The Boy Who Became the Pole Star

The sages told the Pandavas of Dhruva, the small boy whose hurt pride drove him into the forest to seek God, and who won, in the end, the one fixed and unmoving place in all the turning heavens - the pole star that never sets.

There was once a king named Uttanapada who had two queens. The elder was Suniti, gentle and good, but neglected and out of favor; the younger was Suruchi, proud and beautiful, and the king doted upon her. Suniti had a little son named Dhruva, and Suruchi had a son named Uttama. Though Dhruva was the elder son, his mother's lack of favor cast its shadow over him, and the proud younger queen could not bear to see the child of her rival honored in any way. The little boy grew up in the shadow of this jealousy, loved by his quiet mother but slighted in the splendid court of his father.