Famous Curses In Hindu Mythology

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Most of the ancient people like Greeks and pagans are famous for cursing each other. The same is the case with Hindu mythology; one of the oldest surviving religions in the world. In fact, curses in Hindu mythical stories give rise to some very interesting facts. They explain some natural phenomenons and tell us why things are the way they are.

Here are some of the most famous curses found in Hindu scriptures like Ramayana, Mahabharata and the Puranas.

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The Curse Of Kunti: It is believed that when the Pandavas learned that Karna was their half brother (born to their mother before her marriage), they were stricken with grief for having killed Karna wrongly. Yudhishthira, the eldest of the Pandavas cursed his mother Kunti saying that, "no woman shall be able to hide her pregnancy from now on". That is why a woman's pregnancy always shows.

Krishna's Curse Of Extermination: Another famous curse from the Mahabharata is the curse cast upon Krishna (avatar of Lord Vishnu). After the battle of Kurukhshetra when Krishna went to console a distraught Gandhari (mother of the 100 Kauravas), she flinched in pain. She cursed Krishna that the way he had schemed to kill her 100 sons and exterminate her bloodline, his bloodline too will be exterminated. Krishna thus died an untimely death and his family members killed each other by infighting on the banks of the river Yamuna.

The Curse Of Brahma: Once Lord Vishnu and Lord Brahma were confronted with a massive Shivlinga. They had a wager that theyw ill each find one end of the shivalinga. Vishnu soon gave up the quest out of reverence for Lord Shiva. But Brahma, manipulated Shiva's favourite flower Ketki (screwvine) to falsely bear witness to the fact that he had seen the end of the Shivalinga. Annoyed at this falsity, Shiva cursed Brahma that no one shall ever worship him. Due this famous curse in Hindu mythology, there are only two temples of Brahma in India and despite being the creator of the Universe, there are no festivals to honour him.

Sita's Curse To Gaya: The hero of Ramayana, Rama (avatar of Vishnu) went to perform his fathers last rites at Gaya with his brother Laxman and wife Sita. When the brothers were bathing in the river Phalguni, Dashrath's (Rama's father) spirit appeared and asked Sita for Pindam (the Hindu ritual of offering rice to the dead). As Sita had nothing else, she gave him an offering sand. There were 5 witnesses to this act; a cow, a Tulsi (holy basil) plant, Akshaya Vatam (foot print of Vishnu), a brahmin and the Phalguni river. When Rama came back, all the other witnesses except the Akshaya Vatam backed out. So a distraught Sita cursed the Phalguni river to dry up, banished the Tulsi plant from Gaya, cursed the brahmins of Gaya to be hungry for ever and dictated that the cow shall never be worshipped from the front.

These are the most famous curses in Hindu mythology. Do you know any other famous curses?