Arthatatvam

  There was once an Asura (Demon) named Hiranyakashipu. He was the younger brother of Hiranyaksha (who was killed by the Varaha Avatar of Lord Vishnu). In order to avenge the death of his brother, Hiranyakashipu performed severe penances. Lord Brahma was pleased with his austerities and asked him what he wanted. Hiranyakashipu asked for a boon that he should neither be killed by a man nor a beast, neither by day nor by night, neither indoors nor outdoors, neither on earth nor in the sky and finally without any weapon. Brahma granted him this boon. With this boon, Hiranyakashipu became very powerful and troubled everyone in the three worlds. He asked everyone to treat him as God as he felt he was equivalent to one with his new gained powers. Everyone had to obey him as they were afraid of him. But his son, Prahalad, was a great devotee of Lord Vishnu. When he was in the womb of his mother, Kayadu, he listened to many stories of Lord Vishnu from Sage Narada and developed firm faith i...

  Long ago there was a demon named Hiranyaksha. He was a great devotee of Lord Brahma. Brahma granted him a boon that no human, god, asura or animal would be able to kill him. After this boon, he became very powerful  and arrogant. He started torturing people, gods and animals as he was assured of his immortality. He submerged Bhoomidevi (the earth) to the bottom of the ocean. Lord Brahma was worried at this and prayed to Lord Vishnu to rescue the earth. Vishnu took the form of a wild boar (Varaha Avatar) that came out of one of the nostrils of Brahma (He took the form of a wild boar since Hiranyaksha failed to mention boar as an animal). Vishnu went to the bottom of the ocean lifted the earth to the surface with the help of his tusk and blessed Bhoomidevi(the earth). Hiranyaksha was enraged at this sight and challenged Vishnu(in the form of a boar) for a battle. Vishnu accepted the challenge and they fought for a thousand years. Finally, Vishnu defeated Hiranyaksha and the ea...

  Once upon a time, due to the curse of Sage Durvasa, the Devas (Gods) became weak and hence lost the battle with the Asuras (Demons). The Gods then went to Lord Vishnu for help. Lord Vishnu instructed them to ask the Asuras to join them to obtain the Nectar Of Immortality by churning the milky ocean (Samudra Manthan) and share it among themselves. The Gods obeyed the command of Vishnu and approached the Asuras. The Asuras readily agreed as they were also eager to become immortal. But for churning the ocean they needed a churning rod and a rope. For this, they used the Mandara mountain as the rod and a snake named Vasuki as a rope. Before the churning process began, they fought for the head of the snake. After sometime, the Gods gave up and agreed to hold the tail because Lord Vishnu had instructed them to do so. Then the churning process began. The Asuras were poisoned by the fumes emitted by the snake and their strength began to diminish. Despite this, both of them pull...

  Long ago there was a Sage named Satyavrata(Manu). He was once offering water to the manes in a river. When he scooped up a handful of water, a fish came along with it. When he was about to drop the fish back into the river, the fish spoke to him. It asked him to protect it. He put the fish into his kamandalu (pot) and took it to his hermitage. The next day Satyavrata noticed that the fish had grown in size. He placed the fish in a bigger vessel. Again the fish grew in size, so Satyavrata had to drop the fish in a nearby pond. The fish outgrew the pond as well. So, Satyavrata finally decided to drop the fish into the ocean. Then the fish spoke to him saying that it was none other than Lord Vishnu in his fish incarnation (Matsya avatar). The fish told Satyavrata that in seven days the dissolution of the universe would take place and asked him to collect all the species of plants and animals along with the Sapta Rishis and bring them near the ocean. Satyavrata obeyed the fish's comm...

  Aja, the son of Raghu, was a very valiant and virtuous king. When he grew up to be a handsome prince, his father advised him to attend the Svayamvara (where the girl chooses her husband) of Indumati. Indumati was the sister of King Bhoja of Vidarbha. Aja set out towards the kingdom of Vidarbha. On the way, a rogue elephant attacked him. He threw a spear at the elephant and it immediately turned into a Ghandarva. The Ghandarva told Aja that he had redeemed him from a curse and gifted him with a magical spear that can put a whole army to sleep. Aja thanked him. The next day during the Swavayamvara, Indumati chose Aja as her husband and garlanded him. The other Kings felt insulted and revolted against Aja when he and Indumati set out towards his kingdom. Soon a battle ensued between Aja and the other kings. Aja fought well, but soon became tired. Then he remembered the gift the Ghandarva had given him. He used the magic spear and put all the kings to sleep. Aja blew his conch of vic...

  Once, when King Dilipa decided to perform the Ashwameda (Horse) sacrifice, he asked his son Raghu to protect the horse. Lord Indra felt threatened and hence became invisible and stole the horse. However, Nandini (Celestial Cow) had blessed Raghu with divine vision so, he could see Indra steal the horse through his divine vision. He immediately aimed an arrow at Indra and shot him. Then, a great fight ensued between the two. Both of them were equally good in battle. Raghu cut down Indra's flag staff and his bowstring. Indra was infuriated and threw his Vajra (thunderbolt) weapon at Raghu. Raghu fell, but soon recovered. Indra was amazed at this and offered him to ask any boon, except the horse. Raghu then asked Indra to present him with the boon that his father, Dilipa, be known to have completed Ashwameda sacrifice even if he hadn't completed the last one. Indra granted Raghu's wish. When Dilipa heard of this, he felt proud of his son. He made him the king and left for th...

  King Dilipa, one of the ancestors of Rama, was a very pious king. He had a very devoted wife named Sudakshina. They had everything, except a child. So, King Dilipa went to consult Sage Vasishtha about it. The Sage through his divine vision could understand the reason behind this. He narrated to Dilipa that once when Dilipa and his wife had gone to visit Indra, they didn't notice Surabhi ( the divine cow). Surabhi who was waiting to bless them felt neglected and cursed them saying they'll never get children unless they serve it's offspring. But they didn't hear the curse due to the uproar of the river Ganga. He advised Dilipa and his wife to take care of Nandini, the daughter of Surabhi, with love and devotion. Day and night both of them looked after the cow. Then one day Nandini wandered into the forest and a lion was about to devour it. When Dilipa saw this he immediately tried to retrieve an arrow to shoot it but his arm was paralyzed! The lion told the king, since ...

  The Pandavas were exiled to the forest by the Kauravas after the former had lost a game of dice. Once, Bheema, one of the Pandavas, roamed about in the jungle. He went about uprooting trees and killing animals along his path just for pleasure. Suddenly, a huge poisonous snake caught him and he was unable to move! Meanwhile, Yudhishthira, the eldest of the Pandavas, wondered where Bheema had disappeared after witnessing many evil omens. He decided to go in search of him along with Sage Dhaumya. After a long search, he finally saw a snake coiled around Bheema. He was aghast and he tried to release Bheema, but to no avail. Then the snake said it was one of his ancestors, Nahusha. Yudhishthira asked the snake to release Bheema and said he would offer some other food as a substitute. Nahusha declined the offer and told Yudhishthira the story of his curse. He told he would release Bheema if he answers all the questions correctly put forth by him. So, Nahusha asked Yudhishthira several ...

  Once there was a king named Nahusha. He was very pious. When Indra, the King of Devas was deprived of his throne due to a curse, the Devas appointed Nahusha as their king. They gave him the nectar of immortality. Lord Brahma blessed him that whoever comes in the range of his vision would be deprived of their energy and would come under his control. Even with these boons Nahusha was humble and prayed to all the Devas as he had done on earth. Then one day, he wondered why he was worshipping the Devas when he was their King. His ego got the better of him and he asked all the Devas and the Rishis to serve him. He ordered all the Rishis to pull his chariot as he rode through heaven. Since he had Brahma's boon, everybody had to obey him. The Rishis decided to teach him a lesson. When it was Agastya's turn to pull the chariot, he and Bhrigu hatched up a plan that Bhrigu would hide in the locks of Agastya's hair and curse Nahusha. When Nahusha asked Agastya to pull the chariot, A...