Arthatatvam

  Once upon a time, there were two demigods named Nalakuvara and Manigriva. They were the sons of Kubera (the god of wealth). Once, these two demigods entered the garden of Lord Shiva in Kailasa. There they listened to the songs sung by many beautiful women and drank wine. While they were doing thus, they failed to notice Sage Narada enter the garden and forgot to pay respect to him. Since, they were intoxicated with alcohol and also naked, Sage Narada got enraged and cursed them. He said that they would become two Arjuna trees for a hundred years until the time Lord Krishna will relieve them from the curse. The two demigods immediately turned into two huge Arjuna trees. After a hundred years had passed, Lord Krishna was born. He was a very naughty kid! Yashoda, Krishna's foster mother, could not tolerate his pranks anymore and tied him to a wooden mortar. Though the mortar was heavy, he ran with the mortar tied around him towards the two huge Arjuna trees. He went between the pass...

  Once, Yashoda was sitting with Krishna on her lap. Suddenly, he felt very heavy. So, she placed him on the ground and started doing her daily chores. Krishna was playing happily when suddenly he was swept off the ground by a tornado! The tornado was none other than the asura Trinavarta, a friend of Kamsa. Soon, entire Gokul was covered in darkness. With difficulty, Yashoda went to pick Krishna from the ground, but she was shocked that he had disappeared! Meanwhile, the asura Trinavarta started carrying Krishna away, Krishna made himself heavier so that Trinavarta would not be able to carry him any further. Krishna then caught him by the throat and killed him. Trinavarta fell on the ground with a thud. When all the residents of Gokul gathered around to see what happened, they saw Krishna sitting on Trinavarta with a huge smile on his face. All were amazed to see Krishna sitting there. Yashoda was also relieved to see Krishna, so she picked him up and took him home. 

  When Lord Krishna was an infant, he was living with his foster parents, Nanda and Yashoda in Gokul. Once upon a time when Nanda was away, a demoness named Pootana disguised herself as a beautiful maiden and visited Nanda's house. Both Yashoda and Rohini were enticed by the beauty of Pootana and hence did not object when Pootana lifted Lord Krishna and started breast feeding him. Lord Krishna knew Pootana was a demoness in disguise and that she had smeared poison on her breasts. He sucked the life out of her! Pootana cried in pain and when she could not bear the pain anymore, she assumed her original form and died. All the people of Gokul wondered how an infant could kill such a huge demoness! They then realized that the Lord himself had incarnated on earth as Lord Krishna.

  Daksha was the son of Lord Brahma. He had a daughter named Sati who was a great devotee of Lord Shiva. She performed severe penances to make Lord Shiva her husband. Lord Shiva was pleased with her devotion and appeared before her. He granted her a boon. She said she wanted him to be her husband. Lord Shiva agreed. Soon both of them got married. One day, the Sages of Prayag were performing a grand yagna (sacrifice). Shiva and Sati attended this yagna. When Daksha arrived, everyone got up to greet him except Shiva as Lord Shiva is superior to him. But Daksha felt insulted and wanted to teach him a lesson. A few days later, Daksha held a grand sacrifice but did not invite both Sati and Shiva. When Sati got to know of this she felt offended. She went to her father's abode but he ignored her! She asked him why she and Shiva were not invited. Then Daksha started abusing Shiva, Sati could not tolerate these insults. In anger, she invoked the yogic flame and immolated herself. After this...

  Long ago in a kingdom of Madra ruled a king named Asvapati. Though he was a righteous king, he did not have any children. His counselors advised him to pray to God Savitr. So, Asvapati prayed to Savitr. Then Savitr pleased with his devotion, appeared before him. He told the king his desires will be fulfilled. Soon, Asvapati's wife delivered a girl child. Asvapati was overjoyed! He named the child Savitri to show his respect towards the God Savitr and celebrated her birth with pomp and ostentation. Soon, Savitri grew into a beautiful maiden and it was time to get her married. So, Asvapati made arrangements to find a suitable match for her. But, none agreed as she was both beautiful and intelligent. So, Asvapati asked Savitri to choose a husband for herself. She agreed and visited various kingdoms. On the way through one of the forest, she saw a handsome hermit and fell for him. She could not forget his face. Later when she visited the forest again she found out that he was not a h...

  Once, Lord Shiva and Parvati visited the Mandara mountain. In a playful mode, Parvati closed all the three eyes of Shiva with both of her hands. Immediately, there was utter darkness all over the three worlds! The blazing fire from Shiva's third eye made Parvati's hand to sweat and the sweat fell on the ground. From it grew a weird blind being. Shiva and Parvati named this being, Andhaka (the dark one) and looked after it. Elsewhere, Hiranyaksha, an Asura, was performing severe austerities to please Shiva. Shiva and Parvati appeared before him and asked him what he wanted. Hiranyaksha said he had no one to inherit his kingdom and wanted a son. Shiva granted him this wish and offered Andhaka. Hirayaksha was jubilated and took Andhaka to his kingdom. After Hiranyaksha's death, Andhaka ruled the kingdom. But his envious cousins taunted him because he was blind. So he went to the forest and performed severe austerities to please Lord Brahma. Lord Brahma appeared before him an...

  One day Kubera invited Ganesha for a feast. Ganesha accepted the offer. After having a sumptuous meal, Ganesha went for a ride on his vahana(vehicle), a mouse. It was a clear sky and the moon was out in all his splendor. Suddenly, a snake crossed their path and the mouse got frightened and ran for safety. Ganesha lost his balance, his stomach broke open and all the modaks (a type of sweet) that he was carrying fell on the ground! The snake apologized for his behaviour. Ganesha forgave the snake, stuffed all the modaks back and tied the snake around his belly to keep the modaks in tact. The moon who saw all this laughed loudly at Ganesha. Ganesha got really angry! He took one of his tusks, broke it and threw at the moon slashing his luminous face. He cursed the moon to vanish from the universe. There was darkness everywhere. All the people in the three worlds wondered what had happened. Then the moon apologized to Ganesha and asked him to take back the curse. Ganesha told he canno...

  Parashurama was the son of Sage Jamadagni and Renuka. Though born as a Brahmin boy, he showed all the traits of a Kshatriya (warrior). One day, King Karthaviryarjuna and his men visited the hermitage of the Sage Jamadagni. Jamadagni welcomed them and provided them with a sumptuous meal. Karthaviryarjuna asked Jamadagni how he was able to provide such a great meal. Jamadagni told him he was able to do so with the help of Kamadenu (wish giving cow). Karthaviryarjuna wanted Kamadenu for himself and hence seized the animal and took it to his kingdom. Parashurama was away and was not aware of this. When he returned to his hermitage, Jamadagni told him what had happened. Parashurama was enraged and went to the kingdom of Karthaviryarjuna and killed him. He bought Kamadenu back to his hermitage. To avenge their father's death, Karthaviryarjuna's sons killed Jamadagni. Parashurama was again infuriated and wiped out twenty one generations of Kshatriyas as they had become a great burde...

  There was an Asura king named Bali. He was the grandson of the great Prahalad. He once decided to perform a sacrifice on the advise of his guru Shukracharya. While he was performing the sacrifice, a dwarf Brahmin came to the spot. Bali welcomed the Brahmin and asked him what he wanted. The Brahmin asked for just three steps of land. Everybody around laughed at the request, but Bali agreed to grant him what he wanted. Shukracharya was skeptical about the request of the Brahmin but soon realized that he was none other than Lord Vishnu in his Vamana (Dwarf) Avatar. He stopped Bali from granting the Brahmin's wishes. But, Bali was adamant as he had already given his word. Shukracharya got angry and cursed him saying since he did not listen to the word of his Guru he will soon fall down from his high position. Then Bali washed the feet of Vamana with a golden pitcher of water and soon the Brahmin began to grow in size! He grew so huge that with one step he covered the whole earth and ...

  Once when Arjuna (one of the Pandava prince) was doing penance on a hill, Lord Vishnu appeared to him in the form of Navagunjara. It had the head of a rooster, the neck of a peacock, the hump of a bull, the waist of a lion, legs of a human, an elephant, a tiger and a deer and with a snake as it's tail! Arjuna was terrified looking at the creature and raised his bow to shoot it. But, later realized that it was the manifestation of Lord Vishnu and bowed to the creature.