India has a very ancient tradition of stories. There are a number of short legends in Brahman; Upanishads and Nirukta. Ramayan and Mahabharat contain many stories. Brihad Devata is the oldest existing collection of Vedic legends. Katha Sarit Sagar, Pancha Tantra and Hitopadesh belong to a later period of good Indian stories. The Mahabharat is a mine of stories. There are hundreds of stories some of which are the finest specimen of short stories eg. Usinara and the Pigeon, Satyavan-Savitri, Nal-Damyanti etc. the Mahabharat depicts the post Vedic society with all its characteristics. Some of the descriptions appear to us today somewhat strange. But they were perhaps relished during those times. Religion seemed to dominate all aspects of life-social, political and economic. The stories have a tendency to point towards the need for moral behaviour. There is great importance of Yajna, Mantras and asceticism. They are believed to result in great merit and even amazing spiritual power. The whole world seemed to be afraid of a curse of an ascetic. Apart from Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh, a number of other lesser gods like Kuber, the god of wealth, Ganesh, the god of learning, Karttikeya, the god of war, Laxmi, the goddess of wealth, and Durga, the goddess of destroyer of the wicked frequently appear on the stage.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR S.N. Sharma
Sudhindra Nath Sharma, M.Sc., FRHS, is a nature scientist with over four decades of varied experiences in the field of applied life sciences. Environmental protection, pest control operations, horticultural landscaping as well as the culture and cultivation of orchids, and other useful herbal flora of the Northeast Indian States have sustained his interest all along. After obtaining his M.Sc. degree from A.M.U. in 1951 he initially taught life sciences in Cotton College, Cuwahati, and later at the Assam Agricultural College (now University), until 1959. Here he was closely associated with some research projects and published several papers and articles. Thereafter, between 1960 and 1987, he served as a Senior Executive of the erstwhile Assam Oil Company/Burmah Oil Company Ltd., Digboi (Assam), which later became IOC Ltd. (Assam Oil Division) in 1981. Here he served in various departments like Marketing, Administration, Industrial Relations and Refinery Operations. Associated with the Horticultural and Orchid Societies of Digboi and Duliajan (Oil India) and the tea circles of the Upper Assam districts. Widely travelled abroad between 1992 and 2001, he and his wife jointly acquired adequate knowledge in USA and the UK on the culture and propagation of orchids and some useful aromatic and medicinal plants of those countries. He is a Fellow of the Royal Horticultural Society of London, besides, he and his wife are also members of the Horticultural Societies of UK and India. He is presently working on another publication entitled-"Some Beautiful Orchids of Assam and other Northeast Indian States.
There are no reviews yet.