Indian mythology · king · skill, ruin, restoration
The king of Nishadha, peerless charioteer and cook, possessed by the spirit of the fallen age into gambling away his kingdom. Disfigured and in exile, he was won back to himself by Damayanti's stratagem, the epics' great romance of loss and reunion.
Damayanti chooses the mortal Nala over four gods who came disguised as him, knowing him because he alone casts a shadow. Possessed by the spirit of the fallen age, he gambles away his kingdom and abandons her in the forest; her cunning, and a second bride-choice no true husband would permit, win him back.