Temple on Pitara Kids Network

The Story of Dussehra

Sun, 10 Nov 2002 05:13:15 +0000

Dussehra, also called Vijayadashmi (or Bijoya in Bengal), is the culmination of the nine-day Navaratri celebrations. It is a festival that marks the killing of Ravana, his son Meghanatha and brother Kumbhakarna, by Rama. It is seen as the vistory of good over evil

The Ramayana

The epic Ramayana, describes the story of Rama. Rama was the exiled prince of the kingdom of Ayodhya. While in exile, he lived in the forest with his wife Sita and brother Lakshmana. One day Sita was abducted by Ravana, the demon king of Lanka. Rama, assisted by an army of monkeys and Lakshmana, attacked Lanka to rescue her.

My Trip to Nainital

Mon, 25 May 1998 23:16:50 +0000

Satyanshu Mohan is student St. Joseph’s Intermediate College at Allahabad and is studying in class four. Here he recounts his trip to Nainital with his family.

Nainital is a beautiful hill station in Himalayas. My father is very fond of Nainital. This year we went just after Deepawali to Nainital on a short trip. There is no direct suitable connection by train to Nainital from Allahabad so we first went to Rampur and then from there we took a train to Kathgodam.

Ratha Yatra

Sat, 21 Nov 1998 06:25:30 +0000

Excerpts from the book “Festivals of India”
Published by National Book Trust, India.

Festivals bring large numbers of people together in a spirit of joy or devotion, or both. But there is one festival that combines joy and devotion with physical rigour. This is the Car Festival of Lord Jagannath at Puri, in Orissa, popularly known as the Rath Yatra. On this occasion devotees join hands to pull the massive chariots of their deities over a three-kilometre distance.

The Honest Thief

Thu, 08 Jun 2000 12:49:46 +0000

There was once a cunning thief, Bhairav, who always planned his moves carefully. One day he decided to rob the holy men who came to the local temple from far off lands for the temple’s annual festival. He calculated that all these people came from distant towns, so they must be carrying lots of money.

So Bhairav dressed up like a holy man and went to attend the festival. At the temple, he slowly made friends with one particular person who appeared to be wealthy. After spending a few days at the temple, the thief and holy man became friends. The thief was so impressed by the nature of his new friend that he did not want to rob him any more. So much so, that he confessed the original reason for his friendship to the holy man. Surprisingly, the holy man did not call the police. Instead, he gave the stunned Bhairav some of his money.

Double it up!

Wed, 02 Oct 2002 06:37:23 +0000

Raju and Savitri lived in Tanjore in the state of Tamil Nadu. Raju worked in the rice fields of a local landlord or zamindar for six months a year. In turn, he received four sacks of rice as salary. He would then sell three of them in the local market and keep one sack for himself for food.

At the local market he would exchange the rice for vegetables, flour, and groceries. Savitri would do the cooking and washing and look after the home.

Winter Festivals around the World

Tue, 23 Sep 2003 12:34:32 +0000

In two weeks it will be the winter solstice (literally means sun standing still) when we have the shortest day and the longest night. Because of the earth’s rotation there are two solstices, one in June and one in December. To us in the Northern Hemisphere who live above the equator, the winter solstice occurs either on the 20th, 21st or 22nd of December.

To those who live below the equator in the Southern Hemisphere, the sun is directly above the Tropic of Capricorn and it is summer time in Brazil and Australia. So while it’s snowing heavily and people are making snowballs and snowmen in America and Europe, Australians are happily surfing the sea and Santa Claus in Sydney is perhaps sweating it out in his fur trimmed suit.

The Wise Doves

Sat, 16 May 1998 03:34:17 +0000

Once upon a time, there lived many doves in the jungle. One day they went out in search of food. They flew long distances but did not get anything to eat. All of them were now completely exhausted.

A young dove asked the King Dove, “Your majesty, please permit us to take some rest.”

The king replied, “Have courage, my dear young fellow. We shall definitely get something to eat very soon.”

The Wise Doves [Illustrations by Amarjeet Malik]

The young dove started flapping his wings with force and soon left everyone behind.

Two Girls and a Lotus

Tue, 10 Nov 1998 10:08:41 +0000

On top of a three-hundred-foot hill was a quaint old temple. A hunched, old man performed puja here. Enshrined in the centre of the temple was a beautiful idol. Usha and Lalita, two good friends, enjoyed talking to the kindly temple priest and watching him adorn the beautiful idol with multicoloured flowers.

Often in the morning, Usha and Lalita climbed the hill, dancing between the rhododendron bushes, jumping, singing and playing hide-and-seek. Woken from its slumber, a dovelet would coo sleepily, “Coo! How noisy these Brobdingangian doves are!” A squirrel would skip past, flicking its bushy tail and chattering, “Audacity! They dare show me how to play hide-and-seek!” A bright, yellow warbler, flying overhead, would trill, “Silly modern girls! Their frocks are the colour of my undercoat. Are they just trying to tease me?”

Excerpts From 'The world of trees'

Thu, 07 Nov 1996 05:51:09 +0000

This is a remarkable book on trees – trees which are not just ‘described’ to you in words as having branches, leaves and sweet-smelling flowers, but trees which you can actually ‘see’ as you read. Big trees, tall trees, stately trees….all come alive with the cries and activities of the numerous birds and insects living on them, the age old myths associated with them and the author’s personal comments, witty and insightful. Indeed, in many places, especially in villages in India, trees are quite inseparable from the way of life of the people.

How to Bell a Thief

Thu, 29 Nov 2001 08:30:23 +0000

Sonapur was a small village. It was famous for its little temple. The temple had no deity. All it had was the imprint of a pair of feet. According to folklore, these were of a pious sage. A diya burned brightly, night and day. Seven beautiful bells hung in the little temple, gleaming brightly in the light cast by the diya.

The villagers of Sonapur were content and happy. Their fields yielded abundant crops. Earnings were enough to meet the needs of each family.

Monkey Business

Mon, 08 Dec 1997 14:15:23 +0000

A temple was being built in a town. There were many different workmen busy with their work. The masons were building the walls. The sculptor was finishing the idols. And the carpenters were making wooden frames from logs of wood.

In the afternoon, all the workmen used to sit together for lunch. One day while the workmen were eating, a group of monkeys came to the temple site. They started playing with the things the workmen had left behind. One monkey came upon a log of wood, on which a carpenter had been working. Before going for lunch, the carpenter had cut through half of it. He had inserted a wedge, a small piece of wood, inside the half-cut log. That way the two sides of the cut log would not come together again.

The Beggar who is a Money Lender

Fri, 26 Oct 2001 13:55:29 +0000

August 5: A beggar is someone who is so poor that she has to beg people for money. For, she generally has little that belongs to her. No money to buy food, no proper shelter to live in, not even perhaps, two sets of clothes to wear.

Or, at least that’s what we’re told to believe.

But Bhanwari Sethani forces us to take a new look at the tired, old pictures of the beggar that we have in our mind. Bhanwari Sethani is a beggar all right. But at the same time, she is also a money lender. And she has made all her riches in the begging profession. So much so that the popular Hindi word for rich woman, ‘Sethani’ has been added to her name.

Why Monkeys Mean Trouble

Fri, 16 Feb 2001 07:13:55 +0000

In the village of Sholingur in Tamil Nadu, is a temple dedicated to the Hindu monkey god Hanuman. The temple is on top of a small hill. In and around the hill in the thick forest live a group of monkeys. All they do is scare people and create trouble — even when people worship them as symbols of Hanuman. And there’s a story behind why they create trouble.…

The story goes back a long time. In the village lived an old couple. The old woman would make delicious sweets every day and take them to the market where her husband sat at a stall and sold them.

The 'Jawabi Keertan'

Fri, 12 Apr 2002 20:30:33 +0000

I saw it 23 years ago, but the incident is as fresh in my mind as if it happened yesterday. I was seven years old then and staying with my grandmother in Shahjahanpur, a sleepy little town in western Uttar Pradesh. The nearest big city, Bareilly, known for its glass bangles industry, was one hour away.

It was the month of July and most people found it difficult to do anything beyond wiping the sweat off their brows. But one day, the whole town was buzzing with excitement, especially in and around the railway station. The reason was pretty clear: the Jawabi Keertan was round the corner!

The Priest's Successor

Thu, 08 Jul 1999 03:09:22 +0000

There was once a famous temple, high up in the hills of Assam. The priest of this temple was widely respected and known to be a great scholar. When he grew very old, he started searching for a younger priest who could take charge of the temple after his death. But, much to his dismay, he could not find any suitable person. As the priest lay on his deathbed, he called the trustee of the temple and told him, “After my death, make sure that only a “human being” replaces me as priest of this temple.” Saying that the priest died.

The Master of 'Mithaai'

Sun, 25 Feb 2001 13:34:54 +0000

It was the summer of 1997. I was travelling through the villages of
West Bengal in search of the famed folk musicians of Bengal. They were simple people who journeyed from village to village, singing and performing.

But something happened along the way…

The afternoon sun was at its height when I reached Kankalitala, in the northwestern part of West Bengal. The temple in Kankalitala is very popular among the worshippers of Goddess Kali. The temple is located right next to a river called Kopai, a beautiful
silent river that is known to get naughty sometimes during the monsoons. There were very few people about, for almost all of Bengal sleeps in the afternoon.

His Master's Voice

Tue, 25 Dec 2001 12:50:37 +0000

Over seventy years ago, a 15-year-old boy recorded an anthem, ‘His Master’s Voice’. He never recorded another song after that but the enduring appeal of the song ensured the immortality of the composer to be etched in memory forever.

‘His Master’s Voice’ went on to become an instant hit. Did the boy then go on to make a lot of money in record deals? No. Unfortunately, it was not so easy to become rich then. No matter how talented one may be. So the boy continued to lead an ordinary middle-class life until his death. But his song continued to give pleasure to millions of people more than any pop song recorded by a teenage singing sensation.

The Case of the Stonemasons

Mon, 07 Jul 2003 00:29:34 +0000

December 27: Last year, 10 stonemasons had been taken from Udaipur to London to build a temple. Overjoyed with this opportunity to earn more money, they went along willingly. But what did they get there? Just a dirty shack to live in and only 20 pence an hour.

The stonemasons did not know that they were being exploited. However, they did know that they were being treated badly. The moment they reached London, their passports were taken away from them. Then they were threatened that they would have to go back to India on their own if they disobeyed their ’employers'.