From the epics
Stories from the Indian astrological tradition.
Hand-curated stories from the Mahabharata, Ramayana, Bhagavata Purana, Padma Purana, Skanda Purana, Buddhist Jataka tales, the Tamil Sangam corpus, and oral folk traditions of Bengal, Tamil Nadu, and Maharashtra. Each story sourced to a specific text. Five to ten minutes per story. Every translation is hand-authored.
- Catalogue38 stories in printCurated by the Vidhata Editorial Desk5 to 10 minutes each
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Pl. IShiva tales
When Shiva grew a fingernail and used it to cut a god's head off
Brahma, intoxicated with his own power, grew a fifth head and began to speak as the supreme creator. Shiva's small finger curled. A nail extended. It moved once. Then Shiva had to walk the earth for twelve years carrying a god's skull he could not put down.
Vidhata Editorial Desk/8 min/All ages
Krishna lifts Mount Govardhan, India, 17th c.
Pl. IIShiva tales
The hunter who pulled out his own eyes for a stone
Kannappa had never read a Veda, never spoken a Sanskrit prayer, and worshipped Shiva by spitting water on the linga and offering raw deer-meat. The orthodox priest who watched in horror saw, by the seventh day, what the hunter's love actually was.
Vidhata Editorial Desk/8 min/All ages
Sudāmā at the glimpse of Krishna’s palace, Pahari, c.1775
Pl. IIIShiva tales
The wedding-fire that became a funeral, and the dance that almost ended the world
Daksha's great sacrifice invited every god in heaven, except his own daughter Sati and her husband Shiva. Sati went anyway. By sunset she had walked into her father's fire. By dawn, Shiva was dancing the dance that consumes universes.
Vidhata Editorial Desk/8 min/All ages
The Battle at Lanka, Sahibdin, Mewar, 1649 to 1653