A विद्याधर youth. The story of this young man who was born to kill विद्युद्ध्वज , a fire-brand of an असुर , is told thus in कथासरित्सागर .

An eminent असुर of name विद्युत्प्रभ performed penance to propitiate ब्रह्मा to get a son. As a result of the blessings of ब्रह्मा he got a son invincible to the देवस् . He was named विद्युद्ध्वज . Even from boyhood he was very brave and daring. Once when he saw some demons standing guard to protect the असुर family he said "At present our country is being protected by the hands of others. I shall, therefore, perform penance and obtain boons to remove this disgrace. I will conquer our enemies." विद्युद्ध्वज went straight to the forests and performed penance to propitiate ब्रह्मा . When the austerities became severe, विद्युद्ध्वज observed fasting without break and the whole world became excited due to anxiety. So ब्रह्मा appeared before him in person and gave him many divine weapons like ब्रह्मास्त्र . For ब्रह्मास्त्र the only counter-missile was पाशुपत and so ब्रह्मा warned him that it should be used only when it was found absolutely necessary.

विद्युद्ध्वज became arrogant with the possession of such divine weapons and started for इन्द्रलोक with his father and his army to conquer इन्द्र . He knew that इन्द्र was ready to face him with a big army headed by चन्द्रकेतु and पद्मशेखर .

The battle that ensued was very grim. Even ब्रह्मा and रुद्र came to see the fight. In a combat with इन्द्र , विद्युत्प्रभ was killed. विद्युद्ध्वज saw his father killed, got furious and sent ब्रह्मास्त्र against इन्द्र who in turn opposed it with पाशुपत . विद्युद्ध्वज fainted. Devas sounded the trumpets of victory and left the place.

After some time विद्युद्ध्वज awoke from the swoon and lamented thus to those of his men who were around:--"My तपोबल (strength resulting from penance) was of no use. I have decided to die fighting against इन्द्र . I do not want to return to a country where my father is not alive. On hearing this his aged minister pointed out to him his mistake in having used the ब्रह्मास्त्र untimely.

विद्युद्ध्वज decided to attain more powers and so he went to the base of the हिमालय s to perform penance to propitiate शिव . Pleased at his penance of five thousand years शिव appeared in person and asked him to name the boon he wanted. विद्युद्ध्वज demanded " I must be able to kill इन्द्र in a battle." शिव granted him the boon.

विद्युद्ध्वज once again attacked इन्द्र with a huge army. In the fierce battle that followed इन्द्र fell down fainting by the weapons of विद्युद्ध्वज . At once a voice from the air commanded, "Take away इन्द्र from the battlefield. It is dangerous to keep him there" वायु came and carried him away swiftly. When इन्द्र awoke from fainting he went to ब्रह्मलोक with all the other devas.

विद्युद्ध्वज established himself in अमरावती , the capital city of इन्द्र and lived there enjoying his life as इन्द्र . In the meantime चन्द्रकेतु , King of the विद्याधरस् was sitting in वायुलोक musing thus, "How long should we remain thus displaced from our positions! There is no waning of the power of विद्युद्ध्वज . My friend पद्मशेखर , King of गन्धर्वस् , has gone to शिवपुर to perform penance. I do not know whether he has been blessed by god. Anyhow I will act after hearing from him."

As his musings came to an end पद्मशेखर himself appeared before him and said: "I have come to tell you the glad news that शिव told me. शिव said "Son, do not grieve. You will get your country back. You will get a son and a daughter. They will be top-ranking men in all activities. The husband of your daughter will kill विद्युद्ध्वज ."

A happy चन्द्रकेतु went to कैलास with his wife मुक्तावली and started penance. पद्मशेखर went and mentioned to the devas all that had happened. The devas then went to महाविष्णु and told him of the boons which विद्युद्ध्वज had received from शिव and how he was ruling इन्द्रलोक then. After hearing them patiently विष्णु said that only शिव could do anything in that matter. They all then went to the temple of सिद्धीश्वर and sat there meditating on शिव .

In the meantime भगवान् appeared before चन्द्रकेतु and blessed him and said he would get a very valorous son who would kill विद्युद्ध्वज and restore देवलोक to the देवस् . But after that he would be born as a man on earth by a curse. पद्मावती daughter of a गन्धर्व King, would by the strength of her penance release him from the curse and help him to get his original state as a गन्धर्व . He would then marry पद्मावती and remain as emperor of the विद्याधरस् for ten कल्पस् together. चन्दरकेतु and wife came back to वायुलोक .

At this time शिव appeared in person to those sitting in the temple of सिद्धीश्वर and said that a son would be born to चन्द्रकेतु from a part of his and that valorous youth would kill विद्युद्ध्वज . मुक्तावली wife of चन्द्रकेतु became pregnant at that time and soon delivered a son. He was named मुक्ताफलकेतु . Even from boyhood he became an ardent devotee of शिव and started performing penance to propitiate शिव . शिव appeared before him and gave him the secrets of many techniques in archery.

विद्युद्ध्वज was once bathing in a river when muddy waters flowed from up the river and the arrogant demon sent a servant to find out the cause thereof. When he went up by the shores he saw an ox and an elephant bathing in the river. They were the वाहनस् of शिव and इन्द्र . The elephant was the famous ऐरावत . He came back and intimated to विद्युद्ध्वज what he saw. The demon then ordered his people to bring the culprits to his side. But the वाहनस् killed those who went to capture them and then they went to their masters, शिव and इन्द्र . Hearing about this audacity of the demon-chief the देवस् challenged the असुरस् to a fight. This time the army of the देवस् was led by मुक्ताफलकेतु .

A गन्धर्व princess named पद्मावती grew up to be a beautiful maiden at that time. She was in love with मुक्ताफलकेतु . पद्मावती was one day plucking flowers from a pond in the गन्धर्व land thinking about मुक्ताफलकेतु who had gone to war against the असुरस् . A demoness who was going to eat flesh in the battle-field of the देवस् and असुरस् saw पद्मावती , took her and went up. मुक्ताफलकेतु coming to know of this went up with her and got back पद्मावती who was struggling in the hands of the demoness like streaks of lightning among clouds. Then he asked her maids about her and they said, "She is the daughter of the गन्धर्व King पद्मशेखर . पद्मावती is her name. She is unmarried. But she is betrothed to the son of चन्द्रकेतु named मुक्ताफलकेतु , who is born to destroy विद्युद्ध्वज . She has come here to practise penance for the success of her father and मुक्ताफलकेतु in this war between देवस् and असुरस् ."

पद्मावती recognised मुक्ताफलकेतु from the words of his followers. But the latter had to go back to देवलोक under instructions from इन्द्र . The देवासुर war became fierce. By the valour and skill of मुक्ताफलकेतु many of the असुरस् were killed. The war was won. मुक्ताफलकेतु was given a grand reception at देवलोक and was then sent back. मुक्ताफलकेतु did not seem to be happy and everybody thought that it might be due to his having killed विद्युद्ध्वज . But the real cause was his separation from पद्मावती .

A sorrow-stricken पद्मावती sent her female companion मनोहरिका to the country of विद्याधरस् to enquire about मुक्ताफलकेतु . What she saw there was a sad मुक्ताफलकेतु pining to see पद्मावती . Both now understood each other and मनोहरिका returned with presents for पद्मावती from मुक्ताफलकेतु .

At that time मुक्ताफलकेतु went to see a महर्षि named तपोधन . Disregarding the objections of the disciple दृढव्रत who stood guard outside the आश्रम मुक्ताफलकेतु entered the आश्रम with his friend. दृढव्रत followed them. When they entered the आश्रम they found the आश्रम empty and at once दृढव्रत cursed them both to be born on earth as men. पद्मावती fainted when she heard the news. When she regained her consciousness she started practising austerities sitting in a temple devoted to गौरी , wife of शिव . She meditated on her husband मुक्ताफलकेतु in his life on earth and performed penance to propitate शिव . By the grace of शिव मुक्ताफलकेतु got his original life and he married पद्मावती and led a happy married life. (Taraṅga 2, Padmāvatīlambaka, Kathāsaritsāgara) .