Vedas Resources

On the auspicious occasion of Mahasiva Ratri, here is a wonderful story of Bhakta Markandeya who could conquer death with his tremendous and unaltered faith in Lord Siva. Later he grew up into Markandeya Mahamuni (sage) and wrote ' Nadi Grandham' on palm leaves which are believed to be still preserved in the Markandeya Math in Puri, Odisha. He also authored Markandeya Purana. Courtesy: Google Images Long ago, there lived a sage named Mrikandu and his wife Marudvati who were staunch devotees of Lord Siva. Even after long years of wait, the sage couple could not beget a child. "Hey! Natha, there is no meaning for our life without children", said Marudvati to her husband in a disappointed voice. "Dear, I think Lord Siva is not yet pleased with our prayers", replied sage Mrikandu. The disappointed sage couple decided to perform hard penance to seek the blessings of Lord Shiva for having children. After several years of penance in the deep forests, finally one...

This is a Hindu mythological story about an unfortunate boy whose name was Shravan Kumar. He is a character in the Hindu epic Ramayana who had great devotion towards his blind, old and frail parents who were actually hermits. Long ago there lived a boy named Shravan Kumar. He was an unlucky child as his parents were blind and Shravan Kumar had to do all the household work in addition to looking after / taking care of his blind parents. He was a very responsible and dutiful son. He used to willingly fulfill all the wishes of his parents with dedication. As his parents grew older, once they expressed their desire to go on a pilgrimage. In the olden days people (Hindus) used to go on pilgrimage in their old age to get purified of their sins. Shravan brought two big bowl-shaped baskets and placed each of his parent in each basket. He then tied the baskets to a big bamboo stick and made a balance like device. He then placed each of his parent in each basket and tied the baskets to a bambo...

In the ancient Hindu scriptures, the story of King Ravana bringing Atmalinga of Lord Shiva from Mount Kailash dates back to the Treta Yuga. According to Hinduism, the entire time period in the world is classified into four yugas viz (namely) Satya Yuga / Krita Yuga (the 1st time period which lasted for 1,728,000 years), Treta Yuga (the 2nd yuga that lasted for 1,296,000 years), Dwapara Yuga (the 3rd yuga which lasted for 864,000 years) and Kali Yuga (believed to be the current yuga lasts for 432,000 years). King Ravana ruled over the kingdom of Lanka in the Treta Yuga. He was the son of a Brahmin Sage Vishrawas and demon princess Kaikasi who was a great devotee of Lord Shiva. Lanka is an island in the Indian Ocean and is to the south-east of India (Bhaarat). He became all-powerful and the master of the three worlds after he got the boon from Lord Brahma - the Hindu god of Creator. Now coming to the main story of Ravana and the 'atmalingam' - Each day Ravana's mother u...

Hi all. I was a bit busy and so could not post stories here. Anyway, today I'm going to tell you a mythological story about one of the asuras i.e demon named Gayasura. Let's read the story. Gayasura was the son of Tripurasura. He became the King after the death of his father. Like his father he too was an ardent devotee of Lord Vishnu. He worshiped Lord Vishnu with full devotion and got the boon that nobody except the Trimurtis i.e Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva can kill him. As per the Hindu Puranas (ancient scripts), there are two versions of the story and here I'm mentioning both the versions. Version 1 King Gayasura with the power of the acquired boon his felt too high of himself and started torturing all the beings of the three worlds and made their lives miserable. Finally he became so arrogant with the acquired power that he even challenged Lord Vishnu who granted him the boon. He defeated Lord Vishnu with the power of the boon and then tied Him to a nearby tree. He ...

According to Hindu Puranas, Narakasura was the son of Bhudevi i.e Mother Earth. He performed severe penance and was blessed by Lord Brahma. He got the boon from Brahma that only his mother can kill him and no one else in the three worlds can kill him. Thus he became a powerful and wicked king who started dictating the three worlds. Narakasura ruled from Pragjotishyapur (the present Assam region). Everyone including the Devas of Indraloka (the heavenly abode) suffered under his tyranny. He used to abduct women and behave harshly with them. The frustrated beings prayed Lord Krishna to redeem them from the tyranny of Narakasura. Lord Krishna who is the 8th incarnation of Lord Vishnu, is omniscient. When the atrocities of Narakasura crossed the limits, Lord Krishna goes to fight with Narakasura in His chariot with Satyabhama, His 3rd wife, as the charioteer. In the fierce fight between Krishna falls unconscious when Narakasura hits Him with the power packed arrow. On seeing her h...

Hello! children. We have come up with a wonderful Hindu mythological story with a moral value. This is a story of an over-ambitious asura i.e demon named Bhasmasura. The meaning of the Sanskrit word 'Bhasm' is 'burnt to ashes'. The story tells us how the asura was burnt to ashes by his own actions and thus got the name 'Bhasmasura'. Here goes the story: Long long ago, there lived an over-ambitious asura named Bhasmasura. He wanted to be the most powerful being of the three worlds and so went to perform severe 'tapas' i.e hard penance for getting the boon from Lord Shiva. He was determined and doing 'tapas', chanting Siva Panchakshari i.e. 'Om Namah Sivaya'. He was so engrossed that he completely got disconnected with the outside world. 'Om Namah Sivaya', 'Om Namah Sivaya', 'Om Namah Sivaya'. The power chanting traveled in the air and spread in all directions and finally reached Kailasam - the abode of Lord Shiv...

Once Sage Durvasa (well known for his short temper) offered a floral garland to Indra - the Lord of Devas. Indra did not pay attention to the garland and placed it on one of the tusks of the elephant on which he was mounted. As per its nature, the elephant took out the garland and trampled it under its feet. Photo credit: Google Images Sage Durvasa felt insulted at this action and became furious. Durvasa felt that it is because of their power, Indra and Devas disrespected him, so he cursed them to lose their power. The curse of Durvasa started working and Lord Indira including the Devas started losing all the battles against their dead enemies i.e the asuras. Finally the demons led by Bali too control of the Indraloka - the abode of Indra and the entire universe. Indra and the Devas who lost their throne / seats became helpless and approached Lord Vishnu for help. Lord Vishnu gave them a solution and He asked Devas to churn the milky ocean ('ksheera sagar' in Sanskrit) wit...

In addition to the mythological stories of birth of Lord Ganesha and the story of Ganesha and the curse of moon, there are few other popular stories of Lord Ganesha which are interesting to know and read. Ganesha travels around the world Ganesha is the elder son of the divine couple, Siva and Parvati and Kartikeya / Muruga / Subramanya is the second son of the divine couple. These two brothers are quite opposite in their physical appearance. While Ganesha has a short and heavy figure with an elephant's head and short legs, Kartikeya on the other hand is slim figured and very handsome personality. While a small mouse (mushika) is the vahana (vehicle) of Lord Ganesha, Kartikeya has a swiftly flying peacock as His vehicle. The two divine brothers are well known for their wisdom and intelligence and the divine couple loved their children very much. The brothers too have great respect for their parents and are devoted to their parents. When the two divine brothers were young, Lord S...

Sri Ganesha is one of the most worshiped Hindu god who is known as the Remover of Obstacles. He is the elder son of Siva and Parvati Devi and every year on the 4th day (Chaturthi) in the Hindu month of Bhadrapada, the Hindus celebrate Ganesh Chaturthi which is considered as the birthday of Lord Ganesha. There is a belief in the Hindus that they should not watch / see the moon on Ganesh Chaturthi day and if by chance they happen to see the moon in the night of Ganesh Chaturthi, they will be accused for no fault of theirs. To avoid unnecessary insults and false accuses, people avoid seeing moon on this day. However if someone happens to see the moon by chance on this festival day, they can save themselves from false accuses by reading or listening to the story of the Syamantaka Mani (jewel) and then sprinkling Akshat / Akshantalu (rice grains mixed with turmeric powder and chandan powder) on the head after worshipping Ganesha on this festival day. Why was moon cursed? The story goes ...

Courtesy: Google Images Ganesha in Mother Parvati's lap In Hindu mythology, Sri Ganesha - son of Lord Siva and Parvati Devi - has a special place and is worshiped the most by the Hindus for removing all kinds of obstacles before starting a venture, a business or before education of child and marriage ceremony. Lord Ganesha has peculiar physical features with an elephant-head, protruding pot belly with a snake tied as a belt on the belly, a broken tusk and he has a small insignificant mouse (Mushika) as his vehicle. It is believed that Ganesha is very fond of foods like modakas, laddus, sweets and various other fruits. Not only His physical appearance is peculiar but even the way He was born is quite unique. How was Ganesha born? There are few stories in connection with Lord Ganesha's birth. Long long ago, Siva was living happily with his wife Goddess Parvati in a beautiful home atop Mount Kailash - the abode of Lord Shiva. For sometime Lord Shiva was away from home...