Sandhya KathaRāmāyaṇa · Mahābhārata · Purāṇas · Upaniṣads

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Āḻvārs stories for children

Stories from Āḻvārs, laid out to read aloud. This page is generated from stories that have already passed Sandhya Katha's publication gate.

What “with sources” means here. Every story below names the work and passage we checked, carries age guidance, and says when the tradition is variant, regional or oral instead of smoothing those differences away.

6 published stories

Three in a Doorway Mudhal Tiruvantāti, with the commentators' account · Tirukkōvalūr; Mudhal Tiruvantāti 1 and 86 Ages 7+ · variant A doorway with space for one man to lie down. Then two to sit. Then three to stand. Then somebody else presses in, in the dark. Read the sourced telling → The Highwayman's Last Robbery Śrīvaiṣṇava Guruparamparā traditions; compare Tirumaṅgai Āḻvār's Periya Tirumoḻi · Tirumaṅgai Āḻvār caritam — roadside robbery and mantra-conversion episode; Periya Tirumoḻi 1.1.1–10 as earlier poetic witness Ages 9+ · regional tradition A highwayman strips a wedding party of its jewels, then finds one ring he cannot remove and a bundle he cannot lift. Read the sourced telling → Carried In on Someone's Shoulders The Śrīvaiṣṇava hagiographies of Tiruppāṇāḻvār · Divya Sūri Caritam and the Guruparamparā Prabhāvam Ages 8+ · variant A priest throws a stone at a singer who does not hear him. That night the Lord says in a dream: bring him in. When the singer refuses, the priest offers his shoulders. Read the sourced telling → The King Who Kept Setting Off for Laṅkā Śrīvaiṣṇava Guruparamparā traditions; compare Kulaśēkhara Āḻvār's Perumāḷ Tirumoḻi · Kulaśēkhara Āḻvār caritam — Rāmāyaṇa-recitation and army-march episode; Perumāḷ Tirumoḻi decads 8–10 as earlier Rāma-centred poetic witness Ages 6+ · regional tradition The reciter reaches a moment when Rāma is badly outnumbered. King Kulaśēkhara stands up and orders his own army to march. Read the sourced telling → Āṇḍāḷ Wears It First Guruparamparā Prabhāvam (Āṟāyirappaḍi) · The life of Āṇḍāḷ Ages 6+ · variant Her father makes the garland for the god every morning. She has been trying it on first, and today he sees her do it. Read the sourced telling → Sixteen Years Without a Word Divya Sūri Caritam and the Guruparamparā Prabhāvam · The life of Nammāḻvār and of Madhurakavi Āḻvār Ages 10+ · variant A baby who never cried and never fed, sitting under a tamarind tree for sixteen years. Then a stranger walks a thousand miles and asks him one question. Read the sourced telling →

Sandhya Katha chooses one story each night for your child's age and the calendar, and lays it out to be read aloud.

Open tonight's story

If you know a parent who would read this to their child tonight, this is the whole of how Sandhya Katha travels.