Category: Cosmic Tales
Narrative, editorial astrology — stories that illuminate the sky.
The Boy Who Danced on the Serpent’s Heads
Kaliya had a history. He was a great serpent, many-headed, the venom in his hoods powerful enough to poison not just the water he lived in but the air above it and the bank around it. He had once…
The Night of a Million Lamps: Rama Returns Home
The war was over. Ravana lay on the battlefield of Lanka, and ten heads had finally been still. Vibhishana, who had left his brother’s corrupt court to fight on Rama’s side, was crowned king of Lanka…
Born at Midnight: Krishna Comes Into the World
The cell was in Mathura, in the prison of Kamsa, and it held two people who had been there for years: Devaki, the princess, and her husband Vasudeva, her faithful companion in captivity. They had…
The Bridge That Should Not Exist: Building Ram Setu
The ocean stood between Rama and everything. On the far shore was Lanka, where Ravana held Sita captive. On this shore was Rama with an army of monkeys and bears who had pledged their lives to his…
Fourteen Years in the Forest: The Exile of Rama
The preparations for Rama’s coronation had been underway for days. Ayodhya was dressed in flowers. The citizens were dressed in their finest. Dasharatha’s heart was full of a father’s joy so intense…
The Bow That Chose a King: Rama and Sita’s Swayamvar
The bow had been in Janaka’s treasury for as long as anyone could remember. It had arrived there generations earlier, carried by the divine themselves, too heavy for ordinary beings to move without…
The Birth of the Blue Prince: Rama Comes to Ayodhya
The trouble had been going on for a very long time. Ravana, the ten-headed king of Lanka, was not a simple villain. He was a scholar of the Vedas and a master of weaponry and a devoted worshipper of…
The Half-Being Who Contains Everything
In the very early period of creation, when Brahma had just set the worlds in motion, he noticed a problem. He had created beings — the first generations, born from his mind and his breath — and they…
The Arrow That Crossed the Universe: Tripurantaka
Three demon brothers — Tarakaksha, Vidyunmali, and Kamalaksha — had earned a boon from Brahma through terrible austerities, and the boon they had chosen was the kind of boon that clever beings choose…
The Pillar of Fire Without Beginning or End
In the age when the universe was still learning its own dimensions, Brahma and Vishnu found themselves in a disagreement that no divine authority had yet settled: who, between them, was the greater?…