Introduction

Precious stones. Jewels. Gems. Something about them is simply irresistible.

Stones have played a crucial role in stories around the world. For example, Greek myths say that amethysts are created from the divine tears of Dionysus. According to ancient rabbinic legends, an emerald was one of the four precious stones granted to King Solomon to grant him dominion over the earth. More recently we read stories of a dragon, hoarding their wealth for ages, until a brave hobbit comes to steal the Arkenstone. Or an orphan with a lightning bolt scar needing to find and protect the Philosopher’s Stone. For my storybook I wanted to do something a little different/niche and focus on powerful jewels in Indian mythology, using more of a third person, ancient folk tale style, along with some ties to familiar fairy tales. There are several stories in Indian mythology featuring powerful gems, but I have narrowed it down to the following three.

Firstly, I will be writing about the Syamantaka, the ruby of the Sun God, Surya, well-known as the gem of prosperity. I want to expand upon the story of Syamantaka and Prince Satrajit, going more into depth about the blessings and curses that the stone brought to him. The Syamantaka is a magical rock and often described as the most powerful rock in Hindu mythology. The Syamantaka is sometimes portrayed as a sapphire instead of a ruby. This is due to a misspelling of the name is Shyamantaka. Since this is such a powerful stone and iconic story, it will be interesting to put my own spin on it.

Secondly, I will write about the Cintamani. This stone's name comes from two words, "cinta" and "mani" and the name put together mean wish-granting stone. (Source: Culture Exchange Blog) According to Wikipedia, the Cintamani is a powerful, wish granting stone in both Hinduism and Buddhism. I was surprised to learn it has a Western equivalent, the Philosopher's Stone. It also has a Japanese equivalent, the Nyoihōju gem (如意宝珠), that appears in the hand of the goddess Kisshōten (吉祥天). There's not a lot of information about this particular stone, so I'll have a lot of fun being able to create a unique story about it.

Lastly, I will be writing about the Nagaratna, which means “snake jewel”. This is the stone that Ulupi uses to bring Arjuna back to life, and I will be expanding on the thrilling story. Nagaratna/snake stones are used as medicine for snakebites in regions around the world, such as Asia and India. They can also be referred to as a viper's stone, snake's pearl, black stone, or adder stone. Some sources, such as the Puranic encyclopaedia, a comprehensive dictionary with special reference to the epic and Puranic literature, call it the mrtasanjavani stone, but Nagaratna is a bit simpler to say so I'm going with that.

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