64 Kalas

It is believe that lord Krishna possess 64 kinds of arts called "Chausath Kalas". They are as follows
(1) Geet vidya -- art of singing.
(2) Vadya vidya -- art of playing on musical instruments.
(3) Nritya vidya-- art of dancing.
(4) Natya vidya-- art of theatricals.
(5) alekhya vidya-- art of painting.
(6) viseshakacchedya vidya -- art of painting the face and body with color
(7) tandula-kusuma-bali-vikara -- art of preparing offerings from rice and flowers.
(8) pushpastarana -- art of making a covering of flowers for a bed.
(9) dasana-vasananga-raga -- art of applying preparations for cleansing the teeth, cloths and painting the body.
(10) mani-bhumika-karma -- art of making the groundwork of jewels.
(11) sayya-racana -- art of covering the bed.
(12) udaka-vadya -- art of playing on music in water.
(13) udaka-ghata -- art of splashing with water.
(14) citra-yoga -- art of practically applying an admixture of colors.
(15) malya-grathana-vikalpa -- art of designing a preparation of wreaths.
(16) sekharapida-yojana -- art of practically setting the coronet on the head.
(17) nepathya-yoga -- art of practically dressing in the tiring room.
(18) karnapatra-bhanga -- art of decorating the tragus of the ear.
(19) sugandha-yukti -- art of practical application of aromatics.
(20) bhushana-yojana -- art of applying or setting ornaments.
(21) aindra-jala -- art of jugglery.
(22) kaucumara -- a kind of art.
(23) hasta-laghava -- art of sleight of hand.
(24) citra-sakapupa-bhakshya-vikara-kriya -- art of preparing varieties of delicious food.
(25) panaka-rasa-ragasava-yojana -- art of practically preparing palatable drinks and tinging draughts with red color.
(26) suci-vaya-karma -- art of needleworks and weaving.
(27) sutra-krida -- art of playing with thread.
(28) vina-damuraka-vadya -- art of playing on lute and small drum.
(29) prahelika -- art of making and solving riddles.
(30) durvacaka-yoga -- art of practicing language difficult to be answered by others.
(31) pustaka-vacana -- art of reciting books.
(32) natikakhyayika-darsana -- art of enacting short plays and anecdotes.
(33) kavya-samasya-purana -- art of solving enigmatic verses.
(34) pattika-vetra-bana-vikalpa -- art of designing preparation of shield, cane and arrows.
(35) tarku-karma -- art of spinning by spindle.
(36) takshana -- art of carpentry.
(37) vastu-vidya -- art of engineering.
(38) raupya-ratna-pariksha -- art of testing silver and jewels.
(39) dhatu-vada -- art of metallurgy.
(40) mani-raga jnana -- art of tinging jewels.
(41) akara jnana -- art of mineralogy.
(42) vrikshayur-veda-yoga -- art of practicing medicine or medical treatment, by herbs.
(43) mesha-kukkuta-lavaka-yuddha-vidhi -- art of knowing the mode of fighting of lambs, cocks and birds.
(44) suka-sarika-prapalana (pralapana)? -- art of maintaining or knowing conversation between male and female cockatoos.
(45) utsadana -- art of healing or cleaning a person with perfumes.
(46) kesa-marjana-kausala -- art of combing hair.
(47) akshara-mushtika-kathana -- art of talking with letters and fingers.
(48) mlecchita-kutarka-vikalpa -- art of fabricating barbarous or foreign sophistry.
(49) desa-bhasha-jnana -- art of knowing provincial dialects.
(50)nirmiti-jnana -- art of knowing prediction by heavenly voice
(51) yantra-matrika -- art of mechanics.
(52) dharana-matrika -- art of the use of amulets.
(53) samvacya -- art of conversation.
(54) manasi kavya-kriya -- art of composing verse mentally.
(55) kriya-vikalpa -- art of designing a literary work or a medical remedy.
(56) chalitaka-yoga -- art of practicing as a builder of shrines called after him.
(57) abhidhana-kosha-cchando-jnana -- art of the use of lexicography and meters.
(58) vastra-gopana -- art of concealment of cloths.
(59) dyuta-visesha -- art of knowing specific gambling.
(60) akarsha-krida -- art of playing with dice or magnet.
(61) balaka-kridanaka -- art of using children's toys.
(62) vainayiki vidya -- art of enforcing discipline.
(63) vaijayiki vidya -- art of gaining victory.
(64) vaitaliki vidya -- art of awakening master with music at dawn.

The Great Transformation

Once there was a burglar named Ratnakar. He used to rob the person of his belongings and with this wealth he looked after his family. This process continued for a long time. One day he was hiding in the forest to rob the passengers. At the same time sage Narad was passing through that forest in which Ratnakar was hiding. As soon as Ratnakar saw him, he threatened him to stop. But sage Nard said that he had nothing to offer him. But Ratnakar was adamant. Sage Narad said to Ratnkar “why do you kill people who are innocent? One has to face the consequences for his own deeds. No one shares the punishment of god for the sins of others.” Sage Narad asked Ratnakar to go back to his home and asked his family members whether they will share his sufferings for the sins he committed for them. This shocked the Ratnakar. He get back to his home and asked the same question to each family members. He said to his family members , “ Is anybody ready to share my sins?" . But every member decline at once. Ratnakar was disappointed. Ratnakar went back to the forest to met sage Narad and asked for forgiveness. Sage Narad asked him to chant the name of God Rama. But for Ratnakar even pronouncing it was difficult. Sage Narad asked him to pronounce it backwards that is 'Mara'. Ratnakar started to chant 'Mara, Mara' sitting there. He continued with this chant for many years.He performed the tapasya with such a devotion that he didn’t moved a single inch from it’s place. The termites made his body their home.Lord Brahma pleased with his devotion blessed him and gave him the name Valmiki because of the termites, which are called Valmik in Sanskrit. So it was the great transformation of a burglar into a sage who wrote the Ramayana.

The Blink of Eyes

Once King Nimi of surya vansh boansh decided to organise a Yagya .He invited the sage Vasishth to perform the Yagya. But sage Vasishth expressed his inability to participate Yagya as he had already promised Indra for the same. He requested the king to wait till he was free from Indra’s obligations. But King Nimi was in no mood to wait for sage Vashishtha. He started Yagya with sage Gautam . At the completion of Yagya for Indra, sage Vasishth hurried back to the earth to conduct Yagya for King Nimi. But here he found that a Yagya was already in progression. This made the sage angry. He cursed Nimi, who was sleeping at that time, to lose his body at once. On the other hand, at end of Yagya when the gods appeared to accept their due share from the offerings, the other sages prayed to them to grant boon to Nimi. King Nimi expressed his desire to live bodiless because he wanted to get liberated from the bondage of birth and death and it was not possible for his soul to re-enter his body because his body was destroyed.The gods thus, grant the eyelids as the dwelling place for the soul of king Nimi. So the wink of eyelids remind the existence of king Nimi. Since then blinking of eyes came into practice because of Nimi’s stay there. Also as per hindu system of time measurement, the time interval between the blink of eyes is called " Nimesh" which is derive from the King Nimi.

King Shibi

King Shibi was famous for his kindness. Once Indra and Dharmraaj decided to test him. Indra took the form of a pigeon and Dharmraaj took the form of a hawk. One day king Shibi was sitting in his court. All of a sudden that the pigeon came flying and fell into Shibi's lap for protection. The pigeon was badly injured. In the meantime the hawk also came following him. He saw the pigeon hiding in king's lap and asked Shibi to returned back the pigeon. But Shibi declined to return it to hawk as it was duty of the king to protect anyone who seek help. He decided to sacrifice his own body as a prey to hawk. A weighing scale was brought and the pigeon sat in one pan of the balance. Shibi cut off his arms and put it on the other pan. But the pigeon's weight outweighed Shibi's flesh. So king Shibi cut off legs and put it on the pan to balance the pigeon's weight. But once again, the pigeon outweighed the flesh. Ultimately, king Shibi ordered that his bleeding body be put on the pan. As soon as this was done, Indra and Dharmaraj too appeared in their original forms. Gods blessed the King Shibi and he ruled for many year