Stories 3
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
✕ penance
devotionbooncreationdisguisesupremacycursemarriagepridetestdancepilgrimagesacrificebirthemanationfirebeheadingdemon slayingdesireiconographyausteritychurningcombined formcosmogonyhomecominglingapoisonrebirthriveratonement
Legend · 1 telling · contested
Brahma, Sandhya and the curse on Kama
Brahma's mind-born daughter Sandhya is so beautiful that Kama tests his new arrows on the gathering.
Legend · 2 tellings · contested
Ravana's boon at Gokarna
Ravana and his brothers Kumbhakarna and Vibhishana perform austerities at Gokarna for ten thousand years.
Legend · 2 tellings · contested
The boon that had a loophole: Hiranyakashipu
Hiranyakashipu performs long austerities to win power over the gods.