Tale of JadaBharat

King Bharat(not to get confuse with Bharat who was son of Dushyanta and Shakuntla) was a pious man. Once he was meditating at the bank of river he saw a doe. She was in the final stage of pregnancy. While she was drinking water, a lion roared behind her. That roar frightened the doe so much that she jumped across the river to save her life. In an effort of jumping, she delivered a premature fawn. King Bharat rescued the new born fawn and brought it to his hermitage. He began to look after the fawn. He was so engaged in bringing up the fawn that he lost focus on his prayers. With the progress of time his attatchment grew. One day that deer ran away in the jungle. This separation proved fatal for king Bharat. Even at the time of death he had thoughts of deer in his mind. Due to this Bharat took his next birth in the form of deer. Even in this birth he still remember his past life.this story don not end here. Again he born as a Brahmin in the next birth. Despite being so knowledgeable he showed little interest towards holy scriptures. He used to wander here and there. He had a indifferent kind of behaviour towards others. After the demise of his father, his brothers made him work hard in the fields but gave little to eat. Because of his dullness, he was known as Jadabharat.

Fall from Heaven

Vritasur was a demon who was killed by Indra. After killing him, Indra remained disturbed . He concealed himself under a lake. It was the need of an hour to elect the new king. All sages approached King Nahusha, who was one of the powerful king in Chandra vansh. He was the grandson of king Pururva. Nahusha was a kind king. With his great tapasya he had a boon that he would absorb the power of any creature.Unanimously Nahusha was selected as the new king of Indralok. But the luxuries of indralok made him arrogant. Soon he lost control over his senses.One day he proposes Sachi, the wife of indra. She was terrified and went to devguru Brihaspati for the help.He suggested plan to Sachi. She came to Nahush with her agreement to become his wife. Nahusha fell into the trap. She put a condition to Nahusha. She said that he should visit to her palace on a paalkee(a vehichle) that should be carried by great sages. Nahusha was very happy as this condition was easy to fulfill for him. The next days he ordered great seven rishis (sapta rishis) to come to bear the paalkee. No one could go against the order. A royal paalkee was brought and King Nahush mounted on it. It was very difficult for the sages to carry out this task. King was in a hurry to reach the palace of Sachi. He said to rishis “Sarp,sarp” and he kicked sage Agastya . In sanskrit “Sarp” has two meanings i.e. “run fast” and second is “snake”. This was enough for Sage Agastya to get irritated. He curse him to be a snake. Nahusha asked for forgiveness. Sage replied that he would be free from this curse in the era of Dwapar yuga when one of the Pandavas during the years of exile will answer your questions. So, Indra regain his kingdom

Blind Love

King Pururva was grandson of Moon. He was one of the most handsome king in that era. Once he fell in love with the apsara Urvashi. She was the nymph in the court of Indra. Due to involvement of curse she was expelled from the Indralok. She had to pass certain period of time on earth. So she decided to visit King Pururva. Urvashi agreed to marry him but on two conditions. First was that the king should look after her favourite two lambs. Secondly the king should never be seen without clothes. The king agreed on strange conditions. They started living happily. This happiness was intolerable to Indra. He ordered Gandharvas to bring back the Urvashi to heaven. They were awarded of the conditions of Urvashi. One day they got opportunity to steal the lambs from the palace. At the same time Pururva was changing his clothes. On listening the news of lambs being stolen he rushed after the gandharva.This was the moment for which the Gandharvas were waiting. They immediately flashed the thunder light. The idea was to show King who was not wearing full clothes to Urvashi. In this way two conditions were breached. Urvashi disappeared from the palace. Pururva made all the efforts to search for Urvashi but all went in vain. One day he found Urvashi at the bank of river. She consoles him by informing that she was bearing his son. She promise to visit once in a year for 5 year and gave his son as successor of his kingdom.Pururva got 6 sons as Ayu, Satyayu, Rath, Vijay and Jai. At the end of five years when the time of separation came the king again filled with grief. Urvashi was stunned with the true love of the king. She told Pururva to approach Gandharvas for the boon in order to make her live on earth. This gives confidence to King Pururva. He worshipped Gandharvas with great devotion. His devotion was so strong that nature has to accept defeat. He was granted place in Gandharvalok with Urvashi for ever.

Ashta Vasus

Hindus believe in the concept of creation,preservation and destruction.This is nerver ending process.There are 32 gods which are assisting this process.They are classified into 4 groups.

a)Prajapati(Creator)

b)12 adityas(Pretservator)

c)11 rudras(destroyer)

d)8 vasus(Sphere of the activity)

Vasus are attendants to Indra,the chief of gods. They are 8 in numbers.They are personifications of natural phenomenon. They represent the basic variables that define every creation. They are elemental gods representing aspects of nature, representing cosmic natural phenomenon.According to some classics they were the children of Aditi and Sage Kashyap. Their names are as follows

1)Apa(water)

2)Dhara(earth)

3)Anila(wind)

4)Anala(fire)

5)Antriksha(atmosphere)

6)Dyaus(sky)

7)Chandrama(Moon)

8)Nakshatra

He or She

Vaivaswat Manu was childless king at the beginning of satyuga. He performed special yagya for the son. But his wife had a desire for the daughter.During the yagya she recite a special mantra for the girl child. As a result she gave birth to a baby girl, Ila, later. King Manu was amazed as he was sure before the yagya about the son. He went to Sage Vashishtha for the help. With his divine power Sage Vashistha transformed that baby girl into boy. They named him Sadyumna. The time passed peacefully. Sadyumna grew up.One day he went to Sharwan forest for hunting. There was a curse linked with that forest that if any male enters into it, he will be converted into female. Sadyumna was unaware about the upcoming danger. The moment he stepped into the forest he found himself changed into a female. Sadyumna was helpless. While coming back he met the Budh(mercury). Now the Sadyumna already changed back to Ila. Parents accepted the marriage of Ila with Budha. Later they gave birth to a son called “Pururva”. Pururva was the founder of Puru dynasty. This story has a link with Mahabharata as King Pururva was the ancestors of Kauravas and Pandavas.