Devalok

Folk tales of the Indian gods

The tales that live in songs, ballads and grandmothers rather than in any book: a cow that gives her milk to a stone, a bride carried home by a king of the dead, a demon who wanted the wrong boon. Where a written text echoes them we say so; where it does not, we say that too.

All kinds LegendsLocal storiesFolk talesFrom the epicsFestival stories
Told across IndiaFrom the Vedic hymnsNorth IndiaSouth IndiaEast IndiaWest IndiaNepal and beyond
The Songs for Dulla Bhatti Folk tale · Punjab · the Lohri fire, and Pindi Bhattian and Lahore for the balladThe Songs for Dulla Bhatti The Sister Who Walked Her Brother Home Folk tale · North India · Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and the Hindi beltThe Sister Who Walked Her Brother Home The Bridegroom of Chaitra Folk tale · East India · the Rarh villages of West Bengal, Tarakeswar, and the Gajan grounds of BangladeshThe Bridegroom of Chaitra The Ledger Opened Before Ganesha Folk tale · East India and Bangladesh · the bazaars of Kolkata and DhakaThe Ledger Opened Before Ganesha The First Thing Seen Folk tale · South India · KeralaThe First Thing Seen The Sun That Rose Crooked Folk tale · South India · Kerala, and the Ramayana for the second tellingThe Sun That Rose Crooked The Twelve Years Lakshmi Served Folk tale · North India · the Dhanteras vrat kathaThe Twelve Years Lakshmi Served The Night Vishnumoorthi Comes Down Folk tale · South India · north Malabar, KeralaThe Night Vishnumoorthi Comes Down The Four Faces at Ratchaprasong Folk tale · Southeast Asia · Ratchaprasong, Bangkok, ThailandThe Four Faces at Ratchaprasong Brahma Kneels Before the Buddha Folk tale · East India · Uruvela (Bodh Gaya), BiharBrahma Kneels Before the Buddha The Foot on Shiva's Chest Folk tale · East India · BengalThe Foot on Shiva's Chest The Hunger of Guliga Folk tale · South India · Tulu Nadu (Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Kasaragod)The Hunger of Guliga The Boar of Shiva's Garden Folk tale · South India · Tulu Nadu (Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Kasaragod)The Boar of Shiva's Garden Karva and the Crocodile Folk tale · North IndiaKarva and the Crocodile The Strip of Cloth Folk tale · All India, from the MahabharataThe Strip of Cloth The Bull Who Got the Message Wrong Folk tale · South India · Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and AndhraThe Bull Who Got the Message Wrong The Fool Who Became Kalidasa Folk tale · Told across India · Benares, Ujjain and BengalThe Fool Who Became Kalidasa The Child from the River Folk tale · Sindh, and Sindhi homes everywhereThe Child from the River The Demon with the Burning Touch Folk tale · Told across IndiaThe Demon with the Burning Touch

19 stories. All stories →