I was born in a village near Kishkinda valley in modern Karnataka. My mother's name was Anjani and my father was Kesri. Begetting me was a problem at first, and my mother--a great devotee of Shiva--had appealed to the great Neel Kantha following which he had appeared in her dreams, blessed her, and assured her that she would soon be a mother.

 

My parents were delighted when i was born and i am informed that as i lay on a cradle in an inner room, my father had broken a pod of musk in the sitting room of our house and announced before relatives and friends who had collected that:

 

just as this musk disseminates in this room, so will the fame of my son disseminate in the whole world. 

I grew up learning the sciences, the arts and a fair bit of philosophy. I was a precocious child; learning new things came very naturally to me. Presumably this had something to do with Lord Shiva's blessings.

 

Besides the ordinary courses, i also spent some time with Tantrik and Yogic practitioners as a child from whom i learnt various magical feats and tricks. I learnt how to leap over long distances, for instance, and methods to reduce or augment my height.

I once got into a fight with a dragon king who resided in the ocean depths. I was young and reckless and i believe i would have killed him but for the fact that he begged me off saying he had this wonderful weapon which could be mine if i would only spare him. He then gave me the gada which i carry to this day. It is made of special material; it is heavy and robust and in all the while i have used it it has never let me down.

Enough of the background, let us begin with the story:

I was sleeping by myself when two fierce looking goblins woke me roughly and asked that i follow them. I surreptiously reduced the size of my gada, and pocketed it as i walked out to see what was the matter. Scarcely  was i out of the house that i found myself flying; the two goblins were flying alongside me.

I was in a bit of a daze as i looked down and saw my house and in its vicinity become smaller and then indistinguishable from the neighboring forest. I asked one of the goblins:

'where are u taking me?'

'We have been sent by Yama, u are on ur way to heaven' was the reply.

'But i am too young to go to heaven' i protested.

' u have to go when ur time on earth is up' he said.

*To be continued*