50 Fun Facts About Hindu Mythology

Which avatar of Vishnu slew Hiranyakashipu, whom neither man nor beast could kill, by day or night?

Narasimha, half man and half lion, struck at twilight on a palace threshold, tearing Hiranyakashipu apart with his claws on his lap so that no clause of the demon's boon was broken.

Which god took down the Mahabharata as Vyasa dictated it, on condition that the sage never paused?

Ganesha appears as the scribe in 37 of the 59 manuscripts used for the epic's critical edition, though its editors judged the scene a late interpolation and moved it to an appendix.

Which asura, beheaded mid-sip of the gods' nectar of immortality, swallows the sun in eclipses?

Rahu's severed head lived on because the nectar had already passed his lips, and each eclipse is his recurring revenge on the sun and moon, who had informed on him.

Which brother of Ravana, tongue-tied as he asked a boon, wished for sleep instead of Indra's throne?

Kumbhakarna meant to ask for Indrasana, the throne of Indra, and said Nidrasana, a bed for sleeping; the curse was later softened to six months of sleep at a time.

Which fire-immune demoness burned on a pyre while her nephew Prahlada survived unharmed on her lap?

Holika's death is re-enacted in the bonfires lit on the eve of Holi, the spring festival of colours, celebrating the victory of Prahlada's devotion over his father Hiranyakashipu.

Which great Hindu god has hardly any temples in India, the most famous being at Pushkar, Rajasthan?

Brahma, the creator in the Trimurti, was cursed by his own wife to be worshipped only at Pushkar, which is why the god who made the world has so few shrines.

Which prophesied avatar of Vishnu rides a white horse with a fiery sword to end the current age?

Kalki's horse is named Devadatta, and his coming is said to close the Kali Yuga and restart the cycle with the Satya Yuga, an age of truth.

Which avatar of Vishnu warned Manu of a coming flood and towed his boat by its horn to safety?

Matsya first appeared as a tiny fish in Manu's cupped palms, then outgrew a pot, a tank and finally the sea before revealing the deluge to come.

Which Mahabharata patriarch, able to choose his own hour of death, lay for weeks on a bed of arrows?

Bhishma earned that boon from his father Shantanu by vowing lifelong celibacy so the king could remarry, and he waited on the arrows until the winter solstice to die.

Which Pandava refused to enter heaven without the stray dog that had followed him up the Himalayas?

Yudhishthira's dog turned out to be his father Yama in disguise, and the refusal was the second of three tests of his righteousness; the last came when he chose hell with his brothers over heaven with his cousins.

Which uprooted mountain served as the rod when gods and asuras churned the ocean of milk for nectar?

Mount Mandara was so heavy it sank to the ocean floor, so Vishnu became the tortoise Kurma and propped it on his back while the serpent Vasuki served as the rope.

Which female form of Vishnu tricked the asuras into surrendering the nectar of immortality?

Mohini later captivated Shiva himself, and their union is said to have produced the god Shasta; she also tricked the ash-demon Bhasmasura into destroying himself.

Which goddess rose from the churning of the ocean of milk and chose Vishnu as her eternal consort?

Lakshmi is held to accompany Vishnu in each of his descents to earth, appearing as Sita beside Rama and as Rukmini beside Krishna.

Which mount of Vishnu stole the amrita from Indra's heaven to free his mother Vinata from slavery?

Garuda's mother had lost a rigged bet to her co-wife Kadru, mother of a thousand serpents, and the serpents named the amrita as the price of her freedom.

Which mount of Shiva faces the shrine in nearly every Shiva temple, wishes whispered into its ear?

Nandi, the bull, is installed on the temple's central axis facing the linga by rule of the ancient Agama texts, and his name means joy.

Which white elephant carries Indra into battle and is said to bind the clouds that bring rain?

Airavata once threw to the ground a garland the sage Durvasa had presented to Indra, a slight whose curse robbed the gods of their vigour and forced the churning of the ocean.

Which six-headed war god, raised by six nursemaids and fused into one by Parvati, rides a peacock?

Kartikeya's name means 'of the Krittikas', and his peacock mount and the rooster on his banner are said to be the two halves of a demon-turned-mango-tree he split with his spear.

Which autumn festival marks Rama's return to Ayodhya with Sita after fourteen years of exile?

Diwali is also tied to Krishna's slaying of the demon Narakasura, who held 16,000 girls captive; the day before Diwali, Naraka Chaturdashi, marks his death.

What did King Vishvamitra try to seize from the sage Vasishtha, only to be routed by its army?

Kamadhenu, the cow of plenty, wiped out Vishvamitra's forces and all his sons, a humiliation that drove the king to renounce his throne and become a sage himself.

Which sage drank up the ocean to expose demons hiding in it and stopped the Vindhya range growing?

Agastya drained the sea so Indra's forces could reach the demons who had fled there after the war with Vritra, and Rama himself calls him the sage who made the Vindhyas bow.

Which queen of Ayodhya used two old boons from King Dasharatha to demand Rama's exile to the forest?

Kaikeyi had earned the boons years earlier on a battlefield where she accompanied Dasharatha against the asuras, and her hunchbacked nurse Manthara talked her into cashing them in.

Which rakshasa took the form of a golden deer with silver spots to lure Rama away from Sita?

Maricha, dying from Rama's arrow, cried out in Rama's own voice so that Sita would send Lakshmana after him, leaving her alone for Ravana to seize.

Which sister of Ravana lost her nose to Lakshmana's blade after lunging at Sita in the forest?

Shurpanakha had first proposed marriage to Rama, and her humiliation sent Ravana after Sita — the spark for the whole war of the Ramayana.

Which part of Hanuman did Ravana's guards wrap in oil-soaked cloth and set alight in Lanka?

His tail grew longer each time more cloth was added, and Hanuman then used the flames to set Lanka itself ablaze before escaping.

Which bow of Shiva did Rama break to win Sita's hand at her svayamvara in the court of King Janaka?

Pinaka had been entrusted by the gods to Janaka's ancestor Devarata for safekeeping, and the bow is first named in the Samhitas of the Yajurveda.

Which flying chariot did Ravana steal from his half-brother Kubera, and Rama later fly home in?

Pushpaka was built by the divine architect Vishvakarma and seized along with Lanka itself; after the war Rama handed the craft back to Kubera.

Which festival burns towering effigies of Ravana, packed with fireworks, to mark Rama's victory?

Dussehra, or Vijayadashami, also closes Durga Puja in eastern and southern India, where clay images of the goddess are carried in procession and immersed in rivers.

Which festival marks Krishna's midnight birth in a Mathura prison where his parents were captives?

Janmashtami fasts are broken at midnight, the hour of the birth, and the newborn was carried across the Yamuna that same night to foster parents on the far bank.

Which Kerala festival welcomes the generous asura king Mahabali back from the netherworld each year?

Onam's returning king was banished by Vishnu's dwarf avatar Vamana, who asked Mahabali for three steps of land and then covered the universe in three strides.

Which princess followed Yama, god of death, arguing until he released her husband Satyavan's soul?

Savitri wrung four boons from Yama as they walked, the last a hundred sons for herself and Satyavan — a promise he could keep only by restoring her husband to life.

Which Mahabharata hero, born with divine armour and earrings, was cast adrift in a basket by Kunti?

Karna was fostered by the charioteer Adhiratha and his wife Radha, and his birth name Vasusena means 'born with wealth' — the armour and earrings he arrived with.

Which self-taught archer gave Drona his right thumb as a fee, though the guru had refused him?

Ekalavya had trained before a clay statue of Drona and surpassed the guru's star pupil Arjuna, which is exactly why the thumb was demanded.

Which uncle of the Kauravas ran the dice game that cost the Pandavas their kingdom and freedom?

Shakuni, called the Grandmaster of Dicing, proposed the game to exploit Duryodhana's jealousy, and the youngest Pandava, Sahadeva, vowed on the spot to kill him — and did.

Which son of Arjuna learned how to enter the chakravyuha in his mother's womb, but not how to exit?

Abhimanyu broke into the formation alone at sixteen and was killed when seven great warriors attacked him at once, breaking the codes of single combat.

Which queen blindfolded herself for life after marrying the blind Kuru prince Dhritarashtra?

Gandhari, in a popular retelling, lifted the blindfold once to make her son Duryodhana's body as hard as a thunderbolt, but he covered his loins, leaving his thighs vulnerable.

Which princess of Panchala, born from her father's fire sacrifice, married all five Pandava brothers at once?

Draupadi had, in a previous life, pleased Shiva with her austerities and been promised five husbands 'equal in valour to Indra' in her next birth.

Which son of Drona did Krishna curse to roam the earth for 3,000 years after a night-time massacre?

Ashwatthama's final offence was aiming a celestial weapon at the unborn Parikshit in his mother's womb, and he was made to surrender the divine gem he had been born with on his forehead.

Which tyrant of Mathura jailed Devaki after a heavenly voice foretold her eighth son would kill him?

Kamsa killed six of Devaki's newborns, but the seventh was moved to another womb and the eighth, Krishna, returned to Mathura, dragged him from his dais by the hair and killed him exactly as foretold.

Which foster mother of Krishna, checking his mouth for stolen mud, saw the whole universe inside it?

Yashoda also once tied the naughty child to a heavy grinding mortar as punishment, only for him to drag it off and topple two trees.

Which many-headed serpent poisoning the Yamuna did the boy Krishna subdue by dancing on its heads?

Kaliya's poison had made the river boil for four leagues around, and the dance is still re-enacted in the Naga Nathaiya festival.

Which hill did Krishna lift on his little finger to shelter cowherds and cattle from Indra's storms?

Govardhan was lifted because Krishna had talked the villagers out of their yearly offering to Indra, whose wounded pride unleashed the deluge; pilgrims still walk a circuit around the hill today.

Which hunter shot the arrow that killed Krishna, having mistaken the sleeping god's foot for a deer?

Jara was forgiven by the dying god, and the pilgrimage site of Bhalka in Gujarat marks the spot where Krishna is believed to have died.

Which shape-shifting asura, boasting a boon that no man could kill him, fell to Durga's trident?

Mahishasura's defeat gave Durga the epithet Mahishasuramardini, and the Chamundi Hills are held to be the place where she killed him.

Which asura sprang anew from every drop of spilled blood, until Kali drank it before it could fall?

Raktabija had won that boon from Shiva, and once Kali had swallowed every jet of blood, Durga finished him off with her sword.

Which sage gave up his life so that Indra's thunderbolt, the Vajra, could be forged from his bones?

Dadhichi's spine became the Vajra that slew the demon Vritra, and the divine architect Vishvakarma is said to have fashioned many other weapons from the rest of his bones.

Which father of Sati snubbed Shiva at his fire sacrifice and was later revived with a goat's head?

Daksha's beheading came from Virabhadra, a fearsome being Shiva created in his fury after Sati threw herself into the sacrificial fire.

Which king's penance drew the Ganga from heaven, with Shiva's matted hair breaking the river's fall?

Bhagiratha wanted the river to wash the ashes of his 60,000 ancestors, burned by the glare of the sage Kapila when they disturbed his meditation.

Which dwarf demon lies pinned under the right foot of Shiva's Nataraja, yet must never be killed?

Apasmara embodies ignorance and the ego; killing him would upset the balance between knowledge and ignorance, so Shiva keeps him forever subdued beneath his dancing foot.

Which king, turned away from heaven for arriving alive, hangs in mid-air by Vishvamitra's power?

Trishanku's name means 'three sins', a curse from Vasishtha, and Vishvamitra built him a private heaven with a new Indra and new gods to keep him company.

Which divine clerk reads out each dead soul's deeds so that Yama can send it to heaven or hell?

Chitragupta was created when Yama complained he could not track the deeds of beings born in 8.4 million kinds of life, and he appeared holding a pen and an ink-pot.