Stories 6
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 94
South India 66
West India 30
East India 22
North India 15
The Himalaya 12
Northeast India 5
Southeast Asia 4
Central India 4
✕ pride
devotionbooncreationdisguisesupremacycursemarriagepenancetestdancepilgrimagesacrificebirthemanationfirebeheadingdemon slayingdesireiconographyausteritychurningcombined formcosmogonyhomecominglingapoisonrebirthriveratonement
Legend · 3 tellings · contested
Bhrigu tests the three gods
Sages on the Saraswati bank ask Bhrigu to find which god is greatest.
Legend · 3 tellings · contested
Ravana lifts Kailash
Flying home in the Pushpaka after beating Kubera, Ravana is halted by Kailash.
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.
Legend · 8 tellings · contested
The fifth head and the skull that would not fall
Brahma grows a fifth head, and with it pride or a false word.
Legend · 3 tellings · contested
The ketaki lie and the curse of no worship
Brahma and Vishnu argue over which of them is greater.