Najiv and Vidya Pilabha

These twin children were born during the last days of the Asura Empire.

When they were very young, their province fell to Asura forces and their family was killed. The children were raised in an Asura court, where the monster Ashkult tried to breed them to one another. Devout deva, the children refused, and as punishment were cast out into the wilds to be consumed by Asura beasts, each in their own river valley. Here begins the separate tales of the hero and heroine.

The brother Najiv defeated the beast who was entrusted with killing him with is bare hands. The shock of separation made his memory escape, and he knew nothing of rules or the ways of man. He was forced to face the dangers of the wild using only his hands and arts. Living as a wildman of the mountains, he yet kept the deva arts true, fighting the wild beasts of the region. In time, he came to be worshipped him as a mountain god, and developed into an enlightened deva, defeating many powerful beasts and raising a host of divinely endowed children to follow in his footsteps.

The sister Vidya was the most beautiful creature imaginable, and the beast sent to kill her took mercy on her and left her at the camp of a prominent hero and deva general, Lord Saha Randari. He was immediately smitten by the beautiful girl, and took her to be his favored lover. Yet she was sad, for she remembered her brother, more fair than all other lords of the deva, and found little joy in life. This sorrow only led her to be more beautiful, and her terrible woe made whole provinces cry and reach out for the mercy in their hearts. Thus, she inspired the formation of many great arts and of medicine, the art of compassion in sorrow.

In time, the budding Deva Empire came in contact with the mountain sect of Najiv. Realizing his deva nature but appalled at his strange bestiality, it was decided to send him a deva bride to take the edge of his madness. Vidya, now a maiden in the full flowering of her beauty and to whom all life was the same, volunteered. Great was the procession of maidens walking up the mountain, and great were the wedding preparations. Lord Saha Randari gave her a white elephant and sent his best guardsmen on white horses to escort her. Her wedding raiment was of ancient gold and wherever she went, people gave huge and fabulous gifts to be her dowry.

Finally, the great procession, now joined by a host of the devout, reached the mountain fastness of Lord Najiv. In accordance with custom at the time, the two did not meet until the ceremony began. They were married and the bride was unveiled. Lo! All the people lost their breath, so beautiful was she, so lordly was he, and so alike were they in their divine perfection.

Retiring to their bridal chamber, Vidya and Najiv gave praise to their ancestors and were shocked to discover that they were the same. They were then graced by a visit by the spirit of their divine mother. The divine spirit explained the situation and forbade the bride and groom to fulfil their marriage, instead urging them to live forever in love as siblings. They swore this oath, and from that day they were constantly in each other's thoughts. They each had many children with different lovers, and a host of these children bred true and became lords in their own time.

The two rivers along which the twins had been taken to be killed changed their course that day, and now join together and flow down to the sea as a single river, bringing bounty to a great plain.

But some say that there was a villain in this tale, the Eunuch Zagri, who had been the chamberlain of their parent's court and betrayed them to the Asura because he lusted after the lady Vidya. When he could not have her, she cursed her and intrigued to turn the twins into enemies or to taint their blood by asura deeds. In this telling, there is rivalry between the people of Najiv and Vidya, and only their divine compassion prevented this from turning into war. The marriage was the crowning act of peace and conciliation.

Those blessed by this bloodline are charming like the Lady Vidya, terrible like the Lord Najiv and always linked to another child of the same bloodline. The curse of Zagri means that many of these Karmic Twins become enemies, or at least have to struggle to live their joined fates together in harmony.