India, Feb. 26 -- By Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik - Author, Speaker, Illustrator, Mythologist

This is an ancient tale first narrated in the Vedic corpus. The sun-god Surya is married to Saranya, who cannot bear his blazing presence. She flees in the form of a mare. Surya pursues her as a stallion and from this union are born the Ashvin twins, divine horsemen who move swiftly across the worlds in chariots drawn by horses. They rescue those who fall into wells, oceans and darkness, acting as healers and saviours at the threshold between life and death. Saranya eventually dissolves into the landscape itself, becoming the river Sarayu, turning flight into flow, fear into nourishment.

Surya's children also become rivers. His daughter Yami, twin sis...