Foreword The minds of little children we are rearing with love and affection are pure. They reflect the qualities of culture we present before them. They keep those qualities we teach them and show them throughout their lives. The more virtuous and noble their qualities, the more would they be able to transform and maintain the nation's culture. The need to foster noble qualities right from their tender age is important and immense. However educated and however famous they may rise to, without noble and proper qualities in them, real culture would slowly degenerate engulfing our nation in darkness.

Our effort in these publications is to make children know the stories of sages and seers, our Maharishis. The main object is to place before their plastic minds the high ideals and achievements of our sages and seers.

It is with this intention that Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams brought the series of small booklets Bala Bharati. Many grownups also have been saying that though called Bala Bharati. The slender books are found illuminating to the elders also. When elders read these and make their young ones read and understand them, our efforts would bear fruit.

I am grateful to the Editor-in-Chief and to those scholars and employees who have worked to produce the series.