Legends Of The East

Bolpur is 99 miles from Howrah by road and 24 miles by train from Khana junction of the Eastern Railway. Bolpur was noted from before as a big trade center. It is in the midst of an area, which has a big, traditional past. Supur, the neighboring village of Bolpur has a temple of Surath- eshwar Siva, which is said to have been regularly worshipped by the legendary Surath Raja.

There is a legend that Surath Raja had offered the sacrifice of one lakh of animals to Chandika Devi and that is why the place came to be known as Balipur laterchanged into Bolpur. Only four miles to the nort

h east of Bolpur at a village Shain there is a cold water spring known as Muni Kunda.

According to local legend this was the Ashram of Risvasringa Rishi. On Uttarayan Sankranti a large mela is held at this place. The local legend, however, mentions that Lomapada, the king of Anga induced Risvasringa’s father Vivandaka who left this place and set up a new Ashram at Vandirban. Vandirban is supposed to be a part of Birsinghapur in Birbhum district.

The image of Lord Siva that Vivandaka Rishi worshipped and obtained Siddhi (Salvation) is now known as Siddhinath or Vandeshwar, which is Birsinghapur. This is one of the Anadi lingams. Ramayan mentions Vivandaka Rishi.

Legend # 1: Once there was a princess named Daragang Magayon (Daraga means lady, Magayon is beautiful) who lived in Bicol. She’s so beautiful. She came from the family that reigns over the entire Bicol.

Because of her beauty and influence, warriors, princes and datus from different parts of the country desired to have her as their wife. But Magayon fell in love with a warrior named Handiong, a prince who came from a tribe that was, unfortunately, the rival of Magayon’s tribe. The two suffered so much from their respective family’s attempts to separate them that they finally decided to flee. Unfortunately their families found out and fought a bloody tribal war. This caused the young couple so much pain they decided together to commit suicide.

The tribes buried the lovers separately. Months passed when Magayon’s tribe saw a volcano growing in the place where Magayon was buried. They named it for Daragang Magayon. “Bulkang Magayon” describing its perfect shape like their beautiful Daraga.

Legend #2: It seems that there once lived a very beautiful native princess who had an uncle named Magayon. He was so possessive of his niece that no man dared to challenge his wrath by courting the favors of the young maiden. One day, however, a brave and virile warrior was so smitten by the princess that he threw all cares to the wind, clambered up through the window of the royal chamber a

nd enticed the girl to elope with him.

With Magayon at their heels, the couple prayed to the gods for assistance. Suddenly from out of nowhere, a landslide buried the raging uncle alive. Local folks now claim that it is Magayon’s anger bursting forth in the form of eruptions.

Source: filipina soul

For thousands of years rumours and reports have circulated that somewhere beyond Tibet, among the icy peaks and secluded valleys of Eurasia, there lies an inaccessible paradise, a place of universal wisdom and ineffable peace called Shambhala – although it is also known by other names.

James Hilton wrote about it in the 1933 book Lost Horizon, Hollywood portrayed it in the 1960s film ‘Shangri-la’, and recent films such as ‘Kundun’, ‘Little Buddha’ and ‘Seven Years in Tibet’ allude to the magical utopia. Even author James Redfield, noted for his New Age best seller The Celestine Prophecy, has written a book called The Secret of Shambhala: In Search of the Eleventh Insight.

Shambhala, which in Sanskrit means “place of peace, of tranquillity,” is thought of in Tibet as a community where perfect and semi-perfect beings live and are guiding the evolution of humanity. Shambhala is considered to be the source of the Kalachakra, which is the highest and most esoteric branch of Tibetan mysticism.

Legends say that only the pure of heart can live in Shambhala, enjoying perfect ease and happiness and never knowing suffering, want or old age. Love and wisdom reign and injustice is unknown. The inhabitants are long-lived, wear beautiful and perfect bodies and possess supernatural powers; their spiritual knowledge is deep, their technological level highly advanced, their laws mild and their study of the arts and sciences covers the full spectrum of cultural achievement, but on a far higher level than anything the outside world has attained.

By definition Shambhala is hidden. Of the numerous explorers and seekers of spiritual wisdom who attempt to locate Shambhala, none can pinpoint its physical location on a map, although all say it exists in the mountainous regions of Eurasia. Many have also returned believing that Shambhala lies on the very edge of physical reality, as a bridge connecting this world to one beyond it.

The Sanskrit and Tibetan Shambhala has also been identified by no less an authority than Alexandra David-Neel, who spent years in Tibet, with Balkh – in the far north of Afghanistan – the ancient settlement known as “the mother of cities”. Present day folklore in Afghanistan asserts that after the Muslim conquest, Balkh was known as the “Elevated Candle” (”Sham-i-Bala”), a Persianisation of the Sanskrit Shambhala.

Tibetan lamas spend a great deal of their lives in spiritual development before attempting the journey to Shambhala. Perhaps deliberately, the guidebooks to Shambhala describe the route in terms so vague that only those already initiated into the teachings of the Kalachakra can understand them.

As Edwin Bernbaum says in The Way to Shambhala:

As the traveller draws near the kingdom, their directions become increasingly mystical and difficult to correlate with the physical world. At least one lama has written that the vagueness of these books is deliberate and intended to keep Shambhala concealed from the barbarians who will take over the world.1

The lama’s reference to the barbarians “who will take over the world” is directly connected to the prophecy of Shambhala. This prophecy tells of the gradual deterioration of mankind as the ideology of materialism spreads over the earth. When the “barbarians” who follow this ideology are united under an evil king and think there is nothing left to conquer, the mists will lift to reveal the snowy mountains of Shambhala. The barbarians will attack Shambhala with a huge army equipped with terrible weapons. Then the 32nd king of Shambhala, Rudra Cakrin, will lead a mighty host against the invaders. In a last great battle, the evil king and his followers will be destroyed.

As the cultures of the East and West collide, the myth of Shambhala rises out of the mists of time. We now have access to numerous Buddhist texts on the subject, along with reports by Western explorers who set out on the arduous journey in search of Shambhala. There is much we can learn for our own individual journey of spiritual understanding.

Source: New Dawn Magazine

By: Jason Jaffrey

 The Jokhang Temple was built on the former site of a lake.  According to the legend, the lake site was chosen after many  failed attempts to build a temple in the region. Prior to this, every  time a temple was built, it would collapse. Confused by this  phenomenon, Princess Bhrikuti turned to Wen Cheng for help.  Being a learned woman, Wen Cheng told the Princess that the  geography of Tibet was very much like a hag, with the lake at the  heart. In order to build the temple, Wen Cheng advised they must  demolish the hag by filling and leveling the lake using 1,000  sheep to carry soil from a mountain far away. When the temple  was done, it was called Ra-Sa-Vphrul-Snang (’ra’ meaning sheep and ’sa’ meaning earth in Tibetan) to commemorate those sheep.

Whether the legend is true or not, this temple brought Buddhism into Tibet and became an inseparable part of Tibetan history and culture. The city of Ra-Sa grew around the temple and over time, become known as Lhasa, a holy land.

Bahirawakanda ‘the hill of Bahirawa’ with its breathtaking panoramic view of he hill capital is today a far cry from what it was a few generations back. it was then a jungle encroached green belt where lesser denizens of the wilds roamed at will. During Kandyan regime and as late as the early British period the area earned a chilling reputation as the abode of Bahirawa, an elusive demon who, it was believed, preyed upon humans.

Folk in the hinterland village held the locality under taboo, not even the most daring of poachers would venture alone into the precincts. Many were cautious in speaking of the faceless terror.

Gentrification of the area and its burgeoning development over the last 50 years or so has altered its original semblance so dramatically that today it is to Kandy what Cinnamon Gardens is to the metropolis, one of the most coveted pieces of real estate that the Kandy city boast of.

The Bahirawakanda heights command a breathtaking Disneyland view of the Kandy town in the nights when the place is lit up in all its chromatic splendour of glittering city lighting. Feast your eyes for once on this ethereal wonderland you remain transfixed for ever!

Tradition

The earliest reference to Bahirawakanda by its chilling name, ‘the hill of Bahirawa’ is recorded in a late 18th century ola scroll - ‘The Asgiri Talpotha’. It chronicles that King Parakramabahu 1 (1164-1197) honoured by his King Parakrama Bahu the Great founded hereabouts a monastic sanctuary for Buddhist priests. The southern boundary of this refuge is identified as Bahirawakanda.

It can be surmised that the name Bahirawakanda was extent prior to the early 12th century, but from what period earlier evidence is scanty.

Tradition recounts that during the Kandyan period human sacrifices were made to propitiate the demon of Bahirawakanda. The first such sacrifice is credited to the fancy of a 17th century childless queen. The queen dreamt that Bahirawa manifested himself to her in a dream and demanded a human sacrifice if she were to be with child. The king in his anxiety to beget an heir soothsayer the king decreed that a virgin of noble birth be selected as the victim.

On the evening of the appointed day the young girl was led up in a procession to a clearing in the wilderness of Bahirawakanda and left there secured to a stake. Their gruesome task accomplished the crowd deserted the place leaving the girl to her fate. Morbid terror, exhaustion and exposure to the chilly mountain air had done the work that Bahirawa was supposed to have done to her. The following morning her remains were found with the lower portion of her body severely mauled and partly eaten by those relentless scavengers of the jungles - jackals.

Last human sacrifices

The last human sacrifice to Bahirawa was in the reign of the last king of Kandy, Sri Wickrema Rajasinghe. During the latter period of his rule he was in the doldrums. Political intrigues of his ministers from within and the threat to his kingdom from without had goaded on the irascible potentate to desperation on the advice of his soothsayers he decided to review the now defunct traditional practice of the grisly sacrifice to appease the wrath of Bahirawa which he opined was the cause of his predicament.

The object of sacrifice,a comely young wench, daughter of a lesser chief was taken in a procession to the selected spot of immolation and in accordance with the traditional custom was left there secured to a stake.

This time Bahirawa was baulked of his victim. The hinge of fate turned in favour of the girl. No sooner than the crowd deserted the arena of sacrifice, the girl’s suitor disguised as a woodcutter secretly stole up to her and freed his love.

The king who slept well that night comforted by his surmise the Bahirawa was appeased and the future would augur well for him was taken by surprise when he was informed by his ministers the next morning that the girl was well and alive. He considered the event a propitious omen and offered her a golden ha

ndshake in anything she desire. She preferred her saviour who had by now fled the king’s territory fearing royal wrath. The king granted her wish.

According to one tradition the girl was rescued by one of the king’s young courtiers. Enraptured by the ravishing beauty and charm of the young girl is disguised himself as a woodcutter, crept up to her immediately after the assemblage deserted the locality and freed her. His daring feat accomplished, the gallant Lochinvar fled to Colombo with his love. He returned to his native Kandy after 1815 when the kingdom was ceded to the British.

A Thai legend tells of a hermit named Phrom Ruesi who lived in the cave for 1000 years. After such a long tome he became so friendly with the “the-wadaa”, the Buddhist equivalent of angels that the wizened sage talked them into creating magical wonders deep in the caves.

So the “the-wadaa” created a stream that flowed out of the pedestal of a solid gold Buddha, a storehouse of divine textiles, a city of nagas, a mystical lake, a sacred immortal elephant and a tomb for Phrom Ruesi.

Has anyone ever seen the magical wonders of Chiang Dao cave? The locals say they are very deep inside the mountain … far beyond any passageways ever explored. Perhaps someday?

A second legend claims that anyone taking even a small stone from the cave will become forever lost in the underground labyrinth.

A third legend tells of how a soldier went into the cave and stole a marble Buddha statue and took the image to his house. Then he had to move and he moved the Buddha … but when he moved the Buddha, his son drowned. This frightened the soldier so he gave the Buddha statue to his brother who was an Air Force pilot.

After suffering two plane crashed the brother gave the statue to his superior. Very soon later the officer lost all his property, then died. Some people took the statue to the house of it’s final “owner.”

The father of this new owner decide the Buddha statue was good and made merit to it. Shortly thereafter, the new owner’s father dies and he wife became ill. The man was wise and read about the statue, and decided to return it. That very night he had a dream. In the dream, Phrom Ruesi appeared and told the man to return the statue by train as quickly as possible or he would be doomed.

Source : Guide to Thailand

Once upon a time, the Jade Dragon, a son of the Dragon of the Eastern Sea, lived in a cave on the upper reaches of the Daixi Stream. One season he decided to visit his family by way of the Yangtze, but shortly afterwards found him lost. Changing into the form of an old man, he asked his way of a herd boy. The boy pointed north with his sickle. The dragon rushed off in that direction but again got lost, where upon he flew into a mighty rage and rushed at the mountains, causing them to crumble and dam up the river, farmlands were flooded, earthquakes toppled houses, and men and animals perished. At this moment the Goddess Yao Ji rushed to the spot on a cloud. She rebuked Jade Dragon, but he was unrepentant. She flung a string of pearls into the air; it changed into a rope that bound the dragon to the stone pillar. Yao Ji then ordered the great Da Yu, controller of rivers, to behead the murderous dragon on the nearby platform. He then diverted the river by cutting the gorge. The people of this valley have lived happily ever since.

Source : Travel China Guide

According to local folklore, the formation of the Tangkuban Parahu volcano began with a young man SANGKURIANG who fell in love with his own mother, DAYANG SUMBI.

One day, when he was hunting, Sangkuriang accidentally killed his beautiful black dog (Si TUMANG). This dog is actually Sangkuriang’s father who had been condemned to live the life of a dog by his GURU. However, Sangkuriang never knew it.

Sangkuriang had been separated by his mother since childhood. Yet, he was destined to meet his mother again. When on his way home, he stopped at a small village and met and fell in love with a beautiful girl. He didn’t realised that the village was his homeland nor that the beautiful girl was his own sacred mother (remain young & pretty).

Their love grew naturally and one day, when they were discussing their wedding plans, Dayang Sumbi suddenly realised that the profile of Sangkuriang’s head matched that of her only son’s who had left twenty years earlier. How could shee marry her own son? But she did not wish to dissapoint him by cancelling the wedding. So, although she agreed to marry Sangkuriang, she would do so only on the condition that he provide her with a lake and a boat with which they could sail on the dawn of their wedding day.

Sangkuriang accepted this condition and built a lake by damming the Citarum river. Wiath a dawn just moment away and the boat almost complete, Dayang Sumbi realised that Sangkuriang would fulfill the condition she had set. With a wave of her supernatural shawl, she lit up the eastern horizon with flashes of light. Deceived by false dawn, the cock crowed and farmers rose for the new day.

With his work not yet complete, Sangkurinag realised that his endeavour were lost. With all his anger, he kicked the boat that he himself had built. The boat fell over and, in so doing become the mountain TANGKUBAN PARAHU (in Sundanese, TANGKUBAN means upturned or upside down, and PARAHU means boat). With the dam torn assunder, the water drained from the lake becoming a wide plain and nowaday became a city called BANDUNG (from the word BENDUNG, which means Dam).

Source : Tunggal Media

A dragon emerged from the Ortanca Fountain on the slopes of Mount Albat. It refused to allow anyone near the fountain, and people went thirsty.

Seeing the people’s despair, the lord of the city took two sharp-bladed swords and went to slay the dragon. The lord held the swords out in his two hands. The dragon breathed flames from its nose, and breathing in deeply, it swallowed the lord. The lord then slew the dragon with the two swords he held, cutting it in two from its mouth to its tail.

When the lord returned home, he had the pool in his garden filled with milk, undressed and jumped in. The milk immediately curdled because of the dragon’s poison. The lord kept having milk baths until it no longer curdled, and thus freed himself of the poison.

Source : Turkey Culture

The best known legend of Langkawi is of Mahsuri, a pretty maiden who lived some 200 years ago. She died under tragic circumstances for a crime she did not commit. She died a victim of a conspiracy plotted against her out of jealousy for her magnetic personality. She was accused of committing adultery and was sentenced to death by the Chief of Langkawi, Dato Karma Jaya, her own father-in-law. As the legend goes, Mahsuri was the object of envy, of the village headman's wife Wan Mahora. She accused Mahsuri of adultery with a handsome minstrel visiting the island while Mahsuri's husband, Wan Darus, was away.

As proof of her innocence, some people say, white blood was seen gushing out of her wound during execution. Others maintain there was the sudden appearance of white mist that enveloped the spot where she was executed, which it was believed was a sign of mourning of her innocence.

Mahsuri is best remembered for her curse on Langkawi which was uttered before she died. She had said, "For this act of injustice Langkawi shall not prosper for seven generations to come."

Decades after Mahsuri's death, Langkawi experienced a period of tribulation with her population dwindling in size. The island became a desolate place, beset by series of misfortunes. It was not able to regain its splendour for a long period of time.

The curse, believed to have brought destruction and doom to the island and was to last for seven generations, lifted only after the birth of Wan Aishah.

Source: BayView Hotel Langkawi