Shina Utavani

The story of Saraswati plays an important role in Indian mythology. It is believed that life would not have been the same that it is today without her. Brahma who is the creator of the Universe, felt that something was missing and was lacking concept. So, he decided to create the embodiment of knowledge to help him with this task of bringing order to the universe. So, Saraswati-the goddess of knowledge and wisdom emerged from his mouth.Goddess Saraswati was a symbol of wisdom and knowledge. She was the goddess of learning, art, and literature. She emerged from Brahma to give him directions. She guided him on how to create order in the cosmos; and that is how moon, sun, and stars all came into being.She guided him in creating the universe we see today. It is said that later she became the bride of Brahma. Thus, Brahma became the creator of the world with Saraswati as his wisdom.

This is a story of Brahma, Saraswati and universe.Moral(s) of the story: knowledge and wisdom

The Origin of Sarawati

Ravina Sewani

A Porcupine was looking for a good home. At last he found a little sheltered cave, where lived a family of Snakes. He asked them to let him share the cave with them, and the Snakes kindly consented.The Snakes soon wished they had not given him permission to stay. His sharp quills pricked them at every turn, and at last they politely asked him to leave.“I am very well satisfied, thank you,” said the Porcupine. “I intend to stay right here.” And with that, he politely escorted the Snakes out of doors. And to save their skins, the Snakes had to look for another home.Moral: Give a finger and lose a hand.

This is a story of Aesop fables, porcupine and snake.Moral(s) of the story: helpfulness and regret

The Porcupine And The Snakes

Pallavi Hota

Mahabharata is an ancient Indian epic about the brothers, Pandavas and kauravas. It describes the battle between them in the Kurukshetra war for the throne of Hastinapura. It is an epic tale that combines war, religion, philosophy and Hindu history. Following is a story from “The Mahabharata.” Pandu married Kunti. Pandu was cursed for accidentally shooting at a Brahmin named Kindama and his wife, mistaking them as deers while they were making love. Because of his mistake, Kindama cursed Pandu and said he would die if he were to engage in intercourse with any woman. Pandu also relinquished his throne to his brother Dhritarashtra as further penance for his crime. Yudhisthira’s mother, Queen Kunti, had the power to invoke the Devas, or the gods. Because of this power, Kunti was able to give birth to Yudhisthira by invoking the Lord of judgement, Dharma Yudhisthira was Pandu’s eldest son and by right should have been the heir to the throne. But because Pandu gave up his seat to his brother Dhritarashtra, it caused problems because Dhritarashtra’s son, Duryodhana, challenged Yudhisthira for the throne. The Hastinapura kingdom was split into two parts. Yudhisthira agreed to rule the arid and fallow region of the two. He, with his four Pandava brothers, then married Draupadi, the princess of Panchali. She gave birth to a son, Prativindya. Yudhisthira lived a normal life before his dedication to duty became his undoing. My son was then challenged by Shakuni, Duryodhana's uncle, in a game of dice. He lost everything in this game including his kingdom, wife, and brothers and was forced into exile. While in exile, Yudhistira tried to return to his kingdom multiple times but was refused by Duryodhana and Shakuni. An ally of Yudhisthira and his Pandava brothers, Krishna convinced Yudhisthira to go to war and win back his kingdom. After winning the war, Yudhisthira returned and crowned himself as the Emperor of Hastinapura. He believed in fulfilling his moral duty. To Yudhisthira, his Dharma was more important than anything in his life, his family, throne, and any material objects. Yudhisthira married Draupadi because of a comment his mother made in jest and abided by his Dharma of respecting his mother. He also denounced the strict distinctions between castes when he made Bhima, who was a kshatriya, marry Rakshasi, a Rakshasa demon. He believed that kshatriyas needed to fulfill their Dharma and be held accountable by their actions, rather than their birth. His dedication to fulfilling the moral duties of his caste was tested when Duryodhana’s uncle, Shakuni, challenged him to a game of dice. He was unable to refuse Shakuni who was a master gambler and eventually gambled away his kingdom, wealth, brothers, and even his wife. Even though Yudhisthira could have refused, his dedication to his Dharma prevented him from doing so. He said that he could not refuse any sort of challenge because he was of the Kshatriya, or warrior, class and had to stand by the warrior code of honor. This way, he was the son of Dharma, and was also called Dharmaraja.

Yudhisthira, the son of Dharma

Bihu is a festival celebrated in Assam in the month of January. The festival is a celebration of the change of the seasons. It is also known as the Harvest festival. In Assam, most of the people are associated with agrarian (cultivation of land) activities. Most of the people’s occupation is agriculture. This festival marks an important phase of farming in Assam. The word ‘Bihu’ is originally derived from the word ‘Bishu’. It means that people ask for prosperity from God for the harvesting season. ‘Bi’ in the word Bihu means to ask and ‘hu’ means to give. Both these words combine to form the name Bihu.&nbsp; The festival is celebrated for seven days wherein each day holds a significance. The first day of the festival is called ‘Raati Bihu’. On this day, all the women gather beneath an ancient tree or open field, surrounded by burning torches. The men participate mostly in ceremonial activities wherein they play Pepa (buffalo hornpipe) or Toka (it is a musical instrument made of split bamboo). The second day of the festival is known as ‘Goru Bihu’. On this day, livestock is washed with a combination of symbolic herbs. Then they are decorated with new garlands and harnesses. The cattle of the village are served various food items. The third day is known as Manuh (human) Bihu, where people take a bath with black gram and turmeric paste. They seek blessings from the elders. A traditional Bihu dance is performed by people, which is an important part of the festival. The fourth day of the festival is known as Gosai (God’s) Bihu. People worship idols after cleaning their homes. Varieties of food items are made such as Pitha, Ladoo, Khaar, and Xaak. The fifth day is called ‘Kutum Bihu’. On this day, people usually visit their relatives. They spend the day together.&nbsp;The sixth day is known as ‘Senehi Bihu’. This day symbolises love. People meet their beloved and give them gifts and celebrate the bond they share. The last day of the festival is known as ‘Mela Bihu’. This day involves a lot of celebrations. Fairs are organised in different parts of the state and people enjoy by participating in various activities.

Bihu

Yesha Desai

Once, Mulla Nasruddin was lying on his bed with his eyes closed when his brother-in-law approached him. ‘Are you asleep?” the brother-in-law asked Nasruddin. Nasruddin replied, “Why? What is it?”The brother-in-law said, “I wanted a loan of three hundred dollars. I was wondering if you could lend me the money.”Nasrudin replied, “Oh, in that case, let us return to your first question, ‘Are you asleep?’ and the answer to that is ‘Yes, I am asleep, so go away and don’t bother me.” Moral:It is important to learn when to say no and deflect from a situation you do not wish to be in.

This is a classic story from Mulla Nasruddin.Moral(s) of the story: samrtness

Are you asleep?

In a beautiful forest once, there lived two trees. The trees’ names were Chintu and Pintu. They were brothers. On the trees, there lived a troop of monkeys, a family of bird, the Bunky bear, and the wise wolf. They all lived like a big family. Everyone enjoyed each other’s company.One morning, when everyone was busy talking, Pintu saw a woodcutter coming towards the forest. Chintu advised all of them to run away. But no one left the place. Pintu again requested them to go away but none of them agreed. They all said, “You give us food to eat, shelter to live and fresh air to breathe. We cannot leave you in danger.” Chintu and Pintu were overwhelmed and their eyes rolled the tears of happiness. They all made a quick plan to protect everyone from the woodcutter. Both the trees advised all the animals and birds to hide behind the leaves.There were many trees in the forest so the woodcutter could not decide which tree to cut. He saw Chintu and Pintu, the big trees. He decided to cut them. The wise wolf already told the plan to all of them. So, when the woodcutter came near to cut the tress, all of them started jumping around him. The monkeys started jumping on him and the birds started flying above him. When all were busy around the woodcutter, the wise wolf ran to the king Lion and told him everything. The Lion King roared and reached there quickly. Hearing Lion’s roar, the woodcutter was scared. So, he ran away from there. All were happy that they could save Chintu and Pintu. All birds and animals were grateful to the king as well as the Wolf for his cleverness.Later, the woodcutter realized the importance of trees. He thought trees are important for us as well as animals and birds. They give food, shelter, shade, and flowers to us. He realized his mistake and promised to never cut trees again in his life. He opened a nursery and planted many new plants in his village. Moral:Save trees, plant more trees and save our nature.

This is a story of forest, lion, monkey, tree, wolf and woodcutter.

The Trees and The Woodcutter

Once upon a time there was a shy and quiet octopus. He nearly always went about on his own because, although he wanted to have lots of friends, he was too self-conscious.One day, the octopus was trying to catch a very slippery oyster. Before he knew it, he had tied himself into one massive knot, and he couldn't move. He tried with all his strength to wriggle free, but it was no good. In the end, despite the great embarrassment he felt at being seen in such a tangle, he had to ask for help from the passing fish. Many fish swam past, ignoring him, but one very kind little fish offered to help to untie all those tentacles from all those suckers.The octopus felt heartily relieved when he was finally set free, but he was so shy that he didn't dare talk to the fish and make friends with him. He simply thanked the fish, and quickly swam off. Later, the octopus spent the whole night thinking that he had wasted a great opportunity to make friends with that very kind little fish.A couple of days later the octopus was resting between some rocks, when he noticed that everyone around was hurriedly swimming past. He looked into the distance and saw an enormous fish coming over to feed in that area. The octopus quickly hid; then, peeping an eye out from his hiding place, he saw that the huge fish was chasing the kind little fish who had untied him. That little fish really needed urgent help, but the big fish was so dangerous-looking that no one dared to go near. The octopus, remembering how the little fish had helped him, felt that he had to do whatever he could to come to his aid.Without hesitating, the octopus shot out from the rocks, like a ray. He put himself right in the path of the giant fish, and before the fish could do anything about it, the octopus had shot out the biggest jet of ink of his life. He grabbed the little fish, and swam off back to hide in the rocks. Everything happened so fast that the big fish had no time to react. However, he soon recovered from the surprise. Off he went to the rocks, looking for the octopus and the little fish. Now he really wanted to gobble them down!Soon, though, he began feeling a terrible itch; first in his gills, and then in his fins, and then all over his body. It turned out that this giant fish had a very artistic nature, he adored colours; and the octopus's dark ink had given him a terrible allergy!!So the big fish swam away, irritated all over.As soon as he was gone, all the fish who had been hiding came and congratulated the octopus for being so brave. Then the little fish told them all how he had helped the octopus a few days earlier, but he had never known anyone be so grateful that they would end up doing something so dangerous. Hearing this, the other fish discovered how nice the shy octopus was, and everyone around was keen to be the friend of such a brave and honourable octopus.Moral: Never leave an opportunity to show gratitude no matter how much difficult the situation seems.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

This is a story of fish and octopus.Moral(s) of the story: bravery and gratitude

An octopus in trouble

Noah and his animals were on the Ark (boat) and the things were getting a bit boring. Noah and his animals were very getting very bored. They had spent many days and they started organizing games and activities to enjoy. They all got very excited and started playing games enthusiastically. They became very loud and noisy. Due to the excitement, the woodpecker ended up drilling a hole in the bottom of the ark. Suddenly the water started entering the boat. Due to the force of water, the hole became bigger. More water came inside the boat, and everyone became a little scared.As the condition of the boat was becoming worse, every animal tried to fix the hole. One by one, they tried to fix the hole. They even got competitive because they wanted to be the animal that saved the ark. They all tried but nothing worked. The beaver even built a dam over the hole but that too did not stop the water coming from the hole. After looking at all this finally, the bee started talking. She explained to everyone that all of them should work together in order to save the ark from sinking. She said that everyone should do the work they are best at. Everyone agreed and started working together. They started doing what they were best at.Everyone started contributing their part to cover the hole. The birds grabbed the parts of the ark with beaks and flapped their wings furiously, lifting the boat up a little. The animals who could run fast collected all the materials quickly and supplied to others. Other animals stuffed that material into the hole quickly. The elephants sucked the water in and shot it back into the sea.Everyone worked in unity and that helped them in reducing the amount of water into the ark. But the water did not stop completely; it was still entering the ark. The animals were a little scared and they saw around to look for help. They wondered if there were any other animals that could help them. They looked everywhere. But there was no one. Suddenly, a little fish swam in through the hole. The animals were happy to see her and thought there were still animals left who could help them. They asked the fish to go and call everyone to help save the ark.Fish quickly went into the sea and called everyone. Soon, many fishes arrived at the ark. Even a big whale came to save them. The big whale pressed its belly against the hole in the ark. This stopped the water from entering into the ark. So, animals got more time to cover up the hole. Finally, they were successful in covering the hole in the ark. Moral:Unity is strength.

This is a story of fish, boat, honey bee and whale.Moral(s) of the story: unity

Problem on the Boat

Once, a poor old woman came to seek Birbal’s help. The Emperor had passed orders to build a big palace on the site where her small house was situated. He had already instructed his men to take down the house of the old lady and ask her to move to some other place. The old woman did not want to move out of her ancestral house as she had fond memories linked with it. Birbal understood the woman’s plight and promised to try his level best to save her house.Soon, the construction began at the chosen site. Birbal also happened to visit the construction site with the Emperor. There were many empty gunny bags lying on the ground. Birbal started to fill up the bags with mud. Out of curiosity, Akbar asked Birbal, “What are you doing?”Birbal answered, “I am doing this to earn merit in my next life.”Amused, Akbar also joined Birbal and started filling up the bags with mud. Birbal then loaded up a big bag with mud and sought Akbar’s help in lifting it up.Akbar lent a hand to Birbal. “Aah,this is very heavy! I am finding it very difficult to lift it up,” said Akbar, staggering under the weight of the bag.To this, Birbal retorted, “Jahanpanah, you say that this bag of mud is heavy. Imagine how much mud would be there in this piece of land. Will it not weigh heavily on your conscience to snatch a poor old woman’s ancestral house?”Akbar realised his mistake and gave orders to discontinue the construction. The poor old woman was overwhelmed with gratitude and profusely thanked Birbal for saving her house. Moral:We must consider other people’s losses and problems before doing something of our gain.

This is a classic story from Akbar Birbal.Moral(s) of the story: kindness

cheating stories

Kids moral stories help in improving their imagination & relate to real-world life. Here are age-specific bedtime stories for children by renowned storytellers.