Sutradhar Mini Tales (English)

Once the God of wealth Kubera became very proud of his prosperity. He started throwing lavish parties to host all the Gods, to showcase his wealth. He invited Mahadeva many times, but Mahadev he refused. Kubera started visiting Mahadeva at Kailash and started offering Him jewels and ornaments. Mahadeva was not impressed by such offerings, but he sensed Kubera’s arrogance and decided to teach him a lesson. Next time when Kubera invited Mahadeva for his party, Mahadeva declined the invitation as usual, however he suggested his son Ganesh would visit instead.  Kubera welcomed Ganapati in his lavish abode and offered him food. Ganapati ate whatever Kubera offered, but was still not satisfied, so he asked for more food. Kubera served more food, which was also consumed by Ganapati. Vinayak kept eating whatever Kubera offered and still demanded for more. In the end Kubera ran out of food to serve, but Ganapati was still hungry.  To protect himself from Ganapati’s wrath, Kubera went running to Mahadeva and requested for his help. Knowing that he had learned his lesson, Mahadev suggested that Kuberhe prays to Mata Parvati. Kubera pleaded to Mata Parvati forto help. Mata Parvati went to Kubera’s palace and offered a Modak to Ganapati. Ganapati ate the Modak offered by his mother and was instantly full. Kubera learned a lesson in humility and never again bragged about his possessions.    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Analasura was a demon who was born out of Yama and was made of fire. He could burn anything just by looking at themit. When Analasura started destroying the world with his extreme fire emitting eyes, all the Gods became worried and upon Guru Brihaspati’s advice prayed to Ganapati.  Ganapati appeared in the form of a small boy and challenged Analasura. Analasura got angry at the baby Ganesha and tried to burn him too, but because of his small size he could not hit him with his fire. Finally, when the demon charged at Ganesha, he grew in size and swallowed the demon. The demon started causing massive heat inside Ganapati’s stomach. All the Gods tried their best to calm the heat. Indra requested a cool moon to adorn Ganapati, Brahmadev offered his mind born daughters Riddhi and Siddhi to fan around him, Shivaji offered a thousand headed snake to wrap around his stomach, Vishnuji offered lotus flowers and Varuna dev showered him with cold water.  When all these efforts could not calm the heat inside Ganapati, 88000 Rishis led by Kashyap rishi offered Ganapati 21 blades of Bermuda grass each, this eventually calmed the heat making Durva or Doob Ganapati’s favourite.    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After both her sons Hiranyaksha and Hiranyakashipu were killed, devi Diti was overtaken by grief. In order to avenge the death of her sons, she tried to please her husband Kashyap rishi, in order to get a son who would kill Indra. Indra disguised himself and started living with devi Diti and served her.  One day Indra shrunk in size and entered Diti’s womb. He cut the baby growing inside her into 7 pieces. It didn’t kill the baby, in fact there were now 7 babies who started crying. So Indra kept saying, “Ma Rud.. Ma Rud.” and cut them into 7 pieces each. Because of Narayana’s blessings Diti gave birth to 49 babies.  When she saw 49 babies and Indra with them she enquired Indra about this. Indra told her everything honestly and said, these 49 Maruds are gods, and are his brothers, and Gods and would live with him in heaven.  Devi Diti forgave Indra and blessed him and her 49 sons.    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kashyap rishi’s wife devi Aditi had twelve sons, Vivaswana, Aryama, Pusha, Twashta, Savita, Bhag, Dhata, Vidhata, Varuna, Mitra, Indra and Trivikrama. विवस्वान, अर्यमा, पूषा, त्वष्टा, सविता, भग, धाता, विधाता, वरुण, मित्र, इन्द्र और त्रिविक्रमTogether they are called the twelve Adityas. Twashta was married to rachana, the younger sister of the Daityas, Rachana and they had two sons - Sannivesha and Vishwarupa. सन्निवेश और विश्वरूप When Devguru Brihaspati abandoned the Gods because of an insult by Indra, the Gods decided to appoint Vishwarupa as their preceptor.    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the ancient times in the city of Kanyakubja, lived a brahmin named Ajamila. Ajamila had no qualities of a Brahmin, and he instead he spent his time in doing wrong by others. He would rob people or con them to earn a livelihood.  He spent all his life like this. He had ten sons. He loved the youngest one among them the most and named him “Narayana”. He would spend his old age playing with Narayana and would not eat before feeding young Narayana.  When Ajamila’s time came, agents of Yama appeared before him to take him to Mrityuloka. Ajamila got scared and started calling out to his son, Narayana… Narayana.  When agents of Bhagwaan Vishnu heard the sound of Narayana, they rushed there and stopped the Yamadutas from taking him away. Ajamila heard the conversation between the agents of Narayana and Yamadutas. This conversation made him realise his wrong ways. He became a changed man. He left all his vices and started spending time in praying to Bhagwaan. In the end, because of these good deeds, he found a place in Vaikunthaloka.    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After Maharaj Prithu, his son Vijitashwa विजिताश्व became the king. His son was Havirdhan हविर्धान and grandson Bahirshad. बर्हिषद Bahirshad was married to the daughter of the ocean Shatdruti शतद्रुति. They had ten sons, who were collectively called Prachetas प्रचेता. The Prachetas worshipped Mahadev and Bhagwaan Vishnu for many years. With Narayana’s blessings they married Kandu Rishi and Apsara Pramalocha’s daughter Marisha मारिषा, who was raised by trees and Chandra. Marisha gave birth to Daksh. Brahmadev’s son Daksh Prajapati had to get rid of his old body because of being disrespectful towards Mahadev and was reborn as Marisha’s son.  He also became Prajapati in Chakshusha Manvantara चाक्षुष मन्वन्तर Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

According to the Padma Purana, during Shriram’s Ashwamedh yagya, the sacrificial horse was stopped by Mahadev’s ardent devotee King Veermani of Devpur. This resulted into a massive battle between Shriram’s army lead by Shatrughna and Bharat’s son Pushkal along with Bajarangbali. When Veermani’s army started losing he requested for Mahadev’s help. Mahadev heard the cries of his devotee and came to his rescue along with Veerbhadra and Nandi. Massive battle ensued, which resulted in Pushkal and Shatrughna getting unconscious. At this point Hanuman ji remembered the name of Shriram and faced Mahadev.  The duel went on for many days, in the end Shivaji fired his Pashupat missile, which was absorbed by Hanuman ji due to Brahmadev’s boon to him.  Eventually Shriram came to the battlefield to stop this battle. Shivaji asked Veermani to surrender to Shriram and revived everyone.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When Lakshman ji was lying unconscious on the battlefield after a duel with Meghnad, Sushena Vaidya was called to treat him. The healer of the monkey clan needed Sanjivani herb from Dronagiri mountain to revive Lakshman ji. Because of his speed, Hanuman ji was given the task tohe retrieve the lifesaving herb. When Hanuman ji reached the mountain, he could not identify the herb, so without losing much time, he decided to carry the entire mountain with him. When Hanuman ji was flying in the sky carrying the entire Dronagiri mountain, he was spotted by Bharat ji, who was the caretaker of Ayodhya in the absence of Shriram. Bharat ji mistook Hanuman ji for some demon who was trying to attack Ayodhya, so he shot an arrow at him. Since the arrow was shot with the name of Shriram, hanumanjihe did not counter it and got hurt. When Hanuman ji fell on the ground, he narrated the entire incident to Bharat ji about the battle going on at Lanka and Lakshman’s coma.  Bharat ji regretted his action and offered his help in sending Hanuman ji to Lanka faster Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hanuman ji Vs Bheema Hanuman ji and Bheema were both sons of the wind God, Pavan. So, when Hanuman ji sensed his younger brother becoming too proud of his physical prowess, he decided to teach him a lesson in humility.  Once during the Pandava’s exile Hanumanji appeared on the path of Bheema, disguised as an old monkey. The old monkey was resting on a narrow path in the jungle, with his tail blocking the way. When Bheema was passing through, he asked the monkey to remove his tail from the path so that he can cross. The monkey told Bheema to do it himself. Bheema tried his best but despite using all his strength, he could not move the tail even by an inch. It is then the monkey revealed himself as Hanumanji and taught Bheema a lesson in humility. Bheema learned his lesson and sought blessings from his elder brother. Bajarangbali blessed Bheema and promised to grace the chariot of Arjuna with his divine presence in the form of a monkey banner.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Once Balaram ji faced a monkey named Dvivida from Treta Yuga. He was a general in Sugriva’s army. He had become arrogant and had started troubling people. Balaram ji confronted the monkey and killed him in a duel.  This victory made Balaram ji overconfident about his physical strength. Shrikrishna decided to teach his brother a lesson and requested for help from Hanuman ji.  One day Hanuman ji appeared in the form of a normal monkey and started creating nuisance in Balaram ji’s garden. Balaram ji came running and challenged tohe monkey ftoor a duel. Balaram ji used all his strength but failed to overpower the monkey. At this point Shrikrishna stopped the duel and requested Bajarangbali to reveal himself.  Balaram ji learned his lesson and sought forgiveness from Hanuman ji.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gandhari’s Curse to ShriKrishna Mother of the Kauravas, Gandhari blamed Shrikrishna for causing all this death and destruction and cursed him that the way her entire lineage hads been destroyed, one day the sameday same thing will happen to his Yaduvansh. After this curse Shrikrishna returned to Dwarka and took all his relatives to Prabhas. He instructed his clan to conduct charitable acts while waiting for their impending doom.  One day Satyaki and Kritavarma got into a debate over their actions during the Mahabharata war. They started insulting each other and the debate got heated. Satyaki ended up cutting Kritavarma’s head. This resulted into massive infighting among all the Yadava’s who ended up killing each other including Shrikrishna’s sons and friends. Only Babru and Daruk survived.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

According to the Shanti Parva of Mahabharata after the war of Mahabharata Kunti told the truth about Karna’s birth to Yudhishthira. the Pandava brothers were very sad hearing about this and blamed their mother for keeping this a secret from them. They performed the last rites of Karna. However, because of keeping this secret Yudhishthira cursed all the women that they will be unable to keep any secret for long.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Before the Kurukshetra war Arjuna visited Alkapuri to seek divine weapons from Gods to prepare for the inevitable war. There he met Apsara Urvashi, who got infatuated with him and made advances towards him. Arjuna however, stopped her saying he considers Urvashi like his mother and cannot respond to her advances. Hearing this Urvashi got angry and cursed Arjuna to become a neuter and live among women as a dancer.  When Arjuna told Indra about this curse, Indra convinced Urvashi to reduce the period of her curse to one year, so that it can help Arjuna to liveing in disguise during their one year of incognito period.  Because of this curse Arjuna lived in Matsya kingdom as Brihannala during their one year of Agyatvas.    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Once Maharaj Pandu was hunting in a forest. He sensed some movement from behind the bushes and thinking it was a deer, shot an arrow. The arrow hit rishi Kindam and his wife, who were enjoying an intimate moment together disguised as deer.  When Pandu realised what he had done, he pleaded forgiveness for his actions, however Kindam rishi cursed Pandu. As per Kindam rishi’s curse Pandu would die the moment he gets intimate with any woman.  Following this, Pandu assigned his blind elder brother Dhritarashtra as the caretaker king of Hastinapur and started living in the jungle with his wives Kunti and Madri. the Pandava brothers were born by using the boon of rishi Durvasa to Kunti, using which she could summon any God and seek a child from them.  Once Pandu was alone with his wife Madri and he could not control himself. The moment he decided to get intimate with her he died   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

During the fight between Bhagwaan Parshuram and Kartavirya Arjuna, Kartavirya’s soldiers started raiding the Ashrams. After Bhagwaan Parshuram killed Kartavirya, his sons attacked various Ashrams.  During one such raid they attacked the Ashram of Parashara rishi. The great rishi tried to stop them and was hurt in his leg in the process.  After this Parashara rishi started walking with a limp and became famous as the Limping Sage.    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Parashara grew up thinking, his grandfather Brahmarshi Vashishtha was his father. When he found out the truth and that his father and uncles were killed by a demon under the influence of rishi Vishwamitra, he decided to conduct a yajna to exterminate all the demons from the world.   Rakshasa from all over the world started burning in the fire of Parashara’s yajna. When Pulastya rishi noticed this destruction he requested Vashishtha rishi to stop his grandson. Rishi Vashishtha told Parashara rishi to stop his yajna for it was not correct to blame all the Rakshasa for the death of his father.    Parashara rishi eventually calmed down and stopped the yajna. Pulastya rishi blessed the rishi with divine knowledge. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Once Brahmarshi Vashishtha’s eldest son Shakti Maharshi was going somewhere on a narrow path. On the way he met King Kalmashpada of Ikshwaku dynasty. They both got into an argument over who has the right to cross first. The argument escalated to a level that the King hit the Rishi with a whip. The Angry rishi cursed the king to become a demon.   The demon king under the influence of rishi Vishwamitra killed and ate Shakti Maharshi and his brothers.    Rishi Vashishtha was so grief stricken that he decided to end his life. After multiple failed attempts at ending his life he met Shakti Maharshi’s wife Adrushyanti, who was pregnant. She gave birth to a boy, who grew up in the hermitage of his grandfather Vashishtha, thinking he was his father. The boy made Vashishtha rishi forget about his grief and gave him a reason to live, thus he was named Parashara.    पाराशर ऋषि का जन्म एक बार ब्रह्मर्षि वशिष्ठ के पुत्र शक्ति महर्षि एक सँकरे पहाड़ी रास्ते से कहीं जा रहे थे। रास्ते में उनकी भेंट सामने से आते हुए राजा कल्माषपाद से हुई। कौन पहले रस्ता पार करे इस बात पर दोनों में विवाद छिड़ गया। दोनों का विवाद इतना बढ़ गया की कल्माषपाद शक्ति मुनि को कोड़े मारने लगे। क्रोध में आकर शक्ति महर्षि ने राजा को राक्षस बन जाने का शाप दे दिया।  राक्षस बने कल्माषपाद ने शक्ति महर्षि को खा लिया और बाद में ऋषि विश्वामित्र के प्रभाव में वशिष्ठ ऋषि के अन्य पुत्रों को भी मार दिया।  जब वशिष्ठ ऋषि को अपने सभी पुत्रों की मृत्यु का पता चला तो दुःख के कारण उन्होंने आत्महत्या करने की सोची, परन्तु अनेक प्रयासों के बाद भी विफल रहे। जब वशिष्ठ ऋषि अपने आश्रम वापस आए तो उन्होंने शक्ति महर्षि की पानी अदृश्यन्ति को गर्भावस्था में पाया। उन्होंने एक पुत्र को जन्म दिया जो अपने दादा के साथ उनके आश्रम में बड़ा होने लगा।  अपने पौत्र को देखकर वशिष्ठ ऋषि का शोक मिट गया और उनको जीवन जीने की नई प्रेरणा मिली, इसीलिए उन्होंने बालक का नाम पाराशर रखा। Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Located in Manali, Himanchal Pradesh, this temple is dedicated to Bhima’s wife, devi Hidimba. The sanctuary is built over a huge rock jutting out of the ground which was worshiped as an image of the deity. During their time living in forests Bhima had killed the demon Hidimb and married his sister Hidimba. Hidimba’s son Ghatotkach fought in the Kurukshetra war and was instrumental in getting rid of the infallible Vasawi Dart of Indra from Karna.   After their marriage Devi Hidimba didn’t accompany Bhima, she stayed here instead performing penance and eventually ascended to heaven.    During Navaratri lots of devotees visit this temple. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Situated at the base of Annamalai Hills in Tamilnadu, this temple is dedicated to the Agni Linga form of Bhagwaan Shankar. It is believed that Mahadev graces this place in his Ardhanarishwar form.        According to the Pauranik text, once Bhagwaan Brahma and Bhagwaan Vishnu got into a debate over who is more important for the functioning of the universe. When the debate could not be settled, Mahadev appeared between them in the form of an endless pillar of fire.        Both Brahmadev and Bhagwaan Vishu could not locate the ends of this fire pillar, however in order to prove his superiority Brahmadev lied. Mahadev got angry at this lie. He took the form of Kaal-Bhairav and cut one of the heads of Brahmadev.      Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Situated in Kollum District Kerala, Peruviruthy Malanada Temple is probably the only temple dedicated to Kaurava Prince Duryodhana. In this temple Kaurava prince is being worshipped for many generations. There are many other temples in the vicinity dedicated to Gandhari, Dushala, Karna etc.    There is no idol in this temple, instead there is an empty platform that is worshipped as Duryodhan’s throne.    It is believed that during the incognito period of Pandava’s exile Duryodhana along traveled all over the world trying to find them. During one such expedition he landed in this village. He was tired and thirsty, and was offered a drink by an elderly woman. Pleased with this Duryodhan rewarded the village with wealth and one hundred acre land.    Even today the tax generated from that land is called Duryodhanan, which means Duryodhan’s wealth.    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices