On the mountain of Chitrakuta, there was an extraordinarily handsome king by the name of Sushena. It so happened that the king was so handsome that there were no eligible matches to be found for him on earth.
It was at that time that Rambha, an apsara from the court of Indra, from the heavens looked at the king.
Indra was the king of the Devas, the Gods, and Indra was the bringing of the rains for all of earth and Indra’s weapon was the Vajra, the thunderbolt.
Being the ruler of all the Devas and the other celestial beings, Indra was also the king of apsaras. Apsaras were beautiful women who danced and sang in the court of Indra and apsaras were generally interested only in pursuing arts. Most of the time, the apsaras never settled for a single male and these women did not fall in love with anyone either.
However, Rambha, the apsara, was smitten when she saw the handsome Sushena.
She decided to find out who the handsome king was and she changed herself into a human form and approached the king.
When the king saw the beautiful Rambha, the king was dazzled. He was afraid to ask the lady who she was, because he was sure that if he tried to speak with her, she would fly away.
The king was unsure of what to do when the beautiful apsara came to him and spoke with him.
The king was thrilled and during the conversation, the king and the apsara both realized that they were both smitten with each other.
Adapted from the Katha Sarith Sagara
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