01Panchatantra · Ages 5+ · 4 min read
The Little Rabbit Who Outsmarted a Lion
A tiny rabbit. A furious lion. And one very clever idea.
Read the story
Baal Dharma
Stories from Indian civilisation, retold for curious young minds — with wonder, warmth and care for where they came from.
Today's story · Panchatantra · Ages 5+ · 4 min read
A tiny rabbit. A furious lion. And one very clever idea.
Read the story
The library
12 stories shown
01Panchatantra · Ages 5+ · 4 min read
A tiny rabbit. A furious lion. And one very clever idea.
Read the story
02Bhagavata Purana · Ages 5+ · 4 min read
Butter keeps disappearing in Gokul. Everyone has the same suspect.
Read the story
03Ramayana · Ages 6+ · 5 min read
The ocean has not become smaller. Hanuman is about to remember how large he can be.
Read the story
04Panchatantra · Ages 6+ · 5 min read
A friendship. A betrayal. And a monkey who has to think very quickly.
Read the story
05Puranic tradition · Ages 5+ · 4 min read
Kartikeya races across the earth. Ganesha looks at the challenge differently.
Read the story
06Panchatantra · Ages 5+ · 5 min read
A crow can fly. A mouse can chew. A deer can run. A tortoise has something just as important.
Read the story
07Telugu/Vijayanagara folklore · Ages 5+ · 4 min read
Thieves come to rob Tenali's house. By morning, they have done his gardening.
Read the story
08Bhagavata Purana · Ages 7+ · 6 min read
A hurt young prince goes looking for a place nobody can take away.
Read the story
09Mahabharata · Ages 8+ · 6 min read
Yama takes Satyavan away. Savitri gets up and follows.
Read the story
10Katha Upanishad · Ages 8+ · 6 min read
Yama offers Nachiketa almost anything. The boy still wants an answer.
Read the story
11Bengali folklore / Thakurmar Jhuli · Ages 8+ · 7 min read
Eight brothers. A winged horse. A dangerous game of dice. And a prince who refuses to leave his family behind.
Read the story
12Ramayana living tradition · Ages 5+ · 4 min read
Everyone is carrying enormous stones. One tiny squirrel decides it can help too.
Read the story
Our first film
तेनालीराम और चोर | Tenali Raman and the Thieves | Baal Dharma Hindi Story
Watch on YouTubeWhere stories come from
Some were written down thousands of years ago. Some travelled through epics and Puranas. Others were carried from one generation to another through storytelling.
Baal Dharma tells you where each story comes from — because knowing a story's journey makes it even more interesting.
More ways to enjoy a story
Available now.
Storytime is coming.
Our first Baal Dharma film is here.
And one day, perhaps Nani will tell you the story herself.
For grown-ups
Baal Dharma is designed to make stories from Indian civilisation enjoyable for children without pretending every story comes from the same place.
We research where a story comes from, distinguish older texts from later traditions, acknowledge important variations, and then retell it in language children can enjoy.
How we tell our stories