rice to his wife, Sunitha, who gave birth to a son. The son, from his childhood, was attached to his maternal grandfather Mrityu (a portion of Adharma), and turned to unrighteousness. He acted like a beast, ruthlessly hunting innocent deer. Seeing his wicked acts, he was named Vena, 'the tormentor'. Unable to disciple his child, Anga lost his peace of mind, and left his kingdom in disgust, retiring to the forest. Fearing anarchy and thieves, the sages and the people crowned Vena as the king, even though they were dissatisfied with the prince. Reign and death When Vena became the king, the thieves immediately stopped their crimes and hid themselves. However, Vena proclaimed that in his kingdom, no one would perform a sacrifice, and that they would not spend a single coin on religious acts. He banned religion. The sages visited Vena's court to conciliate the king, offering him wisdom about dharma (duty), moksha (salvation), and his responsibility as a ruler from the Dharmashastras. They asked him to restore the practice of sacrificial offerings and religious ceremonies. Vena declared their devotion towards Yajneshvara to be foolish, for he himself was the embodiment of all the deities. He commanded that all of his subjects worship him rather than any other being. Angered by the insult that the king had made towards their Brahmin birth, and the deity Vishnu, the sages slew him with consecrated blades of grass, while uttering the huṃ sound. A grieving Sunitha preserved her son's corpse by chanting mantras and applying medicines. Birth of Prithu After the death of Vena, there was anarchy, since Vena had no sons and heirs. Thieves and evil men begun to plunder and steal from innocent people. Wishing to continue the line of Vena's father, Anga, they kneaded the thigh of Vena, from which a dwarfish man appeared, with black features and blood-red eyes. The man bowed before the sages and asked them of his purpose. The sages told him to sit (niṣīda), after which he named himself. The man is said to have accepted all the sins committed by Vena unto himself. Thereafter, the descendants of the man came to be known as the Nishadas, dwelling in the Vindhya mountains. The sages then began to knead the corpse’s right hand, from which a shining man, Prithu, bearing a divine bow, arrows, and armour appeared. The sages observed that Prithu had the mark