The Story of the Silk Cotton Tree
- December 15, 2020
The Story of the Silk Cotton Tree
- December 15, 2020
According to one version of Mahabharata, Bheeshma once narrated the story of a proud tree to Yudhishthira to teach him the importance of humility.
A long time ago, the silk cotton tree stood tall on the slopes of the Himalayas. It was extremely alluring. One day as sage Narada passed by the tree, he stopped to admire its size. He said,
“O Silk Tree, how mighty you are! Even the powerful storm cannot move your branches.”
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Filled with pride, the haughty tree boomed out loudly.
“That’s because the storm is my servant.”
Now sage Narada was known for being a bit of a gossip, and told Vayu, the wind god, exactly what the proud tree had told him. Vayu was furious and went thundering off to see the tree himself. When he got there, he started screaming at the tree!
“Do you know why I do not blow on you? When Lord Brahma was creating the world, he stopped to rest on one of your branches. It is out of respect for him that I keep still, but I think it is time I teach you a lesson.”
An enraged Vayu then worked himself into a great storm and blew so hard that the silk cotton tree lost all its leaves and flowers at once! That was the price the tree had to pay for his arrogance.
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Comic of The Month
The Sons of Rama
The story of Rama and Sita was first set down by the sage Valmiki in his epic poem 'Ramayana.' Rama was the eldest son of Dasharatha, the king of Ayodhya, who had three wives - Kaushalya, Kaikeyi and Sumitra. Rama was the son of Kaushalya, Bharata of Kaikeyi and Laxmana and Shatrughna of Sumitra. The four princes grew up to be brave and valiant. Rama won the hand of Sita, the daughter of King Janaka. Dasharatha wanted to crown Rama as the king but Kaikeyi objected. Using boons granted to her by Dasharatha earlier, she had Rama banished to the forest. Sita and Laxmana decided to follow Rama. While in the forest, a Rakshasi, Shoorpanakha, accosted Laxmana but had her nose cut off by him. In revenge, her brother Ravana, king of Lanka, carried Sita away. Rama and Laxmana set out to look for her and with the help of an army of monkeys, defeated Ravana. On returning Ayodhya after fourteen years of exile, Rama banished Sita because of the suspicions of his subjects. In the ashrama of sage Valmiki, she gave birth to her twin sons, Luv and Kush.