Once a prince called Ritadhwaja killed a demon named Patalketu and rescued a princess named Madalasa who had been abducted by the demon. Madalasa, who was a girl of uncommon beauty, was married to Ritadhwaja. She, however, owing to her past merits, was blessed with divine knowledge and knew that the world was unreal and illusory, only the divine substratum being real. Therefore, when she gave birth to a son who was named Vikranta, she decided to bring him up on the fundamental principles of Vedanta from the birth. The prince when he grew up realised the emptiness of the world and renounced the world. This mortified the king but he was helpless to prevent the prince adopting the life of renunciation. The queen had a second son born to her who was named Suvahu. He was also brought up in the same way and as he grew older he left the palace one day and became a sannyasin. The third son was duly born and was named Arindama. He was also brought up in the same manner as his brothers and when he grew up he duly renounced everything and became an ascetic. All this grieved the king very much but he did not have the courage to interfere with the plans and actions of the queen.
Thereafter, the queen gave birth to a fourth son and one day the king, plucking up his courage, said to the queen, “When I named each of the three sons who have left us, you used to laugh at the names I gave them. We have lost all of them now. It is better that you should name this boy yourself and bring him up in a different way so that he might take charge of this kingdom and enable us to retire from the worldly life.” The queen said, “You know that the self is nameless and formless and it is therefore that when you named our sons Vikranta, Suvahu and Arindama (i.e. the brave one, one with fine arms and the victor over enemies) I was moved to laughter, but now I shall act as you suggest.” She named the fourth son Alarka and trained him in the ways of the world.
The king decided to make over the administration of the kingdom and retire and the queen also decided to follow her husband, and take to Vanaprastha (life of retirement). As they were leaving the palace, the queen gave a golden ring to her son and said, “My son, the ruler’s tasks are difficult and the worldly life is full of trouble. I ask that if at any time you get into a grievous situation you will take off this ring and look into it.”
King Alarka ruled the kingdom with great ability and success for many years but after a time, troubles and difficulties began to afflict him and one day he took off his ring and found a small piece of paper inside containing certain instructions. Having read these instructions, he discovered a new strength and vigour in his mind and peace in his heart. He decided to leave the world and handing over the reins of the kingdom to a competent person, he retired from the world. He went to the Ashram of Dattatreya and lived a life of spiritual practice and endeavour.