Katha

Read authentic sacred Kathas from the Ramayana, Mahabharata, Shiva Purana, Bhagavata Purana and more — complete narrative texts with devotional significance and spiritual commentary in 28 languages. Free reading.

The Making of the Guru Granth Sahib

Guru Arjan Dev compiled the Adi Granth in 1604; Guru Gobind Singh completed it in 1706 and declared it the eternal Guru at Nanded in 1708.

The Enlightenment of the Buddha at Bodh Gaya

Under the Bodhi tree, Siddhartha resolved not to rise until he found the truth, withstood Mara's temptations, and awakened to the Four Noble Truths.

The Navkar Mantra

Jainism's Central Prayer

The Ramayana

Rama's Exile and Triumphant Return

The Birth of Krishna

Born the eighth child of Devaki in a prison cell, Krishna was carried across a parting Yamuna River by Vasudeva to escape the tyrant Kansa's death sentence.

The Life of Mahavira

Prince to Omniscient Teacher

Sikh Rehat Maryada

The Code of Conduct

The Three Jewels

Buddha, Dharma, Sangha

The Birth of Ganesha

How Parvati created Ganesha, and how he came to have the head of an elephant.

The First Sermon at Sarnath

At the Deer Park in Sarnath, the Buddha gave his first teaching to five former companions, setting the Wheel of Dharma in motion with the Four Noble Truths.

Kirtan

Singing the Guru Granth Sahib's Hymns

Paryushan Parva

The Jain Festival of Forgiveness

The Birth of the Khalsa at Vaisakhi 1699

In 1699 at Anandpur Sahib, Guru Gobind Singh called for heads, then revealed the Panj Pyare alive, founding the Khalsa and its Five Ks.

The Four Sights and the Great Renunciation

Sheltered Prince Siddhartha saw an old man, a sick man, a corpse, and an ascetic outside his palace, then rode away at midnight to seek the end of suffering.

Ahimsa

The Heart of Jain Doctrine

Navratri

The Nine Nights of the Goddess

Holi

Legend and Significance

The Buddha's Final Days and Parinirvana

At eighty, the Buddha ate his last meal from Cunda, taught be a lamp unto yourselves, and passed between the twin sal trees at Kushinagar.

The Three Jewels of Jainism

Ratnatraya

Vaisakhi

The Sikh Spring Festival and Birth of the Khalsa

The Birth and Childhood of Guru Nanak

Born in 1469, young Nanak's meditative stillness, once protected by a cobra's shade, convinced the local landlord Rai Bular he was no ordinary child.

The Birth of Hanuman

Anjana's penance to Shiva and Vayu's gift of sacred payasam brought Hanuman into the world, who as a child tried to swallow the sun itself.

The Five Mahavratas

Jain Monastic Vows

The Four Noble Truths

The Buddha's Path to Ending Suffering

Guru Nanak's Enlightenment at the Kali Bein

In 1499, Guru Nanak entered the Kali Bein river and emerged three days later transformed, declaring there is no Hindu, there is no Muslim.

The Mahabharata

The War at Kurukshetra

The Noble Eightfold Path Explained

First taught in the Buddha's inaugural sermon at Sarnath, the Noble Eightfold Path sets out eight interdependent steps toward the end of suffering.

Pratikramana

The Jain Practice of Introspection and Repentance

The Birth of the Buddha

Born at Lumbini after Queen Maya's dream of a white elephant, the infant Siddhartha was foretold by the sage Asita to become either a great king or a Buddha.

Ganga Avatarana

The Descent of the Ganga

Guru Gobind Singh

Tenth Guru and Founder of the Khalsa

The Twenty-Four Tirthankaras

Jainism's Ford-Makers

Angulimala

A Story of Transformation

The Five Ks (Panj Kakar) of Sikhism

The Five Ks are the visible articles of faith Guru Gobind Singh gave the Khalsa in 1699, each one a lived reminder of a specific spiritual commitment.

Parshvanatha

The 23rd Tirthankara's Compassion

Samudra Manthan

The Churning of the Ocean

Anandpur Sahib

Birthplace of the Khalsa

Kisa Gotami and the Mustard Seed

A grieving mother seeks a mustard seed to revive her dead son and learns, house by house, that death spares no family, per Dhammapada verse 114.

The Life of Rishabhanatha, First Tirthankara

Rishabhanatha, the first of the twenty-four Tirthankaras, taught humanity the arts of civilization before renouncing his kingdom to attain liberation.

Bodh Gaya and the Bodhi Tree

Bodh Gaya marks where Siddhartha Gautama attained enlightenment beneath the Bodhi Tree, commemorated by Ashoka's Mahabodhi Temple.

Neminatha

The Twenty-Second Tirthankara

The Martyrdom of Guru Arjan Dev

Guru Arjan Dev, the fifth Sikh Guru, compiled the Adi Granth and built Harmandir Sahib. His calm acceptance of a torturous death in 1606 became Sikhism's first martyrdom.

Anathapindika and the Jetavana Monastery

Anathapindika bought Prince Jeta's grove by covering it entirely in gold coins, building the Jetavana Monastery where the Buddha spent nineteen rainy seasons.

Bahubali and Bharata

A Tale of Renunciation

The Martyrdom of Guru Tegh Bahadur

Hind di Chadar

Emperor Ashoka's Conversion to Buddhism

After the Kalinga War's devastation, Ashoka renounced conquest by force for conquest by Dhamma, and his edicts and missions carried Buddhism across Asia.

The Sahibzade

Sons of Guru Gobind Singh

Shatrunjaya Hill

Jainism's Sacred Mountain

Bhai Kanhaiya

Service Without Sides

Jain Cosmology

The Three Worlds of Lok Purush

Vipassana Meditation

The Path of Insight

Digambara and Svetambara

The Two Jain Traditions

Guru Nanak's Udasis

The Great Journeys

Baba Deep Singh's Martyrdom

At seventy-five, Baba Deep Singh vowed to reach and restore a desecrated Harmandir Sahib, and fulfilled that vow even after a mortal wound.

Chandanbala

Mahavira's First Female Disciple

Guru Ram Das and the Founding of Amritsar

The fourth Sikh Guru, Ram Das, founded the city later named Amritsar around a sacred pool, the Amrit Sarovar, that his son Guru Arjan Dev would complete around the Golden Temple.

Samayika

The Jain Practice of Equanimity

Acharya Bhadrabahu and the Compilation of Jain Scripture

Bhadrabahu, the last Shrutakevali to hold the Jain canon complete in memory, presided over the famine that split Jain memory of him between Karnataka and Nepal.

Guru Amar Das

Langar and Equality Reforms

Guru Angad Dev

Gurmukhi, Fitness, and Langar

Sallekhana

The Jain Vow of a Peaceful Death

The Blind Men and the Elephant

A Jain Parable of Anekantavada

Guru Har Rai and Guru Har Krishan

Compassion and Young Wisdom

Guru Hargobind and the Doctrine of Miri-Piri

After his father's execution, Guru Hargobind wore two swords, Miri and Piri, at the new Akal Takht, uniting temporal and spiritual authority in one Guru.

Sthulibhadra

Self-Restraint and Scripture's Guardian

Varshitap

Jainism's Year-Long Fasting Practice

Abhinandananatha, the Golden Tirthankara of Ayodhya

The fourth Tirthankara, born with golden radiance to King Samvara and Queen Siddhartha at Ayodhya, traded his throne for the harder crown of liberation.

Ajitanatha, the Invincible Tirthankara

Ajitanatha, born to King Jitashatru and Queen Vijaya at Ayodhya, became the second Tirthankara whose name declares victory over inner enemies, not outer ones.

Anantanatha, the Infinite Lord

The fourteenth Tirthankara, born to King Sinhasena and Queen Suyasha at Ayodhya, renounces a vast kingdom for the boundless liberation his name had promised.

Aranatha, Third of the Warrior-Kings

Aranatha, the eighteenth Tirthankara, is recorded in Kalpa Sutra chapter 1 as one of three Tirthankaras who reigned as Chakravartin before renouncing empire.

Avalokiteshvara, the Bodhisattva of Compassion

Avalokiteshvara vowed never to rest until every being was free from suffering, and his thousand arms and eleven heads emerged from that very vow.

Ayyanar, Guardian of the Village Gates

Ayyanar, born of Shiva and Vishnu's Mohini form, rides Tamil village edges by night, and devotees answer with towering clay horses of their own making.

Ayyappa and the Sabarimala Pilgrimage

Manikandan, born of Shiva and Mohini, defeats the demoness Mahishi and enshrines himself at Sabarimala, origin of Kerala's 41-day Mandala vratham.

Chandraprabha, the Moonlit Tirthankara

Chandraprabha, born at Chandrapuri under the sign of the moon, became the eighth Tirthankara whose name, moonlight, teaches that calm is liberation's foundation.

Dattatreya, the Three-in-One Guru

How Anasuya's chastity moved the Trimurti to be reborn as her son Dattatreya, one guru of creation, preservation, and dissolution, revered as yoga's Adi Guru.

Dharmanatha, Lord of Righteousness

Dharmanatha, the fifteenth Tirthankara, born to King Bhanu and Queen Suvrata at Ratnapuri, carries in his own name the word that anchors this land's moral vocabulary.

Hanuman Chalisa Origin

Tulsidas's 40 Days of Surrender

Jagannath and the Unfinished Form

The story of how King Indradyumna commissioned the divine images of Jagannath, Balabhadra, and Subhadra, and why the celestial carpenter Vishwakarma left them forever without hands and feet.

Kanakadhara Stotram

Shankara and the Golden Amla

Khandoba and the Defeat of Malla and Mani

Shiva manifests as the warrior Khandoba on the hill of Jejuri to defeat the demon brothers Malla and Mani, becoming Maharashtra's most beloved family deity.

Kunthunatha, the Emperor Who Renounced the World

Kunthunatha, the seventeenth Tirthankara and sixth Chakravartin, who renounced a universal empire with nothing left to conquer, to seek liberation.

Maha Mrityunjaya Mantra

Origin and Markandeya's Story

Mallinatha and the Golden Statue

Mallinatha used a golden statue hollowed with rotting food to teach six royal suitors the impermanence of beauty, becoming the 19th Tirthankara.

Manjushri and the Sword of Wisdom

Manjushri carries a flaming sword to cut through ignorance and a scripture of wisdom in his other hand, revered across Mahayana Buddhism as insight itself.

Munisuvrata, in Whose Age Rama Lived

The story of the twentieth Tirthankara, born to King Sumitra and Queen Padmavati at Rajgir, in whose distant era Jain tradition places the events later retold in its own Ramayana, the Paumacariya.

Murugan and the Defeat of Tarakasura

How Shiva's six-faced son Murugan (Kartikeya) was born to lead the gods against the invincible demon Tarakasura, and became the Vel-wielding commander worshipped across Tamil Nadu's six sacred abodes.

Naminatha, the Lily Untouched by Mud

Naminatha, the twenty-first Tirthankara, born at Mithila and remembered by the blue water lily that rises clear from the mud that feeds it.

Neminatha and the Renunciation at Girnar

How Neminatha, cousin of Krishna, renounced his own wedding on hearing the cries of animals gathered for the feast, and attained omniscience and liberation on Mount Girnar as the 22nd Tirthankara.

Padmaprabha, the Lord of the Lotus

Padmaprabha, born at Kosambi under the sign of a red lotus, became the sixth Tirthankara, a life whose symbol teaches that purity rises untouched from worldly mud.

Padmasambhava and the Taming of Tibet

Padmasambhava, miraculously born from a lotus, tamed Tibet's hostile spirits, founded Samye Monastery, and established Vajrayana Buddhism as the second Buddha.

Pushpadanta, the Tirthankara of Two Names

Pushpadanta, the ninth Tirthankara, born at Kakandi, is remembered by two names: Pushpadanta for his flower-like teeth, and Suvidhinatha for his unwavering right conduct.

Radha, the Embodiment of Divine Love

Radha, the cowherd girl of Barsana whose longing for Krishna in Vrindavan is worshipped as Bhakti's highest, most complete form of divine love.

Rishabhanatha, the First Tirthankara

Rishabhanatha, born to King Nabhi and Queen Marudevi, taught civilization its arts before renouncing his throne to become the first of the 24 Tirthankaras.

Sambhavanatha and the Return of Plenty

The third Tirthankara was named Sambhavanatha, possibility, after his conception in Queen Susena's womb coincided with the end of a famine gripping Shravasti.

Shantinatha, the Lord of Peace

Shantinatha, born at Hastinapur the instant an epidemic vanished, ruled as a Chakravarti emperor before becoming the 16th Tirthankara, revered as the queller of calamity.

Shitalanatha and the Cooling Touch

The tenth Tirthankara, born to King Dridharatha and Queen Nanda, named for a cooling touch that Jain tradition holds relieved his father's incurable fever.

Shiva Tandava Stotram

Ravana and Kailash Story

Shreyansanatha, Lord of the Highest Good

The eleventh Tirthankara, born to King Vishnu and Queen Vishnadevi at Simhapuri, near the ground where the Buddha would later give his first sermon.

Sumatinatha and the Wisdom in the Womb

Queen Mangala, pregnant with the fifth Tirthankara, settles a bitter custody dispute with a ruse worthy of Solomon, and names her son for the wisdom it revealed.

Suparshvanatha and the Falling Leaves

Suparshvanatha, born at Varanasi, renounced his throne after watching leaves fall, becoming the seventh Tirthankara through the plainest of life's lessons.

Tara, Born from Compassionate Tears

How Green Tara was born from a lotus growing in a lake of tears wept by Avalokiteshvara, who despaired that suffering beings remained endless.

Thiruppavai

Andal's Margazhi Origin and Story

Vasupujya, the Prince Who Never Was King

Vasupujya, the twelfth Tirthankara, renounced the world as a prince and reached liberation at his own birthplace of Champapuri, per Kalpa Sutra chapter 1.

Venkateswara and the Eternal Debt

How Lord Venkateswara, enshrined atop the seven hills of Tirumala, took a vast loan from Kubera to marry Padmavati — a divine debt devotees still help repay through their offerings to this day.

Vimalanatha, the Stainless Lord

Vimalanatha, born at Kampilya, was named 'the stainless lord' for a purity visible even before birth, becoming the thirteenth Tirthankara.