Arthatatvam

  After completion of his education, Uttanka asked his guru Gautama what he should give as gurudakshina. Gautama asked Uttanka to marry his daughter. Uttanka agreed and then he asked Gautama's wife, Ahalya, what she wanted. Ahalya told him she wanted the earrings worn by the wife of King Saudasa. Uttanka promised her he would get those earrings and then set out on his journey. Uttanka met Saudasa in a deserted forest. Saudasa was cursed by Sage Vasishta to become a cannibal and was about to eat Uttanka, when Uttanka said he had to accomplish the task of getting earrings to his guru's wife and would come back to him after he accomplishes it. Saudasa agreed. Uttanka then asked him where his wife was. Saudasa told Uttanka that he would be able to meet his wife Madayanti, near a forest fountain. Uttanka thanked him and then met Madayanti and asked for her earrings. She gave him the earrings and asked him to guard it well as it was a "celestial earring". She told him that ...

  There was once a demoness named Mahishi. She had obtained a boon from Lord Brahma that neither Lord Shiva nor Lord Vishnu should be able to kill her. She became powerful because of this boon and troubled the three worlds. In order to put a stop to this, Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu (in the form of Mohini) bore a boy child and left him in a forest. Meanwhile, a king named Rajashekhara had gone to that forest for hunting. He was childless and a devotee of Lord Shiva. He heard the cry of a baby in the forest. When he saw the baby, he wondered to whom it belonged. At that time, a Brahamana appeared before him and asked the king to raise the child and name him Manikanthan. The king took the child to the queen and she was overjoyed! Manikanthan soon grew up and mastered all the arts by the age of twelve. By that time, the queen gave birth to a son. She wanted the son born to her to be crowned as the king. The Diwan of the palace understood her thoughts and asked her to pretend to have a ...

  Once, when Lord Indra and Lord Krishna were having a conversation, suddenly Krishna was lost in thought. This annoyed Indra and he asked what was bothering him. Krishna told Indra that, he had recently revealed his Universal Form to Sage Uttanka because the Sage had meditated on him in a desert. Krishna also said that he had granted Uttanka a boon that whenever he feels thirsty, if he thinks of him, water would be provided to him. Krishna then told Indra that Uttanka was thinking about him now but he was wondering if he could provide him nectar of immortality instead of water. Indra then said to Krisna that the nectar of immortality only belongs to the Devas and hence cannot be provided to Uttanka. But, Krishna was insistent. So, Indra told Krishna he would go to Uttanka with the nectar of immortality, but if the sage refuses, he will not receive the nectar. Krishna agreed. Meanwhile, Uttanka was meditating on Krishna in a desert. At that time, an outcaste approached him with a b...

  There was a famous and pious king named Sibi. Once, while he was performing a sacrifice, a pigeon came there and asked him to save it's life. Sibi noticed a hawk in the vicinity of the sacrifice too. He then promised to save the pigeon and asked the hawk to leave it alone. But the hawk said it would die of starvation if it does not eat anything. Sibi told the hawk that he would give up anything as a substitute  including his kingdom  except the pigeon since it had sought his protection. The hawk then said, if protecting the pigeon was so important to him, he had to give up a piece of flesh equal to the weight of the pigeon from his right thigh. The king agreed. Soon, a weighing machine was set up with the pigeon on one side and a piece of flesh from the king's right thigh on the other. But, to everyone's amazement, the pigeon was heavier! So, the king offered more and more portions of his flesh, but still the pigeon weighed more! Soon, he offered his entire body and the...

  There was a King named Pareekshit who was the son of Abhimanyu and grandson of Arjuna. Once, while on a hunting expedition, he felt very hungry and thirsty. Soon, he came across the hermitage of a sage named Shamika and asked for some water. Shamika was observing the vow of silence and meditating and hence did not reply to this request. Unaware of the this, Pareekshit got angry! He immediately lifted a dead snake with his bow and placed it on the shoulder of the sage. This act was observed by a Brahman youth named Krisa. He immediately went to inform the son of the sage, Shringi. Shringi, after hearing the story from Krisa, got enraged. He cursed Pareekshit to be bitten by a snake named Takshaka within the next seven days and die! When Shamika had completed the vow of silence and heard the curse from his son, he was upset and said that he should not have cursed the king as the king had done this act because he was thirsty. Soon, the sage asked one of his disciple Guarmukha to inf...

  Once, Ashtavakra begged the great Rishi Vadanya of his daughter, Suprabha. The Rishi promised to give his daughter if Ashtavakra makes a journey to the scared North and visits a feamle ascetic named Disha. Ashtavakra agreed to this. He then reached the palace of the ascetic lady and informed of his arrival. Seven beautiful ladies welcomed him. He then entered the palace and saw an old lady with white robes. Both of them greeted each other. The other ladies left. They conversed with each other for sometime and soon it was night time. Both, of them went to their respective beds but soon the lady began to tremble with cold and went to the bed of the Rishi and hugged him. But, Ashtavakra remained stable. He told her that he had promised to marry Suprabha, the daughter of Vadanya. The lady said she wanted him to only stay in the palace for a few days. Ashtavakra agreed. Soon, it was evening time and Ashtavakra asked the lady to fetch some water for ablution. He finished his ablutions ...