Once, Sage Bharadwaj was performing rigorous austerities on the bank of River Narmada. Suddenly, his concentration was disturbed and he opened his eyes. His gaze fell on a beautiful woman. He instantly fell in love with her and wanted to kidnap her. But the ill thought made him lose all his powers, which were absorbed […]
Soon, Ganesha attacked Sindhu’s Gandali Nagari and killed his two sons, Dharm and Adharm. Sindhu fled the battlefield after facing defeat at Ganesha’s hands. Sindhu’s father asked him to surrender before Ganesha and release the gods, but he did not pay any heed to this advice and continued the battle. Ganesha then attacked Sindhu with
The gods captured by Sindhu started praying to Lord Ganesha. They performed a yajna to please Ganesha. The fumes of this yajna produced a peacock with Omkar Ganesha. Ganesha was immensely pleased. “I will be reborn as Parvati’s son and destroy Sindhu. I will be called Vinayak, Mayureshwar, Gajanan and Dhumraketu, based on different yugas,”
The Sun-god, pleased with Sindhu’s penance, asked him to speak his wish. Sindhu demanded to become immortal. Sindhu got the divine nectar (amrit) from the Sun-god. “As long as the nectar stays in your stomach (near the navel), you shall not die,” the Sun-god told him. Thus, Sindhu received immortality. Sindhu became more powerful and
King Chakrapani and Queen Ugra ruled Gandali Nagari of Mithila kingdom. They had no children. As suggested by the sages, the king and the queen performed ardent penance and pleased the Sun-god. The Sun-god blessed them with a beautiful child. However, the child was stolen by a maid. While the maid was running away with
Once, Parvati had a quarrel with Shiva. She went to stay with her female companions. While she and her friends were talking to one another, Parvati burst into laughter. From the laughter of Parvati, a demon named Mam was born. Parvati instructed Mam to go deep inside the forest and worship Ganesha. While Mamasur was
Ahantasur and his ministers killed all those who used to worship Ganesha or were caught worshipping Ganesha. The puzzled gods prayed to Lord Shiva to rescue them from the clutches of Ahantasur. Shiva asked them to worship Ganesha and chant the divine Ganesha’s Mantra. Ganesha took an altogether different avatar to deal with Ahantasur. This
Once, Brahma got pleased with the Sun-god. He gave him the responsibility to rule heaven. The Sun-god was elated to know about this, but soon ego started overtaking him. Thus, he gave rise to a demon named Ahanta. Ahantasur became a disciple of Shukracharya, the teacher of demons. Shukracharya taught him Ganesha’s Mantra. Ahantasur chanted
Vishnu was once cursed by a woman named Vrinda. Vrinda was Jalandhar’s wife. Jalandhar was a powerful demon born out of Shiva’s anger. Vrinda’s curse turned Vishnu into a stone form, named Shaligram. The stone form of Vishnu gave rise to a demon named Kama. Kamasur performed deep penance and pleased Shiva. He asked for
Shiva’s furious form is named Rudra. Rudra was a creator as well as a destroyer. Once, the gods and the sages prayed to Rudra, “O Lord, the demons are creating obstacles whenever we hold any holy ritual. Please create someone who can destroy these obstacle creators.” Rudra gave rise to Vinayak through his mouth and
Lambodar agreed to help the gods and eliminate Krodhasur. Lambodar had an elephant’s face with three eyes, a big belly roped with a snake, a huge body and a small mouse as his mount. Krodhasur’s ministers told him that Lambodar was charging towards their kingdom. Krodhasur was unaware of Lambodar’s power. So he gathered a
The story of Lambodar is associated with the Mohini avatar of Vishnu and Shiva. A huge fight took place between the gods and the demons over the divine nectar (amrit) that they had found while churning the ocean of milk. Lord Vishnu then transformed into a beautiful dancer named Mohini to attract the demons’ attention
Shukracharya asked Mohasur to approach Vishnu, as only he could suggest a way to save his life. Accordingly, Mohasur went to Vishnu who said, “Mohasur, surrendering before Mahodar is the only way, by which you can save your life!” Vishnu also told Mohasur how Ganesha had always played the role of a saviour for the
Moha, a demon, was a disciple of Shukracharya who was the teacher of the demons. He taught Mohasur how to worship the Sun-god and perform a penance in the name of the Sun. Mohasur followed his teacher’s preaching and worshipped the Sun-god. The Sun-god blessed Mohasur to be a victorious king. Soon, Mohasur attained victory
Sage Gautam tried to chase away the cow that was eating the crops in his fields. As soon as he touched the cow with a blade of grass, she fell down dead. At that moment, all those sages arrived there and cursed Gautam for killing an innocent cow. They asked Gautam and his wife to