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Susano-wo-no-mikoto, the storm god, was expelled from heaven for his misdeeds against his sister, the sun goddess Amaterasu-o-mikami. He descended to a place known as Soshimori, or ox's head, at Silla, with his son, Isotakeru-no-kami. But he did not like the place and decided to go somewhere else. He built a clay boat and travelled to the plane of Izumo on the west coast of Japan. He reached mount Torikami on the island of Honshu. Image by  Kanenori  from  Pixabay   After roaming around for a few days, he reached the bank of the Hii-Kowa river. There he met an old earthly kami (god/spirit) and his wife. They were known as foot-shaking elder (Ashinazuchi) and hand-shaking elder (Tenazuchi) respectively. They had a beautiful daughter, Kushinada-hime. But they were very sad and were weeping inconsolably.  As Susano-wo introduced himself as the brother of the shining goddess Amaterasu, the elderly couple  finally got some hope. They told Susano-wo that they had eight daughters. But an

A materasu-o-mikami, the sun goddess, was married to her brother, Tsukiyomi-no-mikoto, the moon god. Amaterasu was made the ruler of the celestial plane of heaven by her father, Izanagi, whereas Tsukiyomi was entrusted with the power to rule the night. Image by  DerWeg  from  Pixabay   One day, Ukemochi-no-kami, also known as Ogetsu-hime, invited Amaterasu to a feast. Ukemochi (one who preserves the food) was a goddess of food and fertility, who used to live in the central land of reed planes. As Amaterasu was unable to attend the feast, she asked her husband to go there.  Ukemochi organised a grand feast in the honour of the moon god, and she arranged many tables full of delicious foods. Tsukiyomi was surprised to see the fabulous arrangement. But then he noticed something unusual. Ukemochi was frequently going behind a large stone, and while returning, she was bringing loads of food with her. Tsukiyomi was intrigued to know what was behind the boulder.  He sneaked around Ukemochi and

Raghu, the son of King Dilipa, was a famous ruler of the Ikshvaku dynasty. He had a long and glorious reign.    Shree Ramachandra was his great grandson. Mahakavi Kalidasa authored a major novel, Raghuvansham, which portrayed the lives of Raghu and his successors. Image by  Pexels  from  Pixabay   Suryavanshi Raja (King) Dilipa, and his wife, Sudakshina, had no son. So, the king, accompanied by his wife, went to the ashram (hermitage) of the sage Vashistha to find a solution. Vashistha instructed King Dilipa to please a cow, Nandini, who was the daughter of the divine cow Kamdhenu. As told, Dilipa started to take good care of her.  Every day he used to go to the field with the cow. One month had passed. One day, as usual, King Dilipa was in the field with the divine cow. The weather was beautiful, and Dilipa was observing the beauty of nature. Nandini was eating grass calmly. Suddenly, he heard the terrible roaring of a lion. He saw that there was a huge lion who was just about to kill

After escaping from the underworld, the creator god Izanagi cleansed himself in the water of the river Tachibana at Himuka. The goddess Amaterasu-o-mikami was born when he cleansed his left eye, god Tsukiyomi-no-mikoto was born from his right eye and the god Susano-wo was born from his nose.  Image by  guentherlig  from  Pixabay Izanagi was very happy to see his children. He entrusted Amaterasu with the rule of the Takamagahara, or the high celestial plane of heaven; the night was given to Tsukiyomi-no-mikoto, and the rule of the ocean was given to Susano-wo. From the beginning, Amaterasu was very responsible for her duties, and she brought prosperity to both earth and heaven. Tsukiyomi was also doing his duty properly. But Susano-wo, or the storm god, was negligent towards his work. He created chaos in his realm and even destroyed the irrigation works of his elder sister Amaterasu, which she did for a better harvest from the paddy field. He declared that he was longing for his mother

The Santals are the third largest tribal community in India. They have always maintained a distinct cultural identity. Their mythology is closely integrated with their religious concepts and rituals, and is known as Jomsim Binti.  Majhir Than  Image by Shuvro (Mehi,Purulia,India) Santali Version of the Story of Creation From the beginning, the entire universe has been divided into three layers. At the top, there is Sermapuri (heaven); Dhartipuri or Manchapuri (earth) is at the middle, and Patalpuri or Hanapuri (underground) is at the bottom. Everything in this universe has been created by the supreme God, Thakur Baba or Thakur Jiu. Thakur Baba lives in heaven along with his wife, Thakurain.  At first, the entire world was dark and static. Thakur Baba placed the world on his index finger and spinned it forcefully. The world started to spin, along with the entire universe. The entire creation was set in motion and the spinning motion created the wind flow. Thakur Baba then created all th

Satyavadi (he who always speaks the truth) Raja Harishchandra was an exemplary monarch of ancient times. The story of Harishchandra is extremely famous throughout India. The story is described in Ramayana and different Puranas with some variations, keeping the main essence intact. The thirteenth century Kannada poet Raghavanka wrote a famous drama on the life of Harishchandra. The character of Harishchandra deeply influenced the thoughts, actions, and philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi. The first silent motion picture in Indian cinema, Raja Harishchandra, directed by Dada Saheb Phalke, was released in 1913. In 1932, the first Marathi talkie, Ayodhyecha Raja, was released, which was also based on the same story-line. Although Harishchandra is considered a revered figure in Hindu mythology, some of his actions may seem unacceptable from our modern point of view. But one should remember that ethics and morality change with time, place, and culture. Hence, it is always advisable to consider the

The name of King Nahusha is found in the Rig Veda. He  was a legendary king of the Lunar dynasty (Chandravansham) and the father of King Yayati. Image by   Felix-Mittermeier.de   from  Pixabay C handravanshi King Ayus (the son of King Pururavas) and his wife Prabha (daughter of Svaravanu) had no son. So, Ayus approached Rishi (sage) Dattatreya and served him for many years. Finally, Dattatreya became pleased with his dedication and blessed him with the boon of having a son with many virtues.  Once upon a time, Lord Shiva and Devi Parvati went to Nandana Vana (the garden of Swarga, or Heaven). There, Devi Parvati saw the Kalpavriksha, or wish-fulfilling tree, and she prayed for a daughter. Thus, Devi Ashoka-sundari was born. While returning from the Nandana vana, Devi Parvati told her that she would be married to the son of Chandravanshi king Ayus, whose strength and wisdom would be comparable to that of Dev-raj Indra only. One day, asura Viprachitti's son Hund entered the Nandana V

The story of Matsya was narrated first in the Satapatha Brahmana. But  many different versions of the same story are found in different puranas, like in Matysya Puran, Padma Puran, Bhagavat Puran, Garuda Puran, etc. This is a story of the incarnation of Shree Vishnu in the form of a fish (Matsya).  Photo by David Clode on Unsplash M any yugas back, there was a pious king in the Dravida country. His name was Satyavrata. He was the son of the Sun-god (Vivasvan) and his wife, Samjnia. One day, he was performing some religious rites on the bank of the river Kritamala (river  Vaigai  of Tamil Nadu?). When he was offering libation in the river-water, he noticed a beautiful small fish (Matsya) there.  The fish was able to talk, and he asked Satyavrata to protect his tiny life from the large fishes in the river. Satyavrata felt sympathy for the fish and, to perform his raj-dharma (duty of a king to protect the weak), he transferred the fish to a small jar and brought him to his palace. The ne

Hinduism is the third largest religion in the world (after Christianity and Islam) with approximately 1.16 billion followers worldwide. Hinduism is much, much older than the other popular surviving religions. Although there are many Hindu religious scriptures, including Vedas, Upanishads, Puranas, etc., no single Hindu religious text can be taken as the only authentic source to explain the complete process of creation and its philosophical aspects. Even the hymns of the Rig Veda, the oldest surviving religious text in the world, have been interpreted in many different ways by different scholars. Furthermore, Hinduism itself is divided into numerous sects like Shaivism, Vaishnavism, Shaktism, and so on, with each sect contributing religious texts to prove the superiority of their deity over the others. Hence, there are different versions and philosophical interpretations of the story of creation. Photo by NASA on Unsplash H indu religious scriptures state that the creation of the unive