Dharma Katha

Bhaskar Pandey

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Hinduism

Stories of ancestors, devotion and dharma, retold from the Ramayana, Mahabharata, Upanishads and Puranas. Season 1 follows Pitru Paksha: the debt to our ancestors, the soul's journey, Nachiketa and Yama, Savitri, Gaya, Karna and more. Every episode names its source and says whether it comes from scripture, a Purana, or oral tradition. Narrated in English with context for listeners new to the tradition. Also available in Hindi: Dharma Katha (Hindi).

4h ago

The Mouse Who Lit a Lamp

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode! Dharma Katha · Season 4: The Road to Diwali · Episode 144 A temple at midnight. Old stone, cold floor. Everyone has gone home. In front of the shrine, one clay lamp is still burning. But it is almost out. The ghee is low. The wick has burned down into the oil. The flame is a small blue bead, flickering. And in the dark, near the wall, something moves. A mouse. Missed the previous story? Listen to Episode 143 first. Source note. Label: tradition. The story of the mouse who pulled up a lamp's wick in a temple during Kartik, and was reborn as King Bali, is told in Kartik deepdaan tradition and retellings of the Kartika Mahatmya, and is attributed to the Skanda Purana; versions differ on the temple and on who the mouse became, and I have not verified it against a critical edition. The reflections are my own. Note: this episode is narrated with an AI voice and the script was written with AI assistance. Sanskrit verses are checked against published editions; corrections are welcome.
1d ago

Why We Clean for Diwali: Lakshmi's Elder Sister

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode! Dharma Katha · Season 4: The Road to Diwali · Episode 143 Four days to Dhanteras. In millions of homes, the cupboards are open, the mattresses are out in the sun, and someone is standing on a chair, wiping a fan that has not been wiped since last Diwali. Ask anyone why, and they will say: Lakshmi does not come to a dirty house. But the old stories say something more interesting. They say it is not only about Lakshmi. It is about her sister. Missed the previous story? Listen to Episode 142 first. Source note. Label: Purana. Jyeshtha or Alakshmi emerging from the churning of the ocean before Lakshmi, her marriage to a sage, her refusal to enter his hermitage, and her list of the homes where she lives, are told in the Padma Purana and the Linga Purana; the details and the sage's name differ between texts. The sending away of Alakshmi in Bengal and the lemon and chillies at shop doors are living tradition. The reflections are my own. Note: this episode is narrated with an AI voice and the script was written with AI assistance. Sanskrit verses are checked against published editions; corrections are welcome.
2d ago

Ahoi Ashtami: A Mother's Vow Under the Stars

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode! Dharma Katha · Season 4: The Road to Diwali · Episode 142 It is evening, the first of November. On a wall in a small house, a woman is drawing with red ochre. A goddess, inside a frame of eight corners. Beside her, a strange little animal covered in quills. And around the animal, its babies, one by one. She has not eaten since dawn. She has not drunk water. And she will not, until the first stars come out tonight. Missed the previous story? Listen to Episode 141 first. Source note. Label: tradition. The story of the woman, the porcupine cubs and her seven sons, the Ahoi Mata drawing, the fast until the stars appear and the offering to the stars, are Ahoi Ashtami vrat katha and practice in North Indian households; tellings differ. The midnight bath at Radha Kund on this night is Braj tradition. In 2026 most almanacs give Ahoi Ashtami on November first; some give the second. The reflections are my own. Note: this episode is narrated with an AI voice and the script was written with AI assistance. Sanskrit verses are checked against published editions; corrections are welcome.
3d ago

Eight Days to Diwali: What Comes Next

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode! Dharma Katha · Season 4: The Road to Diwali · Episode 141 The last day of October. In eight days, the darkest night of the month, the new moon of Kartik, and the brightest night of the year's festivals. Diwali. The shops are full of clay lamps and strings of lights. Someone on your street has already started bursting crackers, too early, as someone always does. And in many homes, the cleaning is half done, the sweets are being planned, and the old question is being asked: what should we buy on Dhanteras this year? Let us stop for a moment, and look back at the road. Missed the previous story? Listen to Episode 140 first. Source note. Label: retelling. This episode recalls the season's episodes from one hundred and twenty to one hundred and forty, with their episode numbers, without adding new material; sources for each are given in its own episode. The Diwali-week dates for 2026 are from published almanacs: Dhanteras November 6, Naraka Chaturdashi November 7, Diwali and Lakshmi Puja November 8, Govardhan Puja November 9, Bhai Dooj November 10. The reflections are my own. Note: this episode is narrated with an AI voice and the script was written with AI assistance. Sanskrit verses are checked against published editions; corrections are welcome.
3d ago

Lakshmi Rises from the Ocean

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode! Dharma Katha · Season 4: The Road to Diwali · Episode 140 Think of a picture you may have seen a thousand times, on a calendar, on a wedding card, carved over the doorway of a temple, printed on a box of Diwali sweets. A woman, seated on a lotus that floats on water. In her hands, more lotuses. Gold coins falling from her palm. And on either side of her, two white elephants, raising golden pots in their trunks, pouring water over her, like a fountain. That picture is a moment in a story. It is the moment just after she came up out of the sea. Missed the previous story? Listen to Episode 139 first. Source note. Label: Purana. The churning of the ocean with Mandara and Vasuki, the asuras at the head and gods at the tail, Vishnu as the tortoise, the order of what emerged, the serpents taking the poison, Dhanvantari with the amrita, Shri rising on a lotus, her honouring by sages, rivers, the ocean, Vishvakarma and the elephants of the directions, her going to Vishnu's chest, Indra's hymn and her two boons, and her companionship with Vishnu as Padma, Dharani, Sita and Rukmini, follow the Vishnu Purana, Amsha one, chapter nine. Shiva drinking the halahala, and Lakshmi choosing her husband by finding flaws in all but Vishnu, are from the Bhagavata Purana, Skandha eight, chapters seven and eight. Mohini is in both traditions. Dhanvantari worship on Dhanteras is living tradition. The hymn is summarised, not quoted. The reflections are my own. Note: this episode is narrated with an AI voice and the script was written with AI assistance. Sanskrit verses are checked against published editions; corrections are welcome.
4d ago

Durvasa's Garland: How Heaven Lost Lakshmi

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode! Dharma Katha · Season 4: The Road to Diwali · Episode 139 A sage is walking along the road, and around his neck is a garland of flowers so fragrant that the whole forest smells of it. His name is Durvasa. And if you know the Puranas, that name alone should make you nervous. Durvasa is the sage of the short temper. Kings tremble when he arrives. Shakuntala was cursed by him for not hearing him at the door. He is great, and holy, and very easily offended. And today, he is in a good mood. He has the garland. And coming down the road toward him, on a huge white elephant, is the king of the gods. Missed the previous story? Listen to Episode 129 first. Source note. Label: Purana. The story of Durvasa, the garland of santanaka flowers from the vidyadhari, Indra on Airavata, the garland thrown down and trampled, Durvasa's curse and his refusal to relent, the departure of Shri and the withering of the three worlds, the defeat of the gods, their going to Brahma and to Vishnu, and Vishnu's counsel to make peace with the asuras and churn the ocean of milk, follow the Vishnu Purana, Amsha one, chapter nine. Other Puranas tell the beginning of the churning differently. Durvasa's curse on Shakuntala is from Kalidasa's play Abhijnana Shakuntalam. Cleaning the house for Lakshmi before Diwali is living tradition. Dialogue is close paraphrase. The reflections are my own. Note: this episode is narrated with an AI voice and the script was written with AI assistance. Sanskrit verses are checked against published editions; corrections are welcome.
4d ago

Vrinda: The Woman Who Became Tulsi

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode! Dharma Katha · Season 4: The Road to Diwali · Episode 138 In millions of Indian homes, there is a small plant growing in a raised pot in the courtyard, or on a balcony, or by the front door. Every morning someone pours water at its root. Every evening someone lights a lamp before it. Its leaves are put into the offerings to Vishnu, and without them, many say, his worship is not complete. It is the tulsi, holy basil. And in a few weeks, in many of those homes, it will be dressed as a bride, in a red sari and bangles, and married, with full wedding rites, to Vishnu. Why would anyone marry a plant to God? Missed the previous story? Listen to Episode 133 first. Source note. Label: Purana. The birth of Jalandhara from Shiva's fire cast into the ocean, his marriage to Vrinda, daughter of Kalanemi, the power of her faithfulness, his war with the gods, his attempt on Parvati, Vishnu's deception of Vrinda in Jalandhara's form, Jalandhara's death, Vrinda's curse that Vishnu would be separated from his wife and helped by monkeys, her self-immolation, Vishnu's grief and the plants grown from the Goddess's seeds, follow the Shiva Purana, Rudra Samhita, Yuddha Khanda. The versions with Tulasi and Shankhachuda, the curse that turned Vishnu into the shaligram, and his blessing on Tulasi and the Gandaki, are in the Devi Bhagavata Purana and the Brahma Vaivarta Purana. Tulsi Vivah is living tradition, and its household story often combines these versions. I have summarised and not quoted. The reflections are my own. Note: this episode is narrated with an AI voice and the script was written with AI assistance. Sanskrit verses are checked against published editions; corrections are welcome.
5d ago

Karwa and the Crocodile

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode! Dharma Katha · Season 4: The Road to Diwali · Episode 137 A man is bathing in a river at dawn. The water is brown and slow. And something under the water closes on his leg. A crocodile. He screams. And his wife, who is on the bank, does not scream. She runs into the water. And she does something that makes no sense at all. She takes a thread, an ordinary, raw cotton thread, and she ties up the crocodile with it. And the crocodile cannot move. Missed the previous story? Listen to Episode 136 first. Source note. Label: tradition. The story of Karwa, who bound a crocodile with a raw cotton thread and compelled Yama to protect her husband, is a Karwa Chauth vrat katha, told in several versions; details such as her occupation and the river vary, and it is not found in the epics or major Puranas. The prayer to Karwa Mata is common household practice. Yama's appearances in Savitri's and Nachiketa's stories were told in Season One, episodes nineteen to twenty-seven. The reflections are my own. Note: this episode is narrated with an AI voice and the script was written with AI assistance. Sanskrit verses are checked against published editions; corrections are welcome.

Stories of ancestors, devotion and dharma, retold from the Ramayana, Mahabharata, Upanishads and Puranas. Season 1 follows Pitru Paksha: the debt to our ancestors, the soul's journey, Nachiketa and Yama, Savitri, Gaya, Karna and more. Every episode names its source and says whether it comes from scripture, a Purana, or oral tradition. Narrated in English with context for listeners new to the tradition. Also available in Hindi: Dharma Katha (Hindi).

Creator

Bhaskar Pandey
Years Active

2026
Episodes

131
Rating

Clean
Copyright

© 2026 Bhaskar Pandey
Show Website

Dharma Katha