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 240
South India 81
West India 37
East India 37
North India 28
The Himalaya 17
Northeast India 8
Southeast Asia 6
Central India 5
Sri Lanka 1
✕ theft
cursesacrificedevotionpridebooncreationdisguisemarriagetestbirthsupremacybargaindeathfirehealingpenancerescuepilgrimagerivercraftfestivaldancegiftrivalryearthemanationfriendshipnightdesirefear
Legend · 5 tellings · contested
Aditi's earrings and the killing of Naraka
Naraka of Pragjyotisha steals Aditi's earrings; Krishna kills him and returns them, and Aditi blesses Krishna and Satyabhama.
From the epics · 3 tellings · contested
The Vasu Dyu steals Vasishtha's cow and is born as Bhishma
Dyu, one of the eight Vasus, steals the cow Nandini for his wife; Vasishtha curses the Vasus to human birth and Dyu to a full life on earth as Bhishma.
Legend · 3 tellings · contested
The falcon brings Soma from heaven
Soma is kept in the highest heaven; a falcon carries it down to men while the archer Krishanu shoots at him. Later texts make the bird the Gayatri metre, then Garuda.
Legend · 3 tellings · contested
Tvashtri forges the thunderbolt
The Rigveda credits Tvashtri with making Indra's vajra and also remembers Indra taking his Soma; the Mahabharata has him build the Vajra from Dadhichi's bones.