Tag: Shiva
A tail’s tale
And we’re back with Vali. Amma’s Tales always likes an underdog, especially one that loses rather unfairly! Amma says, Vali’s strength lay in his tail, and any adversary who got caught in its twisted embrace was crushed by its power (see Original baby crib mobile)! The story of Vali’s powerful tail goes thus:
Once upon a time, Vali was the monkey king of Kishkindha and all was well in his world. He had a beautiful wife and a baby son, Angada. His brother, Sugriva, was not yet feeling mutinous and Rama was still far away in the future! Vali however, had minor irritants cross his path. The occasional asura would come by (see Buffalo goooooal), challenge him, Vali would dispose off the problem and life was good again.
“Ah! thought Vali. “This is the life. My people are prosperous, food is aplenty and I am content.” But of course, the alpha male of a monkey pack has his adversaries- like other would-be alpha males! And so one day, Vali was challenged, not just to a duel but had to defend the entire kingdom from the invading armies of the neighbouring monkey king. In the fierce battle that followed, Vali’s tail was cut off.
Vali was appalled. “I will be the laughing-stock of my people. Whoever heard of a monkey-king without a tail? I had better disappear before someone sees me like this.”
Dispirited and under cover of the vanishing light, Vali slunk away from the battlefield. “At least the battle was won,” he comforted himself. “I did not need to desert my men and watch them lose as well. I hope Sugriva has the sense to guide them all back to Kishkindha.”
Back at the battlefield, the victorious army of Vali marched back to Kishkindha without their king. Leading the army back, Sugriva wondered, “Where IS Vali? We waited nearly two days and he hasn’t shown up yet. I don’t want the men to think their king is lost. He wasn’t lost in battle either. I hope he’s waiting for us back in Kishkindha.”
Of course, Sugriva was going to be disappointed because as he was thinking that very thought, Vali was bounding off into the deepest depths of the newly acquired forest property adjoining Kishkindha. The loss of his tail was seriously bothering Vali. “What am I going to do? What AM I going to do? Lizards grow back their tails with impunity, but I’m a monkey! There has got to be a way!”
Staring disconsolately at the little stump of tail that was left behind, Vali was struck by a thought. “Desperate times call for desperate measures! I am going to see if praying changes anything!”
Focusing all his thoughts upon Shiva, Vali prayed like he had never prayed before. Pleased with his devotion, Shiva appeared before him. “Vali,” said Shiva. “Rise! I am pleased with you. What is it that you want (so much for all knowing)?”
Suddenly feeling foolish for what he was asking, Vali mumbled, “Shiva, I only want one thing and that is for my tail to grow back. Can you do that?”
Shiva laughed, “Is that all, Vali? No special powers, no amazing riches, no fantastic muscles? Just a tail?”
Even more embarrassed that Shiva was mocking him now, Vali said, “Just a tail. As a king I must have the respect of my people. And so, as a monkey king, I must have a tail!”
Shiva was impressed by Vali’s humility. He said, ‘Vali, you have shown yourself to be a true leader. even when you had a chance, to ask for anything you wanted from the gods, you chose the one thing that you knew would help everyone around you- a safe and secure kingdom in the hands of a good king.”
Shiva bent down and touched the remaining little bit of Vali’s tail and it began to regrow, long and magnificent. Vali was delighted and fell at Shiva’s feet in gratitude.
Shiva said, “Vali, your tail has been regrown by me. It is now your strongest weapon and has unmatched power. Your enemies will never be able to escape its fatal embrace. Go back to Kishkindha now. Your people await you!”
Overjoyed at the bonus of great power bestowed to his now beautiful tail, Vali ran back to Kishkindha. All the vanaras (monkeys) celebrated the return of their king. Vali’s tail, blessed by Shiva himself, became his greatest asset making light of amazing warriors including Ravana.
And to this day, at the Gardadeswara temple near Papanasam in Tamil Nadu, you can see the temple dedicated to the Shiva who helped grow back Vali’s tail!
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Ganesha’s da man!!!
Ganesha, the elephant-headed god of Hindu mythology, has been quite beloved of all, children and adults. He is credited with a lot of intelligence and wisdom ..and come on…you just have to love a cute elephant!!! That too,one with a penchant for eating binges!!! Tales of his intellectual prowess abound in Indian mythology and amma says, the story that follows is a well-loved one. It also results in the establishment of a well-known temple, Palani, for its other protagonist, Muruga, Ganesha’s brother (watch this blog space for an upcoming series on temple tales). The story goes:
Once upon a time, the gods in heaven, set up a task force headed by Brahma to give a mango that contained all the knowledge of the universe to the most deserving god. Brahma approached Shiva and Parvati who were spending some quality time with the kids, Ganesha and Muruga, in the Himalayas. Brahma said, “O Shiva, here is a fruit that represents the knowledge of this universe. We would like you to give it to the most deserving god.”
Shiva said, “All right Brahma I will do it. Parvati, can you suggest to whom I should give this to?”
Parvati said, “I think Muruga and Ganesha are both equally deserving of this fruit. One is unmatched for his bravery and knowledge, the other for his intelligence and grace. How do we decide?” (no nepotism, of course, since gods are impartial!!!) Brahma and the retinue of devas agreed with Parvati.
Shiva mulled over this problem for a bit and said, “I have it! They can have a race to see who wins! The winner will get the fruit” (a strategy used by most parents even today to achieve results with siblings).
“But what kind of race?” asked Parvati.
“Well, let them go around the world thrice and whoever comes back here first will win the mango,” said Shiva.
So he called Muruga and Ganesha to him and explained the rules and what the prize would be. Both the brothers were excited at the prospect.
Muruga said, “Hah! Ganesha, you on your silly little mount (a rat) won’t even have taken off and I will be back to win the prize!”
To which Ganesha said, “Well since you’re so confident, and I know I can beat you, how about I give you a handicap? You can even do an entire round before I even start.”
Muruga decided his brother had gone crazy or was being lazy and wanted to finish his lunch instead. So after bidding his parents goodbye and taking their blessings, he sat on his mount, a beautiful peacock, and took off around the world. After he finished one round, he saw Ganesha still seated where he was and finishing the remains of his lunch, with one modaka left on his plate. He thought to himself, “There’s no way Ganesha can beat me now!!!” He waved at Ganesha, who waved back, and went on his way.
Now Parvati watched the whole exchange between the brothers and asked Ganesha worriedly, “Aren’t you going to at least TRY to win the fruit? Muruga has a huge lead over you. And not that I don’t love you, but you’re a little out of shape!!! You had better hurry up!!”
“Dont worry, ma,” said Ganesha. “I’m giong to win.” Burping a little since he’d overeaten as usual, Ganesha washed his hands and face and smoothed out his clothes. He then summoned his little mount and approached Shiva and Parvati who were seated together. He said, “O mother and father, Shiva and Shakti, together you represent the entire universe. All the elements of the universe are enshrined within you. For me, you are the entire universe.” He prostrated before them and with his hands folded went around them thrice lost in deep meditation and with utmost devotion. Amazed by his grace and knowledge and devotion, Shiva, Parvati, Brahma and the assembled gods blessed Ganesha and gave him the fruit.
Just then Muruga entered their presence with a triumphant smile when he saw Ganesha. He assumed Ganesha hadn’t even tried to win. When he saw him holding the fruit instead, Muruga was furious. “What is the meaning of this?” he demanded. “I won the race and HE got the fruit?”
When Shiva explained what had happened, Muruga stormed off in anger to roam the earth and was later pacified as the deity of Palani (read temple tales in this blog space).
And so, Ganesha is revered by all for his knowledge and wisdom and is beloved throughout India. Go Ganesha!!
To listen to a blogcast edition of this post click below. Happy listening!
Episode 1 Amma’s Tales- Audio File (mp3)
A match made in heaven
This is a little tale I made up for my daughter D when I was trying to get her to eat (no small feat, let me tell you). As it happened she was eating thairu saadam (curd rice) and keerai kootu (spinach/dal mixture) a combination I was telling her was a match made in heaven and she wanted to know what that meant. And so the story goes thus:
Once upon a time, Brahma, Shiva and Vishnu were huddled in conference. Brahma said, “People are losing faith in us. They are tired of having to go the temple to think of us and they’re too lazy to pray at home. What do we do?”
Shiva said, “I have an idea. Let’s give them something they can see every day and because of how great it is they will say ‘it is something made in heaven’ and think of us.”
Vishnu nodded in agreement. “What will make them think of us?”
And so the three thought long and hard but couldn’t come up with anything. Then it was time for lunch. Saraswati, Parvati and Lakshmi called their husbands for lunch. “It’s going to be a light lunch,” said Parvati. “Someone forgot to get the vegetables from the garden,” she said, glaring at Shiva, who looked at his plate sheepishly.
“Oh, that’s all right. We have things to discuss…not think about food,” said Brahma importantly.
And so the wives served their husbands rice with keerai kootu made with the keerai Parvati had hastily plucked from her garden. The three gods ate their food without paying attention to it. Brahma and Shiva were careful to wipe their plate clean because if the gods wasted even one speck the whole world would go hungry. But Vishnu was careless and left a bit of the kootu behind while waiting for the next course. Without noticing this, the wives served the rice for the next round and poured a lot of fresh tasty curds (yogurt) over it. The gods absentmindedly mixed their rice and curd and began to eat. Suddenly Vishnu’s head shot up and in an amazed voice he said, “This is something heavenly!! Supercaliflagilisticexpialidocious fantastic!!”
“What are you talking about?” said Brahma and Shiva impatiently. “This is just thairu saadam.”
Vishnu looked at them doubtfully, and thought maybe he was wrong and went back to eating. He ate another mouthful and he said again, “This is something heavenly!! Supercaliflagilisticexpialidocious fantastic!!”
Now Brahma and Shiva got irritated and said, “Vishnu! Can you be serious?!! We’re eating the same thairu saadam and it doesn’t taste that different from every day. So stop getting distracted.”
Then Vishnu looked at his plate and saw that his thairu saadam looked green. Brahma and Shiva also noticed that. But theirs was white as usual. “Vishnu, why does yours look green?” said Shiva. Vishnu said, “Here taste some of mine! I promise you it is Supercaliflagilisticexpialidocious fantastic!!”
Hesitantly brahma and Shiva took small mouthfuls from Vishnu’s plate. Their eyes lit up and they said “”This is something heavenly!! Supercaliflagilisticexpialidocious fantastic!!”
Hearing all the noise the gods were making, their wives came running in. “What’s the matter?” asked Saraswati.
So Shiva explained how Vishnu’s thairu saadam alone tasted so good. Lakshmi took one look at Vishnu’s plate and said,”You really are too much! I am sure you didn’t wipe your plate clean after the keerai kootu! So wat you are eating is a mixture of the keerai with the thairu saadam. That’s all. And now I have to make sure the poor people in the world aren’t hungry because of your carelessness.”
The three gods turned to each other and said together, “We have found what we were looking for. Thairu and keerai are a match made in heaven. Whenever people eat them together they will say ‘Ah! a match made in heaven’ and they will think of us. Our search has ended.”
And so from that day forth, when people eat thairu and keerai together they say it is a match made in heaven and think of how great the gods were to discover two things that tasted so good together!!!
Amma's Tales 