Utanka

In the desert, the maharshi Utanka performs severe austerities for years to worship Vishnu. When Vishnu appears and offers him a boon, Utanka asks only for devotion to dharma and truth. But Vishnu has more to reveal — a great asura named Dhundhu is performing terrible austerities for the destruction of the worlds, and a king will be needed to stop him.

King Brihadashva, having installed his son on the throne, walks away from his kingdom to pursue austerities in the forest. The sage Utanka intercepts him and argues that protecting the subjects is the highest dharma — greater than any hermitage. Then he reveals why he needs the king to stay: an asura named Dhundhu sleeps beneath a desert of sand, breathing destruction once a year, and only a king empowered by Vishnu can stop him.

Utanka, a brahmana, approaches a rajarshi with a request that requires a warrior's strength. But the rajarshi has discarded all weapons and cannot act himself. He offers his son Kuvalashva instead — a man whose valor is unmatched on earth, surrounded by sons with arms like clubs.

After Dhundhu's death, the gods appear before King Kuvalashva and offer him a boon. He does not ask for power or wealth. He asks for something else entirely — and the gods grant it.

Armed with his boon, Dhundhu remembers his fathers and attacks Vishnu himself, defeating all the gods. Then he retreats to an ocean of sand, buries himself in the earth, and begins to breathe fire — threatening the hermitage of the sage Utanka and the world itself.

King Kuvalashva marches to the ocean of sand with twenty-one thousand sons. Vishnu pours his own energy into the king. For seven days they dig. When they find Dhundhu, the asura awakens — and burns every son alive. Kuvalashva faces him alone.