Ruru

Sthulakesha finds the infant Pramadvara beside his hermitage after Menaka abandons her there. He raises her, and she grows up in the sage’s household. Ruru, son of Pramati, sees her and falls in love; their fathers agree to a marriage. A few days before the wedding, Pramadvara is playing with her companions when she steps on a coiled snake. Its bite kills her, and Ruru leaves the grieving assembly.

In the forest, Ruru mourns and asks for his beloved to live again. A messenger of the gods explains that the gods have allowed a way: Ruru may give half his own life to Pramadvara. He accepts. Dharmaraja grants the exchange, and Pramadvara rises with half of Ruru’s lifespan. Their fathers marry them on the appointed day. Ruru’s grief has also hardened into a vow to kill every snake he sees.

Later, Ruru sees an old dundubha lying in the forest. Intending to kill it, he raises his staff and strikes. The creature speaks, protesting that it has done him no harm. Ruru explains his vow; the dundubha replies that its kind are snakes only by smell and do not bite people. Ruru does not kill it, thinking it may be a sage. It reveals that it was once the sage Sahasrapata, cursed after frightening his friend Khagama with a mock snake made of grass. The curse ends when Ruru appears. Sahasrapata teaches him that a brahmin should protect living beings and points to Astika, who saved the snakes during Janamejaya’s sacrifice. Ruru asks to hear more, but the sage vanishes. He returns home and asks his father to tell him Astika’s story.