Category Archives: Hindu Mythology

Mahadeva means the great god. It is one of the many titles or epithets of Siva.

The Mahabharata is an epic of enormous proportions—a hundred thousand verses, making it arguably the largest such poem in existence. It has tradition­ally been said to have been dictated by the sage Vyasa to his divine scribe, Ganesa, who wrote it all down using his single tusk as the stylus. It is cur­rently divided into eighteen parts, with two important appendices: the Harivamsha and the Bhagavad Gita. Although the epic may originally have been drawn from bardic material about warrior heroes, it was appropri­ated by an orthoprax Brahmanical tra­dition that … Continue reading →

Many myths mention the use of magic directly. The myth of Bala, an asura (demon), mentioned that he knew and taught ninety-six kinds of magic to trou­ble the devas (divinities). Hanuman was said to practice the eight superhuman powers (ashtha siddhis). The asuras had a life-restoring magic (mritansanjivani) that they had been using in their battles against the devas. It was this magic that necessitated giving the devas amrita, a potion that bestowed immortality, which was churned up from the Milky Ocean. SSilavati was a wife who, by practice of … Continue reading →

Madri was the second wife of King Pandu and was a mother of two of the five Pandava brothers. When she was lent a magical incantation by Kunti (the king’s first wife) that would allow her to have a child by any deity she focused on, Madri concentrated upon the AsSvin twins, and twins were born to her, Nakula and Sahadeva. When Pandu died shortly after his wives gave birth to the five sons of gods, the Pandavas, Madri joined him on his funeral pyre (sati).

There is scholarly agreement that there was worship of the male generative organ in the Indus Valley civilization. Both archeological remains and explicit references to “worshippers of the phallus” in the Rigveda support such an inter­pretation. However one interprets Siva’s origin—as from the Indus Valley, from tribal religion, within the Aryan clans, or any combination of these—use of the linga to represent Siva was indisputable in the Epics and Puranas. Three myths will suffice: one of self-castration, another about an attempted curse, and then one about the consequence of a … Continue reading →

In the Padma Purana Lilavati (charming) was a prostitute in the krita yuga (first age, also called satya yuga). She went to another town looking for better clients. She noticed devotees celebrating a festival at the temple. When she inquired, Lilavati learned that it was the celebration of the birthday of Radha Devi and that anyone who observed the vow of devotional penance and fasting (vrata) that day would be absolved of all their sins. Lilavati joined in the temple worship for the whole day. Shortly afterwards, she died of … Continue reading →

In the Mahabharata Likhita and Sanlcha were brothers, with their asramas (her­mitages) next to each other on the banks of the Bahuda River. One day Likhita was hungry and went over to his brother’s asrama and began eating his vegeta­bles. Jsankha discovered the theft and took Likhita before the king. The king’s law stated that a thief would be punished by cutting off the thief’s hands. So King Sudyumna did just that. With blood flowing from each arm, Likhita stood before Jsankha. The older brahmin congratulated his brother for accepting … Continue reading →

In the Ramayana the story is told that Brahma gave Lanka to Kubera, god of wealth. Celestial architects Visvakarman and Maya together designed this celes­tial city and built it of gold. Its first location was on the top of Mount Trikuta, a peak of Mahameru (great Meru). However, in a fight between Vayu, god of wind, and Vasuki, king of the Nagas, the entire peak, including the celestial city, was broken off and knocked into the sea, becoming Lanka. Ravana defeated his half-brother Kubera and ruled Lanka for many years. … Continue reading →

Lakshmi’s multiple importance in Hindu mythology cannot be captured in a few paragraphs. Three perspectives will demonstrate the breadth of her roles and the changes in the ways in which she was perceived. Linguistically and historically, lakshmi in the Rigveda was a word of femi­nine gender that quantified good fortune (the one of hundred thousands). Lakshmi became personified in the later Vedas as the correspondences (bandhu) with the priestly tradition found in the universe. In the Satapatha Brahmana she and Sri were the two wives of the celestial father, Aditya. … Continue reading →

Lakshmana was the younger half-brother of Rama by the third and youngest wife of King Dasiaratha of Ayodhya. But his affection for Rama was understood to have been the result of his previous lifetime—as an incarnation of Lord Vishnu’s serpent, the one who floated as his bed on the cosmic ocean, Ananta (also called Sesha). Lakshmana could even be counted as a one-eighth incarnation of Vishnu. Lakshmana was the archetype of brotherly devotion, an example of pure human love and devotion (bhakti). Lakshmana married Urmila, with whom he had two … Continue reading →