India, May 28 -- By Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik - Author, Speaker, Illustrator, Mythologist

Arundhati is remembered today as the ideal wife, the tiny star beside Vasistha in the Saptarshi constellation, shown to every new bride as a model of fidelity. But beneath this polished image lies a far more unsettling story. Some traditions insist that before she became the revered Arundhati, she was Akshamala, a Chandala's daughter.

In the Skanda Purana, a terrible famine breaks out. Hungry sages wander in search of food and arrive at the house of a Chandala who has wisely stored grain. In times of comfort, such sages would never accept food from a Chandala. Now, driven by hunger, they praise him. The Chandala agrees to feed them on one condition. Th...