Vamana Purana, translated by Bibek Debroy

Vamana Purana, translated by Bibek Debroy

This is my eighteenth Purana review. This is my second – last rajsik Purana too. The Vamana Purana comes fourteenth in the list of Mahapuranas. It only has ten thousand shlokas. These shlokas are divided into a purva bhaga and an uttara bhaga. There are ninety-five chapters in the Purana. This Purana was first recited by Sage Pulastya to the rishi Narada.

This Purana talks more about the wars between the gods and the demons. It mentions the asura Andhaka a lot. It also focuses more on the formation of the goddess Durga except they call her Katyayani. The defeat of Mahishasura, Chanda, Munda and Raktajiva are described in great detail. The formation of Koushiki and Chamunda are talked about too.

In all these stories I found a very unique one. It talks about another vamana avatar of Vishnu. This story is given below.

Varaha Purana, translated by Bibek Debroy

Varaha Purana, translated by Bibek Debroy

This is my sixteenth Purana review. It is a satvik Purana, so it concentrates more on Vishnu and glorifies him in his Varaha avatar. The Varaha Purana comes twelfth in the list of Mahapuranas. It has twenty-four thousand shlokas so it is medium sized in length. These shlokas are divided into two parts – the purva bhaga and the uttara bhaga. This purana is named so because it was narrated by Vishnu in his varaha avatar to the earth (prithvi). Prithvi had many questions and was also curious to know the powers of Vishnu and who he really was. In answer to these questions Vishnu narrated this Purana.

This Purana talks about rituals, sacrifices, fasts and major tirthas in detail. It also talks about the 35 ways in which varaha or a boar is connected to sacrifices and the Vedas.

Now let us move on to my favourite stories.

Agni Purana, translated by Bibek Debroy

Agni Purana, (abridged) translation by Bibek Debroy

This is my fifteenth Purana review. It is also my last tamasik Purana review. The Agni Purana is an interesting Purana. It is eighth in the list of Mahapuranas. It is not too long, it has fifteen and a half thousand shlokas. These shlokas are further divided into three hundred and eighty-three chapters. The Agni Purana is named thus as it was narrated by the fire – god Agni. Vashishta narrated this Purana to Vedavyasa. Vedavyasa narrated it to Suta who narrated it to some sages in the Namisharanya forest. This Purana has lots of information on rituals, omens, social norms, duties of a king, etc. There are very few stories and even those are in a summarized form. Apart from this, it also narrates the ten avatars of Vishnu along with a short version of the Mahabharata. The duties of a king are described as well.

Now let me narrate my favourite story.

Brahmavaivarta Purana, translated by Bibek Debroy

Brahmavaivarta Purana, translated by Bibek Debroy

This is my nineteenth and last Purana review. It is my last rajsik Purana. The Brahmavaivarta Purana comes eighth in the list of Mahapuranas. It has a total of eighteen thousand shlokas and is medium in length. These shlokas are divide into four khandas. They are the Brahma khanda, the Prakriti khanda, the Ganesha khanda and the Srikrishnajanma khanda.

Although this Purana is a rajsik purana it glorifies Krishna more. Krishna is said to be the creator. He is identified with the brahman and is said to have created Shiva, Brahma and Narayana from his own body. This is slightly confusing as it describes Krishna’s type of creation and Brahma’s creation at the same time. This is one of the few Puranas that talk about Krishna in great detail.

In Krishna’s creation, all the gods and goddesses emerged from different parts of his body like his chest, mouth, mind, etc.

In Brahma’s creation, the world was formed from a golden egg.

Like most Puranas this one also starts in the Naimisharanya forest. The narrator is Souti or Suta who is the son of Lomaharshana. On the request of some sages Souti narrates the Brahmavaivarta Purana.

This was a very interesting Purana. It had so much new information. Most of it was in the form of stories. I learnt lots of stuff. Out of this information I picked out the most interesting bits and have given it below.

Have you wondered why Narada was named Narada? What is the meaning of the name? The answers to this are given below.

Narada Purana, translated by Bibek Debroy

Narada Purana, translated by Bibek Debroy

Before you start reading please recite this prayer:

Narayanam namaskritya

Naranchaiva narottamam devim

Sarasvatinchaiva tato Jayamudiyaret

You should recite this prayer and pray to Nara and Narayan. Only after you do this should you start reading any sacred text.

Let us start the review now.

This is my seventeenth Purana review. It is also my last sattvika purana. The Narada Purana comes sixth in the list of Mahapuranas. It has twenty-five thousand shlokas which are divided into the purva bhaga and the uttara bhaga. There are a total of thirty-eight chapters in this Purana. This Purana is also called a vrihat purana. Vrihat means vast. Like most Puranas this one also starts in the Naimisharanya forest. However, this time the narrator is not Lomaharshana but his son Suta.

I will also give a little information on the title of this Purana. The name of this Purana is Narada Purana as it was first recited by the sage Narada to Sanatkumar.

I will now narrate my favourite stories.

Kurma Purana, translated by Bibek Debroy

The Kurma Purana, translated by Bibek Debroy

The Kurma Purana is my fourteenth purana review. It comes fifteenth in the list of Mahapuranas. In my last review, I had mentioned that I would review one category at a time. Well, I wanted to complete the tamasik puranas (puranas that glorify Shiva) first so here is a tamasik purana review.
This Purana is medium sized and has seventeen thousand shlokas in all. It was divided into four sections, the Brahmi samhita, Bhagvati samhita, Souri samhita and the Vaishnavi samhita. Unfortunately, now only the Brahmi samhita is left. It is this section that is known as the Kurma Purana. The Brahmi samhita has 2 divisions. The Purva bhaga and the Upari bhaga. The purva bhaga has fifty-two chapters and the other one forty-four. I will give a little history about the name of the Purana.

Exam Warriors, by Narendra Modi - Review

Exam Warriors, by Narendra Modi

This is a short and easy to read book. It is written by Narendra Modi, our Prime Minister. As you can guess from the title it talks about exams. Can you guess who the warriors are? Us kids! We all take exams and in a certain way we are the warriors. It is mostly written for the kids taking board exams but it can be applicable to everyone else too.  Most of us get nervous when the exams come but after reading this book you will feel a lot calmer. The book is filled with tips and advice on Do’s and Don’ts before the exam. It teaches you to look at exams in a positive way and not get scared of them. It even shows how little things like packing your bag is important. It gives a lot of emphasis on organization. Making timetables and prioritizing your work helps a lot and saves time. One of the things mentioned is sleep. Most of us like sleeping late but writing an exam with a tired mind compared to writing an exam with a fresh one has a huge difference.  My favourite part of the book was the topic of the presentation. I love writing and presenting my work neatly. As I found out in the book that a neat answer sheet can make all the difference in the world. I felt the most important thing in the book was Yoga. Yoga helps in making our mind clear and focused. It is good to do Yoga before going to write an exam. There are few Yoga asanas given at the back of the book. I tried a few of them and they were fun and easy to do. The book is lots of fun. It has many activities related to each topic. There are activities for example: creating your own mind-map and timetable, writing do’s and don’ts, solving crosswords and mazes. There is a ‘My Mantra’ page at the end of each topic. You can write your mantra or motto for the exam on this page. On each activity page, there is a QR code which you can scan and then share your work with other people.  I enjoyed reading this book. I completed it in one day. This is an amazing book and people must read it especially students.
in OpIndia on Feb 17, 2018.

Book details:
Paperback: 208 pages 
Publisher: India Penguin 
Language: English 
ISBN-10: 0143441507 
ISBN-13: 978-0143441502

Kindle IN, Amazon IN, Hindi, PayTM

© 2018, Anika Agarwal. All rights reserved.

eGranth - Book Newsletter - Jan 2018

This is our tenth newsletter. I, Anika Agarwal, am the editor this time. This newsletter we have an amazing topic, that is India and Hinduism. We have very few books in the newsletter. The rest of them are my top 5 books on Hinduism. All the books are very interesting books. Join Surpanakha in her fascinating journey. Experience the tale filled with hardships while reading “Sita’s Sister”. Read and learn the various cultures and stories about India through the Culture Series, the Puranas and the Purna Vidya series. Feel thrilled while reading the Raven’s Gate and experiencing the magic filled world of Cosmo, the witch-cat. Most of all laugh out loud while reading the adventures of Bala, his book-eating little sister and the one eyed giant, Koobandhee. Read on and enjoy our newsletter! – Anika

1. The Power of Five: Raven's Gate, by Anthony Horowitz - review
2. Cosmo and the Great Witch Escape, by Gwyneth Rees - review
3. Linga Purana, translated by Bibek Debroy - review
4. The Kishkindha Chronicles: Saraswati’s Intelligence, by Vamsee Juluri - review
5. Avishi: Reimagining Vishpala of the Rig Veda, by Saiswroopa Iyer - review
6. Bookasura #2: Koobandhee, by Arundhati Venkatesh - review
7. My top five books of 2017 on Hinduism
1.  Lanka’s Princess, by Kavita Kane - review
2. The Puranas, translated by Bibek Debroy - review
3. Purna Vidya (series) by Swamini Pramananda, Sri Dhira Chaitanya - review
4. Culture Course by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan - review
5. Sita’s Sister by Kavita Kane - review

You can read the entire newsletter here.

© 2018, Anika Agarwal. All rights reserved.

Culture Course by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan

Culture Course

by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan

category: mythology, religion, fiction

Age: 8-12years

Reviewed by: Anika

Link

Weak in history? Well here's a way to learn history easily and in a fun way. Read the Culture Course to improve your learning. This set of books are a lot like the Purna Vidya series that were mentioned in the April edition. The Culture Course series narrate around 15 stories in each book. Based on each story there are 6-7 questions. There is only one difference between the Purna Vidya series and the Culture Course. Purna Vidya mostly talk about stories from the Ramayana and Mahabharata whereas the Culture Course books narrate stories about folk tales, Mahabharata and Ramayana stories, stories about great rishis, the foundation of holy places, rituals, etc. These books talk a lot about the holy places in India and rituals performed there. They also talk about stuff from different religions. These books teach you a lot about Hindu culture and at the same time they are very interesting. I enjoy reading and answering the questions in this series.

[this is included in our January 2018 edition of eGranth, our monthly books newsletter]

© 2018, Anika Agarwal. All rights reserved.

Sita’s Sister by Kavita Kane

 Sita’s Sister

by Kavita Kane

category: mythology, religion, fiction

Age: 8-12years

Buy from: Amazon US, Amazon IN

This book is about Urmila. She is a character from the Ramayana who we don’t know much about. Urmila is most commonly mentioned when Lakshman decides to go for exile with Ram. Sometimes we wonder why didn’t Urmila go for exile with Lakshman. She chose to be separated from her husband for fourteen years, rather than to go with him. The Ramayana never really does talk about Urmila. Every time I read the Ramayana, it talks about Ram, Lakshman, Sita, Ravan, Dasharatha, Kaikeyi etc. It never specifically tells us how did Urmila bear these years of separation, and how did she feel when Lakshman decided to go to the forest, leaving her behind. I think Urmila, also known as Sita’s sister was an exceptionally brave woman to bear this separation. This book gives an answer to one of my many questions when I read the Ramayana. The author Kavita Kane knows how to bring out the true feelings of a person in her books. So far, I have read three books of hers and all three of them concentrate on the feelings and thoughts of the person. All her books have been on female characters from the Ramayana or Mahabharata. In this book, it concentrates on all that Urmila feels and thinks. I only felt that it could have done without the romance between Urmila and Lakshman. Otherwise I feel that it was a nice book and I enjoyed reading it. Between the three of Kavita Kane’s books, this was my favourite.

[this is included in our January 2018 edition of eGranth, our monthly books newsletter]

© 2018, Anika Agarwal. All rights reserved.