Articles — mythology

In very ancient days, eight great Female Goddesses Shaktis emerged from the cosmic soul of the Principle Dieties and formed Kali Durga, the Universal Shakti Power, These were the grand Mothers (Ashta Matrikas) of all subsequent Yoginis. According to Kaula Tantra, these eight manifested each in turn into eight Divine Shaktis, thus resulting in the 64 Tantric Yoginis. These 64 powerful Goddesses have unique personas and powers to fulfill your desires, drive away negativity and fear, prevent misfortunes, and give you knowledge, peace, all-around prosperity, good progeny, and auspiciousness of all kinds. An examination of the ancient Tantric tradition reveals a...

Lord Hayagriva is an avatar of Lord Vishnu. Lord Hayagriva is depicted with human body, horse face wearing white garments and seated on white lotus. Hayagriva is praised as the lord of wisdom and deep knowledge. Haya implies “Horse” and Greeva means neck. He is believed to be the one who won ignorance and foolishness with his pure knowledge. People worship this Lord to be blessed with pure wisdom, intelligence and knowledge. His consort is Lakshmi. Legend Brahma is said to be the master of vedic knowledge and he had the Vedas with him. Once, when he was feeling sleepy, a...

Tapkeshwar Mahadev Temple is one of the most famous temples dedicated to Lord Shiva. This famous holy temple of Lord Shiva is situated on the bank of seasonal Asan river near Dehradun, Uttrakhand. Tapkeshwar Mahadev Temple is known to have one of the oldest Shivling in the cave. Tapkeshwar Mahadev Temple is located at a distance of 6.5 km from Dehradun city. As water droplets continuously drops on the shivling, hence it was named as Tapkeshwar. Water drops from the ceiling of the cave trickle down over the Shivlinga in a continuous downpour, making for an interesting spectacle. Legend has it that Ashwathama, son...

In Hindu Mythology, at the time of creation, the Brahman [Force which runs through all of us and the Great energy which created everything in the universe] manifested itself into the form of Lord Shiva, Lord Vishnu and Lord Brahma.   Lord Brahma was the Creator and Lord Vishnu was the Preserver. They worked together and everything was fine with the universe. However once Lord Vishnu and Lord Brahma had a fight with each other.   Lord Vishnu said, ‘Brahma, I am the Preserver. I am more powerful than you…’   Lord Brahma snorted, ‘If I had not created anything,...

The story of Tulsi, the medicinal plant, begins with Indra, the Lord of the Heavens.   Lord Indra, was the king of the Devas. But he realized that people no longer looked up to him at the main God. This worried him a lot. He knew that people now looked up at Lord Brahma, Lord Vishnu and Lord Shiva to guide them. Indra knew that he could not hope to confront Lord Brahma and Lord Vishnu. They were after all the Gods of Creation and of Preservation. But Indra could not understand, why people liked Lord Shiva. He was after...

The story of Dattatreya is told in many Puranas. The story from Markandeya purana, chapter 15, is as follows:A brahmin named Kaushika was enchanted by a courtesan and lost his wealth, health etc. However, his wife, Shandili was faithful to him. She even carried him on her shoulders to the courtesans place. Once, by mistake, she stepped on Sage Mandavya and the sage cursed both of them to die by sunrise. Shandili prayed and appealed that the sun may never rise so that her husband would live. Her prayer was answered and the devas were in an uproar seeing the...

Legend: Analasur was a demon who terrified the three worlds. He emitted fire from his eyes and troubled everyone. At the request of the Devas, Lord Ganesha fought with Analasur and swallowed him. The heat from Analsur caused agony to Lord Ganesha. Lord Indra gave Sri Ganesha the moon to wear on his forehead so that he could be cooled off (this is why Ganesha is also known as Balachandra). Lord Vishnu gave his lotus therefore Ganesha is also known as “Padmapani”. Lord Shankara removed a cobra from his neck and tied it to Ganesha’s hip. Lord Varuna, Rain God...

The source of Ganga is at Gaumukh (the shape of the ice formation is like a cow's mouth), where the mighty river emerges from the depths of Gangotri glacier. The Gangotri glacier is situated at the height of 4255 m above sea level and is approx 24 km in length and 7-8 km in width. Here the river is known as Bhagirathi after  King -Bhagirath. Rising in the icy caves of Gangotri glacier, the gushing , tossing and gurgling Bhagirathi starts its long journey downwards where later it joins river 'Alaknanda' and becomes Ganga.There are many legends associated with river Ganga, some of which...

  It was the utmost desire of Sage Viswamitra to defeat his rival Sage Vashishtha. Though he never succeeded ,but he never become dejected. He keep on adding divine powers acquired by him after tapasya. At one time he become so powerful that he started creating many species. This was a threat to Lord Brahma. While Sage Vishwamitra was involved in creation of human species, Lord Brahma rushed towards him to stop. But he already created the head of human. So, the question arises what to do with the created portion. Lord Brahma named that head as “Sriphal” or coconut...

  During the war between demons and gods for the divine nectar, one of the demon manage to steal the pot of nectar (amrit). At this crunch time when gods were on the verge of defeat, Lord Vishnu appeared and killed that demon with his divine weapon "Sudrashan Chakra" which cuts his head . But that demon had drank nector and by the time he was killed the nectar had reached till his throat. As the blood drops from his body fell on his ground , at the same place a strange plant grew up, which was a garlic plant....