Nala Damayanti - Short Stories from Mahabharata - Animated Stories for Children by Geethanjali - Cartoons for Kids
***This story is way different. Geared towards kids, so a lot is cut out. However, the beginning is useful and I might change intro of my storybook to include the once upon a time portion about a great kingdom Hastinapur and how Yudi and Draupadi come across Vyasa. I enjoyed this a lot though.
The story begins with very basic info of Pandavas and Kauravas, starting King Pandu. Talk about Dury’s jealousy and game of dice challenge. They walk in exile and suffer hardship, state that Yudi was depressed, and a sage crosses their path. He notices sadness. Yudi tells him that he blames himself for all their suffering, and so the sage offers a story of a King who lost his kingdom to a dice game also, but overcame the loss through sheer determination.
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| Possible Book that animated short was based off Source:Facebook |
Nala from Nishada and Damayanti from Vidarbha(heard of Nala and decided to marry him) Her dad arranged the swayamvara, but didn’t invite the ruler of planet Saturn, Lord Shani. Shani was mad and wanted to teach him a lesson. He changed all men to look like Nala. Damayanti prayed to Shiva and closed her eyes, picking out Nala.
Shani got mad. Hindu mythology period of Saturn is 7.5 years and all humans undergo great trauma during this time. Shani was going to create this phase in Nala. Once Nala didn’t clean the back side of his feet Shani took hold there. Nala tells Damayanti that he is going to visit Pushkara in his kingdom even though he was his enemy. They played dice and Pushkara let him win all games. Then they began betting, and he still allowed him to win. They bet their kingdoms even though Nala doesn’t really want to. Pushkara wins this time. Nala and Damayanti are booted out of the kingdom to the forest.
Damayanti tied her saree to his shawl. Under Shani’s control Nala cut the material while she was sleeping and left. Nala couldn’t forget about his kingdom or wife. Shani took the form of serpent Karkotaka and bit Nala. Nala changed form. Damayanti woke up scared. She worked as a maid in another kingdom. She prayed to Lord Shiva for 7.5 years while Nala cooked in another kingdom.
Lord Shiva tells Shani that his time is up and he is to leave Nala. Shani admits that he could never get Nala to forget about his kingdom or wife or misbehave. Lord Shiva comes to Nala in a dream with instructions. In Tirunellar he got in the holy waters to be rid of the form that Shani had inflicted upon him and Damayanti brought there by Shiva found him.
They went back and regained Nala’s kingdom. All gods blessed them. Shiva explained that Nala succeeded because he never veered from the path of righteousness and his wife is an example to all women. It was due to Damayanti that he got back safely.
Return to Yudi and gang who promise to stop worrying about a little bit of trouble in life.
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