appearance normal again.

Garuda did this. Not only was his old appearance restored, he became stronger and swifter than he used to be. The place where Garuda bathed is a tirtha known as Garudatirtha.

Vishvamitra and Indra
Many years ago, there was a terrible drought. There was no food to be had.

The sage Vishvamitra had come to the banks of the river Goutami Ganga with his disciples. Vishvamitra’s wife, children and disciples were all hungry. The sage therefore sent his disciples out to look for food. They searched everywhere, but could find no food. The only object that they could find was the body of a dead dog. They brought this to Vishvamitra.

“We have no choice,” Vishvamitra told his disciples. “Clean the meat carefully with water. Then offer it to the gods, the sages and the ancestors. This is what we have to live on.”

Offering the meat of a dog to the gods was unheard of. Indra adopted the form of a hawk and stole the vessel in which the meat was kept. But Vishvamitra got to know about this and got ready to curse Indra. Indra was naturally scared of Vishvamitra’s curse. He changed the dog-meat into amrita (a heavenly drink) and brought the vessel back.

“I don’t want amrita,” Vishvamitra told Indra. “Bring the dog-meat back. I don’t want to have amrita when the whole world is starving for food. There is no food available and I do not see any sin in eating dog-meat. Nor should there be a sin in offering it to the gods.”

Indra was the god of rains. He realised that the only way to persuade Vishvamitra against eating the dog-meat was to make it rain so that there would be an end to the drought. Instructed by Indra, the clouds poured down rain. Vishvamitra and his disciples now consented to partake of the amrita.

The place where all this happened has come to be known as Vishvamitratirtha.

Shveta
There used to be a brahmana named Shveta. He was a friend of the sage Goutama and had a hermitage on the banks of the Goutami Ganga. Shveta was also devoted to Shiva. In due course, Shiveta died and Yama’s messengers arrived to take Shveta to Yama. But they could not even enter Shiveta’s house.

Finding that Yama’s messengers ere not returning, Yama’s companion Chitraka told Yama, “What do you think has happened? Why aren’t the messengers returning?

Yama now sent his companion Mrityu (literally death) to find out what was going on. Mrityu went to Shveta’s house and found Yama’s messengers standing outside the house. They explained that they were unable to enter the house because Shiva himself was guarding Shveta’s body.

One of Shiva’s companions asked Mrityu. “What are you doing here? What do you want?”

“I have come to take Shveta to Yama,” replied Mrityu. “His time on earth is up.”

Mrityu flung a noose to grasp Shveta’s body. But Shiva’s companion struck Mrityu with a rod and killed him. When the news of this was taken to Yama, he was furious. With all his companions he attacked Shveta’s house. Nandi, Ganesha, Kartikeya and several of Shiva’s companions came to fight on Shiva’s side, and a battle royal raged. All the gods arrived to mediate and end the strife. Things had a got a bit out of hand and Yama himself had been killed by Kartikeya.

The problem seemed to defy solution. Yama was, after all, performing his duty. But Shiva insisted that his devotees would never be taken to Yama, but would instead go straight to heaven. Shiva’s condition was finally agreed to. Nandi brought water from the Goutami Ganga and sprinkled it on Yama and the others who had died in the fighting. They were all immediately brought back to life.

Kubera
Kubera was the eldest son of the sage Vishrava. Vishrava had two wives. The fist wife give birth to Kubera. The second wife was a rakshasa (demon) woman and gave birth to Ravana, Kumbhakarna and Vibhishana. Kubera used to rule in Lanka and his relations with his cousins were extremely good. But Ravana’s mother did not like idea of her sons mixing so much with Kubera.

She called her sons and said, “What are you up to? Why do you cause me so much of pain? You are demons and Kubera is a god. Is it proper that you should be so friendly with him? The relation between gods and demons is one of enmity. Consider Kubera’s pomp and glory. Have you got anything like that to show for yourselves? Do something so as to improve your own statures.”

Thus instructed by their mother, Ravana, Kumbhakarna and Vibhishana went off to the forest to perform tapasya. They pleased Brahma with their prayers and desired the boon that they might win over the kingdom of Lanka. Ravana also obtained the boon that he would become very strong.

Thus fortified with the boons, the demons attacked Kubera and defeated him. They drove Kubera out of Lanka. Kubera possessed a beautiful vimana named pushpaka. This was also appropriated by Ravana. Ravana also made it known