Originally these stories were meant for children, as they are the simplified and shortened stories from the Tales from the Devayana. They all have a universal appeal. Lately, more and more people are again becoming interested in our mythological stories as they remain mysterious and have an element that beckons us from the beyond. Indians have since ancient times proved to be master story-tellers. The stories from Panchtantra are still fresh in our minds.

The stories in this book are exciting as they are told with a new nuance that makes them wonder-tales, special and exclusive. The reader will remain engrossed in the various subjects that these stories reveal.

The subject matter has been solely extracted from the third and latest epic of India, Devayana.

AMITA NATHWANI was born in Dehra Dun, India in 1944. Deeply influenced by Sri Aurobindo, she went to live in Pondicherry in 1963. She married and since 1973 is living in Europe. After working in India, Africa and Europe, she has decided to dedicate her life to transcribing the twelve volumes of Devayana.

MAGGIE VOYSEY PAUN has published stories about Indian children living in England and has written plays and adult novels which all have some connection with India. She has been married for many years to Rashmi and they have three sons and five grandchildren. Her latest book is The Black Princess.

The stories in this book are taken from the Devayana, the third and little known epic of India which was written down by Dr Hajari, a young follower of the famous Yogi, Sri Aurobindo. It tells the story of the Four Ages of Time: the Treta Yuga (Silver Age), Dwapara Yuga (Bronze), Kali Yuga (Iron, in which we live) and the Satya Yuga or Golden Age.

The epic consists of more than twelve thousand pages of poetry divided into twelve volumes. First written in Bengali, it has been transcribed into Hindi/Sanskrit by Amita Nathwani, whose mother Dr Indira Sardana was a devotee in the Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry on the eastern coast of India. She had a serious heart condition which was headed by Dr Hajari, a homeopathic doctor, and when she learnt of the Devayana her deter-mined to make its revelations known to a wider world.

This is how they were made known to Dr Hajari. The night was dark. The air was still. Even the usually restless ocean seemed asleep. It was the spring of 1951 when the world was still bruised and shocked by a terrible war. New weapons had been discovered, whole cities destroyed. Millions of people had died. Yet countries that had fought together had now turned against each other and it seemed that the world was in danger of complete destruction.

From high above the earth at the very edge of the universe, Lord Shiva in the form of Pingal Maheshwara, the Divine Poet, met with Sri Aurobindo who had left this mortal world, the year before.

`Oh great Lord, must the battle between good and evil be never-ending?' asked Sri Aurobindo.

`Yes,' came Shiva's deep and powerful voice. 'But for once I think I must intervene and tip the balance in favour of the good. I shall send a message to the world, a new epic, and you may help me.'

`Only tell me how,' Sri Aurobindo replied. `I need a human messenger,' the great God explained. 'Someone with deep faith and belief in the Gods and the ancient truths of the Vedas.'

`We can look in the Ashram where I was honoured and loved by many as a Guru,' Sri Aurobindo suggested. `There are many good devotees there from whom you may choose.

' It was two o'clock in the morning and all the ashramites were asleep.

`OM,' chanted the God and the guru. 'OMMM. OMMMMM...'

But even the eternal sound of the universe was not enough to waken the sleepers. Sri Aurobindo was very disappointed but Lord Shiva comforted him.

`Once when I was here on a visit to you, I saw a young man sitting in deep meditation on the roof,' he said. 'I entered into his mind for a moment but even my great force did not distract him. Call on him.'

`OMMMMM,' chanted the guru again.

The young man, Dr Hajari, was also asleep but at the sound of his beloved guru's voice he awoke.

`My son, the great Lord Shiva himself has chosen you to be his messenger.'

Dr Hajari saw what seemed like a star exploding all around him and in the middle of this blinding light appeared the blazing figure of Shiva. Dr Hajari was over-come.

`I am not strong enough alone,' he told Sri Aurobindo. `But stay with me in my mind and you may use my body as you wish.'

Lord Shiva knew that Sri Aurobindo had developed great powers during his long years of meditation and prayer. 'Let it be so,' he agreed.

Sri Aurobindo kissed his young disciple on the fore-head and Dr Hajari felt a great happiness cascade like a waterfall down his face. The energy of a thousand lights flowed through his body and gave him the power to do as Lord Shiva wished.

But Sri Aurobindo still feared that the task would be too great and take too long for one man to complete. `Human life is short,' he reminded the God. 'Can you not give your messenger more help?' So Shiva called on Ganesh, the elephant-headed God, who is known as the Remover of Obstacles, to whom humans pray when they have some difficult task to accomplish. Ganesh came and Dr Hajari was filled with joy to find himself in such company.

From that moment he began to write down the divine words as they came to him from above. Every night he wrote ten pages and in only three years and four months, by the middle of july 1954, the great epic was complete.