The Fish in the Cupped Hands
King Satyavrata, a righteous sage-king of the ancient Dravidian coast, was performing his morning water offering (tarpaṇa) in the river when a tiny golden fish leapt into his cupped palms. 'Great king,' the little creature pleaded, 'the larger fish will devour me. Please give me shelter.' Moved with compassion, the king placed the fish in his water pot. By dawn, the fish had grown too large. He transferred it to a tank; by noon, the tank was too small. He moved it to a lake; by evening, the lake was too small. Finally he carried the fish to the ocean itself. And the fish spoke.
✦ Visual cue — A pious king with a saffron dhoti at the edge of a river at sunrise, holding a small radiant golden fish in his cupped palms as the fish begins to glow with divine light.