INDIAN STORIES

The story of Goddes Durga
The tiger is vanhan (vehicle) of goddes DURGA. Do you know that in Nepal there is no burning of ravana on Dusshera because it is believed that goddess Durga, riding a tiger, killed Mahishasura( abuffalo-headed demon) on the same day. Mahishasura it is said, was so powerful that none of the gods were able to defeat him. Therefore they met together to form durga with 18 hands, many weapons, riding a tiger. It thus shows that tiger has always been a very important symbol of power and might.

The story of Ayyappan
The Ayyappan was born as a result of alliance between Siva and Vishnu when Vishnu appeared in Mohini Rupa after churning of milky ocean. He is the third son of Siva after Ganesha and Kartikeya. Ayyappan was found by a childless king and queen on the bank of a river. They bought him home as their own child. But when the queen had a child of her own she became jealous of Ayyappan. The queen pretended that she was very ill and she would be cured by drinking tiger’s milk. Ayyappan, who was 12 years old volunteered and went to the forest. He returned riding a tiger followed by all togers of the forest.
The king begged for forgiveness and asked where did Ayyapan want his temple to be built?
Ayyappan fired an arrow and it fell at a place Sabari.
Hence, the Sabrimalai temple was built.
Both the stories thus show how impotant the tiger has been to our mythology. The tiger has been an important part of chinese, Korean, Sumerian, Japanese and European mythologies. It is a pity that the tiger is endangered because of us human killing it discriminately. Killing a tiger with a sword or a spear has always been considered very courageous.