""Be not the slaves of long-standing tradition; fear not to move upon new paths whether these bring you nearer to God who is the Truth." So said Kabir a greatest Indian mystic teachers and poet of the fifteenth century. Well-known belief has it that Kabir was born of a Brahmin widow who cast him afar near Laher Tank at Varanasi. The followers of Kabir keep that he descended from heaven and was found in a lotus in Laher Tank by a Muslim couple. Kabir has proclaimed himself in his poems to be a weaver''s son. There are ma

The story of Kacha and Devayani appears in the first book of the eighteen that are contained in the Mahabharata. The central theme of the Mahabharata is the 18-day war b'tween the cousins the Pandavas and the Kauravas and their specific allies on the battlefield of Kurukshetra.Devayani the daughter of Shukracharya Guru to the Asuras is an ancestress of the Yadava clan to which Krishna the champion of the Pandavas belongs. Kacha is the son of Brihaspati preceptor to the Devas. The story of Kach

Kalidasa the greatest poet of classical Sanskrit is known only through his writings. His works tell us that he was usualuy a Brahmin and a devotee of Shiva. Apart from this there are no clues to his personal life. Even the names of his parents are not known nor his place of birth. The mystery surrounding him has mentioned rise to unbelievable legends about him which are current even today. Our script is settled on one of these legends. Kalidasa is the author of many greatest Sanskrit poetical works (or

The Sultan of Gujarat has taken a liking to Kanwal and is out for Kehar''s life. Can Kehar hold himself alive and also rescue Kanwal from the Sultan''s clutches?

Bankim Chandra Chatterji was only twenty-eight years old when he wrote his second novel - Kapala Kundala. It is said that when Bankim Chandra lived in Kanthi on the coast of south-west Bengal a kapalik (a Tantric worshipper of Kali or Shiva) frequently visited him. The mystery surrounding the kapalik made a deep effect on Bankim. He comprehend the idea of writing a novel about a girl brought up by a kapalik in entire isolation from the civilised world. The name Kapala Kundala was taken from

Karna is the tragic hero of the Mahabharata. Born as a gift of the sun-god to maiden Kunti he was abandoned by her. Found and brought up by a charioteer couple he was denied the class that his mother''s other sons the Pandavas belonged to. He achieved proficiency in archery only to be cursed that on account of his ''lower'' class he would disremember his skills at the more crucial point in the battle. Karna was rejected as contesting suitor for Draupadi for the same lack of birth in a high family. Th

Karttikeya is the son of Shiva and Parvati. He was brought forth to destroy the three demon brothers that troubled the gods. His name means ''son of Krittika''s'' (six stars of the constellation Pleiades). The story tells how he came to have six faces.Even as a boy Karttikeya sets out on his mission. He has encounters with a mountain and the demons one after the other. They all consider him a small fry in the first but assuredly fall in the battles.These events are described in a poem in Tamil

Jain monks have forever tried to contribute to the immaterial emancipation of man through the propagation of their religious ideologies. To arrange their circuitous philosophy accessible and entertaining to the common man they used the medium of stories. Thousands of such didactic stories in Sanskrit and Prakrit have come down to us. This Amar Chitra Katha includes three stories from jain literature. While Kesari the Flying Thief and Jinadatta have been retold from the "Vardhaman-Desana" Vasudeva has bee

King Kusha is an adaptation of the Kusha Jataka one of the five hundred and fifty stories involved in the Pali canon. The Jataka tales are woven around the life of the Bodhisattva who lived many life on the earth earlier he evolved into the Buddha

Kochunni ran apart from abode to avert live with his thieving parents. But anywhere he went people insisted on treating the small boy as a thief himself. Kochunni grew up deteremined to arrange his mark on the world and to fight injustice and prejudice. He became a highwayman a daring Robin Hood-like figure who robbed the rich and gave the poor. He liked to target the more arrogant and cruel landlords and teach them a lesson. With his martial skills and his daring Kochunni managed to outwit everyo

Krishna is the more well-known glorious hero of India in human form. Krishna''s story is filled of flashy events all through his life. Wicked men women and creatures are often up opposite to him but he defeats them all as a cowherd boy or as grown up hero loved by his peers and others. Krishna''s parents Vasudeva and Devaki were kept in prison right after their marriage by Devaki''s cousin brother Kamsa. Their seven children born in prison were slain by Kamsa to falsify the prophecy of his death by one o

The Yadava tribe fled to distant Dwaraka to escape the wrath of the mighty Jarasandha the ruler of Magadha. This king whose very name made the strong quake had to be subdued whether the Pandavas were to establish their supremacy in the area. Only their cousin Krishna a Yadava hero could aid them and thias is the tale of his triumph.

Narakasura (Naraka the demon) was a vicious tyrant who subdued the gods brought afar their tusked elephants sixteen thousand maidens and jewels from the adornment of the God-Mother. The chief of gods approached Krishna for aid . Kishna with his wife rode Garuda (the eagle) and went over obstacles of water fire and wind to Narkasura''s city-gate guarded by a five-headed demon. With his whirling wheel-discus and piercing arrows Krishna killed the guard and other demons and assuredly Narakasura himsel

Jaya and Vijaya the guards at Vishnu''s home were vain and rude and were cursed to be born thrice in the world of mortals. The contrite guards were subsequently permitted one concession: they would be killed in all of their discriminate births by one of the incarnations of Vishnu. Thus first they were born as Hiranyaksha and Hiranyakashipu next as Ravana and Kumbhakarna and last as Shishupala and Dantavaktra. While the first twin twins were lead characters in their times Shishupala remains a min

Paundraka Vaasudeva had his name common with that of Krishna Vaasudeva. His sycophants led him to believe that he was as strong and strong as Krishna. How he fell into disgrace and disaster is told in this story settled on the Bhagawat Purana.

The kingdom of Vijayanagara (founded in 1336 A.D.) was a stronghold of Hinduism at a time when India was politically dominated by Muslim rulers. The glory of Vijayanagara reached its zenith during the reign of the greatest Krishnadeva Raya (A.D. 1509 - 1529). Domingos Paes the Portuguese traveller described the capital city as ''the greatest provided city in the world'' and found it ''as large as Rome and very exquisite to looking at''. Of Krishnadeva Raya he wrote: ''He is the more absolute king that coul

Kumanan was the king of Mudiramalai near modernize day Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu. More inclined towards poetry than war he was famed for his generosity and willingly gave his kingdom to his greedy brother Ilankumanan. Kumanan is thought to have ruled around the first century AD during the Sangam age. Our knowledge of Kumanan appears from a poetry stock of the time the Purananooru. In it the Sangam poets Peruchithiranar and Peruthalaichattanar write of him with love and admiration. Kumanan encoura

Valmiki''s Sanskrit epic the Ramayana has caught the fantasy of innumerable minds after him. Poems plays and novels have been written on the Ramayana theme in almost all the Indian languages. Krittivasa wrote a version of the Ramayana in Bengali nearly five hundred years ago. As a poet of the people his story is written in simplex language and has metaphors that are comfortably understood. Out story of Kumbhakarna has been derived from his Rama

His age was no bar to his passion for freedom. Kunwar Singh was seventy-five when he chose to fight the British. His story is part of the chain of events that surround the First War of Indian Independence. Even though he was on good terms with the British commissioner of Patna Kunwar Singh was clear that his loyalties lay with the mutinying sepoys. He and his band of men caused all right disruption to have the British baying for his arrest. Sasaram Rewa Ramgarh Atraulia

King Jayadhwaja Singh of Assam was upset. The Mughal general Mir Jumla had prosperously attacked one of his forts. The king''s only hope was Lachit his brave brother-in-law who was also the commander of his army. Though the strain of holding his country together killed Jayadhwaja Lachit Barphukan led a glorious and brave campaign opposite to the Mughals and saved the honour of his king and his country. Lachit''s story is chronicled in Assamese texts called Buranjis.

The 1857 War of Independence ended in disaster. The British succeeded in putting down the uprising and the people of India accepted British rule a fact of life.While on the one hand the erstwhile Hindi and Muslim rulers feudal landowners the peasantry and the working classes were crushed by the imperialistic British administration on the other a large section of the intelligentsia was so awed by the transformation wrought by the railways and the posts and telegraphs that they began to consider t

Madhvacharya taught men to looking upon the world of issue and souls as real instead of as illusory and unreal in a philosophical sense. He therefore put forward a healthy ontological classification of reality into twin orders Svatantra and Paratantra - independent and dependent. God alone is the one independent reality. Hence the name Dvaita (dualism) mentioned to his system. Madhva freed the concept of Bhakti from the clutches of blind faith and set it in its right outlook as informed faith in a

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It all began with petty family jealousy. The Kaurava brothers tricked their Pandava cousins out of a kingdom and even Lord Krishna could not stop the horror and bloodshed that followed. Veda Vyasa composed an epic poem the longest in the world to describe the events that unfolded. In this epic tale of superhuman heroes and gory action Veda Vyasa explores human ambitions relationships and conflicts to achive the true purpose of life.

Mahavira was born in Kundagram near Vaishali in Bihar to King Siddhartha and his wife Trishala in 599 BC. Prince Vardhamana as he was named was destined to become greatest. After years of contemplation on life and the final truth he renounced the world and became an ascetical at the age of 30. For 12 long years he practiced deep meditation silence and compassion lead a life of austerity and penance. At the end of this period he achieved enlightenment '' filled knowledge or kevala gyana'' and went

Intrigue and suspense consonance and venture mix happily together to join a handmaiden and a king in blessed matrimony. Kalidasa the greatest of Sanskrit poets wove a tale that caters to every reader''s flavor. Warring cousins wily courtiers jealous wives disguised princesses all play their part in his play which continues to thrill centuries after it was first written.

Named after a frog Manduka has spent his whole life being scorned by each one around him. So he decides to pretend to be a intelligent astrologer and acquire people to respect him. His plan works apart from his wildest dreams. Now Manduka acquires himself in a differ kind of fix: people are really expecting him to arrange accurate predictions Worse the king himself is asking Manduka''s prophecies! The story of Manduka is taken from the Kathasaritsagar the eleventh century Sanskrit standard by Somadeva.

India in the mid-19th century was under the rule of the British East India Company. The Company''s army was largely Indian commanded by British officers who were often authoritarian and ill informed about local culture. There was significant resentment in local population opposite to foreign rule that surfaced every now and then. The annexation of Oudh in violation of an existing treaty had alienated the company soldiers. In this charged environs the last straw came in the form of rumors that the

The story of Manonmani is taken from the pioneering play Manonmaniyam written by the playwright Sundaram Pillai in the 19th century. Though Tamil literature had a rich heritage of poetry and prose it surprisingly had no plays till Sundaram Pillai a greatest admirer of Shakespeare first introduced it as a literary form. Manonmani is the story of a princess who acquires love in the middle of a web of political intrigue and betrayals.

Megasthenes was the ambassador of the Greek general Seleucus Nicator at the court of Emperor Chandragupta Maurya in 4th century B.C. He put his remain to good usage by travelling widely and minutely documenting one of the more prosperous and enlightened periods of Indian history. Be it the customs and traditions of the people or the administrative skills of the king - Megasthenes wrote it all down in his four-volume travelogue Indica.

Mira was a princess of a small kingdom in Rajasthan. From childhood she was devoted to Krishna. She was married queen into the royal house of Chittor. Though the family deity was goddess Durga she continued to worship and sing of Krishna. Her songs of veneration to Krishna became well-known and she came to be called a saint. She declared that she was married to Krishna. When her husband the king died she refused to be ''sati'' or the wife that climbs the funeral pyre with the dead husband. Many were

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""It was on a train from Calcutta (now called Kolkata) to Darjeeling that Mother Teresa first heard the call. A voice beckoned her to pass on the sheltered life of the convent and come out to suffice the poorest of the poor. That voice changed her life completely and also the life of each one she touched.Though Albanian by birth Mother Teresa made India her abode. Humbly yet firmly Mother set to work trying to heal the world''s greatest disease ''of being unwanted and unloved''.At the time of her de

Yudhishthira the eldest of the five Pandava princes was born to Kunti by the charm of Yama. His actions were free from passion and prejudice. He came to be considered the very embodiment of Dharma and was respectfully referred to as Dharmaraja. Yama the awe-inspiring God of death is also revered as the Lord of Justice. According to Hindu belief all live beings reap the fruit of their actions after death. Yama administers justice to all the beings brought earlier him. Since he metes out jstice s

Even though Nahusha the son of King Ayus and Queen Indumati was spirited afar at birth to be killed by the demon Hunda he lived on to achieve immortality. Married to Ashokasundari the exquisite daughter of Shiva and Parvati he was elective to be the king of heaven. And then his mortal mind succumbed to the sin of pride. The stories of Nahusha are taken from the Padma Purana and the Mahabharata.

Nala king of Nishadha was good-looking and brave. He was skilled in the usage of arms and horses and in games of chance. Narada the sage ever on the walk told Nala of the beauty and intelligence of Damayanti daughter of the king of Vidarbha. Nala longing to convey his love to her found his messenger in a golden swan in the garden pool. The golden swan brought about the union of Nala and Damayanti. For them destiny turned in a game of chance that Nala played with his cousin. Banished from royalty Nala

Noor Jahan is one of the more fascinating figures of Mughal India. She showed considerable skill as an administrator and proved to be a shrewd statesman. Jahangir had filled confidence in his queen. She received courtiers and held discussions with them regarding the affairs of the state. Royal decrees carried her signature and coins were struck in her name with this super-inscription: By order of the King Jehangir - Gold has a hundred splendours added to it by receiving the effect of the name

In the history of India Padmini of Chittor keeps a very prominent position. She was a absolute model of paragon Indian womanhood. When the values treasured by her were threatened by Ala-ud-din Khilji the mighty Afghan king of Delhi she faced her difficulty with exceptional courage. A lesser woman would not have been able to face Ala-ud-din but Padmini was no everyday woman. She was a live example of virtuous womanhood. It was this that �encouraged many a legend about her. This story of Padmini is base

Panchatantra (Five Chapters) in Sanskrit is perhaps the oldest stock of stories in the world and has been translated into more than 50 languages. All of its ''Chapters'' includes a string of stories one emerging from the other with all patterned to lead to a precept for suitable practical conduct for a thinking person in the real world. The characters are taken from the entire gamut of live beings involving humans and animals in the wild. In a way the unity of life is stressed by assigning

Saumitri''s mother-in-law is a tyrant and a greedy one too. So when Saumitri discovers the perfect gold sands of Suvarna Dweep her mother-in-law decides to go there at once. In another story a pretentious owl tries to mating the status of his companion the king of swans and oversteps the boundaries of caution. The Panchatantra though primitively written by Pandit Vishnu Sharma was reworked by successive writers. The stories in this Amar Chitra Katha are taken from the Kannada translation of Vasubhaga Da

Shri Ramakrishna was a saintly person of Bengal of the nineteenth century. He would tell simplex stories to arrange good points about the conduct of life. Here are some of them. An illiterate boatman creates a scholar realize that in times of danger book le

The women of Rajasthan have forever been known for their amazing courage. Uncompromising when it came to honour and loyalty they were prepare to sacrifice their life to uphold these virtues. This Amar Chitra Katha tells the story of Panna who sacrified her son''s life to rescue the heir to the throne of Mewar and the story of Hadi Rana who �encouraged her wavering husband to fill his duty on the battlefield by sacrificing her own life.

It was a time when the earth was ravaged with violence and bloodshed. The Kshatriya kings had forgotten their duty to rule with compassion. Instead they subdued the people by unleashing a reign of brutal terror. At such a time the sixth incarnation of Vishnu was born. Parashurama axe-wielding warrior-saint strode across the age to destroy evil and liberate good.

Pareekshit grandson of Arjuna ascended the throne of Hastinapura the year in which Krishna left the earth for Vaikuntha. It was said to be the first of Kali Yuga.

When Kama the god of love dares to bother Shiva he is burnt to ashes by the angry god in the presence of his horrified wife Rati. Desperate in her sorrow Rati prepares to immolate herself when she is stopped by a voice that tells her that Kama will be restored to her when he is reborn.Kama is reborn as Pradyumna the son of Krishna and Rukmini who is prophesied to destroy the demon Shambara. Aware of the prophecy Shambara decides to steal the baby from Krishna''s palace and kill him while he is

Prahlad drove his monstrous father to a homicidal rage. He insisted on praising Lord Vishnu who was considered a sworn enemy by his father Hiranyakashipu. When he tried to punish his disobedient son Hiranyakashipu''s potent poisons turned to nectar while his lethal weapons fell harmlessly afar. In this tale of bloodthirsty revenge Prahlad''s only defence is his veneration which dramatically puts an end to all evil.

In the kingdom of Hemangada a treacherous minister named Kattiyangaran decides to usurp the throne and kill the whole royal family. Queen Vijaya escapes the slaughter. In a dark cremation ground unhappy and alone she provides birth to a child and puts his father''s royal ring upon his finger. The child grows up to be Prince Jivaka. Jivaka has many adventures but the core of the book evolve�into apparent in the end when a weary Jivaka decides to renounce his kingdom and become a Jain monk.

With the death of Harsha King of Kanauj in about 647 A.D. his greatest empire in North India collapsed. It rapidly disintegrated into many petty kingdoms. This political division weakened the unity of the country and led to many violent disputes b'tween the chieftains of these new kingdoms. Foreign invaders took benefit of India''s disunity. Sometime in the 12th Century the Afghan Chief Shahabuddin Ghori (also known as Mohammad of Ghor) captured the empire of Mahmud of Ghazni and became the

Purushottam Dev the Prince of Kalinga is a staunch devotee of Lord Jagannath of Puri. During a ride in a forest he meets and falls in love with Princess Padmavati of Kanchi. It is an paragon mating and both sides are gleeful. According to long-standing tradition Purushottam Dev sweeps the chariot of Jagannath during the Car Festival. Padmavati''s father is furious when he hears of this and refuses to marry his daughter to one who wields a broom. He humiliates Purushottam Dev who vows to catch revenge despite his lo

Rabindranath Tagore played a significant role in bringing about a new awakening in India in the latter half of the nineteenth century. His life and artistic work provided the then Indian society with a purpose direction and a programme. The impact of his personality transcended his native Bengal and came to be felt not only in other parts of India but also abroad. Tagore was a genius with a many-sided personality. He was a poet novelist dramatist musician short-story writer teacher painter educa