Mahagatha 100 Tales from the Puranas

Book Title: Mahagatha 100 Tales from the Puranas

Author: Satyarth Nayak

Publisher: HarperCollins, India

Genres: Mythology, India, Spirituality, Religion, Indian Literature

About the Author:

Satyarth Nayak (born 29 October 1981) is an Indian author and screenwriter, known for his bestselling novel The Emperor’s Riddles, authoring the biography of Sridevi and scripting Sony’s historical television epic Porus. The Emperor’s Riddles was a bestselling thriller with the media calling it “a hit with young readers”. 

Porus created by Swastik Productions was one of the most expensive and acclaimed shows on Indian television. Satyarth’s biography of screen legend Sridevi titled Sridevi: The Eternal Screen Goddess published in 2019 by Penguin Random House also went on to win high praise. Satyarth has been named one of the Top 50 Indian authors to follow on social media.

About the Book

Mahagatha 100 Tales from the Puranas by Satyrath Nayak, is one of the interesting books on Hindu Mythology, that specks of the various stories of Gods and Demons. It talks about how things came into existence in this world. Life kept on involving, humans made their own decisions, and many stories became legends.

Stories that teaches us the way of life, but as time passed humans have evolved, and our way of life has been molded according to our choices and understanding.

My Thoughts

Mahagatha 100 Tales from the Puranas has become one of my favorite and most interesting books on Hindu Mythology after the Jaya Illustrated Retelling of the Mahabharat By Devdutt Pattnaik. The Magical World of Gods and Demons has always fascinated me; trust me it’s very interesting. The conversation gets more interesting when science collides with mythologies. But all this depends on your belief, how was this world created. We all know about the Big Bang theory, but what excites us the most is how this theory is interpreted in the various mythologies.

But what excites me about the Mythologies is that, the similarities that it holds. Yes, the similarities.

We all fight and debate among ourselves, discussing the greatness of our mythologies. But after reading various mythologies, I feel that we all are not so different than each other. What if the stories around the world are the same, but we hear different versions of them, according to the states, countries, or religions

Similarities between different Mythologies

 1. Creation: from Chaos or Nothingness

The Hindu god Brahma created the world.

Naturally, the most common question early humans tried to answer was how we came into being. How was the world created? According to Hindu mythology, in the beginning, only Vishnu was there. When Vishnu thought about creation, Brahma was created from a lotus that came from his navel. It was Brahma who finally created the world.

Similar creation myths involving the world being created out of chaos or a vast, empty, nothingness can be found in the myths of ancient Babylon, ancient Greece (the golden egg laid by Nyx or Night), the Book of Genesis (Elohim creating the heavens and earth in six days), and in Norse mythology (the yawning void named Ginnungagap), among numerous others.

2. Savings the savior through water

We all remember how Moses was saved through the water; when he grew up, he became the saver of the Hebrew slaves.

Lord Krishna was also saved through the water, when he grew up, he defeated and killed his uncle Kansa to free the people from his cruelty.

3. The Great Flood

A flood myth is a narrative in which a great flood, usually sent by a deity or deities, destroys civilization, often in an act of divine retribution.

In the Genesis mythology of the Hebrew Bible, Yahweh (God) decides to flood the earth because of the depth of the sinful state of mankind. That’s where we get Noah’s ark.

The Hindu myth of Manu (found in the Satapatha Brahmana and the Puranas) is similar to that of Noah’s story, albeit less popularly known today.

A similar theme is seen in the Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh, Mesopotamian flood stories, Deucalion’s story in Greek mythology, and Bergelmir in Norse Mythology.

Summary:

Do you know the story where Brahma and Vishnu race against each other or where Shiva battles Krishna? Where Indra attempts foeticide or where Rama punishes a Shudra? Do you know about Maya Sita or Narada’s monkey face? Or why Surya falls from the sky or why Chandra commits adultery?

The Puranas of Hinduism are a universe of wisdom, embodying a fundamental quest for answers that makes them forever relevant. Now, for the first time, 100 of the greatest mythological tales from these ancient texts have been handpicked and compiled into an epic illustrated edition.

Besides popular legends of devas, asuras, sages, and kings, Satyarth Nayak has dug up lesser-known stories, like the one where Vishnu is beheaded or where Saraswati curses Lakshmi, or where Harishchandra tricks Varuna.

Nayak also recounts these 100 tales in a unique chronological format, beginning with Creation in Satya Yuga and ending with the advent of Kali Yuga. Using Puranic markers, he constructs a narrative that travels through the four yugas, offering continuous and organic action.

In such a read, it is revealed that these stories are not isolated events but are linked to each other in the grand scheme of things. That every occurrence has a past and a future. A cause and effect. An interconnected cycle of karma and karma.

Delving into the minds of gods, demons, and humans alike, Mahagatha seeks a deeper understanding of their motivations. The timelessness of their impulses speaks across the eons to readers of today. Written in lively prose with charming illustrations, these 100 tales will entertain and enlighten, you and make you connect the dots of Hindu mythology like never before.

Happy Reading !!!