Loading...

PODCAST

Dharma Katha

Stories of ancestors, devotion and dharma, retold from the Ramayana, Mahabharata, Upanishads and Puranas. Season 1 follows Pitru Paksha: the debt to our ancestors, the soul"s journey, Nachiketa and Yama, Savitri, Gaya, Karna and more. Every episode names its source and says whether it comes from scripture, a Purana, or oral tradition. Narrated in English with context for listeners new to the tradition. Also available in Hindi: Dharma Katha (Hindi).

religion & spirituality hinduism

All Episodes

10:59

Bhishma: Water for the Dying Grandfather

Dharma Katha ·

2026/10/05

Dharma Katha · Season 1: Pitru Paksha · Episode 35The greatest warrior of his age lay on the ground, held above it by arrows. They had pierced him from head to foot, so many, and so close together, that he did not touch the earth. His body rested on their shafts. But his head hung down, unsupported. And he was thirsty.Missed the previous story? Listen to Episode 34 first.Source note. Label: scripture and tradition. Bhishma's vow, his boon of choosing the time of death, his fall on the tenth day of

en

9:00

Vishnupad: The Footprint at Gaya

Dharma Katha ·

2026/10/05

Dharma Katha · Season 1: Pitru Paksha · Episode 34In the middle of a temple in Bihar, in a silver basin, there is a footprint carved in stone. It is about forty centimetres long. It is cut into a single block of dark basalt. And pilgrims from all over India queue for hours to stand beside it, and to say the name of their father. This is Dharma Katha, Season One, Pitru Paksha. Episode thirty-four, day six. It is a short one. In the last three episodes we told the story of a demon whose body became

en

10:14

Sita and the River That Lied

Dharma Katha ·

2026/10/05

Dharma Katha · Season 1: Pitru Paksha · Episode 33Two brothers went to town to buy supplies for a funeral rite, and left a woman alone by a river. And, in some tellings, out of the river's sand a hand rose, and a voice said: I am hungry. Feed me. This is Dharma Katha, Season One, Pitru Paksha. Episode thirty-three, day six. If you have not heard the last episode, it tells how, in Valmiki's Ramayana, Rama offered forest fruit and berries for his dead father, and how tradition says he later went to

en

8:03

Rama's Offering: What a Prince Gave His Father

Dharma Katha ·

2026/10/05

Dharma Katha · Season 1: Pitru Paksha · Episode 32When Rama learned that his father was dead, he fainted. He was in the forest, in exile, a hermit's dress on his back. His younger brother Bharata had walked all the way from Ayodhya to find him. And Bharata, weeping, told him the news that Rama had not heard in all the years of his banishment. The king, Dasharatha, had died of grief, calling his son's name.Missed the previous story? Listen to Episode 31 first.Source note. Label: scripture and

en

11:14

Gayasura: The Demon Whose Body Became Holy Ground

Dharma Katha ·

2026/10/05

Dharma Katha · Season 1: Pitru Paksha · Episode 31There is a town in Bihar where, every autumn, hundreds of thousands of people come with a single purpose. They come to offer rice-balls to their dead. The town is called Gaya. And according to the tradition, it is named after a demon. This is Dharma Katha, Season One, Pitru Paksha. Episode thirty-one, and the start of our sixth day. For five days we have told stories about ancestors, about death, and about the road beyond it. Today we go to a real

en

9:05

Yamaraja: The First Traveller

Dharma Katha ·

2026/10/04

Dharma Katha · Season 1: Pitru Paksha · Episode 30Every story we have told today has one figure in common. He waited for a hungry boy at his door. He came in person, out of respect, for a good man in a forest. He walked a road with a woman behind him, and gave her back her husband. He was tricked, honoured, and defied. And in the oldest text of the Indian tradition, he is something even stranger.Missed the previous story? Listen to Episode 18 first.Source note. Label: scripture. The verses are

en

9:38

Vat Savitri: The Banyan and the Return

Dharma Katha ·

2026/10/04

Dharma Katha · Season 1: Pitru Paksha · Episode 29The forest was very quiet when she came back. Savitri ran through the trees, the way she had come, until she reached the place where her husband's body lay. She knelt down. She lifted his head onto her lap, just as she had before. And Satyavan opened his eyes.Missed the previous story? Listen to Episode 12 first.Source note. Label: scripture and tradition. The ending, that Satyavan wakes, that they return at night, that Dyumatsena regains his sight,

en

11:25

Markandeya and the Boy Who Was to Die at Sixteen

Dharma Katha ·

2026/10/04

Dharma Katha · Season 1: Pitru Paksha · Episode 28A father is offered a choice that no parent should have to make. He has prayed for years for a son. The god Shiva appears and says: I will grant your wish. But there are two kinds of son. One will be good, learned, and devout, and will live only sixteen years. The other will be dull and cruel, and will live a long life. Which do you choose?Missed the previous story? Listen to Episode 27 first.Source note. Label: purana and tradition. The legend of

en

12:27

Savitri III: Walking Behind Yama

Dharma Katha ·

2026/10/04

Dharma Katha · Season 1: Pitru Paksha · Episode 27He stopped, turned around, and looked at her. She was still there. Barefoot, dust on her robe, her hair loose from the long walk. She was following him. And Death, who has never in the history of the world been followed by a living person, said: Savitri. Go back.Missed the previous story? Listen to Episode 26 first.Source note. Label: scripture. This story is from the Mahabharata, Vana Parva, the Savitri Upakhyana, Ganguli numbering around sections

en

11:17

Savitri II: The Day Satyavan Fell

Dharma Katha ·

2026/10/04

Dharma Katha · Season 1: Pitru Paksha · Episode 26Three days before, she stopped eating. She stood, the story says, day and night, in a vow, while her husband and his parents watched her with worry. No one knew why. She had never asked for anything. She had served them, all year, in silence. And now, without explanation, she was fasting and keeping vigil, as though preparing for a battle.Missed the previous story? Listen to Episode 25 first.Source note. Label: scripture. This story is from the

en

12:06

Savitri I: The Princess Who Chose a Doomed Man

Dharma Katha ·

2026/10/04

Dharma Katha · Season 1: Pitru Paksha · Episode 25A princess is told, by one of the wisest sages in the world, that the man she loves will die in exactly one year. She does not weep. She does not argue. She does not change her mind. She says: I have chosen. I will not choose again.Missed the previous story? Listen to Episode 24 first.Source note. Label: scripture. This story is from the Mahabharata, Vana Parva, the Pativrata Mahatmya section, the Savitri Upakhyana, told by Markandeya to

en

8:55

What Is Dharma? Yudhishthira's Answer

Dharma Katha ·

2026/10/03

Dharma Katha · Season 1: Pitru Paksha · Episode 24How do you know what is right? Not what is legal, or what is expected, or what your family thinks. What is truly right, when the rules run out, and the books disagree, and every clever person has a different opinion. This is Dharma Katha, Season One, Pitru Paksha. Episode twenty-four, the last of our fourth day. It is a short one. In the last episode we stood at the lake of the Yaksha, and heard Yudhishthira answer the most famous questions in the

en

12:17

The Lake and the Questions

Dharma Katha ·

2026/10/03

Dharma Katha · Season 1: Pitru Paksha · Episode 23Four strong men lie dead beside a lake, and their eldest brother is thirsty. The water is right there. It is clear and cool. The four brothers who went to fetch it have not come back. And now the eldest, alone, walks to the shore, and finds them lying on the ground, without a wound on them. Then a voice speaks.Missed the previous story? Listen to Episode 22 first.Source note. Label: scripture. This story is from the Mahabharata, Vana Parva, Aranyaka

en

10:48

Yama's Three Boons and What They Mean

Dharma Katha ·

2026/10/03

Dharma Katha · Season 1: Pitru Paksha · Episode 22Three wishes. A father. A fire. A secret. If you set them side by side, you might not see the pattern. But there is one, and it tells you something about how the ancient sages thought a human life should be ordered. This is Dharma Katha, Season One, Pitru Paksha. Episode twenty-two, on our fourth day. It is a short one. We have heard how the boy Nachiketa waited three days at Death's door, and how he refused every temptation to ask his one question

en

15:52

Nachiketa III: The Secret Yama Would Not Give

Dharma Katha ·

2026/10/03

Dharma Katha · Season 1: Pitru Paksha · Episode 21There is a question that everyone carries, and almost no one asks out loud. What happens when we die? A boy sits in front of Death himself. Death has just offered him any gift in the universe. And the boy says: I already know what I want. Tell me that.Missed the previous story? Listen to Episode 20 first.Source note. Label: scripture. This story is from the Katha Upanishad, first adhyaya, first valli, verses twenty to twenty-nine, and second valli,

en

15:11

Nachiketa II: Three Days at Yama's Door

Dharma Katha ·

2026/10/03

Dharma Katha · Season 1: Pitru Paksha · Episode 20Death was not at home. A boy stood at his gate. He had walked a long way, on nothing but his father's angry word, to reach the house of the god who ends all lives. And the god was out. There was nobody to receive him. No servant. No bowl of water. No bed.Missed the previous story? Listen to Episode 19 first.Source note. Label: scripture. This story is from the Katha Upanishad, first adhyaya, first valli, verses seven to nineteen. The Sanskrit lines

en

12:43

Nachiketa I: A Boy Given to Death

Dharma Katha ·

2026/10/03

Dharma Katha · Season 1: Pitru Paksha · Episode 19A boy watches his father give away cattle. It is a great occasion. There are priests, and fires, and the whole household has gathered. The father has promised to give away everything he owns. And the boy, who is still young, is standing at the edge of the courtyard, watching the cows being led past him.Source note. Label: scripture. This story is from the Katha Upanishad, first adhyaya, first valli, verses one to six. The Sanskrit lines quoted are

en

10:51

The Cow at the River's Edge: Why Godan

Dharma Katha ·

2026/10/02

Dharma Katha · Season 1: Pitru Paksha · Episode 18In many Indian households, at the bedside of the dying, or in the days after a death, someone leads a cow to the door. A priest says a few words. A rope is placed in a hand. And a gift is made that the family may have thought about for years. Why a cow? And why then?Missed the previous story? Listen to Episode 17 first.Source note. Label: text and tradition. The passage on the gift of a cow being equal to the gift of land, on giving a cow at the end,

en

9:59

The River Vaitarani

Dharma Katha ·

2026/10/02

Dharma Katha · Season 1: Pitru Paksha · Episode 17Every road in the old stories has a river at the end of it. The Styx of the Greeks. The Sinvat Bridge of the Persians. In India, it is the Vaitarani, and it has one very unusual feature. You cannot cross it by strength, or by wealth, or by cleverness. You cross it by a gift.Missed the previous story? Listen to Episode 16 first.Source note. Label: text and tradition. The description of the river Vaitarani, its width, and its effect on the sinful is

en

11:08

Who Is Chitragupta?

Dharma Katha ·

2026/10/02

Dharma Katha · Season 1: Pitru Paksha · Episode 16There is a clerk in the court of death, and he has never made a mistake. He sits on a throne, with a great ledger. Every kind word, every cruelty, every secret act and every act done in public, is written in it. And when a soul arrives at the end of the road, he reads it out. Welcome to Dharma Katha, Season One, Pitru Paksha. Episode sixteen, on our third day. It is a short one. In the last episode we walked the road of Yama, and at the end of it we

en

35 results

Similar Podcasts

UsmanGee Islamic Universe | Quran: Tilawat & Tarjuma

usmangee-productions

Forbidden Knowledge News

Forbidden Knowledge Network

G3:16 Condesa

G3:16 Condesa

Apologia Church

Jeff Durbin

Woodside Bible Church Lake Orion

Woodside Bible Church Lake Orion