2.KING SANTHANU AND GANGA

King Mahabhishak belonged to the Ikshaku dynasty. He became very powerful, and he conducted a thousand Aswamedha sacrifices and a hundred Rajasuyas. He was given a special seat in Devaloka. But once he happened to see Goddess Ganga, and he silently requested her love. Brahmadeva found this behavior inappropriate and cursed the king to be born once again on earth.

So Mahabhishak had to return to earth as a newborn baby. This time he took birth in the Puru dynasty, as the son of King Prateep. When Santhanu became old enough to handle the administration, King Prateep abdicated and embraced sanyas.

There are eight divine souls called Ashtavasus. One day, all these Ashtavasus went for a picnic with their wives. On the way they saw the hermitage of saint Vasishta and the famous wish-granting cow, “Kamadhenu”. They wanted to take away the cow with them.

Dyov, one of the Ashtavasus, took the initiative. He took the cow with him. Later, when saint Vasishta came to know what had happened, he cursed the Ashtavasus to take birth as human beings on earth. Everyone, except Dyov could return to Devaloka in one year. Dyov had to remain on earth for a very long time.

All the eight devas became very sad. But they could do nothing. The words of the saint wouldn’t go in vain. Goddess Ganga agreed to come to earth as the wife of Santhanu and give birth to Ashtavasus. But there was one condition: She should go back to Devaloka after delivering eight children.

The Ashtavasus requested Ganga to throw them away into the river after giving birth on earth so that they could come back to Devaloka at the earliest.

Once, while hunting, Santhanu reached the Gangetic plain. There he saw a beautiful woman. The king wanted to know her name.

“I am Ganga Devi”, she replied.

“Would you come with me to my palace as my wife?” The King asked.

“Yes, I would; but on one condition. You shouldn’t stand against any of my wishes. Don’t say ‘no’ to me, under any circumstances. If you do, I will leave you right away.”

Santhanu agreed and they got married. When she delivered her first child she said, “Now, I am going to throw away this child into the river.”

Santhanu was shocked. But he couldn’t say ‘no’. That was the agreement to their marriage.

First, second, third…. Ganga threw away all the babies into the river. As her eighth child was born, Ganga was about to go to the river to throw away the baby. This time, as there was no other go, Santhanu pleaded: “Don’t throw away the child. Please spare this one at least.”

Ganga turned back. She handed the child over to Santhanu and said: “Alright. This one is for you. But as you stood against my desire, I have to leave. All the other seven children are back in Devaloka. This one is the eighth of the Ashtavasus. I’ll look after this boy in his childhood and give him back to you. Good-bye.”

And Ganga disappeared. The child was named Devavruta. He learned all Vedas and sastras from saint Vasishta, and martial arts from Parasurama. Later, Ganga Devi asked Devavruta to return to his father.

Santhanu was very happy when he got back his son. Devavruta was entitled as ‘Yuvaraja’.

MAHABHARATHA-THE KING OF EPICS

Mahabharatha, one of the great epics of India, was written by sage Veda vyasa. It illustrates the ultimate victory of good over evil, of truth over untruth. This blog give a brief details about the complete stories from mahabharatha. These are edited to simple and readable stories. All the details are not added but it will give some idea about the epic mahabharatha. I hope all those people who visit this blog will show some interest on our great epic. In this blog this stories are divided into several episodes or divisions.I dedicate this to lord almighty. May this article change your life. During the final stage of his life, Vyasa went to the Himalayas and lived in the caves. He immersed himself in deep meditation.That is when the story of Mahabharata evolved in his mind. As advised by Brahma, he prayed to Lord Vinayaka for help. The Lord agrred to help but laid a condition that Vyasa should narrate the story continuously - without a break. Vyasa agreed to the condition and but laid one of his own: that Vinayaka should understand the meaning of the verses he chants and then write. Vyasa inserted difficult knots in the story, that would take time to untie, and while Vinayaka was trying to understand them, he would use the time to create more slokas. View Comments Thus, Mahabharata, which consists of one lakh slokas, was created by Vyasa and written by Vinayaka. Illiad and Odessey, the two great Greek epics of Homer combined are smaller than Mahabharata in content. As Bharatham explains about various factors, it is considered as fifth Veda. (Bharatha: panchamo veda:).While Vinayaka was writing the epic, it is said his stylus broke and he broke one of his tusks to continue writing. That is the reason why he is called as 'Eka Danthan', it is stated.

1. THE BIRTH OF VEDAVYASA.

Satyavathi was the beautiful daughter of a fisherman, the chief of the fisher-folk.

One day saint Parasara wanted to cross the river Yamuna. He requested the fisherman to ferry him across. But as the man having his food, he asked his daughter Satyavathi to take Parasara across the river.

Parasara liked Satyavathi very much. With his divine eyes the saint saw that the girl would play an important role in the future of the country. He told her:

"Satyavathi, I see a great future for you. You are going to be the mother of very precious child who will be adored by the whole world."

Satyavathi was delighted. When this saint touched her, she became all the more delighted. Her body began to transmit a divine fragrance.

With his divine power Parasara created an island in the middle of the river. Here Satyavathi, who was a virgin delivered a baby boy whom she called Krishna. Krishna grew up into a young man. He said,

"Mother, I am leaving you right now. I have lot of work to do, and don't worry about me. Whenever you wish to see me, I will come to you. Good bye till then", and he disappeared.

As Krishna was born on an island, he was also called Dwaipayana. Later, he came to be known all over the world as Vedavyasa. He was the great sage who divided the Vedas into four- Rigveda, Yajurveda, Samaveda and Adharvaveda. Vedavyasa also authored Mahabharatha, the great epic of India.