Tag: Mahabharat

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Story of Ghatotkach : Demon Son of Bheem

story of ghatothkach

Pandavs had lost the gamble which they played with Kauravs. According to the conditions of the gamble, they had to stay in forest for 12 years.
During their stay in the forest Bheem, one of the the Pandav brothers, fell in love with a demon named Hidimba. He married her with permission of his mother Kunti. Ghatotkach was born out of their marriage. As Ghatotkach was born half demon he had extraordinary powers.


There is also a story of Karn connected with Ghatotkach. Indra had cheated Karn and had taken his heavenly armor and earrings as donation. In return he had given an arrow called Shakti to Karn. Karn could kill anybody with that Shakti.
Lord Krishna invited Ghatotkach to fight in the Mahabharat war. Ghatotkach kept killing thousands of Kaurav soldiers everyday. Ultimately he started killing so many soldiers that Duryodhan requested Karn to use the Shakti on Ghatotkach. Though Karn had saved the Shakti to kill Arjun, he had to use the Shakti to kill Ghatotkach on the insistence of Duryodhan. When Ghatotkach died he increased his body with his demonic powers and killed thousands of Kaurav soldiers when he fell down.
Thus Ghatotkach saved the life of Arjun and brought a lot of destruction on the Kauravs army.

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The Story Of King Ambarish and Rishi Durvasa

The Story Of Ambarish and Rishi Durvasa
The Story Of Ambarish and Rishi Durvasa

King Ambarish was a very devout king. He was the son of King Mandhata. King Ambarish was a great devotee of lord Vishnu. His story comes in Shreemad Bhagavad Puran.

It is said that once King Ambarish performed the ‘Dwadashi fast’ which required that the king must start the fast on Ekadashi and break the fast at the start of Dwadashi and also feed all the people. When the time of breaking the fast came near, Rishi Durvasa suddenly came to meet king Ambarish. King Ambarish asked rishi Durvasa to be his guest. Rishi Durvasa went to take a bath in the river Yamuna and it so happened that he did not return at the time of breaking the fast. The brahmins advised king Ambarish to break his fast in the absence of rishi Durvasa.

When rishi Durvasa returned and saw that king Ambarish had broken the fast, he became very angry. In his anger, he produced a ferocious demon to kill Ambarish. But as Ambarish was a great devotee of lord Vishnu, the Sudarshan chakra of Vishnu intervened and killed the demon. The chakra then started following Durvasa to kill him. In great fear, Durvasa went to Brahmaji and Lord Shiva to save him from sudarshan chakra. But they expressed their inability. Then Durvasa went to Lord Vishnu and asked him to stop his chakra. Lord Vishnu told Durvasa that the chakra could only be stopped by Ambarish and advised Durvasa to go to Ambarish and request him to stop the chakra.

Rishi Durvasa then approached king Ambarish and asked him for his forgiveness. King Ambarish requested the chakra to stop and not kill rishi Durvasa.

This story from Shreemad Bhagavad Puran teaches us that lord protects his devotee under any circumstances. If we keep our faith in God and if we are devoted to God, we will be protected at all times.

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Story of King Nahush

king nahush
king nahush

King Nahush was probably the only king who was made Indra for some time. The story of how Nahush was made Indra by the Gods is like this:

Once Indra had to kill Vritasur. The killing of Vritasur was a sin, so Indra gave up his throne and ran away from heaven. In the absence of the king, the Gods thought that Nahush was the best replacement. Nahush was the son of Aayu and belonged to the Lunar dynasty. His guru was sage Vashisht and he was a good ruler.

All the Gods went to meet Nahush after taking advice from their guru Brihaspati. Nahush agreed to become the king of Gods. At first, Nahush was a good ruler but later he slowly started becoming proud of his power.

Once Nahush saw the queen of Indra and he wanted to marry her. He proposed to Shachi who was the wife of Indra. This made the queen very angry. After talking to her guru Brihaspati she put a condition to Nahush. She told Nahush that she would marry him only when he would come and fetch her in a palanquin which should be lifted by all the great sages.
The palanquin was carried by great sages and one of them was Rishi Agastya who was short in height. Since Rishi Agastya was slow in walking, Nahush got very angry and kicked rishi Agastya to walk faster. He used the word ‘sarp’ which means to walk fast. But Rishi Agastya got very angry when Nahush kicked him with his feet so he cursed Nahush to become a serpent and to live on the earth. In this way, Nahush was removed from his throne and Indra was brought back.

This story is found in Mahabharat. This story teaches us that we should not become proud of our position and power and behave arrogantly with others. Nahush was the king of heaven but he became a serpent and fell down on earth because blinded by his arrogance he misbehaved with Rishi Agastya and paid a very heavy price for that.

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Lord Krishna Stories from Hindu Religion

Surrender To God | A Story from Bhagawat Gita

Surrender to God | A Story from Bhagawat Gita
Surrender to God | A Story from Bhagawat Gita

Surrender to God | A Story from Bhagawat Gita

(Shlok)
This shloka number 22nd of the 9th chapter of Bhagwad Gita says that those who totally depend only on me, that is the lord, the lord takes care of them. This is a very important shloka because not all of us believe that if we totally depend on the lord, he will take care of us.

Here is a small story about this shloka of Shreemad Bhagwad Gita.

In a village lived a poor brahmin. He was a great devotee of Lord Shree Krishna and used to read the Bhagwad Gita every day.

One day there was nothing to eat at his home. He was reading Bhagwad Gita sitting under a tree near his home and when he came to this shloka, he started wondering that I am a devotee of lord Shree Krishna and in this shloka, the lord promises that he will fulfill all my needs. But today there is nothing to eat at my home. Thinking this, he made a mark on this shloka in his doubt.

At that time, a small child came to his house with lots of food material. He told brahmin’s wife that brahmin had sent the food to his home. The child had a wound on his head, and it was bleeding. When the brahmin’s wife asked him about the wound, the child answered, “please ask your husband about this wound and the blood.”

After finishing his reading of the Bhagwad Gita, when brahmin returned to his home, he saw that his home was full of all kinds of food. He was very much surprised. He asked his wife as to who gave all this. His wife replied, “You must have forgotten. You only sent this food with a small child.” Brahmin said he had no money, so he could not have sent any food. Brahmin asked his wife to describe the child. His wife replied that the child looked very beautiful but had a wound on his forehead from where blood was coming out. She also told the brahmin that the child had said that the secret of the wound was with the brahmin himself. The brahmin immediately understood that Lord Krishna had himself come with the food, and the red mark was the mark he had made in Bhagwad Gita.

He could not believe that the lord was so merciful. Then, he and his wife both prayed to the lord and asked for forgiveness. Brahmin specially asked forgiveness for disbelieving this shloka of Bhagwad Gita.

This shloka teaches us that if we have complete faith in the lord and surrender ourselves totally to his mercy, he fulfills all our needs.

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Was Kunti right in discarding Karna?

The decision of Kunti, the mother of the Pandavas, to discard her newborn son Karna is a complex and controversial issue. According to the Mahabharata, Kunti was an unmarried princess who had obtained a boon that allowed her to summon any god and have a child with them. She tested the boon and gave birth to Karna, but as an unwed mother, she was unable to keep him.

Some argue that Kunti was justified in her decision to abandon Karna, as she was a young and unmarried girl who would have faced immense social stigma for having a child out of wedlock. Additionally, as a member of the royal family, she may have been concerned about the potential impact of Karna’s birth on the stability of the kingdom.

However, others argue that Kunti’s decision to abandon Karna was cruel and unjust, as she was his mother and had a responsibility to care for him. They point out that Kunti could have found a way to raise Karna without revealing the circumstances of his birth, or could have sought the help of trusted advisors to help her care for him

Ultimately, the morality of Kunti’s decision is a matter of interpretation and debate, and it is up to each individual reader to come to their own conclusions about the actions of the characters in the story.

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Stories Stories from Hindu Religion

The Story of Ashtavakra Geeta

The Story of Ashtavakra Geeta

It is a story of Ashtavakra Geeta

Ashtavakra Geeta is considered one of the most important texts of Advaita Vedanta. Ashtavakra was bent at eight places and that’s how he got this name.


When teenager Ashtavakra was told by his friend Svetketu that his father was drowned in a river on orders of King Janaka, he asked why?

Svetketu answered that a learned Brahmin Vandin defeated his father in an argument and, that was the reason why Ashtavakra’s father was drowned. 


Hearing this Ashtavakra went to King Janak’s court and challenged Vandin for an argument to find out who was more knowledgeable? Nobody believed that Ashtavakra could win, but Ashtavakra defeated Vandin convincingly. King Janak then ordered that according to the conditions Vandin should be drowned.


Vandin informed all present that he was the son of Varun, god of water. Vandin also told all present that Varun needed learned Brahmins for a yagya. And, now that the yagya was finished all the Brahmins would return. Ashtavakra’s father also returned. Muni Ashtavakra has written a definitive text about Vedanta called Ashtavakra Geeta.

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How Rishi Markandeya Saw Maya?

How Rishi Markandeya Saw Maya

Rishi Markandeya was a great devotee of Lord Vishnu. Once he prayed to see his Maya. Lord agreed to his request to show him his Maya.


After some days it so happened that he was sitting in his hut and praying. Suddenly he saw that rain started falling. It was incessant and everything was getting flooded. There was water everywhere. The rivers and seas were rising and nothing could be seen except water everywhere.


Rishi Markandeya was afraid and went around to search for safety. He came near a banyan tree and saw that on a leaf a small child of great beauty was lying. The child was radiant and divine. He was sucking the toe of his foot. As Rishi Markandeya went near the child, he was sucked in the mouth of the child.


Inside he saw the whole world and was highly surprised. When he started going around he was thrown out of the mouth of the child. When he came out he saw that there was no water and no flood and he was sitting in his hut. He was amazed at what happened and then realised that it was Lord Vishnu’s Maya. Because of Maya we are not able to realise Brahman and are always entangled in the world which is not real.

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Story of The Birth of Urvashi

Story of The Birth of Urvashi

Story of the Birth of Urvashi

Urvashi was the most beautiful apsara in Indra’s palace. Once the incarnations of Lord Vishnu Nar and Narayan were doing intense meditation. The meditation was so so intense that as usual Indra the head of gods got afraid that Nar and Narayan wanted to replace him as the king of gods.


Indra thought of an idea to break their meditation. He send his most beautiful apsaras such as Rambha and others to the place where Nar and Narayan were meditating. He also sent the lord of love Kamdev with the apsaras. They all tried in many ways to break up their meditation. 


Nar and Narayan were incarnations of Lord Vishnu and they knew everything about what was happening. To break Indra’s pride Narayan slapped his thigh. That slap produced Urvashi who was more beautiful than all the apsaras sent by Indra.


The celestial beings sent by Indra were highly ashamed looking at the unparalleled beauty of Urvashi. Even Indra was very ashamed looking at the power of Narayan. In his great mercy, Narayan sent Urvashi to Indra in heaven. There are many stories connected with Urvashi that we will watch in other.

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Why is Bhishma Called Gangaputra?

Why is Bhishma called Ganga Putra_
Why is Bhishma called Ganga Putra_

Why is Bhishma called Gangaputra?

Bhishma was a Vasu in his earlier birth. There are eight Vasus in total. It is said that once the Vasus came across the cow Nandini who belonged to Rishi Vashishth. A Vasu named Prabhas stole the cow at the request of his wife. 


When Vashishth came to know of the theft, he cursed all the Vasus to take birth on the earth as human beings. The Vasus were devastated on hearing this. They requested Vashishth to reduce the curse.

Vashishth said that the seven Vasus would be killed immediately after taking birth, but Prabhas would have to live much longer on earth.
Bhishma was the Vasu Prabhas. After hearing the curse, the Vasus requested river Ganga to be their mother and kill the seven of them as soon as they were born. Ganga agreed. 


Once King Shantanu was roaming around the Ganga river when he saw an enchanting woman. He asked her to marry him. But the woman who was Ganga had a condition. She said she would stay with Shantanu till he never asked her any questions. 


Ganga started to kill her children as soon as they were born. King Shantanu kept quiet till the seven children were killed, but stopped Ganga when she wanted to kill the eighth child. On this, Ganga said that Shantanu had broken the condition of their marriage and she left. Before leaving she revealed to Shantanu the real story. 
Ganga brought up Devavrata and brought him back to Shantanu when he grew up. This is the reason why Bhishma is also called Gangaputra.

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The Story Behind The Name of Bhishma

The Story behind the name of Bhishma
The Story behind the name of Bhishma

It is a story of how Bhishma got his name

Bhishma was the son of King Shantanu. His real name was Devarata. He got the name Bhishma after he vowed not to sit on the throne of Hastinapur.


Once King Shantanu was traveling in his kingdom, he saw Satyavati, a fisherman’s daughter. King Shantanu asked the fisherman to let him marry Satyavati. But the fisherman said that he had a condition. He wanted that only the sons of Satyavati would become the kings of Hastinapur. King Shantanu was depressed hearing this. He returned to Hastinapur in a heartbroken state. When Devarata saw his father in this mood, he made inquiries and found out about the fisherman’s condition.


He went to the fisherman and vowed that he would not sit on the throne of Hastinapur. Hearing this, the fisherman asked what would happen if Devvrata’s sons claimed the kingdom? Hearing this, Devvrata vowed that he would never marry. 
Hearing such vows, the gods praised him and named him Bhishma.

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