Stories 5
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
✕ vow
cursesacrificedevotionpridebooncreationdisguisemarriagetestbirthsupremacybargaindeathfirehealingpenancerescuepilgrimagerivercraftfestivaldancegiftrivalryearthemanationfriendshipnightdesirefear
Legend · 2 tellings · contested
Aditi's milk vow and the birth of Vamana
Aditi, grieving for her sons who have lost heaven to Bali, keeps the payovrata and Vishnu is born as her son Vamana.
Origin · 4 tellings · contested
Diti's vow and the birth of the Maruts
Diti's sons are killed by the gods.
Legend · 6 tellings · contested
Shunahshepa, the boy bound for Varuna
Harishchandra promises Varuna the son he asks for and keeps putting off the sacrifice; the prince flees, the king swells with disease, and the bought boy Shunahshepa praises the gods from the post until his bonds fall.
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 breath that never tires and the god that never sets
The Upanishads pair breath among the bodily powers with Vayu among the gods as the one that never tires.