Nuggets of age-old Puranic wisdom

  At times, one finds inspiration / ideas from the most unlikely of sources. During my daily recital of Sriman Narayaneeyam , I crossed the story of Aniruddha, son of Krishna which led me to Banasura. Coincidentally, I was reading Sundara Kanda for some reference and stumbled upon Bana again. Out of these coincidences was born this idea to write threads on lesser-known Puranic characters and what way other than to start with Banasura.   Genealogy   In Siva Purana , Yuddha-kha ṇḍ a , Rudra-sa ṃ hitā , the story of Bana is explained in detail by Sanatkumara to Vyasa.   Banasura was the son of MahaBali whose ancestry is very rich being born in the lineage of the great Prahalada, Virochana and Bali.   Virochana was also a famous giver (daani) as can be seen below:   ವಿರೋಚನಃ ಸುತಸ್ತಸ್ಯ ಮಹಾದಾತೃವರೋSಭವತ್ ಶಕ್ರಾಯ ಸ್ವಶಿರೋ ಯೋSದಾದ್ಯಾಚಮನಾಯ ವಿಪ್ರತಃ   virōcana ḥ sutastasya mahādātr ̥ varōbhavat śakrāya svaśirō yōd...

Ramayana is one of the most widely read, often quoted treasure of Santana Dharma, which has an unique universal appeal. Readers far and wide refer to this ancient saga of God who descended amongst us the mere mortals to show us the path of Dharma. To quote the kannada poet Kumāravyāsa , ತಿಣುಕಿದನು ಫಣಿರಾಯ ರಾಮಾಯಣನ ಕವಿಗಳ ಭಾರದಲ್ಲಿ ... which translates to, Ādi śēṣa who bears the earth on his many hoods, got tired because of the weight of the authors of Ramayana.  This statement holds it's weight for the sheer enormity on the number of versions of Ramayana that are known today to us. One can make a safe assumption that there would be many more versions which could be specific to dialects or could be lost over time. A list of commonly known versions of Ramayana with authors and languages: Valmiki Ramayana ( Sanskr̥ta) Adbhuta Ramayana ( Sanskr̥ta) Ananda Ramayana ( Sanskr̥ta) Adhyatama Ramayana ( Sanskr̥ta) Ramacharitamanas (Avadhi) - Tulasidas Madhavakandaliya Ramayana (Assamese) Giridha...

Ribhus / Rbhus are one of the most unknown / enigmatic characters from the pages of the rich history of Sanatana Dharma. The author wasn't aware of their prowess or standing within the echelons of gods until I stumbled upon a wonderful book provided in the references below. History Ribhus / Rbhus are typically refernced as the 3 children of Sudhanvā who in turn was born from Angiras . Brahma --> Angiras --> Sudhanvā --> Ribhus / Rbhus   Vedas attached a much deeper philosophical and spiritual significance to Ribhus / Rbhus . Ribhus / Rbhus are considered to be  Rays of the Sun Artisans of Immortality Powers of the light who have descended into matter & born as human to become divine and immortal Furthering the last point, Ribhus / Rbhus are represented as Humans who have attained the conditions of Godhead by power of knowledge & perfection in their work. In this perspective, when they are represented as children of Sudhanvā, the meaning attached to the wo...