TIGER STORIES INDIAN STORIES: The Story of Goddess Durga The tiger is vahana(vehicle) of goddess 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 ( a buffalo-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 & might. The story of Lord Ayyappan: Ayyappan was born as a result of alliance between Siva & Vishnu when Vishnu appearded 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 & queen on the bank of a river. They brought 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 & she would be cured by drinking tiger's milk. Ayyappan , who was 12 years old volunteered & went to the forest. He returned riding a tiger followed by all tigers of the forest. The king begged for forgiveness & asked where did Ayyapan want his temple to be built? Ayyapan fired an arrow & it fell at a place Sabari. Hence, the Sabarimalai temple was built. Both the stories thus show how important the tiger has been to our mythology. The tiger has been an important part of Chinese, Korean, Sumerian , Japanese & European mythologies. It is a pity that the tiger is endangered because of us humans killing it discriminately. Killing a tiger with a sword or a spear has always been considered very courageous. KOREAN STORIES The Legend of Dan-gun In the ancient times, Hwan-In ruled the heaven. He loved his son, Hwan- Ung who was a clever, compassionate & constructive man. One day, Hwan-Ung pleaded with his father to let him go to earth & rule Korea. Hwan -In said yes and sent him along with Pung-Beg (the Earl of Wind), U-Sa (the Chancellor of Rain), and Un-Sa (The Chancellor of Clouds). The ministers were able to control rain, wind, clouds, and all natural elements. Meanwhile a bear and a tiger lived on the earth in a cave near a sandalwood tree & wanted to become human. Hwan-ung told them that to become humans they will have to live in a dark cave for 100 days & eat only garlic and mugwort. The bear lived in the cave, but the tiger was extremely restless and ran away. The bear became a beautiful woman, married Hwan-Ung was made the Queen. Soon she gave birth to a prince, Dan-gun, or the Sandalwood King. Dan-gun reigned as the first human king of the North Korea. Koreans believe that the tiger still roams the mountains. Though the tiger did not become a human, even today people's affection for the tiger is special. The tiger is seen as brave and sacred. The Mountain Spirit In ancient times the tiger was a messenger of the mountain spirit, San Shin. The Matchmakng Mountain Spirit Once upon a time there lived a rich man Kim, who had a beautiful daughter named Ok-bun. Ok-bun became friend with a poor boy P'al-bong. Both of them were very close friends. As they got older, Ok-bun's father realized that they loved each other & wanted to get married. Kim decided to marry his daughter to Tol-swae, who was also a nobleman. Kim wanted to get her married quickly & arranged for the engagement and set an early wedding date. Both Ok-bun & P'al-bong felt very sad. On the wedding day when the bridegroom entered the bridal chamber, where Ok-bun was waiting for him, a tiger took away Ok-bun. The tiger dropped Ok-bun at P'al-bong's door. In the meantime, Tol-swae searched to look for Ok-bun. He thought she had surely been killed by the tiger. When everybody found Ok-bun then everyone nodded and said that it was the mountain spirit, San Shin, at his matchmaking again, and that no human should interfere. So a marriage between the two childhood sweethearts was arranged and they lived happily every after. References The Tiger Call, Published in March, 1996, WWF-IndiaFolk Tales from Korea, 3rd edition, by Zong In-Sob, 1982, Hollym International Corp: New Jersey Tiger, Burning Bright, Kathleen J. Crane Foundation, 1992, Hollym International Corp: New Jersey Books to read: At the Zoo. National Geographic Society, 1992. Bowden, Joan. A World Without Tigers. Dial Books for Young Readers, 1993. Hewett, Joan. Tiger, Tiger, Growing Up. Houghton Mifflin Co., 1993. Who's Who at the Zoo? DK Publishing, Inc., 1994.