Book Review: Cradle Takes of Hinduism by Sister Nivedita

‘Cradle Takes of Hinduism’; By: Sister Nivedita (Margaret E. Noble); Advaita Ashrama; ISBN: 978-81-85301-93-8

The land of India/Bharat and its innate religion Hinduism have attracted many souls from all across the world. Sister Nivedita, born Margaret Elizabeth Noble, a Scots-Irish social-worker and disciple of Ramkrishna-Vivekananda is one such, and she is an icon in herself. Recently I have had the opportunity to read some of her writings and I consider myself lucky in this regard.

‘Cradle Tales of Hinduism’, as the title suggests is a compilation of Hindu mythological stories. Most of these stories are already told to us by our mothers, grandparents or elders, and lessons from these stories shape our characters, thinking process, and culture. This is a wonderful book where the stories are told in English in a very touching manner. The writing style of these texts is simple but very charming. While reading the story of Sati, tears came to my eyes many times where she had to sacrifice herself and when Shiva learnt about her loss and felt a pain in heart (which the great God had never experienced before). Or the heart wrenching love story of Nala and Damayanti – though it ended in a happy note. The story of Prahalada and Dhruva – the great devotees is also so touching. And a cute lovely part is the one of Gopala who gets Krishna as his friend and companion because of his mother’s pure devotion. The story of Bhishma, Yudhisthara, Bharata, Vikramaditya’s throne, and even Prithviraj Chauhan are so heart touching that yhis book indeed teaches the readers about the virtues which our religion wants us to practice.

A highly recommended book for one and all.

- Rahul