Half a Life for Love

Among the oldest tales preserved in the great epic, told among the sages in the early days, is the story of Ruru and Pramadvara - a story of a love strong enough to give away half a life, and of how that same love, turned to vengeance, had to be taught again the higher law of mercy.

There was a young brahmin named Ruru, of the line of Bhrigu, ardent and devoted. And there was a maiden named Pramadvara, born of an apsara and a gandharva and raised in the hermitage of a forest sage - a girl of such grace and beauty that she seemed to belong half to heaven. Ruru and Pramadvara loved each other, and it was arranged that they should be wed, and a day was fixed for the marriage. The two young people lived in the happiness of those who are betrothed and certain of their future, counting the days to their wedding, with no shadow upon them and no thought that anything could come between them.

But fate, which loves to strike at the very edge of joy, had set a small and deadly thing in their path.