Category: Cosmic Tales
Narrative, editorial astrology — stories that illuminate the sky.
Mahishasura Mardini: The Slaying of the Buffalo Demon
Mahishasura Mardini — “the slayer of Mahiṣa” — is one of the best-known names of the goddess Durga. It refers to a single story: the war in which the goddess, formed from the combined power of all…
The Goddess Born from Every God’s Power
This is the story of how Durga came into being. When the buffalo demon Mahishasura had defeated every god and taken over heaven, the gods’ combined anger became a blaze of light, and that light took…
The Demon Who Could Not Die: Raktabija and Kali
Raktabija is the demon who could not be killed in the ordinary way. Every drop of his blood that touched the ground produced an identical demon, with all of Raktabija’s strength and all of…
The Goddess Who Stepped Beyond Anger: The Emergence of Kali
Kali (Kālī) is one of the most striking figures in Hindu tradition: a dark, fierce goddess with a lolling red tongue and a garland of severed heads. This article tells the story of how she first…
The Burning of Kama and Parvati’s Grief
This is the story of how Kama, the god of desire, was burned to ash by Shiva’s third eye — and of what Parvati did next. It sits at a turning point in one of the great Hindu story cycles: the gods…
The Goddess Who Feeds the World: Parvati as Annapurna
Annapūrṇā is the goddess of food and nourishment, understood in the tradition as a form of Pārvatī, the wife of Shiva. She is pictured holding a vessel of food and a ladle, ready to serve, and she is…
Tapasya: Parvati’s Burning Love for Shiva
Pārvatī is the daughter of Himavan, lord of the Himalaya, and she became the wife of Shiva. Before that marriage, though, came one of the most famous episodes in Hindu storytelling: her tapasya, a…
The Greatest Leap: Hanuman Crosses the Ocean
The leap across the ocean is one of the best-loved episodes in the Rāmāyaṇa. Sita, the wife of Prince Rama, has been carried off by Ravana, the ten-headed king of Lanka. An army of monkeys and bears,…
The Day Hanuman Tried to Eat the Sun
This is the story of the morning the infant Hanuman saw the rising sun, took it for a ripe fruit, and leaped into the sky to eat it. It is one of the best-known episodes of his childhood. It explains…
Born of Wind and Devotion: The Birth of Hanuman
Hanuman is one of the most widely loved figures in Hindu tradition: the monkey-hero of the Rāmāyaṇa, Rama’s devoted messenger, and a god worshipped across India for strength, courage and devotion.…