Stories 4
All kinds
Origin
Legend
Local story
Folk tale
From the epics
Festival story
Temple legend
In stone and bronze
How a tradition frames it
Everywhere
Pan-India 95
South India 67
West India 30
East India 22
North India 15
The Himalaya 12
Northeast India 5
Southeast Asia 4
Central India 4
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Tradition: Folk · clear
Festival story · 4 tellings · contested
Four Vishnu stories behind Diwali
Rama's return in the north, Narakasura's death in the south and west, Lakshmi's wedding night in Puranic lore, and Bali's return in the Deccan and Gujarat.
Festival story · 2 tellings · contested
Mahabali comes home for Onam
Kerala remembers Bali as the just king pushed under the earth by Vishnu's dwarf, who returns each year at harvest to see his people.
Festival story · 2 tellings
Nanda goes to Kailash as a bride
Every twelve years Garhwal and Kumaon walk the mountain goddess Nanda three weeks from her mother's home to Shiva's Kailash as a young bride.
Festival story · 2 tellings
Shiva the begging farmer of the Gajan
At Bengal's Chaitra Gajan devotees become Shiva and his ganas, act out his marriage and beg from house to house; the god is a poor householder scolded by his wife.