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Yudhishtira went before her, trembling. In anger, she looked down through the folds of her blindfold and her eyes fell on Yudhishtira’s toenails. T...

Devi Mahatmya - Markandeya Purana, tr. by Bibek Debroy  Chapter 3 (Ch 80 in the book)  Devi Ambika severed Chikshura's standard, bow, destroyed ...

Ravana mocked Maricha, saying Rama was a human and that he was not scared of him. He again asked Maricha to entice Sita by becoming a golden deer a...

Dhritarashtra was shattered after hearing the news of the death of his sons. Vidura then consoled him, saying that all those who were dead were Ind...

Devi Mahatmya - Markandeya Purana, tr. by Bibek Debroy  Chapter 2 (Ch 79 in the book)  Having told both Suratha and Samadhi how Mahamaya was pra...

By Bibek Debroy ETYMOLOGICALLY, THE WORD tattva means the truth, or essential nature. That’s the reason I think the word Hindutva, which has come ...

The rakshasa Khara was furious to see his sister Surpanakha without ears and nose. When he found out what happened, he instructed fourteen of his p...

Devi Mahatmya - Markandeya Purana, tr. by Bibek Debroy Ch 1  (Ch 78 in the book) Of the five sections in the Markandeya Purana, the Devi Mahatmy...

The night of terror continued until everyone in the camp was slain brutally. Covered with blood all over his body, Ashwatthama left the camp. Every...

By Bibek Debroy The story of how Ganesha came to have a single tusk is fairly well known. Here is that story from Brahmanda Purana. Ganas are Shiva...

Rama traveled to the Dandakarnya forest with Sita and Lakshmana. They met the sages there and took their blessings. As they returned through the fo...

By Bibek Debroy The story about the battle between Parashurama and Kartavirya is a familiar one. It figures in all Puranas. At the prospect of the ...