Storytelling is an immersive technique of enhancing a child's vocabulary while also introducing new information, moral values, and fascinating stories to them. It's also a great way to grab the attention of a child to do something meaningful and reduce their screen time. Through the continuous habit of storytelling, the child might become increasingly interested in reading books and exploring various stories on their own.
Mythological stories have a charm of their own and consist of heroic figures, demonic entities, mystical characters, and intriguing backdrops. Such stories may serve as a continuous source of enigma to kids and instantly transform them into world-ancient tales. Through the aid of these stories, parents can also make the child learn important moral values, such as standing up against wrong, always speaking the truth, and being righteous.
Here are some extremely interesting and morally inspiring mythological tales from famous Indian epics for kids.
Abhimanyu is a valiant character from the famous Indian epic, Mahabharata. Being a great warrior, he learned many important techniques of warfare while in his mother's womb. However, his father Arjun, was able to recite only half of the Chakravyuha tackling technique to his mother while Abhimanyu was still in his mother's room. This was because the mother dozed off, and Abhimanyu could only retain half of the information. As fate would have it, young Abhimanyu found himself in the middle of the Chakravyuha many years later in the Kurukshetra war and was only able to get halfway through before being defeated and killed by the Kaurava army. Despite his young age and knowing that he wouldn't be able to pass through the maze of the rival army, Abhimanyu fought a courageous battle and became a famous warrior even after being defeated.
Prahalada was born in a demonic clan and was the son of the demon Hiranyakashipu. Even though he was from the demonic lineage, he was a saint boy, who was a devotee of the nurturer, Vishnu. Displeased by his behavior, Prahalad’s father imprisoned him and put him through a lot of torture to test his faith and devotion. However, because of the perpetual devotion of Prahlada, Lord Vishnu incarnated in the form of Narasimha and defeated Hiranyakashipu which marked the ultimate victory of good over evil. The moral of the story is that with true devotion and patience, good can defeat evil irrespective of how powerful it is.
Arjun is one of the centric characters of the epic Mahabharata and was known to be an extremely skilled Pandava. His devotion and hard work resulted in the cultivation of unmatchable archery and warfare skills. Once when Arjun was a child, his teacher, Drona wanted to check the practice of all the kids and their devotion towards learning warfare. So, Drona stuck a wooden bird on a tree and asked everyone to take a turn and aim at the eye of the bird. Turn wise everyone attempted to aim and failed. However, Arjun was able to aim right into the eye of the bird without missing a beat. When Drona asked everyone what they were looking at while deciding the aim, everyone except Arjun gave different answers such as the tree, the bird, the leaves, and other things. On the other hand, Arjun said that he could only see the eye of the bird and rest everything was invisible to him. The story of Arjun gives the inspiration that when you set a goal, it is all about constant determination and focus.
Eklavya is another inspiring character from the epic Mahabharata. He was a young boy from a tribal clan who wanted to become a skilled archer. However, due to certain restrictions, he could not find the right teacher. During this time, Drona the teacher of Kauravas and Pandavas used to train the princes in his gurukul. Eklavya would witness the teaching from a distance by hiding behind trees and bushes. Then he would go back and make a statue of Drona and practice archery in the presence of the statue. Soon after, he became so skilled that the tales of his perfect archery travelled places. When Drona came to know about this, he was afraid that the boy might grow up and become a more proficient archer than Arjun. To stop this from happening, Drona asked for a teaching fee from Eklavya. He asked the latter to cut his right hand’s thumb and give it to him. Eklavya decided to abide by his guru's demand and cut his thumb off and give it to his teacher. The story of Eklavya teaches honesty, dedication and integrity.
Rama is one of the incarnations of Vishnu and is the central character of the epic, Ramayana. The story of Ramayana revolves around Rama, Sita, Laxman, and Hanuman primarily. It is about their sacrifices and their resolution to stay on the righteous path, despite the adversities that they might encounter. Rama’s resilience and tale of sacrifice starts with giving up his kingdom at the demand of his stepmother. Then he emerges as a victorious warrior by killing the demon Ravana and rescuing his wife, Sita. Despite facing so many challenges, Rama remained steadfast and always chose to put others' interests over him while living up to his principles. The story of Rama is deeply inspiring and may teach the kids the importance of love, sacrifice, integrity, and empathy.
Reciting mythological stories to kids to make them learn the importance of moral values is a type of experiential learning process. These stories are interwoven with instances of politics, trust, integrity, and sacrifice. Also, all of these stories have been passed on from generation to generation over the last hundreds of years. Listening to them, the child may understand the depth of one's culture and appreciate their roots.