Arjun and Hanuman

Once Arjun was on pilgrimage and reached Rameshwaram. When he saw the setu(bridge), he wondered that why Lord Rama needed the help of  vanar sena(troops of monkeys) though he himself was a great archer. This was the time when Arjun’s thought was governed by his ego and boast of him to be great archer. He found that one monkey was following him. The monkey tried to answer his doubt and said that it was not practical to built the bridge of arrows by Lord Rama  because it would not able to bear the weight of huge monkey army. On hearing this Arjun laughed and challenged monkey that the bridge made by him could have bear the weight easily and if it failed to do so then he would jumped into the fire. The monkey agreed the challenge and asked Arjun to build a bridge from his arrows.Arjun with his great skills built a very strong bridge. But the moment the monkey stepped on to the bridge , it collapsed.Arjuna accepted the defeat and made a fire ready jumped into.at the very moment one Brahman who was none other than Lord Krishna visited and enquired the matter. The Brahman offered his shoulder at the foundation of bridge and asked Arjun to repeat the task. Again the bridge was built by Arjun with his arrows and when monkey set his foot , the bridge did not collapsed. Arjun was stunned. The monkey appeared in his original form of Hanuman and greet the Brahman who was Lord Krishna(an incarnation of Lord Rama).

Lord Krishna said “ Dear Hanuman!! In previous yuga you have done so much for me and carried me on your shoulder.In this yuga I came to carry you on my shoulder. Also I wanted to teach Arjun a lesson who was living with a false ego”

Arjuna went into tears and asked for forgiveness as the Lord has to came to rescue him. Lord Krishna also honoured his disciple claim of building the bridge second time.God never let HIS children down.

Queen Tara- The Beauty with a brain

In Ramayana, one of the unsung character was Tara who was the daughter of physician Sushena(vanar). She was the wife of Bali .Tara was famous for her divine beauty and  great intelligence. She had an ability to understand the language of all the animals and birds. When she learnt that Lord Rama joined the band of Sugreev , she immediately adviced her husband to make treaty with Sugreev. But Bali ignored her warning and ultimately died in a battle with Lord Rama. After the death of her husband, she demanded promise from Sugreev to make her son Angad as a heir to throne. In another incident, when Lakshman tried to attack Sugreev for forgetting his promise to help Lord Rama, Tara immediately intervened and solved the crisis. This was the proof of her diplomacy.Actually she was a ‘beauty with a brain’

Panch Kanya

'Ahalya, Draupadi, Sita, Tara, Mandodari tatha,

Panchakanya smarn nityam maha pataka nasanam'

As per above shloka, remembering the 5 panch kanya(5 women), mentioned here in pooja can remove the sin

According to scriptures the following 5 women are called "Panch Kanyas" .

1)Ahilya- She was a wife of Sage Gautam. She suffered the curse of her husband for many years.She waited of Lord Rama for many years to liberate her from the curse

2) Draupadi- During the exile, she supported her husbands at every point.She took the death of her son,Abhimanyu with courage and strength

3)Sita- She was an incarnation of goddess lakshmi. She remained with Lord Rama in the most difficult conditions which she could had been avoided. The was totally dedicated to Lord Rama.

4)Tara- She was the wife of King Bali. She was famous for her diplomacy and even after the death of her husband she laid condition before her brother in law Sugriv to make her son successor of the throne.

5)Mandodri- She was the wife of King Ravana. She knew the nature of her husband and she handled him very well till the end and kept persuading him to drop the idea of Sita from his mind.

remembering them helps to destroy the greatest sins.

The literal meaning of 'kanya' means 'a young girl'. Though the above 5 women were married and their lives were full of miseries.They were much ahead of the time and tackled the most difficult situations of their lives with courage.

8 consorts of Lord Krishna

There were 8 principal consorts of Lord Krishna. They were
1)Rukmini-She was the chief Queen of Lord Krishna and was the princess of Vidarbha.
2) Satyabhama- In previous birth, she was the care taker of Lord Vishnu and was His great devotee.
3)Jambvanti- she was the daughter of beer king Jambvan.
4)Mitravinda- she was the princess of Avantipura. He defeated her brothers Vinda and Anuvinda in  a battle.
5)Kalindi-she was the sister of river Yamuna
6)Bhadra-one of the great devotee of Lord Krishna
7)Lakshana- Krishna defeated Arjun and Duryodhan in a competition to won her.
8)Nila- she Lord Krishna had to fight with 7 bulls to won the hand of Nila devi.