally deceiving the asuras and making them totally weak.iPowerFourhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11060347301400621085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2973766044184429614.post-42704700488946543932009-06-02T18:55:00.000-07:002009-06-02T18:56:20.613-07:00The Story of MASTYA Avatar<span style="font-size:-1;">In MASTYA Avatar, Lord Vishnu incarnates himself as a fish in this world. In the earliest yuga (era) of Sata-yuga, a king named Manu was performing severe penance for thousands of years. One day as he was performing ablutions with river water, a small fish came into his hands and just as he was about to throw the fish back into the river, the fish requested the king to save its life. Heeding its request, the king put the fish into a jar of water but the fish started growing and the jar was not big enough for it. Then the king threw it into the river, but it soon it outgrew the river and the king then threw it into Ganges and then into the ocean. The king realised that it was Lord Vishnu himself and then the lord made an appearance and made a special request to the king. It predicted that the world would come to an end by a huge flood in seven days and requested the king to build a huge boat and take the seven sages(hermits), seeds of all plants, one animal of each type and told him that he would appear as a fish to propel the boat to Mt Himavan for surviving the flood to the next yuga(eon). True to his word, after seven days the Lord appeared and the king tied the boat to the fish by using the royal serpent Vasuki and the fish took all of them to Mt Himavan and kept them there till the flood was over and in the new era, the king started procreation a for the new era.</span>iPowerFourhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11060347301400621085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2973766044184429614.post-49697079319476313392009-06-02T18:50:00.000-07:002009-06-02T18:53:27.893-07:00Nataraj: The Dancing ShivaNataraj, the dancing form of Lord Shiva, is a symbolic synthesis of the most important aspects of Hinduism, and the summary of the central tenets of this Vedic religion. The term 'Nataraj' means 'King of Dancers' (Sanskrit nata = dance; raja = king). In the words of Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, Nataraj is the "clearest image of the activity of God which any art or religion can boast of…A more fluid and energetic representation of a moving figure than the dancing figure of Shiva can scarcely be found anywhere," (<i>The Dance of Shiva</i>)<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Origin of the Nataraj Form:</span><br />An extraordinary iconographic representation of the rich and diverse cultural heritage of India, it was developed in southern India by 9th and 10th century artists during the Chola period (880-1279 CE) in a series of beautiful bronze sculptures. By the 12th century AD, it achieved canonical stature and soon the Chola Nataraja became the supreme statement of Hindu art.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Vital Form & Symbolism:</span><br />In a marvelously unified and dynamic composition expressing the rhythm and harmony of life, Nataraj is shown with four hands represent the cardinal directions. He is dancing, with his left foot elegantly raised and the right foot on a prostrate figure — 'Apasmara Purusha', the personification of illusion and ignorance over whom Shiva triumphs. The upper left hand holds a flame, the lower left hand points down to the dwarf, who is shown holding a cobra. The upper right hand holds an hourglass drum or 'dumroo' that stands for the male-female vital principle, the lower shows the gesture of assertion: "Be without fear."Snakes that stand for egotism, are seen uncoiling from his arms, legs, and hair, which is braided and bejeweled. His matted locks are whirling as he dances within an arch of flames representing the endless cycle of birth and death. On his head is a skull, which symbolizes his conquest over death. Goddess Ganga, the epitome of the holy river Ganges, also sits on his hairdo. His third eye is symbolic of his omniscience, insight, and enlightenment. The whole idol rests on a lotus pedestal, the symbol of the creative forces of the universe.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Significance of Shiva's Dance:</span><br />This cosmic dance of Shiva is called 'Anandatandava,' meaning the Dance of Bliss, and symbolizes the cosmic cycles of creation and destruction, as well as the daily rhythm of birth and death. The dance is a pictorial allegory of the five principle manifestations of eternal energy — creation, destruction, preservation, salvation, and illusion. According to Coomerswamy, the dance of Shiva also represents his five activities: 'Shrishti' (creation, evolution); 'Sthiti' (preservation, support); 'Samhara' (destruction, evolution); 'Tirobhava' (illusion); and 'Anugraha' (release, emancipation, grace).The overall temper of the image is paradoxical, uniting the inner tranquility, and outside activity of Shiva.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">A Scientific Metaphor:</span><br />Fritzof Capra in his article "The Dance of Shiva: The Hindu View of Matter in the Light of Modern Physics," and later in the The Tao of Physics beautifully relates Nataraj's dance with modern physics. He says that "every subatomic particle not only performs an energy dance, but also is an energy dance; a pulsating process of creation and destruction…without end…For the modern physicists, then Shiva's dance is the dance of subatomic matter. As in Hindu mythology, it is a continual dance of creation and destruction involving the whole cosmos; the basis of all existence and of all natural phenomena."<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Nataraj Statue at CERN, Geneva:</span><br />In 2004, a 2m statue of the dancing Shiva was unveiled at CERN, the European Center for Research in Particle Physics in Geneva. A special plaque next to the Shiva statue explains the significance of the metaphor of Shiva's cosmic dance with quotations from Capra: "Hundreds of years ago, Indian artists created visual images of dancing Shivas in a beautiful series of bronzes. In our time, physicists have used the most advanced technology to portray the patterns of the cosmic dance. The metaphor of the cosmic dance thus unifies ancient mythology, religious art and modern physics."<br /><br />To sum up, here's an excerpt from a beautiful poem by Ruth Peel:<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">"The source of all movement,<br />Shiva's dance,<br />Gives rhythm to the universe.<br />He dances in evil places,<br />In sacred,<br />He creates and preserves,<br />Destroys and releases.<br /><br />We are part of this dance<br />This eternal rhythm,<br />And woe to us if, blinded<br />By illusions,<br />We detach ourselves<br />From the dancing cosmos,<br />This universal harmony…"</span>iPowerFourhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11060347301400621085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2973766044184429614.post-43526023778064891172009-06-01T07:44:00.000-07:002009-06-01T07:54:39.324-07:00The Story of GaneshAs an apt choice we have chosen the story of Lord Ganesha as the first story on our site. Indian Mythological sources stress the need for recitation of the name of Lord Ganesh before starting any work. The relevance of this becomes clear as the story of Lord Ganesh unfolds in the following pagaraphs.<br /><br />Lord Ganesh is the virtual son of Lord Shiva and goddess Parvathi. The story of creation of ganesh is a very fascinating one. <br /><br />A long long time ago when Lord Shiva, was away fighting for the gods, the lady of the house, goddess Parvathi was alone at home. On one occasion, she needed someone to gaurd the house when she was going for a bath. Unable to think of an alternative, she used her powers to create a son, Ganesh. She instructed Ganesh to keep strict vigil on the entrance to the house and not to allow anyone into the house. Ganesh agreed and stayed on the strictest of strict vigils.<br /><br />In the meantime Lord Shiva returned happy after a glorious victory for the gods, only to be stopped at the entrance by Ganesh. Ganesh, acting on Parvathi's orders verbatim, did not allow Shiva to enter the house. Lord Shiva was enraged beyond control and in a fit of rage slashed the head of Ganesh. In the meantime Paravti came out from her bath and was aghast at the scene. She was very very angry at her lordship for what had happened and explained him the situation.<br /><br />Lord Shiva wanted to make it up to Parvathi very badly and agreed to put life back into Ganesha by putting the head of the first sleeping living creature that came in sight which was sleeping with its head to the north. He sent his soldiers to go in search of the creature. The first creature which came in sight was an elephant. So Lord Shiva re-created his son with the head of the elephant. Hence the trunk of Lord Ganesha. <br /><br />Parvathi was still not totally happy with the deal and wanted more. Then Shiva granted Ganesha a boon that before beginning of any undertaking or task people would worship Lord Ganesh. Thus the reason for worship of ganesha before start of any work. <br /><br />There are many stories about Lord Ganesh about his later part of life. We shall be adding more stories of Lord Ganesh in due course of time. <br /><br /><b>GANAPATI BAPPA MAURYA!!!</b>iPowerFourhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11060347301400621085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2973766044184429614.post-68134229016287436742009-06-01T05:22:00.000-07:002009-06-01T05:26:00.186-07:00ABOUT INDIAN MYTHOLOGYIndian Mythology is one of the richest elements of Indian Culture, which enriches it further and makes it a unique one in the world. Through generations, different stories in Indian mythology have been passed from generation to generation either by word of mouth or through carefully stored scriptures.<br /><br />It is our endeavour to bring forth the different elements of Indian mythology by a myriad of articles and stories which not only make educational reading but also make a good source of recreational reading. These stories, which form the backbone of Indian mythology, area great medium for people especially parents to inculcate interest in Indian Culture in the younger generation and to impart values of Indian culture to them. The interesting aspect of the stories in Indian Mythology is that they are usually meant to convey subtle facts, rules and maxims to guide our daily lives. Who doesn't enjoy a well written story? Naturally story-telling is the best medium for conveying even powerful messages. The stories in Indian mythology vary from subtle maxim conveying tales of Panchatantra and Jataka-tales to subtle life paradigm defining stories from the Bhagvad-Gita, Ramayana and Mahabharata. A key point to note is that there are usually multiple stories explaining the same fact or occasion or festival. So each version is right in its own merit. This is a result of the natural evolution the stories might have gone in the process of being handed over from generation to generation for centuries.<br /><br />Our effort we be to demystify the myths which used to commonly prevail in Indian mythology by a series of stories which shall be enlightening, educational and fun. We shall strive to make it the best resource of information on Indian mythology available to you. Reader's contributions are most welcome. We shall be soon adding a section where contributors can contribute their own version of the stories with their credits mentioned in the page. Feel free to contact us with any Indian mythological story you have.iPowerFourhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11060347301400621085noreply@blogger.com0