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

Yesha Desai

Once, Emperor Akbar had a serious tiff with Birbal over some issue. He removed Birbal from the post of Deewan and appointed his wife’s brother in Birbal’s place. Birbal started living in a nearby village, while hiding his identity.One day, the Emperor decided to visit a Dargah. While returning from there, he saw the footmark of an elephant. He decided to gauge his brother-in-law’s intelligence. He asked him to protect that mark for three days. The Emperor then went back to his palace and left behind his brother-in-law to protect the footmark.The first day passed, the new Deewan could not get any food, the second day also passed without any food. He was starving by the third day and had grown really very weak. The fourth day, he somehow dragged himself to the Emperor and said, “Look Jahanpanah, I did protect the elephant’s footmark as per your instructions.”The Emperor could see clearly that his new deewan lacked innovativeness and was not as able or quick witted as Birbal. So, he found a way to get him back. He announced that all the Zamindars of the nearby villages should come to him with their wells, or else they would have to pay a fine of Rs. 10,000 each.All the Zamindars were astonished to hear this strange order and wondered how they could make an inanimate thing like a well move and go with them to the Emperor’s court.The Emperor’s order was also heard in the village in which Birbal lived. Birbal thought of a plan and told the Zameendar of his village to act according to it. The Zameendar went to meet the Emperor along with some other villagers, but did not enter his capital. They stayed outside the city and sent a messenger to the king, “Huzoor, as per your orders we are here with our wells, now you send your wells to welcome them.”When Akbar heard this, he understood that it could be only Birbal’s brainchild. He promptly sent his people to find and bring Birbal back. When Birbal arrived in the court, the Emperor warmly welcomed Birbal and reinstated him as his Deewan.And then, the Emperor asked Birbal to protect that footmark of the elephant. Birbal promised to get the job done and left the court. He fixed an iron bar near the footmark and tied a 50-yard rope to it. Then he told the villagers that the houses that will come inside the circumference of that rope would be demolished to protect that footmark.People requested him not to do so and offered him money to not demolish their houses. They also promised to protect the footmark of the elephant day and night. Within no time, Birbal managed to collect Rs. 1 Lakh. He deposited that money in the royal treasury and told the king that the work was done and Rs. 100,000 had been deposited in his treasury.The Emperor then called his brother-in-law and told him, “You were hungry for three days and gained nothing, but Birbal managed to protect the footmark as well as earn a lakh of rupees in one day only.” The brother-in-law accepted the fact that Birbal was indeed the worthiest candidate for the post of the Deewan. Moral:Thinking creatively and motivating others to accomplish your goal can help you succeed, even if the task seems impossible.

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

Protection from the footmark of an elephant

Ravina Sewani

A long time ago, there was a merchant who had a son. The son was fond of poetry. Once, he bought a book of poetry. He liked one line of a poem so much that he kept reciting it. He recited it so many times that everyone started calling him by that name. It was ‘You get what you are destined to.’One day, there was a festival in the city. A beautiful princess called Chandrawati also attended this festival. There, she saw a handsome prince and at once fell in love with him. She told her maid to arrange a meeting with the prince. The maid went to the prince and conveyed the princess’s message. The prince agreed to meet the princess. Then, the maid told him details about how and where the meeting would happen. “Come to the white palace after it is dark,” she said. “You will see a rope hanging from one of the windows. Just climb it up and you will reach the princess’s room.”But when the time came for the prince to go, he backed out.Around the same time, ‘You get what you are destined to’ was wandering around and came close to the palace. He saw a rope hanging and climbed it up, entering the princess’s room. It was dark inside and the princess could not see the face of the man. She thought that he was the prince. She treated him royally and talked to him, but the man remained silent. “Why aren’t you speaking?” the princess asked him.“You get what you are destined to,” the merchant’s son said.Hearing his voice and taking a closer look at his face, the princess realised that this man was not the prince that she had fallen in love with. She was furious and told him to leave at once.Then, ‘You get what you are destined to’ went to a nearby temple to sleep there. The watchman of the temple told him that he could sleep in his quarter that was behind the temple.When ‘You get what you are destined to’ went into the watchman’s house, he entered the wrong room by mistake. This was the room of Vinayawati, the watchman’s daughter. She saw ‘You get what you are destined to’ and in the dark mistook him for her lover. She entertained him and talked to him but the man was silent. Finally, she said, “Why aren’t you talking to me?”The merchant’s son replied, “You get what you are destined to.”Vinayawati realised at once that this was some other man. She threw him out of the house.Then, one day, the merchant’s son was roaming around when he came across a marriage procession and joined it. The bridegroom’s name was Varakeerti. Just as the marriage ceremony was about to begin, a mad elephant appeared there. Everyone was terrified and ran to save themselves. ‘You get what you are destined to’ immediately rushed to the rescue of the bride. He drove the elephant away by jabbing a nail into its head. On returning there, when Varakeerti saw ‘You get what you are destined to’ holding the hands of his soon-to-be wife, he was furious. He wanted to throw him out of the place. But, the bride said that since ‘You get what you are destined to’ had saved her life, she would marry only him and nobody else.This girl turned out to be the same princess, Chandrawati, who had mistaken ‘You get what you are destined to’ for the prince she had fallen in love with and had later thrown him out of the palace on learning the truth. The whole city, including the princess’s father, the king, heard the news of the decision she had taken.The king got the princess married to ‘You get what you are destined to’ and they lived happily ever after.Finally, the merchant’s son did get what he was destined to. Truly, destiny plays a great role in our lives. Moral:Do what is right according to your values and you will always get what you deserve.

This is a classic story from panchtantra.

The merchant’s son

Swami Vivekananda was born in a rich noble family by the name of Narendranath Dutta. Despite his parents push towards his noble and family duties, Narendranath was very much drawn towards spirituality and religion. He went away from home and was wandering around when he met Ramakrishna Paramhans who was a very well renowned saint. He listened to Ramakrishna Paramhans's ideology and was very much inspired by him. He was a very devoted disciple of the saint and learned a lot from him. He took the name of Swami Vivekanand and set off to spread the word of Ramakrishna. As he was growing old, the saint handed the responsibility of his other disciples to Swami Vivekanand. After his death, all his disciples united and founded the Ramakrishna Mission. The Ramkrishna mission's main goal is to provide help to whoever needs it.&nbsp; The mission has multiple schools of their own to provide quality education for underprivileged and medicines for the poor.

This is a story of how Ramakrishna Mission was cofounded by Swami Vivekananda. This mission provides medical and educational relief programs.

Swami Vivekanand and Ramakrishna Mission

Ali Momin

A white van with drawings of chocolate, strawberry and vanilla ice cream moves through the street. All the children in the neighbourhood follow the little ding of its bell and immediately get into a line. The ice cream van has come with the ice cream man.&nbsp; Some children have already decided what they want to eat, others want to try a new flavour.&nbsp; The ice cream man opens the shutter and smiles warmly at the kids. They all look up at him eagerly. One by one he collects their orders and the children look up at the short, tubby man as he places scoops into cones. Red, pink, white, yellow scoops of icecream fly around into cones or cups. Some are sprinkled with chocolate chips, some with syrups and the icecream man always hands an extra tissue as he hands out each ice cream. As all the children in the line get their ice creams, they smile up at him and scatter around. Everyone is satisfied and the icecream man ignites the van to start driving.&nbsp; Everybody waves at him and sees him go, waiting for him to come again the next day.

This is a story of chocolate and ice cream.

The ice cream man!

On one fine day, Abdul Kalam's class was assigned a project. Excited gasps filled the air because they were supposed to design an airplane.&nbsp;Kalam was very excited. This was beyond doubt his mostfavourite assignment. But it was not as easy as it looked, this required a lot of work and Kalam soon got to it. He woke up before the sun and slept after the sun too, everyday, to dedicate more hours to his work. And so his designs turned out to be finer and more detailed than anyone elseís in his class. Kalam was very proud of his work and was also sure that he would pass with flying colours. That is why he was very confused when he was called into his professors office. He walked in, scared and restless. Had he done something wrong? As soon as he sat down, his professor began, ìWhat is this Kalam?î He asked as he pointed to the work he had submitted. ìThis is what you call an airplane design? This is all you could come up with?î Kalam did not know what was wrong with what he had done, it was far better than the work of any of his classmates but he did not argue. ìI want you to work on this again and get better results, his professor said. Kalam only nodded. He was given a deadline and he had no idea what to do with it. But he took everything in his stride and worked harder. He woke up earlier, he researched more, he stayed up for longer.&nbsp; And finally, he completed his work. This time he hoped that it was good. A few days later he was called by his professor again. This time he said, ìKalam, I knew you could do better. This is wonderful. I am glad you were not disturbed by the previous criticism and took it all in your stride and worked harder. One day all this hard work will pay off.î And he turned out to be right as one day, Abdul Kalam became Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, the President of India.

This is a story of Abdul Kalam and his discipline towards his work.Moral(s) of the story: discipline and hard work

Kalam's project

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”.Kauravas and Pandavas were trying to get support from various kings in order to prepare for the war. Duryodhana went to Krishna, the king of Dwarka, to ask for his support. He reached Krishna’s place but at that time Krishna was sleeping. So, Duryodhana went and took a seat beside Krishna’s head and waited for him to wake up. At that time, Arjuna also came to ask for Krishna’s support. Arjuna was very humble so, he sat near Krishna’s feet and waited for him to wake up.When Krishna woke up, he saw Arjuna first because Duryodhana was sitting behind him. Duryodhan said, “I have come to ask for your support in the war.” Arjuna also made the same request. Duryodhana said, “I came before Arjuna, so you should help me and not him.” Krishna said, “Due to your pride, you sat beside my head due to which I saw Arjuna first. So, he will be given the first chance.” Krishna said, “To one of you I will give my army and to the other, I will give my moral support.”Krishna asked Arjuna first what he wanted. Arjuna, without wasting a second chose Krishna’s moral support. He knew that with his support and guidance, the Pandavas would win the war.When Duryodhana heard Arjuna’s choice, he was happy. He thought Arjuna was very stupid to choose Krishna as he would not even fight in the war. So, he was happy that he got Krishna’s army.At the time of the Great War of Kurukshetra, Kauravas lost even though they had a large army. Pandavas won because of the righteousness and with Lord Krishna’s support. Moral:Always be modest and respect others.

This is a story of Arjun, Dronacharya, Kauravas, Krishna and Pandavas.Moral(s) of the story: modesty

Arjuna and Duryodhana seeking help from Krishna

Once there lived a camel who had a bad habit of making funny comments on the looks of other animals and birds. He never spoke a good word about any of them.To the cow he said, "Just have a look at yourself. What an ugly looking animal you are! When I look at your bones, it seems to me they will tear through your skin any moment."To the buffalo he said, "You must have surely offended the Creator and so He has painted your entire body with the coal black colour. Your crooked horns make you look uglier still."To the elephant he said, "You are a cartoon among all the animals. The Creator must have made you in one of His humorous moods. All the parts of your body are out of proportion. Your huge body is tagged with a bit of a tail. Your eyes are so small, and ears so big. I had better not say anything about your trunk and legs and other parts of your body."To the parrot he said, "The Creator has shown His sense of humour through the hook-like red beak of yours."In this way the camel always jeered and sneered at one and all. Once the camel chanced to meet a fox who was very outspoken and blunt. The fox said to him, "Camel, give up your dirty habit of commenting on others. Just find some time to look at yourself. You have a long face, stone-like eyes, yellow and dirty teeth, legs like crooked sticks and an ugly hump on your back. You are the ugliest among ugly animals. Other animals have a fault or two each, but yours outnumber and outclass them all."The camel hung his head in shame and walked away silently. Moral:Look at your own faults rather than at those of others.

This is a classic story from Vikas books.This is a story of buffalo, camel, cow, elephant, fox and parrot.Moral(s) of the story: empathy

The ugly Camel

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.” Ganga had drowned her seven sons in the river Ganges, but took away her eighth son with her to heaven. The secret behind her drowning her seven sons was that once the saint Vashishtha got offended with eight gods known as Vasus (Deities of directions). He cursed them to be born as human beings on earth and undergo the mental torture of being a human. Hearing this, seven of the Vasus implored the saint to be excused but the eighth one, who was the most mischievous. ” Many years later, when Shantanu visited the river Ganga, Goddess Ganga emerged out of the river with a young boy. She said, "Oh King ! Here is your eighth son, Devavrata. He has mastered the art of wielding arms, and has unparalleled skills, equalling those of Sage Parshuram. Rishi Vasishtha has imparted the knowledge of the Vedas and the Vedanta, arts and sciences to him. This is your child, the finest archer and master statesman. King Shantanu was getting old and so he decided to step down from his throne. He was lonely and always missed his wife Ganga. One day while he was taking a stroll on the bank of the river Ganga, he was attracted towards a charming maiden, Satyavati. She was the daughter of the chief of the fishermen tribe. She was blessed with a son Vyas, earlier. Shantanu did not know anything about Satyavati’s past. He was charmed by her beauty. He went to her father, the fisherman chief, and asked for Satyavati's hand in marriage. The chief agreed to the proposal but laid down a condition. He told the king that the son born to Satyavati should be the successor to the King and not Devavrata. Shantanu was shocked to hear the condition and returned home disappointed and unhappy. Devavrata later discovered the cause of his father's unhappiness and went to Satyavati's father and requested him to allow his father, king Shantanu to marry Satyavati. In return he promised to give up his right to the throne for Satyavati's son.Satyavati's father thought for a while and said, "We believe in a noble prince, but what about your children? What if they covet the throne?" Hearing this, Devavrata took the grave vow that he will never marry in his life, for he would remain celibate. From then on he was known as Bhishma, the firm. Bhishma respectfully brought Satyavati to Shantanu's palace. Shantanu was elated to see Satyavati but was shocked when he heard about Bhishma's vow. He blessed Bhishma with the power to choose his time of death.

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.