Moral stories collected from around India
One was an enormous elephant, towering like a moving hill. His tusks gleamed like crescent moons, and every stamp of his feet sent waves crashing against the banks. Opposite him was a gigantic tortoise whose shell was wide and dark like an island of stone. His claws tore through the lakebed, while his great jaws snapped with terrible force.
Kashyapa was a son of the ancient seer Marichi and one of the great progenitors through whom the many races of the world came into being. Among his wives were two sisters, Kadru and Vinata, daughters of Daksha Prajapati.
In time, Kadru laid a thousand eggs, while Vinata laid two. Five hundred years passed before Kadru’s eggs broke open, releasing a vast race of serpents—the Nagas. They emerged in countless forms, gleaming like polished metal, their hoods marked with strange patterns and their eyes bright with ancient intelligence.
He was taller and more graceful than any earthly steed. His body shone like fresh moonlight, his mane flowed like a river of pearls, and every movement of his hooves seemed to awaken music in the sky. Neither dust nor darkness could cling to him. He appeared to have been shaped from the first white light of dawn.
The forest in those days was not a gentle green world of birdsong and filtered
Anantha meaning Eternal, unbounded, innumerable, i.e. endless or boundless whether in time, in space. His name comes from the Sanskrit root “sis”, which means, “the One which Remains”. This is due to the fact that Shesha always remains in spite of all the Pralayas (Great Floods), each of which Kalpas (aeons) and yugas (eras) in the past. Interestingly, in Sanskrit texts; especially in those relating to mathematical calculation; the term “Shesha” implies the “remainder” – that which remains, while all else ceases to exist.
Kukke Subramanya, one among the seven holy places created by Parashurama is mythologically and historically famous for “Nagaradhane”. Kukke Subrahmanya is a temple located in the small, rural village of Subramanya in Sullia taluk of Dakshina Kannada District near Mangalore , India.
Sharabha is a part-lion and part-bird beast who is eight-legged and more powerful than a lion or an elephant, possessing the ability to cross over a valley in one jump. Lord Shiva assumed the Avatara (incarnation) of Sharabha to pacify Narasimha – the fierce man-lion avatar of Vishnu worshiped. This form is known as Sharabeshwara (“Lord Sharabha”) or Sharabeshwaramurti.
Narada traverses / travels in all the three worlds. Valmiki thought that Narada might find an answer to his questions. He asked Narada: “0 great Muni, you are all knowing. You have studied the Vedas. Can you tell me if there is any man in this world who is virtuous, pious, ever truthful and tenacious? Is there anyone who wishes well or all living creatures and who are also a hero and a scholar? Such a man should be free from jealousy and be a man of invincible valor
The term ‘Bhujangam’ indicates the shape and movement of the ‘serpent’. The verse in this stotram is composed like the movement of a serpent. Lord Subramanya / Muruga is also conceived and worshiped as a great divine serpent.
