Love2tellU

Upon entering the demon lord's fortress through the iron gate, Raiko and his comrades were taken aback by the sight of horror there.   Inside the fortification was a spacious courtyard. A pile of dismembered body parts lay on one side, while heavily armed demons were watching over some barrels on the opposite side. "What is inside those barrels?" Raiko wondered. Sake? Could be! There were, at least thirty onis in the courtyard. All the demons stared at the heroes as soon as they entered, but none rushed towards them since Kuma Doji was leading them into the fortress. There were dried and fresh blood stains all over the place, and the entire space was filled with an odd, nauseating stench. Image by  Kohji Asakawa   from   Pixabay After crossing the courtyard, they came into a huge hall that was packed with onis. There were at least fifty onis there, engaged in sipping sake and squabbling with one another. The room fell silent for a few moments as the heroes entered. The hu

It  was the last decade of the nineteenth century. Lord Elgin was the Viceroy of India then. Shankar Kansari, together with his two sons and wife Parvati, used to live in a small village. Though I can't recall the name of the village now, it was most likely in the Purba Bardhaman district of present-day West Bengal. Shankar was a kansari, or bronzesmith. Copper and bronze utensils were once quite popular in Bengal. At that time, his younger son, Kalipada, was barely a year old, and the elder son, Haripada, had just turned six.  Image by  magicbowls  from  Pixabay It was a hot summer afternoon in the month of May when Shankar heard someone yelling "Bom Bhole" outside his workshop. As he rushed out, he saw a sannyasi there. The sannyasi had a fearsome appearance, wearing only a saffron loincloth, and his entire body was covered in white ash. Like Mahadev, he held a sharp trident in his hand. "Are you the Kansari?" with a deep voice, Sannyasi asked Shankar. Nodding

The Japanese word "yokai" refers to a wide variety of supernatural and otherworldly entities. Oni falls under the domain of Yokai. Rakshasa can be a synonymous term for oni as depicted in Indian mythology. But there isn't an entity that is precisely like Oni in Western mythology. Even so, we may argue that the words "demon" and "oni" are quite similar. An oni is a massive, humanoid creature with some magical power. Japanese mythological records regard Shuten-Doji as one of the most terrifying oni ever to exist on this planet.  Photo by  Chelms Varthoumlien  on  Unsplash   Shuten-Doji was a son of the legendary serpent Yamata no Orochi. Mount Ibuki was the place of his birth. He was born with every tooth in his mouth and the ability to walk immediately.  He was a very strong and aggressive child. His mother was human, and she hated the evil that had sprung out of her womb as soon as she noticed her son having the attributes of an oni. When Shuten-Doji w

Emperor Ichijo sent a small band of six heroes to Mount Oe (Oeyama) to put a stop to the dread of the demon king Shuten-Doji. Minamoto no Yorimitsu, Japan's finest samurai of the time, led the team, which included his four outstanding retainers: Sakato no Kintoki, Urabe no Suetake, Usui no Sadamitsu, and Watanabe no Tsuna, as well as Fujiwara no Hosho. Image by  12019  from  Pixabay Before embarking on the journey to Oeyama, the great seer Abe no Seimei advised the heroes to seek the blessings of the gods. Consequently, they made the decision to head out for the famous shrines in the Kansai region of Japan. Raiko went to Iwashimizu Hachimangu on Mount Otokoyama (yama means mountain) in Kyoto Prefecture to seek the blessing of Hachiman, the war god. Sakato no Kintoki and Usui no Sadamitsu visited Sumiyoshi Taisha in Osaka Prefecture to seek the favour of Sumiyoshi sanjin. Fujiwara no Hosho, Urabe no Suetake, and Watanabe no Tsuna journeyed to Kumano Sanzan in Wakayama Prefecture via

This is the tale of Minamoto no Yorimitsu, a brave samurai lord, also known as Raiko. He defeated Shuten-Doji, a formidable demon king who terrorised Heian-kyo (modern-day Kyoto) during Emperor Ichijo's reign. Image by  bohdan_zubrytskyi  from  Pixabay The Emperor was informed that countless people were disappearing suddenly from the city of Heian-kyo. The majority of them were young women. The locals suspected that this unusual event was being carried out by an oni (demon).  The Emperor ordered the imperial guards to handle the situation, but they were ineffective in solving the problem. One day, a trader came to meet the Emperor and said that one nightfall he saw a frightening oni near the Rajomon (a massive gate at the southern end of Heian-kyo's central avenue). He saw the oni grab a young woman who was passing through the gate and swiftly vanished in the dense fog. A few days later, another imperial guard reported another instance in which the soldier spotted a female oni

Once upon a time, there was a young charming fisherman named Urashima Taro in Japan. He and his mother used to live in a small village near the seashore. Despite their poverty, Urashima was very kind and honest. Everyone in the village used to adore him for his gentle nature and good behaviour.  Image by  Debbie EM  from  Pixabay One day, while fishing, he noticed a bunch of kids hurting a small sea turtle on the shore. The little turtle was different since it had rainbow stripes on its shell. He dashed to save the animal, but the kids did not give up. They captured the turtle, so it was in their custody, and they were not eager to release it. Urashima, seeing no other option, opted to buy that turtle. He handed the children the little money he had in his pocket and released the small turtle into the water.  A couple of days passed after that. One afternoon, while fishing alone in his boat, he heard someone screaming out his name. It was a sweet, feminine voice. He was astonished beca

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