India, Sept. 29 -- Some transformations are not sudden revelations, but the slow result of an entire lifetime spent in struggle.

Vishwamitra was born a king, accustomed to power, command, and the easy deference of an entire army, until an encounter with the sage Vasishtha, whose simple hermitage possessed a wish-fulfilling cow far more valuable than his own considerable military might, humbled him more deeply than any battle ever had. Determined to attain such spiritual power himself, he renounced his throne entirely and undertook centuries of relentless penance, facing repeated setbacks and humiliating failures along the way, including being seduced by the celestial Menaka and losing years of hard-won progress in a single unguarded mome...