In the early days of creation, there was a king named Uttanapada. He was the son of Manu. He had two queens. The elder one, Suruchi, had a son named Uttama, while the younger, Suniti, had a son named Dhruva. Dhruva was a polite and humble boy. One day, after being bathed and dressed by Suniti, Dhruva went to the king sitting in the royal court and bowed. The king was sitting on his throne, and Uttama was sitting on his lap. Dhruva also expressed a childish desire to sit on the king’s lap. At this, Suruchi admonished him, saying only her son had the right. Dhruva kept quiet and left the court with tears in his eyes.
Dhruva went to his mother in the inner apartment, where she always stayed. Seeing him in anguish, Suniti wiped his tears and asked him the cause. Dhruva said, ‘When you both are queens, how is it that you are not a favourite of the king? Though the status of being a prince is common, how is it that I am inferior to Uttama?’ Suniti, who well understood co-wife politics, tried to pacify the child. She said, ‘Whatever Suruchi has said is true. She is the crowned queen of the king. We have been denied royal glory, though we are very near the king.’ Dhruva said, ‘I am born in the highly sacred race of Manu. If everything can be achieved through tapasya, then I must be capable of it.’ With these words, he asked for his mother’s permission to perform tapasya. Suniti was reluctant to give the permission because Dhruva was only eight years old, but had to relent as Dhruva was very insistent.
Dhruva went to the forest and saw seven sages. They held rosaries in their hands and had their eyes closed in meditation. Dhruva approached them and expressed his desire to attain something on his own, rather than receive it from his father. The sages advised him to meditate on Lord Vishnu. Dhruva went to the Madhuvana forest on the banks of the River Yamuna and began meditating. He performed tapasya for a long time. Evil spirits tried to frighten Dhruva, even assuming his mother’s form to dissuade him. However, Dhruva remained unafraid and undistracted, continuing his tapasya with unwavering determination. Finally, Lord Vishnu appeared before him and granted him a boon that after returning to his kingdom, he would be crowned king, and after ruling for thousands of years, he would become Dhruva Tara or the pole star, famous for always being in the north. The seven sages who guided Dhruva became the Sapta Rishis, or the Great Bear constellation.
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