Sri Hari
1) Drona
Author
Description
Drona was Sage Bharadwaja's son and the ultimate authority in archery. He learnt the skills of archery and secrets of Agneyastra from Agnivesha, his father's disciple and taught archery only to kshatriyas. His son, Aswathama, was once ridiculed by some rich boys for not being able to afford drinking milk. Being stung by his poor condition, Drona thought of taking up teaching archery to make some money to improve the family's financial condition. He...
2) Draupadi
Author
Description
Draupadi was king Drupada's daughter born of fire and was destined to bring the end of the Kauravas. She accepted Arjuna to be her husband in the swayamwara but later on became the wife of all the five Pandavas. Sage Vedavyasa convinced Drupada that Draupadi was Swargalakshmi incarnate and that by marrying the five brothers she was marrying five Indras. Upon Narada's advice, the brothers drew up a code of conduct. One of the codes was that Draupadi...
3) Bhishma
Author
Description
Known as Bhishma Pitamaha, Bhishma was actually Devavratha, King Shanthanu and Mother Ganga's son. He received a boon from his father that he could choose his own time of death. He vowed never to get married and remained the constant guide, teacher, philosopher and friend to the Pandavas and the Kauravas. He kept his promise of never contesting the King's throne. Accordingly, after his father's death he made his brothers, Chitrangada and later, Vichitravirya,...
4) Narada
Author
Series
Description
Narada, Lord Brahma's son, was asked to leave Satyaloka, be born twice as a human being in order to understand the trials and tribulations of earthly life. So first, he was born as a gandharva when he invented the Veena. Second, he was born as a son of a housemaid who worked in a brahmin's house. Thus his mind was filled thoughts of God and service to Him. God appeared before him saying that he had fulfilled his purpose. Soon after, there was the...
Author
Series
Description
After all the four weddings, Rama, his brothers and parents went to Ayodhya. On the way they met Parasurama who acknowledged that Rama was superior to him. Rama's coronation was stalled as Kaikeyi demanded Dasharatha to send Rama to the forest and anoint Bharatha king of Ayodhya. The king, Kausalya and many others were shocked. In spite of leading a sheltered life, Sita pledged her support to her husband. Lakshmana also joined them and together they...
Author
Series
Description
Vali and Sugreeva were born to a vanara maiden as a boon from Indra and Suryadeva respectively. Vali was crowned the king of Kishkinda. As a result of a number of boons he became invincible. When Ravana challenged his might, he simply carried the demon under his arm and smashed him down thus humiliating him. Ravana had to bow down to him and seek his friendship. There ensued a battle between Vali and Dundhubi, who came in the form of a wild buffalo....
Author
Series
Description
Sri Rama , an avatar of Lord Vishnu, was born to King Dasharatha and Queen Kausalya after the king performed the Aswamedha and Putrakameshthi yajnas. Rama and his three brothers had all the qualities of kshyatriyas and endeared themselves to one and all in Ayodhya. Sage Viswamitra once came to the king's palace and requested for Rama to be sent to protect his yajna from two demons' interference. Much to the king's consternation, Rama and Lakshmana...
8) Vidura
Author
Description
Vidura was Ambika's maid's son and an incarnation of Yamadharmaraya. He was born along with Pandu and Dhritarashtra.
He was unequalled in righteousness and an expert in ethics. In fact, even Bhisma used to consult him on various matters. Vidura married Parasavi, King Devaka'a daughter. His guidance to Kunti and the Pandavas was invaluable. He helped the Pandavas to escape from the burning lac palace. Vidura gave very valuable advice to the Kauravas...
9) Arjuna
Author
Description
Arjuna was Kunti and Pandu's son born, when Kunti invoked Devendra. At the time of his birth, a loud thunder proclaimed that he would be equal to Vishnu in courage, to Shiva in prowess and would uphold the name of the Kuru clan. He was Drona's best student who learnt the use of Brahmastra upon saving his teacher from the fatal grip of a crocodile. He was able to fulfill his guru's wish and thus brought King Drupada to Drona. He agreed to fight against...
10) Krishna
Author
Description
Krishna was a lovable, divine character from whose flute came divine music and one who was the darling of Brindavan. His uncle, Kamsa, tried his best to kill him as Kamsa was destined to get killed by this divine being. Thus, Kamsa sent Poothani, Shakatasura and Trinavartha in various guises but each one was killed by the young Krishna. Even after Krishna located to Brindavan, Kamsa hounded him in various ways but turned out to be unsuccessful. Together...
11) Karna
Author
Description
Karna was born to Kunti before she was married as a result of her testing the boon that Durvasa had given her. Afraid of society, she set him afloat in a box. The baby was found by a charioteer, Atiratha, who along with his wife brought him up with all love and care. He then grew up under Dhritharashtra's care and learnt archery under Drona. He became friends with Duryodhana after, which his sole aim was to fight with Arjuna. When Drona refused to...
12) Vedavyasa
Author
Series
Description
Sage Vedavyasa, great grandson of Sage Vashista, was also known as Dwaipayana and Badarayana. He classified the Vedas into 4, wrote the Brahma Sutra, and divided the Puranas into 18 Mahapuranas. He initiated four of his disciples—Paila, Vaishampayana, Jaimini and Sumanthu — into the Vedas and invested with them the responsibility of continuing the tradition. Sage Vedavyasa had the power of seeing into the past and the future. Thus he convinced...
13) Hanuman
Author
Series
Description
Hanuman was born to Anjana, a vanara woman who was cursed by Brihaspathi for having pestered him to marry her. Hanuman was extremely radiant at birth and as a little baby, had once jumped into the sky to eat up the sun thinking it was a fruit! During a scuffle among Devendra, Rahu and Hanuman, Indra injured the child Hanuman and Vayudeva got angry with him. In retaliation, he took away the child and went into a cave. The world became bereft of air...
14) Valmiki
Author
Series
Description
Sage Valmiki, who lived on the banks of the Tamasa, was asked by Brahma to compose the Ramayana in the form of slokas. Valmiki was originally Ratnakara, a dreaded robber. Once Sage Narada advised him to mend his ways and asked him whether the people who were living on the fruits of his robbery would partake of his sinful acts. Ratnakara confidently approached his parents, people, wife and son only to be told that they were not willing to make his...
Author
Description
Known by various names, Ganesha is a divine force, a remover of all hurdles and one who is worshipped before doing any good work. The story of Ganesha here is based on Brahmavaivartha Purana. Lord Sri Krishna was born as Ganesha to Siva and Parvathi after she completed the Punyaka vratha, the king of all vrathas. As dakshina, Sanatkumara asked Parvathi for her husband if she wanted to enjoy the fruits of the vratha completely. It is said that Shaneshwara...
16) Ravana
Author
Series
Description
Ravana was born to Kaikasi and Vishravasa, and Pulatsya (son of Prajapathi Brahma) was his grandfather. Kumbhakarna and Vibhishana were his brothers and Shoorpanakha was his sister. As he was born with ten heads, he was known as Dashagreeva, Dashanana, etc. He went to Gokarna with his brothers and performed such severe penance that Lord Brahma appeared before him and granted him a boon by virtue of which he would be immune to death at the hands of...
17) Dattatreya
Author
Description
Dattatreya was an incarnation of SriHari, born to sage Atri and his wife Anasuya. Along with him were born in the same family, Soma, an incarnation of Brahma and Durvasa, an incarnation of Shiva. Dattatreya desired to live in isolation and once hid himself in a lake through his yogic power. When Karthveeryarjuna wasn't prepared to take over kingship, a minister, Garga, advised him to worship Dattatreya and get the power that he needed. Sage Brihaspathi...
Author
Description
Mahabharatha is one of the greatest epics containing innumerable guidelines for statesmanship, virtuous living, conflict resolving, and above all, the message of the Bhagwad Gita. In short, it deals with the universal truths of life. This series covers a large part of the epic through ten of the main characters of the epic, including the protagonist Lord Sri Krishna. Each of these books is thought provoking and propels you to know, read and understand...
Author
Description
The Ramayana is a pure epic dealing with a theme and characters who lived in Trethayuga. As one reads through this series of ten books, one finds the epic unfold in its various facets through the delineation of the characters that are featured. The steadfastness of Rama, the utter helplessness of a Dasharatha, a brother's devotion as seen in Lakshmana, a devotee's surrender as seen in Hanuman, the bitter rivalry between brothers Vali and Sugreeva...