What are some interesting lesser known tales from Hindu religion?

 There is very vivid description of growth of body in mother’s womb in Srimad Bhagavatam canto 3 chapter 31 from verse 1_and onward as below:

The Personality of Godhead said:

1. Under the supervision of the Supreme Lord and according to the result of his work, the living entity, the soul, is made to enter into the womb of a woman through the particle of male semen to assume a particular type of body(3.31.1)
2. On the first night, the sperm and ovum mix, and on the fifth night the mixture ferments into a bubble. On the tenth night it develops into a form like a plum, and after that, it gradually turns into a lump of flesh or an egg, as the case may be.3.31.2)
3. In the course of a month, a head is formed, and at the end of two months the hands, feet and other limbs take shape. By the end of three months, the nails, fingers, toes, body hair, bones and skin appear, as do the organ of generation and the other apertures in the body, namely the eyes, nostrils, ears, mouth and anus.3.31.3)
4. Within four months from the date of conception, the seven essential ingredients of the body, namely chyle, blood, flesh, fat, bone, marrow and semen, come into existence. At the end of five months, hunger and thirst make themselves felt, and at the end of six months, the fetus, enclosed by the amnion, begins to move on the right side of the abdomen.3.31.4)
5. Deriving its nutrition from the food and drink taken by the mother, the fetus grows and remains in that abominable residence of stools and urine, which is the breeding place of all kinds of worms.3.31.5)
6. Bitten again and again all over the body by the hungry worms in the abdomen itself, the child suffers terrible agony because of his tenderness. He thus becomes unconscious moment after moment because of the terrible condition.(3.31.6)
7. Owing to the mother’s eating bitter, pungent foodstuffs, or food which is too salty or too sour, the body of the child incessantly suffers pains which are almost intolerable.(3.31.7)
8. Placed within the amnion and covered outside by the intestines, the child remains lying on one side of the abdomen, his head turned towards his belly and his back and neck arched like a bow.(3.31.8
9. The child thus remains just like a bird in a cage, without freedom of movement. At that time, if the child is fortunate, he can remember all the troubles of his past one hundred births, and he grieves wretchedly. What is the possibility of peace of mind in that condition?(3.31.9)
10. Thus endowed with the development of consciousness from the seventh month after his conception, the child is tossed downward by the airs that press the embryo during the weeks preceding delivery. Like the worms born of the same filthy abdominal cavity, he cannot remain in one place.(3.31.10)
11. The living entity in this frightful condition of life, bound by seven layers of material ingredients, prays with folded hands, appealing to the Lord, who has put him in that condition.(3.31.11)
12. The human soul says: I take shelter of the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who appears in His various eternal forms and walks on the surface of the world. I take shelter of Him only, because He can give me relief from all fear and from Him I have received this condition of life, which is just befitting my impious activities.(3.31.12)

All the above description of embryo development can be seen in real pictures as below:

Inside the Fallopian tube

A human egg

The moment before fertilization

Sperm fuses with the egg

Spermatozoon carries genetic material into the egg

A newly-formed embryo floats through the fallopian tube

One week later...

Three weeks later...

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The first heart beat

Four weeks after fertilization

Fetus in the fifth week

Placenta formation in the sixth week

Two months later...

Eyes start forming at 10 weeks

The embryo has little hands at this point

Four months in...

The limbs develop

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The fetus hears sounds

Nails develop on the fingers

Hair cells begin to form

Six months in...

Human features start to become more pronounced

One month before birth...

Source and courtesy :

1.Nilsson's book, A Child is Born(1975).

2.Srimad Bhagavatam by Srila Prabhupada

So descriptions of human birth is very similar as described in the Srimad Bhagavatam.

So we should appreciate our ancestors who wrote the exact description of child growth in womb.

We should be proud to our ancestors and the God who has created all of us and He is same for everybody.

Thanks for reading.Thanks for your up votes and support .

Edit 1.One nice person asked about the cause of pain of embryo in the womb .The answered is also given in the next slokas as under:

The soul of the womb tells :

1. the pure soul, appearing now bound by my activities, am lying in the womb of my mother by the arrangement of māyā. I offer my respectful obeisances unto Him who is also here with me but who is unaffected and changeless. He is unlimited, but He is perceived in the repentant heart. To Him I offer my respectful obeisances. 3.31.13
2. I am separated from the Supreme Lord because of my being in this material body, which is made of five elements, and therefore my qualities and senses are being misused, although I am essentially spiritual. Because the Supreme Personality of Godhead is transcendental to material nature and the living entities, because He is devoid of such a material body, and because He is always glorious in His spiritual qualities, I offer my obeisances unto Him.
3. The human soul further prays: The living entity is put under the influence of material nature and continues a hard struggle for existence on the path of repeated birth and death. This conditional life is due to his forgetfulness of his relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore, without the Lord’s mercy, how can he again engage in the transcendental loving service of the Lord?
4. No one other than the Supreme Personality of Godhead, as the localized Paramātmā, the partial representation of the Lord, is directing all inanimate and animate objects. He is present in the three phases of time—past, present and future. Therefore, the conditioned soul is engaged in different activities by His direction, and in order to get free from the threefold miseries of this conditional life, we have to surrender unto Him only.
5. Fallen into a pool of blood, stool and urine within the abdomen of his mother, his own body scorched by the mother’s gastric fire, the embodied soul, anxious to get out, counts his months and prays, “O my Lord, when shall I, a wretched soul, be released from this confinement?”
6. My dear Lord, by Your causeless mercy I am awakened to consciousness, although I am only ten months old. For this causeless mercy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the friend of all fallen souls, there is no way to express my gratitude but to pray with folded hands.
7. The living entity in another type of body sees only by instinct; he knows only the agreeable and disagreeable sense perceptions of that particular body. But I have a body in which I can control my senses and can understand my destination; therefore, I offer my respectful obeisances to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, by whom I have been blessed with this body and by whose grace I can see Him within and without.
8. Therefore, my Lord, although I am living in a terrible condition, I do not wish to depart from my mother’s abdomen to fall again into the blind well of materialistic life. Your external energy, called deva-māyā, at once captures the newly born child, and immediately false identification, which is the beginning of the cycle of continual birth and death, begins.
9. Therefore, without being agitated any more, I shall deliver myself from the darkness of nescience with the help of my friend, clear consciousness. Simply by keeping the lotus feet of Lord Viṣṇu in my mind, I shall be saved from entering into the wombs of many mothers for repeated birth and death.
10. Lord Kapila continued: The ten-month-old living entity has these desires even while in the womb. But while he thus extols the Lord, the wind that helps parturition propels him forth with his face turned downward so that he may be born
11. Pushed downward all of a sudden by the wind, the child comes out with great trouble, head downward, breathless and deprived of memory due to severe agony( Froanksm 3.31.13 to 24)

Thanks.

We should be happy now to find our real purpose of life of happiness.

What are some of the lesser known facts of Bruce Lee?

 

• Bruce Lee’s one leg was an inch shorter than the other leg
• Bruce Lee had Myopia or Short sightedness. His spectacles had power of -10.
• Bruce Lee was actually one of the suspect of Sharon Tate murder that happened on August 1969. Sharon Tate and Bruce Lee were best friends, he trained her in martial arts. Bruce Lee was very devasted after the murders of his friends.

• I believe Bruce Lee was not super human or genetically gifted but he trained very hard to reach his good level in martial arts.

Who are the lesser-known people of India?

 Narayanan Krishnan - A Madurai born Indian chef.

He was working as a successful chef in Taj hotels at Bangalore, Karnataka.

He was even short listed for a very elite job in Switzerland.

But a final visit to his home before heading to Europe changed his life forever.

He was heading to a nearby temple in his car when he saw an old man under a bridge. He knew little that this man was going to change his life forever.

The old man was pretty weak & he was so hungry that he was eating his own human waste for food.

That one incident haunted him so much that he decided to quit his job. And he decided to serve the poor & mentally ill people.

In 2003, he founded a non profitable Akshaya Trust.

Till now he has served around 2 million meals to the homeless with help of Akshaya Trust.

Moreover, He also carries comb, scissors & razors and gives poor people free hair cuts.

He sleeps in Akshaya Trust's modest kitchen along with his co workers.

Since investing his entire savings in 2003, he has taken no salary till date.

The malayalam movie “Ustad Hotel” is based on his life.

“Be the change you want to see in this world.” He proved it with his life and his work.

Wait, I would like to quote one the question he asked the viewers in one of his interviews.

I would like to ask you a question that as an individual what you did. As an individual what impact have you created for society? You will see in the roadside, a BMW, Volkswagen, Mercedes Benz, but on the same day you will see a homeless person. There is no bun, no burger for this person. You drive by in a Mercedes, but do you see the beggar on the sidewalk?

In 2010, he was awarded with the CNN heroes award.

What are some little-known facts about birds?

 

1. Ravens and crows are very intelligent and can translate English and make and use tools.
2. Parakeets are not a species of bird, but rather a term referring to small parakeets like budgies and lovebirds. Parakeets are often confused with budgies.
3. Doves are not peaceful birds and should not be used as a sign of peace.[2]
4. The largest bird of prey is the condor, which can have a wingspan of up to 10 feet.

What are some interesting, little-known facts?

 

• The sentence "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" uses all the letters of the English alphabet.
• The electric chair was invented by a dentist.
• Ants rest for about 8 minutes every 12 hours.
• Coca-Cola was originally green.
• American Airlines saved $40,000 in 1987 by removing one olive from the salad served in first class.
• Each king on a deck of playing cards represents a great king from history.

- Spade - King David

- Club - Alexander the Great

- Heart - Charlemagne

- Diamond - Julius Caesar

• The only food that doesn't spoil is honey.
• No new animals have been domesticated in the last 4,000 years.
• Wearing headphones for just one hour can increase the number of bacteria in your ears by 700 times.
• Camels have three eyelids to protect themselves from the sand blown in from the desert.

Who are some lesser-known characters of Ramayana?

Kumudvati, Chief Queen of Kusha (son of Shri Ram) was a Naga Princess of Sarayu river and her father was killed by Garuda. Naga King Kumud offered her to Kusha in peace alliance when Kusha had almost annihilated the Nagas when Kumudvati took his golden arm- bracelet mistakenly. Kusha married her and she gave birth to his eight sons and a daughter named Champakmalini. Her son Atithi was heir to the throne and when Kusha died, Kumudvati followed him in death like moonshine follows the moon. Her mention is in Raghuvansh and Ananda Ramayana not in Valmiki Ramayana. She was really beautiful, timid and shy and was a young maiden (kanya) when she married Kusha. Kusha had built Nageshwarnath Temple for her near Sarayu river so that she could worship Lord Shiva.

Champika

Champika was the first wife of Kusha and she had chosen Kusha as her husband in her Swayamvara. She was daughter of Maharaja Bhurikirti, King of the lands East of Ayodhya. Rishi Agastya prophesized about her to Shri Ram that she won't be having any sons but daughters. She eventually gave nine daughters to Kusha and their eldest daughter Hema was married to Prince Chitrangad of Avanti after her Swayamvara and a war after which Chitrangad and his son father Ugrabahu were pardoned by Shri Ram. Her reaction to her husband's marriage with Kumudvati is not mentioned but she seems like to enjoy her previous status as the seniormost Queen (Pattmahishi) despite Kumudvati being Chief Queen (Agramahishi or Mahadevi). She was respected in the royal house. Her sister Sumati was married to Kusha’s twin brother Lava.

Kumbhinasi

Kumbhinasi was daughter of Anala, Kaikesi’s younger sister and Vishvavasu. When she was staying in Antahpura of Ravana in Lanka and she was protected as a sister and enjoyed luxuries but she was daringly abducted by a demon named Madhu when others were not around in the palace. When Ravana got to know about this, he got really angry despite himself abducting many women. He went with his warriors to Madhura (Mathura) to kill him but Kumbhinasi pleaded him to not kill her husband. Then Ravana pardoned Madhu and made him his ally. She was mother of Lavanasura who later was defeated by Shatrughna. Shatrughna named the city Surasena after conquering it and the same land became the birth place of Shri Krishna years later.

There are many other characters in Valmiki Ramayana and other renditions which are lesser known like Mahaparshva, Sushena, Vidyutjhiva (husband of Surpankha), Prahasta, Kabandha, Yupaketu (son of Shatrughna in Ananda Ramayana) , Madansundari (princess of Shivkantipuri with whom Yupaketu did Rakshasa Vivah), Kanjanayana (Naga Princess whom Lava married) , etc.

What are some lesser known/interesting stories in Mahabharata?

 The fiery heroine Draupadi was not without kindness an affection. She was insulted, taunted and driven to the forest by the sons of Dhritarashtra and Gandhari. When, Dusshasana pulled at her saree, Dhritarashtra and Gandhari would not help her. But after the war of Mahabharata, Draupadi looked after Gandhari with respect and affection; she treated her in the same way as she treated Kunti. She had a resolve that would not cool off after thirteen long years of suffering, and also sympathy for Gandhari after all was over.

When Aswathama (son of Dronacharya) who killed the sons of Draupadi, inspite of her great grief at the loss of her children, came to Pandavas, she moved forward and touched his feet and paid him his due respect. Bhima was unable to bear such sorrow and because of this, he was in great emotions which drove him to the point of exhibiting his physical prowess to the world. In fact he was looking at this quality of forbearance of Draupadi as a laughing matter. Bhima was greatly surprised at the peaceful attitude of Draupadi. He thought that the suffering of having lost all her children had driven her to insanity, for, otherwise he was not able to understand how a true mother could show such forbearance when the person who had killed all her children was standing before her. Draupadi was a great woman with exemplary character. When the strong Bhima was preparing to kill Aswathama with his bare hands, would it be possible for a weakling like Draupadi to go and stop Bhima? It was only the purity of her thought that was her strength. Draupadi was such a great woman that in order to protect right conduct, she would even oppose her husbands. But even now, it was Bheema who tried to avenge the death of her sons by uprooting the Shiromani (divine diamond) off the forehead of Ashwathama and thus ending his powers of invincibility.

Draupadi maintained the reputation of her husbands, her parents and parents-in-law. She wanted her parents to be proud of her, she wanted her children to feel that they are the children of a great mother, she wanted her husbands to feel that they were married to a great woman and she wanted her parents-in-law to be proud of her and she wanted to please them. Draupadi herself was always behaving in a manner in which she maintained the reputation of her family and her kingdom.

[ Ultimately, the fact that Draupadi stands quite apart from her five husbands is brought tellingly home when not even Sahadeva of whom she took care with maternal solicitude, nor her favourite Arjuna - tarries by her side when she falls and lies dying husbanded yet unprotected, on the Himalayan slopes ] during their journey to heaven - the Mahaprasthana. It is said, however, in some analyses of the Mahabharata, that only Bheema, at such a juncture tried to save her from her fall from the cliffs by extending an unsuccessful hand to catch her. He failed and Draupadi fell to the ground below and was dying a painful death when Bheema came to her side, consoled her and remained by her side till she eventually died. During these last moments, it is said, Draupadi realized the futility of her undying love for Arjuna and felt the selfless and unconditional love and support that Bheema had provided her at each moment in her life and repented the fact that she could never reciprocate the love of Bheema in equal terms.

What are some lesser-known love stories from Mahabharata and Ramayana?

Shri Ram and Mata Sita are the most famous couple from the epic. Besides them, original Valmiki Ramayana doesn't really deal with any other love story. Dashrath was very much in love with Kaikeyi but her evil boons made him forsake his love for her.

In Ananda Ramayana, Kusha and Champika are a marriage of royal convenience and Kusha and his second wife Kumudvati are a match of alliance but they develop natural love for each other. It's even mentioned in Raghuvansh.

Yupaketu (son of Shatrughna and Shrutkirti) had a love story of his own with Madansundari (Princess of Shivkantipuri) and he had Rakshasa Vivah with her.

Ravana and Mandodari are not a typical love story but when they first met when she was standing alongside with her father, he noticed her beauty and had a pure , ritually approved marriage with her and she was his Chief Queen. She was the only woman he truly respected being mother of his children and his favourite son Indrajit (Meghnad).

In Ananda Ramayana, Meghnad and Sulochana are an ideal couple who were very much in love with each other.

Devnadi Ganga and Shanthanu (Mahabhisha) fell in love with each other and got married but she left him when he broke his promise of never questioning her when she was saving vasus from curse.

Other lesser known couples are Yuddhisthir and Devika, Bhim and Valandhara, Nakul and Karenumati, Sahdev and Vijaya.