Archives: mythology

Vali and Sugriva

By Sandeep Mishra

Vali and Sugriva were the progenies of Lord Indra and Lord Surya. They were the children of Riksharaja, a monkey born from Lord Brahma’s tilaka, who was instructed to roam the forests and kill demons. One day, Riksharaja entered an enchanted pond and was transformed into a beautiful lady, attracting the attention of both Lord Indra and Lord Surya. Soon after, they each sired Vali and Sugriva respectively. The two powerful brothers were asked by Lord Brahma to live in the Kishkindha mountains.

The Curse of Sage Matanga

A demon called Dundubhi had been terrorising the gods of the seas and the mountains. After vanquishing them, he started looking for someone who would match him in strength and valour. The god of the mountains told him about Vali, the monkey king of Kishkindha, who was not only a powerful ruler but also a skilled warrior in his own right. And so the demon sent out a challenge to Vali, with a fierce battle following. This battle resulted in the death of the demon, and his blood flowed freely, including through the hermitage of the sage Matanga at Mount Rishyamuka. The sage was very angry when he saw that the demon’s blood had destroyed the trees he had tenderly nurtured, and through his divine powers, he saw that Vali was the one responsible. Filled with rage, he cursed the monkey king that if he ever set foot on Mount Rishyamuka, he would die. This led to Vali being permanently exiled from Mount Rishyamuka.

Meanwhile, Mayavi, the son of Dundubhi, challenged Vali in a bid to avenge his father’s death. However, Mayavi was no match for Vali and his army, and sensing his impending defeat, he ran and hid in a cave. Vali and Sugriva followed him to the mouth of the cave, where Vali instructed Sugriva to wait for him outside. Sugriva waited for his brother’s return for over a year. A year later, a stream of blood flowed out the cave and, hearing no sound of his brother, Sugriva assumed his brother was dead. With a heavy heart, he closed the entrance of the cave with a huge stone to prevent Mayavi from escaping and returned home.

The Curse of Sage Matanga — Illustration: Durgesh Velhal

Vali Returns

With his brother gone, the throne now lay vacant. After a lot of persuasion from his ministers, Sugriva hesitantly took over the kingdom. However, little did Sugriva know that the stream of blood that he saw earlier was actually Mayavi’s and not Vali’s. Vali was furious, seeing the rock blocking the entrance to the cave, and thought that his brother Sugriva had betrayed him. Vali managed to escape and made his way back to the kingdom, banishing Sugriva and enslaving his wife, Ruma.

Sugriva sought refuge in the mountains of Rishyamuka, where he knew Vali would never dare to step foot. One day, Hanuman, who had accompanied Sugriva, met Rama and Lakshmana, and brought the Ayodhya princes back to Sugriva. Hearing Sugriva’s plight, Lord Rama decides to help him win his kingdom back, in return of Sugriva’s aid in his quest for Sita.

Vali’s Demise

Sugriva knew there was no way he would be able to overpower his brother in a one-on-one confrontation. However, with Rama by his side, he felt more confident of his chances. Rama asked Sugriva to challenge Vali to a duel. However, during the fight, Rama was not able to differentiate between the two, leading to Sugriva’s defeat. Rama asked Sugriva to call for a rematch, to which Vali readily agreed. However this time, on Rama’s instructions, Sugriva wore a garland to the match. Now easily able to tell the two brothers apart, Rama shot an arrow at Vali mid-battle, piercing his heart and killing him. In his dying moments, Vali realised the sin he had committed and asked for Sugriva’s forgiveness. He then entrusted his son, Angad and his wife, Tara, to Sugriva’s care, passing away peacefully. Thus, Sugriva once again became the king of Kishkindha, ruling with utmost sincerity, and in time, sending his army to help Rama take on Raavana.

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Mythology’s Foster Mothers

Post author By Komal Narwani
Post date September 7, 2020
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Motherhood is one of the most influential rites of passage a woman can experience in her life. The bond between a mother and her own flesh and blood is something that is near divine. Having said that, for a woman to be able to feel the same way about a child that is not biologically hers is truly a blessing, especially when she has offspring of her own. There are numerous instances in the epics where we see mother figures who adopt other children as their own, and raise them alongside their own kids, seeing no difference between them. Here are some examples.

Kunti

Kunti is one of the most resilient characters in the Mahabharata, who faces numerous setbacks in her life. She is forced to face the bitter truth that her husband loves his second wife more than her. She then is forced to endure the loss of her husband, the treachery of her in-laws, the abandonment of her eldest son Karna, and much more. When Madri sacrifices herself following the death of Pandu, Kunti is left to care for Madri’s sons, Nakula and Sahadeva. Yet Kunti raises them alongside her three sons, Yudhishthira, Bhima, and Arjuna with no discrimination, raising them to be just, mighty, and brave warriors.

Radha

When Kunti left Karna in the river, Adhiratha, the chief charioteer of King Pandu, brought him home. Radha (not to be confused with Krishna’s consort, Radha) lovingly embraces Karna as her own. She raises Karna to be just and loyal. Karna’s love for his mother grows even stronger when Krishna reveals to him the harsh truth of his birth. Karna is also known as Radheya, meaning Radha’s son.

Yashoda

Afraid of his brother-in-law Kamsa’s intentions to kill his son, Vasudeva swaps the baby Krishna with his cousin Nanda’s daughter, Yogmaya. Nanda was the head of the Gopas tribe of Yadava cowherds in Gokul. Nanda’s wife, Yashoda, who wasn’t aware of the swap, lovingly raises Krishna as her own son. His mischievous antics always kept Yashoda on her toes. Believing the little one to be innocent, she protected him from all the girls who blamed him for troubling them every day. But Yashoda was a strict mother too. She would punish Krishna whenever she would catch him red-handed. Despite later realizing that Devaki was Krishna’s biological mother, she continued to love him immensely, with Krishna reciprocating that love in full measure.

The Origin Of The Palasha Tree

Post author By Komal Narwani
Post date September 7, 2020
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The palasha herb is very significant in Ayurveda, with many medicinal properties. In fact, it was considered very auspicious in ancient times, with a palasha twig being a part of the gurudakshina that a potential student would give to their teacher. There’s a very interesting story around its origins.

One day, Indra, the king of the gods, felt very thirsty. The gods of his court asked the goddess Gayatri to go to the celestial mountain Mujavana, where the Soma creeper grew. She was told to bring this back for Indra, so he could have an uninterrupted supply of Soma.

Gayatri took the form of an eagle and flew to the mountain. The mountain was fiercely guarded by the sentries of the Moon. She swooped down and seized the creeper in her beak before the startled sentries could do anything. With her prize secure, she flew away, screeching triumphantly.

However, one of the sentries, Krishanu, did manage to let fly an arrow at the bird. The arrow missed Gayatri but struck the vine in her beak, causing one of the leaves to fall off. This leaf fell to the earth and grew into the Palasha tree.

The Story of Naimisharanya

Post author By Komal Narwani
Post date August 31, 2020
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It’s believed that the ancient forest of Naimisharanya, in present-day Uttar Pradesh, was once the home of 88,000 rishis. They meditated together here, making it one of the holiest places in India.
The Chakratirtha in Naimisharanya is a circular pond filled with clear water. According to legend, an imminent Kaliyug made the rishis seek refuge in Brahma. Brahma let his chakra or wheel roll across the Earth and told the rishis to settle down at the place where it stopped. The wheel came to a halt at Chakratirtha, where water gushed out of the ground in full force. On Brahma’s request, goddess Lalita Devi stopped the chakra and controlled the flow. This water formed a sacred pond.

Today, holy spots like the Dashashwamedha Ghat, Hanuman Garhi, Dadichi Kund, Pandav Kila, and Vyas Gaddi dot the Chakratirtha in Naimisharanya.

Vaijayanta

The word ‘Vaijayanta’ has multiple references in the Puranas. Here are some of them.

Vaijayanta was the capital city of the asura king, Sambara, who fought a legendary battle against Rama’s father, Dasharatha.
The name of Indra’s flag is Vaijayanta, which means ‘the bestower of victory’.
Vaijayanta is the name of the mountain that stands in the middle of the ocean of milk. Brahma comes here every day to meditate.

Drona Vs Drupada

By Nitya Menon

The Mahabharata, the timeless epic of dharma, is filled with stories of treachery, deceit, and revenge. One such story of revenge was between the guru Dronacharya and king Drupada, father to Draupadi. Their story not only shows the vicious cycle of revenge, but also portraits the extent a vengeful soul can go to achieve its motive. Interestingly, this story of revenge started with a deep bond of friendship.

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Childhood buddies

Illustration: P.B. Kavadi | Script: Kamala Chandrakant

Drona’s father, Bharadwaja, was a sage whereas Drupada’s father, Prishata, was the king of Panchala. The two were dear friends. When Drona and Drupada grew up, they began their studies under the guidance of Bharadwaj. The two boys followed their fathers’ footsteps, a strong friendship blossoming between them. Later, they started studying the science of arms from Rishi Agnivesha. Over the years, they helped each other with their studies and daily routines. Their friendship grew stronger. So deep was their bond that Drupada promised Drona that once he becomes the king, his palace will be Drona’s home and the two will be together forever. Drona felt blessed to have a friend like Drupada and more than his promise, he appreciated his generosity. After their studies, they both parted ways and moved on to have families of their own.

The seed of revenge

Drona got married and had a son whom he named Ashwathama. He cared deeply about his wife and son. So attached he was to them that he would do anything for their wellbeing. Even though he did not have any materialistic urges, he tried to acquire wealth for them. It was then that he learned about Parashurama, a brahman warrior who was also the sixth incarnation of Vishnu, distributing his wealth among the brahmans. Unfortunately, by the time Drona arrived, Parashurama had already given away all his wealth and was to retire to the forest. Yet Parashurama did not want Drona to go back empty-handed. He offered him the choice of his body and his divine weapons, the only things left with him. Drona opted for the weapons along with the mantras to use them. He was extremely happy and felt blessed to receive it from the great Parashurama himself. Unfortunately, this did not help his financial condition.

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Around the same time, Drupada had ascended the throne and was now the king of Panchala. On recalling the bond that Drupada and he had shared, Drona approached him for help with great confidence in his friend’s generosity. He assumed that Drupada would welcome his family and be willing to share his newfound wealth. When Drona reached the kingdom of Panchala, things had completely changed. It seemed power and pride had gone to Drupada’s head, who feigned ignorance at their childhood friendship. “How can there ever be a friendship between a king and a wandering beggar? Leave at once.” Hearing these harsh words Drona was heartbroken. He vowed revenge on Drupada and left the palace in anger.

Drona gets his revenge

Drona’s vow had made him determined to earn fame and fortune and use his skills to prove his worth to the world. He cultivated a tremendous longing to acquire wealth and prove himself to Drupada. Soon, on the bases of his knowledge and fame, Drona became the guru of the cousin clans, the Pandavas and the Kauravas, but only on the condition that his students would avenge his insult as his fee.

Years passed by. It was soon time for his students to make good on their promise to him. Both the clans attacked the Panchala kingdom, but the Kauravas fled the battlefield fearing the powers of the Panchala army. Meanwhile, the Pandavas fought the army fearlessly, with the Pandava prince Arjuna managing to capture Drupada for his guru with his Gandiva. This was the moment Drona had been waiting for all his life. He said,

“Drupada, you broke your promise and insulted me. Look, my students captured you fulfilling my revenge. Now your entire kingdom belongs to me. I do not wish to live in enmity. Let’s revive our friendship. I will return you half of your kingdom. You need not be ashamed to owe me now because I am a king too.”

Hearing this, Drupada smiled and folded his hands in gratitude. He thanked his friend for being so kind and forgiving.

Little did Drona know that Drupada’s smile was a mask, one he wore to cover his vindictive motives. In the same breath he ‘thanked’ his erstwhile classmate, he vowed to himself that he would avenge Drona’s affront.

Drupada Retaliates

Drupada desired a son whose sole purpose in life would be to slay Drona. He sought the blessings of a sage who advised him to perform a Yagya, a sacrificial ritual in front of a sacred fire. Out of the flames rose a young boy followed by a young girl. The brahmans named them Dhrishtadyumna and Draupadi, also revered as Draupada and Panchali, respectively.

In the great war of Mahabharata, which was fought for eighteen days, Drona fought for the Kauravas and Drupada and Dhrishtadyumna fought for the Pandavas. On the fourteenth day, Drona killed Drupada. Grief-stricken by his father’s death, Dhristadyumna pledged to kill Drona at the earliest, eventually slaying the mighty guru while he was meditating, something that was technically against the established rules of war at the time. Unfortunately for Dhristadyumna, Drona’s son, Ashwathama, felt the same way about his father’s death, tracking down Dhristadyumna on the 18th night of the great war, and slaying him, showing no mercy. Thus ended the blood feud between Drona and Drupada, a bloody cycle of violence because of one man’s haughtiness and another man’s pride.

Choose from many stories of the Mahabharata in Amar Chitra Katha’s wide range of mythology titles, now available on the ACK Comics app, as well as Kindle, Amazon, Flipkart, and other major e-tailers.

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Ganesha’s Vaahana

According to Hindu rituals, any offering made to the divinities have to first begin with Ganesha. The elephant-headed god is always accompanied by a tiny mouse or a mooshak. Although in some of his avatars he does trade his mouse for another vaahana, his traditional form always has a mooshak by his side. Here are some interesting facts about Ganesha’s rodent friend.

According to the Ganesha Purana, the gandharva Krauncha was cursed by a sage to turn into a rat, who then went on to serve Ganesha as his vaahana.
According to another Puranic legend, Gajamukha the demon defeated by Ganesha in battle. He was then turned into a mooshak by Ganesha.
The mooshak is worshipped on the eleventh day of Ganesh Chaturthi.
The mooshak symbolises the ego that can nibble away all virtues and must be subdued.
The mooshak is also a symbol of the minute details of a subject.
The mooshak represents wisdom, talent and intelligence that Ganesha presides over.

The Search for Sita

When Rama was in need of help to carry out a search mission for Sita, it was the king of Kishkindha, Sugriva, who heard his call. Sugriva, along with his trusted minister, Hanuman, got crores of vanaras ready to comb the lands for Sita’s location. He divided his humongous army and allocated team leads for each group, pointing each of them in different directions. The valiant Shatabali and his army of one lakh vanaras, as well as the sons of Yama, who were Shatabali’s counsellors, headed to the Northern Quarter.

While the search was tedious, the monkey army got to witness some of the most magical places on their journey. Each direction had unique yet equally charming locations. Here’s how Sugriva described these magical places in the Ramayana’s Kishkindha Kand.

“Search the land of the Mlecchas, the Pulindas and the lands of the Kurus. Go to towns of the Yavanas and Sakas, and the land of the Daradas.”

“Search the Himalayas. Go to Sage Soma’s ashram and from there to the huge Kala mountain where the gold mines lie. Beyond that is the mountain Sudarshana and after that the mountain Devasakha.”

“Devasakha is the refuge of birds where all types of trees grow. Look for Sita and Ravana in the forests, near the waterfalls and in the caves.”

“Then quickly cross the barren land beyond, devoid of all life, and reach the white Kailasha mountain. Here stands the palace of Kubera, the lord of wealth, like a white cloud with gold decorations. It also has a pond filled with lotus and lilies and crowded with swans.”

“Next, you will reach the Krauncha mountain where you must search in the caves before going to the e barren but wish-fulfilling peak, Manasa. Beyond Krauncha is Mount Mainaka, the abode of Mayasura. Passing beyond you will come to an ashram where Vaikhanasa and Valakhilya live. Ask them about Sita. Beyond this flows the Sailoda river on the banks of which grow hollow bamboos that make a whistling sound as the wind passes through.”

“Thereafter stretches the Northern Sea with the gold mountain, Somagiri, rising from its middle. Here dwell Vishnu, Shiva and Brahma. You must not venture north of the Uttara Kurus. The moment you see Somagiri, you must hastily turn back.”

“Rama is the best of men, and has helped us greatly. When this task is done and Rama is pleased, our purpose will be accomplished and we will be released from our debt. Using all your intelligence and abilities, explore these inaccessible places and return to me. I will reward you greatly.”

Find out the other magical places mentioned in the Kishkindha Kand in our six-volume Valmiki’s Ramayana box-set, now available on the ACK Comic app, as well as Amazon, Flipkart, and other major e-tailers.

Arjuna’s Gandiva

Illustration: Ritoparna Hazrah

The Pandava prince Arjuna, highly revered as the greatest archer of all time, owned the celestial bow called the Gandiva. The bow was so powerful that even the gods feared it. In the legendary battle of Kurukshetra, Arjuna destroyed a number of great warriors and gods with the Gandiva.

The bow was created by Brahma himself, decreeing at the time that this powerful bow would punish the unjust and the wicked. It was such a mighty weapon that it could be used to fight one lakh enemies at the same time!

The bow passed through many hands before making its way to the Pandava prince. Brahma used the bow for a 1000 years, followed by Indra for 3585 years and then by Chandra for 500 years. Varuna then came into its possession and used it for 100 years before giving it to Arjuna!

According to Veda Vyasa’s Mahabharata, at the end of Dwarapa Yuga when the Pandavas retired, Arjun returned the bow to its previous owner, Varuna.

Valmiki – The First Poet

By Sandeep Mishra

Valmiki is the author of one of the two greatest Indian epics, the Ramayana. Valmiki is also known as Adi Kavi, which means the first poet. He is widely credited for being a pioneer of Sanskrit literature, defining the shape and form of Sanskrit poetry.

One day, Devamuni Narada was conversing with sage Valmiki and happened to tell him the story of Maryada Purushottam Rama, describing Rama’s many qualities, including truthfulness, bravery, self-competence, and wisdom.

After Narada left, Valmiki went to the Tamasa river for his mid-day baths, where he spotted two crane birds calling to each other and mating. Valmiki was filled with joy seeing the happy birds. Suddenly, an arrow pierced the body of the male bird, killing him immediately. Filled with sorrow, his mate died of shock. Upon seeing this, the enraged rishi could not control himself and cursed the hunter.

Illustration: Zoheb Akbar | Script: Harini Gopalswami Srinivasan

“Maa Nishad Pratishtha Twamgamah Shashwatih Samah,
Yatkraunchamithunadekam Avadhih Kamamohitham”

“You will find no rest for the long years of eternity,
for you killed a pair of birds in love and unsuspecting.”

Although he was grief-stricken and in a lot of pain over the death of the innocent creatures, he couldn’t help but notice that the curse he uttered came out in a musical form that could be recited or sung. He narrated the entire incident to his disciple Bhardwaja, who memorised the couplet uttered by the sage while in grief. This then became the first-ever shloka in Sanskrit literature.

The sage continued to brood over the incident, until, one day, Brahma appeared before him and asked him to get over his grief. He inspired the guru to compose the story of Rama in the same poetic meter in which he had cursed the hunter.

To do this, Brahma bestowed on him the divine power to see all that happened, even the thoughts of the characters. With these divine powers, he was able to see the entire life of Rama, the past, the present, and the future. Thus, Valmiki composed one of the longest works of literature the world has ever known, the epic that came to be called the Ramayana, comprising 24,000 verses across seven kandas, divided into 500 saragas.

Traditionally, the story of Rama was passed down from generation to generation orally, and was taught to only a selected few, for the fear of being corrupted. Luv and Kush, the sons of Rama, were the first students who ever heard the complete version of the Ramayana. Today, there are over 300 different versions of the epic across the world, which you can read more about here.

Read Amar Chitra Katha’s retelling of Valmiki’s Ramayana, now available on the ACK Comics app, as well as Kindle and other major e-tailers.