Mythology - Famous Stories of India that Indian Culturally Know

My friend Sue Wood asked me what some of the famous stories that all Indians generally know.

It started me thinking, and given the inherent diversity of India, the list meanders from person to person based on what region, language, they come from.

Here is my attempt to collect the most famous Indian stories Indians just know.

Broadly, I see some from Hindu mythology, Epics, literature of different languages and regional stories of all times, which India with its 5000 year old culture seems to have a knack to pass across generations.

Thinking back, I am amazed as Hindu mythology stories were not taught at school as Indian schools are very very particular about being secular.

I had made a basic list in an earlier posting. Here is my broad list. I shall add more as I remember, or find more stories.

Epics
-Ramayana - some call it religious, others do not
-Mahabharat - the longest written poetry in any language ever
-Bhagvat Gita - offshoot of Mahabharat, most people know the summary, called "Gita Saram". This can be found in almost any home, in calendars and is instilled deep in the Indian psyche "Do your duty, do not think about rewards" leading to Karma. Do good and good will happen to you in the long run(including several rebirths), you cannot control the outcome of what will happen now.

Stories from Literature
These came from sanskrit (or some regional) literature but has become common acros india. Most of us hear nuances and references in Movies, plays and songs. Most regions of India have plays of the famous literature works thats replayed for each generation (I shall compare it to Shakespears works, but I learnt Shakespear officially in school in India)

1. Shakuntala - written by the famous Hindi language poet Kalidas (my favorite story ever :-))
2. Kannagi and Kovalan - Tamil language story from "Silapadhikaram" written by Illangovaligal in 2AD.
My summary - Kovalan went to Madurai town with his wife Kannagi to look for a job. He took bracelet of Kannagi to sell and was mistaken that he stole the bracelet of the Pandya queen and sentenced to death. The story is about the wrath of kannagi as she proves her husband was innocent and tells the king about how the ruler should stay balanced or dharma or righeousness will perish and she sets fire to Madhurai (famous city of tamil literature) with her anger.
3. Devadas - Repeated as movies, amazing love story of Paaru and Devadas who misses her and drinks his life away. Always Devadas is referred as a hero mourning his lost love. See recent Hindi movie Devadas by Aiswarya Rai(2002)
4. Salim and Anarkali - Love story from the time of the Mughal king Akbar . See a slightly modified version where Anarkali does not die at Mughal-e-Azam

Legends from History
These vary across the regions.
Shivaji - From Maharastra - there are several stories of how he fought the last of the Mughal Aurangazeb, famous all over India.