| The Shrines glorified by Nammalvar | no of stanzas | |
| Srivaramangalam also known as Vanamamalai Nanguneri | 11 | South of Tirunelveli 30 Kms |
| Srivaikuntham | 2 | 27 Kms east of Tirunelveli |
| Srirangam | 13 | Tiruchirapalli |
| Tiruvanantapuram | 11 | Kerala capital |
| Tirukattthanam | 11 | 3kms from Chankannaceri |
| Tirukkannapuram | 11 | in Kaivalur Thiruvarur |
| Tirukkattakarai | 11 | 16Kms from Eranakulam |
| Tirukkutantai | 11 | Kumbakonam |
| Tirukkurukur | 11 | Alvar Tirunagari |
| Tirukkulantai | 11 | 11kms fro Vaikuntam railway st. |
| Tirukkurunkudi | 13 | south west of Nanguneri |
| Tirukkolur | 11 | 3kms fro Alwar tirunagari |
| Tiruchenkunrur | 11 | near Kottayam |
| Tirunavay | 11 | 40kms Shornur Kerala |
| Tiruppuliyur | 11 | |
| Tiruppulinkuti | 12 | 3kms fro srivaikuntam Rly St. |
| Tiruppernagar | 11 | 35 kms east of trichy |
| tirupperaiyil | 11 | 5 kms from tirubali |
| Tirumalirunchlai | 46 | 19 kms fro Madurai North |
| Tirumulikkalam | 11 | Alwaye to Shoranur |
| Tirumohur | 11 | 12 kms fom Madurai |
| Tiruvanparisaram | 1 | 3 kms fro Nagarkoil |
| Tiruvanvandur | 11 | near Tiruvallai |
| Tiruvallaval | 11 | near Kottayam |
| Tiruvattaru | 11 | 25 kms from Nagarkoil |
| Tiruvananvinai | 11 | 11kms kerala chenkanur |
| Tiruvinnakar | 11 | Oppiliappan koil |
| Tiruvehka | 1 | Kamelipuram |
| Tiruvenkatam | 52 | Tirumalai |
| Tuvarai | 1 | 18 kms from Jamnagar Gujarat |
| Tolaivillimangalam | 11 | 3kms fro alwar tirunagari |
| Vadamadurai | 11 | 3kms from Mathura junction |
| Varagunnamankai | 1 | 1 km from Srivaikuntam |
Wednesday, November 16, 2016
The Shrines glorified by Namallavar.
Tuesday, November 15, 2016
The Chain
The whole world yearns after freedom, yet each creature is in love with his chains, this is the inextricable knot of our nature.
Man loves his bonds of birth; therefore he is caught in the companion bond of death. man loves power therefore he is subject to weakness. For the world is in a sea of waves force that meet and continually fling themselves on each other. he who must ride on the crest of one wave must faint under the shock of hundreds. Man is in love with pleasure therefore he must undergo the yoke of grief and pain. For unmixed delight is only for the free and passionless soul
but that which pursues after pleasure in man is a suffering and straining energy. man hungers after calm, but he thirsts also for the experiences of a restless mind and a troubled heart. Enjoyment is to his mind and a fever, calm an inertia and a monotony.
Man is in love with the limitations of his physical being, yet he would have also the freedom of his infinite mind and his immortal soul. and in these contrast something in him finds a curious attraction; they constitute for his mental being the artistry of life. It is not only the nectar but the poison also that attracts his taste and his curiosity.
In all these things there is a meaning and for all these contradictions there is a release. Nature has a method in every madness of her combining and for her most inextricable knots there is a solution.
Death is the question Nature puts continually to life and her reminder to it that it has not yet found itself. If there were no siege of death, the creature would be bound for ever in the form of an imperfect living. Pursued by death he awakes to the idea of perfect life and seeks out its means and its possibility.
Weakness puts the same test and question to the strengths and energies and greatness in which we glory. Power is the play of life, shows its degree, finds the value of its expression; weakness is the play of death pursuing life in its movement and stressing the limit of its acquired energy.
Pain the grief are Nature's reminder to the soul that the pleasure it enjoys is only a feeble hint of the real delight of existence. In each pain and torture of our being is the secret of a flame of rapture compared with which our greatest pleasures are only as dim flickering s. It is this secret which forms the attraction for the soul of the great ordeals, sufferings and fierce experiences of life which the nervous mind in us shuns and abhors.
The restlessness and early exhaustion of our active being and its instruments are Nature's sign that calm is our true foundation and excitement a disease of the soul; the sterility and monotony of mere calm is her hint that play of the activities on that firm foundation is what she require of us. God plays for ever and is not troubled.
The limitations of the body are a mould; soul and mind have to pour themselves into them, break them and constantly remould them in wider limits till the formula of agreement is found between this finite and their own infinity.
Freedom is the law of being in its illimitable unity, secret master of all Nature. servitude is the law of love in the being voluntarily giving itself to serve the play of its other selves in the multiplicity.
It is when freedom works in chains and servitude becomes a law of Force, not of Love that the true nature of things is distorted and a falsehood governs the soul's dealings with existence.
Nature starts with this distortion and plays with all the combinations to which it can lead before she will allow it to be righted. Afterwards she gathers up all the essence of these combinations into a new and rich harmony of love and freedom.
Freedom comes by a unity without limits; for that is our real being. We may gain the essence of this unity in ourselves; we may realise the play of it in oneness with all others. The double experience is the complete intention of the soul in Nature.
Having realized infinite unity in ourselves, then to give ourselves to the world is utter freedom and absolute empire.
Man loves his bonds of birth; therefore he is caught in the companion bond of death. man loves power therefore he is subject to weakness. For the world is in a sea of waves force that meet and continually fling themselves on each other. he who must ride on the crest of one wave must faint under the shock of hundreds. Man is in love with pleasure therefore he must undergo the yoke of grief and pain. For unmixed delight is only for the free and passionless soul
but that which pursues after pleasure in man is a suffering and straining energy. man hungers after calm, but he thirsts also for the experiences of a restless mind and a troubled heart. Enjoyment is to his mind and a fever, calm an inertia and a monotony.
Man is in love with the limitations of his physical being, yet he would have also the freedom of his infinite mind and his immortal soul. and in these contrast something in him finds a curious attraction; they constitute for his mental being the artistry of life. It is not only the nectar but the poison also that attracts his taste and his curiosity.
In all these things there is a meaning and for all these contradictions there is a release. Nature has a method in every madness of her combining and for her most inextricable knots there is a solution.
Death is the question Nature puts continually to life and her reminder to it that it has not yet found itself. If there were no siege of death, the creature would be bound for ever in the form of an imperfect living. Pursued by death he awakes to the idea of perfect life and seeks out its means and its possibility.
Weakness puts the same test and question to the strengths and energies and greatness in which we glory. Power is the play of life, shows its degree, finds the value of its expression; weakness is the play of death pursuing life in its movement and stressing the limit of its acquired energy.
Pain the grief are Nature's reminder to the soul that the pleasure it enjoys is only a feeble hint of the real delight of existence. In each pain and torture of our being is the secret of a flame of rapture compared with which our greatest pleasures are only as dim flickering s. It is this secret which forms the attraction for the soul of the great ordeals, sufferings and fierce experiences of life which the nervous mind in us shuns and abhors.
The restlessness and early exhaustion of our active being and its instruments are Nature's sign that calm is our true foundation and excitement a disease of the soul; the sterility and monotony of mere calm is her hint that play of the activities on that firm foundation is what she require of us. God plays for ever and is not troubled.
The limitations of the body are a mould; soul and mind have to pour themselves into them, break them and constantly remould them in wider limits till the formula of agreement is found between this finite and their own infinity.
Freedom is the law of being in its illimitable unity, secret master of all Nature. servitude is the law of love in the being voluntarily giving itself to serve the play of its other selves in the multiplicity.
It is when freedom works in chains and servitude becomes a law of Force, not of Love that the true nature of things is distorted and a falsehood governs the soul's dealings with existence.
Nature starts with this distortion and plays with all the combinations to which it can lead before she will allow it to be righted. Afterwards she gathers up all the essence of these combinations into a new and rich harmony of love and freedom.
Freedom comes by a unity without limits; for that is our real being. We may gain the essence of this unity in ourselves; we may realise the play of it in oneness with all others. The double experience is the complete intention of the soul in Nature.
Having realized infinite unity in ourselves, then to give ourselves to the world is utter freedom and absolute empire.
Delight of being.
If Brahman were only an impersonal abstraction eternally contradicting the apparent fact of our concrete existence, cessation would be the right end of the matter; but love and delight and self awareness have also to be reckoned.
The universe is not merely a mathematical formula for working out the relation of certain mental abstractions called numbers and principles to arrive in the end at a zero or a void unit, neither is it merely a physical operation embdying a certain equation of forces. It is the delight of a Self lover, the play of a Child, the endless self multiplication of a poet intoxicated with the rapture of His power of endless creation.
We may speak of the Supreme as if He were a mathematician working out a cosmic sum in numbers or a thinker resolving by experiment a problem in relation s of principles and the balance of forces: but also we should speak of Him as if He were a lover a musician of universal and particular harmonies, a child, a poet. The side of thought is not enough; the side of delight too must be entirely grasped; Ideas Forces Existences Principles are hollow moulds unless they are filled with the breath of God,s delight.
These things are images, but all is an image. Abstractions give us the pure conception of God,s truths; images give us their living reality.
If idea embracing Force begot the worlds, Delight of Being begot the Idea. Because the Infinite conceived an innumerable delight in itself, therefore worlds and universes came into existence.
Consciousness of being and Delight of Being are the first parents. Also they are the last transcendences. Unconsciousness is only an intermediate swoon of the conscious or its obscure sleep; pain and self extiction are only delight of being running away from itself in order to find itself elsewhere or otherwise.
Delight of being is not limited in Time; it is without end or beginning. god comes out from one form of things only to enter into another.
For God is an eternal child playing an eternal game in an eternal garden."A"
The universe is not merely a mathematical formula for working out the relation of certain mental abstractions called numbers and principles to arrive in the end at a zero or a void unit, neither is it merely a physical operation embdying a certain equation of forces. It is the delight of a Self lover, the play of a Child, the endless self multiplication of a poet intoxicated with the rapture of His power of endless creation.
We may speak of the Supreme as if He were a mathematician working out a cosmic sum in numbers or a thinker resolving by experiment a problem in relation s of principles and the balance of forces: but also we should speak of Him as if He were a lover a musician of universal and particular harmonies, a child, a poet. The side of thought is not enough; the side of delight too must be entirely grasped; Ideas Forces Existences Principles are hollow moulds unless they are filled with the breath of God,s delight.
These things are images, but all is an image. Abstractions give us the pure conception of God,s truths; images give us their living reality.
If idea embracing Force begot the worlds, Delight of Being begot the Idea. Because the Infinite conceived an innumerable delight in itself, therefore worlds and universes came into existence.
Consciousness of being and Delight of Being are the first parents. Also they are the last transcendences. Unconsciousness is only an intermediate swoon of the conscious or its obscure sleep; pain and self extiction are only delight of being running away from itself in order to find itself elsewhere or otherwise.
Delight of being is not limited in Time; it is without end or beginning. god comes out from one form of things only to enter into another.
For God is an eternal child playing an eternal game in an eternal garden."A"
Monday, November 14, 2016
stone soup.
STONE SOUP
An Old Tale Retold
Text by Marcia Brown
Three soldiers trudged down a road in a strange country. They were on their way home from the wars. Besides being tired, they were hungry. In fact, they had eaten nothing for two days.
"How I would like a good dinner tonight,” said the first.
“And a bed to sleep in,” said the second.
“But all that is impossible,” said the third. “We must march on.”
On they marched. Suddenly, ahead of them they saw the lights of a village.
“Maybe we’ll find a bite to eat there,” said the first.
“And a loft to sleep in,” said the second.
“No harm in asking,” said the third.
Now the peasants of that place feared strangers. When they heard that three soldiers were coming down the road, they talked among themselves.
“Here come three soldiers. Soldiers are always hungry. But we have little enough for ourselves.” And they hurried to hide their food.
They pushed the sacks of barley under the hay in the lofts. They lowered buckets of milk down the wells.
They spread old quilts over the carrot bins. They hid their cabbages and potatoes under the beds. They hung their meat in the cellars.
They hid all they had to eat. Then – they waited.
The soldiers stopped first at the house of Paul and Francoise.
“Good evening to you,” they said. “Could you spare a bit of food for three hungry soldiers?”
“We have had no food for ourselves for three days,” said Paul. Francoise made a sad face. “It has been a poor harvest.”
The three soldiers went on the house of Albert and Louise.
“Could you spare a bit of food? And have you some corner where we could sleep for the night?”
“Oh no,” said Albert. “We gave all we could spare to soldiers who came before you.”
“Our beds are full,” said Louise.
At Vincent and Marie’s the answer was the same. It had been a poor harvest and all the grain must be kept for seed.
So it went all through the village. Not a peasant had any food to give away. They all had good reasons. One family had use the grain for feed. Another had an old sick father to care for. All had too many mouths to fill.
The villagers stood in the street and sighed. The looked as hungry as they could.
The three soldiers talked together.
Then the first soldier called out, “Good people!” The peasants drew near.
“We are three hungry soldiers in a strange land. We have asked you for food and you have no food. Well then, we’ll have to make stone soup.”
The peasants stared.
Stone soup? That would be something to know about.
“First, we’ll need a large iron pot,” the soldiers said.
The peasants brought the largest pot they could find. How else to cook enough?
“That's none too large,” said the soldiers. “But it will do. And now, water to fill it and a fire to heat it.”
It took many buckets of water to fill the pot. A fire was built on the village square and the pot was set to boil.
“And now, if you please, three round, smooth stones.”
Those were easy enough to find.
The peasants’ eyes grew round as they watched the soldiers drop the stones into the pot.
“Any soup needs salt and pepper,” said the soldiers, as they began to stir.
Children ran to fetch salt and pepper.
“Stones like these generally make good soup. But oh, if there were carrots, it would be much better.”
“Why, I think I have a carrot or two,” said Francoise, and off she ran.
She came back with her apron fill of carrots from the bin beneath the red quilt.
“A good stone soup should have cabbage,” said the soldiers as they sliced the carrots into the pot. “But no use asking for what you don't have.”
“I think I could find a cabbage somewhere,” said Marie and she hurried home. Back she came with three cabbages from the cupboard under the bed.
“If we only had a bit of beef and a few potatoes, this soup would be good enough for a rich man's table”
The peasants thought that over. They remembered their potatoes and the sides of beef hanging in the cellars. They ran to fetch them.
A rich man's soup – and all from a few stones. It seemed like magic!
“Ah,” sighed the soldiers as they stirred in the beef and potatoes, “if we only had a little barley and a cup of milk! This would would be fit for the king himself. Indeed he asked for just such a soup when last he dined with us.”
The peasants looked at each other. The soldiers had entertained the king! Well!
“But – no use asking for what you don’t have,” the soldiers signed.
The peasants brought their barley from the lofts, they brought their milk from the wells. The soldiers stirred the barley and milk into the steaming broth while the peasants stared.
At last the soup was ready.
“All of you shall taste,” the soldiers said. “But first a table must be set.”
Great tables were placed in the square. And all around were lighted torches.
Such a soup! How good it smelled! Truly fit for a king.
But then the peasants asked themselves, “Would not such a soup require bread – and a roast – and cider?” Soon a banquet was spread and everyone sat down to eat.
Never had there been such a feast. Never had the peasants tasted such soup. And fancy, made from stones!
They ate and drank and ate and drank. And after that they danced.
They danced and sang far into the night.
At last they were tired. Then the three soldiers asked, “Is there not a loft where we could sleep?”
“Let three such wise and splendid gentlemen sleep in a loft? Indeed! They must have the best beds in the village.”
So the first soldier slept in the priest’s house.
The second soldier slept in the baker’s house.
And the third soldier slept in the mayor’s house.
In the morning, the whole village gathered in the square to give them a send-off.
“Many thanks for what you have taught us,” the peasants said to the soldiers. “We shall never go hungry, now that we know how to make soup from stones.”
“Oh, it’s all in knowing how,” said the soldiers, and off they went down the road.
- "Stone Soup" by Marcia Brown, Atheneum Books, (c) 1975 by Marcia Brown
An Old Tale Retold
Text by Marcia Brown
Three soldiers trudged down a road in a strange country. They were on their way home from the wars. Besides being tired, they were hungry. In fact, they had eaten nothing for two days.
"How I would like a good dinner tonight,” said the first.
“And a bed to sleep in,” said the second.
“But all that is impossible,” said the third. “We must march on.”
On they marched. Suddenly, ahead of them they saw the lights of a village.
“Maybe we’ll find a bite to eat there,” said the first.
“And a loft to sleep in,” said the second.
“No harm in asking,” said the third.
Now the peasants of that place feared strangers. When they heard that three soldiers were coming down the road, they talked among themselves.
“Here come three soldiers. Soldiers are always hungry. But we have little enough for ourselves.” And they hurried to hide their food.
They pushed the sacks of barley under the hay in the lofts. They lowered buckets of milk down the wells.
They spread old quilts over the carrot bins. They hid their cabbages and potatoes under the beds. They hung their meat in the cellars.
They hid all they had to eat. Then – they waited.
The soldiers stopped first at the house of Paul and Francoise.
“Good evening to you,” they said. “Could you spare a bit of food for three hungry soldiers?”
“We have had no food for ourselves for three days,” said Paul. Francoise made a sad face. “It has been a poor harvest.”
The three soldiers went on the house of Albert and Louise.
“Could you spare a bit of food? And have you some corner where we could sleep for the night?”
“Oh no,” said Albert. “We gave all we could spare to soldiers who came before you.”
“Our beds are full,” said Louise.
At Vincent and Marie’s the answer was the same. It had been a poor harvest and all the grain must be kept for seed.
So it went all through the village. Not a peasant had any food to give away. They all had good reasons. One family had use the grain for feed. Another had an old sick father to care for. All had too many mouths to fill.
The villagers stood in the street and sighed. The looked as hungry as they could.
The three soldiers talked together.
Then the first soldier called out, “Good people!” The peasants drew near.
“We are three hungry soldiers in a strange land. We have asked you for food and you have no food. Well then, we’ll have to make stone soup.”
The peasants stared.
Stone soup? That would be something to know about.
“First, we’ll need a large iron pot,” the soldiers said.
The peasants brought the largest pot they could find. How else to cook enough?
“That's none too large,” said the soldiers. “But it will do. And now, water to fill it and a fire to heat it.”
It took many buckets of water to fill the pot. A fire was built on the village square and the pot was set to boil.
“And now, if you please, three round, smooth stones.”
Those were easy enough to find.
The peasants’ eyes grew round as they watched the soldiers drop the stones into the pot.
“Any soup needs salt and pepper,” said the soldiers, as they began to stir.
Children ran to fetch salt and pepper.
“Stones like these generally make good soup. But oh, if there were carrots, it would be much better.”
“Why, I think I have a carrot or two,” said Francoise, and off she ran.
She came back with her apron fill of carrots from the bin beneath the red quilt.
“A good stone soup should have cabbage,” said the soldiers as they sliced the carrots into the pot. “But no use asking for what you don't have.”
“I think I could find a cabbage somewhere,” said Marie and she hurried home. Back she came with three cabbages from the cupboard under the bed.
“If we only had a bit of beef and a few potatoes, this soup would be good enough for a rich man's table”
The peasants thought that over. They remembered their potatoes and the sides of beef hanging in the cellars. They ran to fetch them.
A rich man's soup – and all from a few stones. It seemed like magic!
“Ah,” sighed the soldiers as they stirred in the beef and potatoes, “if we only had a little barley and a cup of milk! This would would be fit for the king himself. Indeed he asked for just such a soup when last he dined with us.”
The peasants looked at each other. The soldiers had entertained the king! Well!
“But – no use asking for what you don’t have,” the soldiers signed.
The peasants brought their barley from the lofts, they brought their milk from the wells. The soldiers stirred the barley and milk into the steaming broth while the peasants stared.
At last the soup was ready.
“All of you shall taste,” the soldiers said. “But first a table must be set.”
Great tables were placed in the square. And all around were lighted torches.
Such a soup! How good it smelled! Truly fit for a king.
But then the peasants asked themselves, “Would not such a soup require bread – and a roast – and cider?” Soon a banquet was spread and everyone sat down to eat.
Never had there been such a feast. Never had the peasants tasted such soup. And fancy, made from stones!They ate and drank and ate and drank. And after that they danced.
They danced and sang far into the night.
At last they were tired. Then the three soldiers asked, “Is there not a loft where we could sleep?”
“Let three such wise and splendid gentlemen sleep in a loft? Indeed! They must have the best beds in the village.”
So the first soldier slept in the priest’s house.
The second soldier slept in the baker’s house.
And the third soldier slept in the mayor’s house.
In the morning, the whole village gathered in the square to give them a send-off.
“Many thanks for what you have taught us,” the peasants said to the soldiers. “We shall never go hungry, now that we know how to make soup from stones.”
“Oh, it’s all in knowing how,” said the soldiers, and off they went down the road.
- "Stone Soup" by Marcia Brown, Atheneum Books, (c) 1975 by Marcia Brown
Sunday, November 13, 2016
food mind connection.with an interesting experiment.
The Chandogya upanishad says the pure food keeps the mind pure. this is explained by a simple experiment:
Food has a three fold form as coarse, middle and subtle portions:
Chandogya Upanishad states that the element Tejas when it is related to food takes the form of Oil Butter etc. The gross portion becomes bone. The middle portion becomes marrow and the subtle portion becomes speech. The mind is supported by food anna, prana vital air is held up with water speech is aided by Tejas.
Udalaka further says that when we eat food the mind is pleased. when water is consumed prana is pleased when tejas is absorbed speech is supported. this does not mean that the mind prana and speech are the products of anna food, Ap water and tejas. food is something that is pleasing to the mind.
To teach Svetaketu the importanco of food, Udalaka tels him to abstain from food for 15 days. At the end of the period he asks Svetaketu to recite the Vedas but Svetaketu says he is unable to recall anything. Udalka explains why it is so. The mind has 16 divisions and because of fasting 15 of them have been lost. He then asks Svetaketu to have some food. After Svetaketu has eaten, Udalaka asks him to recite the Vedas now Svetaketu is able to recollect them. Udalka explains that the one division of the mind that had remained had been rekindled by the food that svetaketu had eaten and that has made possible his recollection of the Vedas. This is the mind food connection.
Food has a three fold form as coarse, middle and subtle portions:
Chandogya Upanishad states that the element Tejas when it is related to food takes the form of Oil Butter etc. The gross portion becomes bone. The middle portion becomes marrow and the subtle portion becomes speech. The mind is supported by food anna, prana vital air is held up with water speech is aided by Tejas.
Udalaka further says that when we eat food the mind is pleased. when water is consumed prana is pleased when tejas is absorbed speech is supported. this does not mean that the mind prana and speech are the products of anna food, Ap water and tejas. food is something that is pleasing to the mind.
To teach Svetaketu the importanco of food, Udalaka tels him to abstain from food for 15 days. At the end of the period he asks Svetaketu to recite the Vedas but Svetaketu says he is unable to recall anything. Udalka explains why it is so. The mind has 16 divisions and because of fasting 15 of them have been lost. He then asks Svetaketu to have some food. After Svetaketu has eaten, Udalaka asks him to recite the Vedas now Svetaketu is able to recollect them. Udalka explains that the one division of the mind that had remained had been rekindled by the food that svetaketu had eaten and that has made possible his recollection of the Vedas. This is the mind food connection.
Monday, November 7, 2016
Prahasan 1st and 2nd cent: (Bagavadddjujuka)
Said to have been written by Bodayana whose identity is not known is mentioned in an inscription along side another called prahasna.
An ascetic called bhagavan makes his soul enter into the deadbody of a courtesan by name Ajjuka by his yogic powers after directing his disciple Shandilya to guard his body well.
The God of death finds that the time for Ajjuka's death has not yet come and directs his men to take her soul back to earth and place it in her body. Finding that another soul has already entered her body they place her soul in the body of Bhagavan. Now the real fun starts. The courtesan begins to discourse on asceticism and philosophy while the Bhagavan begins to talk about love to the utter amazement of his disciples. all such incomplete works are found weather serious or mischief but this has been preserved mischief can be seen in the names used too. throwing light on the stateof affairs during the early ages. could be legends too.
Shukasaptathi is another interesting collection of popular tales narrated by a parrot to its erring mistress in order to refrain her from betraying her absent husband. these stories contain very high moral and are narrated in simple prose style. the author or date of the work is not known.
Simhasana dvithishika is another collection of 32 stories supposed to have been narrated by the images supporting the steps of the throne of Vikramadithya to Bhoja who attempted to ascend the throne. The stories recount the great feats of Vikramaditya. the author and date of the work are not known.
Made into tv serial and famous is Vetalapanchavishatika a colection of 25 stories supposed to have been narrated by a vampire to King Vikramaditya. King Vikrama goes to the burrial ground to fetch a corpse hanging from a tree for the magic rite of an ascetic. A vampire that has taken possession of the dead body narates a story to the king while he is carrying the corpse and puts a question in the end. the moment the king answers the vampire returns to the tree with the corpse. everyday the incident is repeated, a new story is narrated and the question is answered. This continues for 24 days and on the 25th day Vikrama proceeds without answering the question and the ascetic offered the corpse as an oblation into the fire and gained his object. He was turned into a semi divine being and he departed after granting the king many boons. these stories are very old first being written in Prakrita dilects. the sanskrit version was written by one Shivadasa in the 12th century A.D.
An ascetic called bhagavan makes his soul enter into the deadbody of a courtesan by name Ajjuka by his yogic powers after directing his disciple Shandilya to guard his body well.
The God of death finds that the time for Ajjuka's death has not yet come and directs his men to take her soul back to earth and place it in her body. Finding that another soul has already entered her body they place her soul in the body of Bhagavan. Now the real fun starts. The courtesan begins to discourse on asceticism and philosophy while the Bhagavan begins to talk about love to the utter amazement of his disciples. all such incomplete works are found weather serious or mischief but this has been preserved mischief can be seen in the names used too. throwing light on the stateof affairs during the early ages. could be legends too.
Shukasaptathi is another interesting collection of popular tales narrated by a parrot to its erring mistress in order to refrain her from betraying her absent husband. these stories contain very high moral and are narrated in simple prose style. the author or date of the work is not known.
Simhasana dvithishika is another collection of 32 stories supposed to have been narrated by the images supporting the steps of the throne of Vikramadithya to Bhoja who attempted to ascend the throne. The stories recount the great feats of Vikramaditya. the author and date of the work are not known.
Made into tv serial and famous is Vetalapanchavishatika a colection of 25 stories supposed to have been narrated by a vampire to King Vikramaditya. King Vikrama goes to the burrial ground to fetch a corpse hanging from a tree for the magic rite of an ascetic. A vampire that has taken possession of the dead body narates a story to the king while he is carrying the corpse and puts a question in the end. the moment the king answers the vampire returns to the tree with the corpse. everyday the incident is repeated, a new story is narrated and the question is answered. This continues for 24 days and on the 25th day Vikrama proceeds without answering the question and the ascetic offered the corpse as an oblation into the fire and gained his object. He was turned into a semi divine being and he departed after granting the king many boons. these stories are very old first being written in Prakrita dilects. the sanskrit version was written by one Shivadasa in the 12th century A.D.
Oldest verses Sanskrit.
Vsadanakradhyusite paritrasormimalini
kim mam na trayase magnam vipule cakasagare.
Wby dost thou not serve me that am sunk in a broad ocean of woe, whoes coronal of waves is horror, and in which dwell the crocodiles of despondency.
Sagaram cambaraprakhyam ambaram sagaropamam
Ramaravanayor yuddham ramaravanoyor iva.
Ocean peer of sky, sky oceans counterpart Rama and Ravana alone could match their moral combat a later common place is fore shadowed in.
Tvam krtvaparato manye rupakarta sa vicvakrt
nahi rupopame hyanya tavasti cubhadarcane.
When he had made thee, I ween the allmaker stayed from his making of lovely forms for there is no beauty on earth to match thine o fair faced one.
Harsotphullanayana = eyes expanding with joy.
Locanabhyam pibam iva = men drink in faces with their eyes. (ha ha ha)
phenavirma lahasini = the ganges shows her white teeth as she smiles in the foam of tier waves.
snigdhagambhiraghosa = winds blow with fragrant cooleness, the clouds rumble with deep and pleasant sound.
suvarnakalocapamau = like golden bowls.
kim mam na trayase magnam vipule cakasagare.
Wby dost thou not serve me that am sunk in a broad ocean of woe, whoes coronal of waves is horror, and in which dwell the crocodiles of despondency.
Sagaram cambaraprakhyam ambaram sagaropamam
Ramaravanayor yuddham ramaravanoyor iva.
Ocean peer of sky, sky oceans counterpart Rama and Ravana alone could match their moral combat a later common place is fore shadowed in.
Tvam krtvaparato manye rupakarta sa vicvakrt
nahi rupopame hyanya tavasti cubhadarcane.
When he had made thee, I ween the allmaker stayed from his making of lovely forms for there is no beauty on earth to match thine o fair faced one.
Harsotphullanayana = eyes expanding with joy.
Locanabhyam pibam iva = men drink in faces with their eyes. (ha ha ha)
phenavirma lahasini = the ganges shows her white teeth as she smiles in the foam of tier waves.
snigdhagambhiraghosa = winds blow with fragrant cooleness, the clouds rumble with deep and pleasant sound.
suvarnakalocapamau = like golden bowls.
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