Introduction

When my children were young I used to tell them stories from Indian mythology, mostly from the thrilling accounts of Mahabharatam. My son used to be a keen listener. My daughter would want to tell me a story first. By the time she finished her story I would have fallen asleep.
They have both grown up (I have not !). Now they want me to write. Here I am, ready to write. And read whatever others want to write, like my daughter, on the subject .

It will be the same Mahabharatam, to start with. And, it is something that does not end that soon, mind you.

There will also be, in between, little pieces from Sanskrit poetry and other stuff coming from ancient Indian seers. Hence, we have the title Arsha-Jnanam, meaning knowledge handed over from ancient Indian sages.

Invocation

It is traditional to start any new venture by invoking the God of (preventing) all obstacles, Ganapathy. Let me do that with a short story which I offer to him as my prayer.

At the top of hierarchy of Hindu Gods are three - Brahma, Vishnu and Siva. Siva has his consort, Parvathy. They have two sons, Ganapathy and Subrahmanya.

When the time for their marriage was near, the divine pair told their sons that there would be a test and the winner would be the first to get a bride. The contest was to go around the three worlds ahead of the other. Both agreed to the idea. Subrahmanya has the peacock as his divine vehicle and set forth on the mission at once.

Ganapathy, being the lazier of the two, started thinking. He simply went round his parents three times and said : "everyone says that you encompass all the worlds. So, going around you would be the same as going around the worlds !" The divine couple had no arguments against this logic of Ganapathy and he was declared the winner !