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Long ago there was a hermit called Mandavya in India. As he was standing in deep meditation near his hermitage, the men of the King chased some thieves and came to the place where the hermit stood. The robbers placed the stolen property near the hermit and ran away. The king's men caught the hermit, and the thieves. The King ordered them to be placed on a trident. The thieves died on the trident. But Mandavya was not dead. The King sawed the trident and got Mandavya down. The hermit went to Dharmadeva and asked him what his blame was for suffering the punishment of the trident on him. Dharmadeva replied that the punishment was inflicted for a cruel deed he had done in his childhood. He had caught some flies and made a bunch of them by piercing them with the rib of a coconut-palm leaf. But Mandavya argued that Dharmadeva was not right in punishing him because the Sastras and rules of righteousness said that mistakes committed by boys below the age of twelve could not be considered to be sins. Further he cursed Dharmadeva that he would take birth on the earth from the womb of a Sudra. Accordingly Dharmadeva took birth from the womb of the servant of Ambika and Ambalika. (Page 848, Puranic Encyclopedia - Vettam Maṇi)

Long ago there was a hermit called Mandavya in India. As he was standing in deep meditation near his hermitage, the men of the King chased some thieves and came to the place where the hermit stood. The robbers placed the stolen property near the hermit and ran away. The king's men caught the hermit, and the thieves. The King ordered them to be placed on a trident. The thieves died on the trident. But Mandavya was not dead. The King sawed the trident and got Mandavya down. The hermit went to Dharmadeva and asked him what his blame was for suffering the punishment of the trident on him. Dharmadeva replied that the punishment was inflicted for a cruel deed he had done in his childhood. He had caught some flies and made a bunch of them by piercing them with the rib of a coconut-palm leaf. But Mandavya argued that Dharmadeva was not right in punishing him because the Sastras and rules of righteousness said that mistakes committed by boys below the age of twelve could not be considered to be sins. Further he cursed Dharmadeva that he would take birth on the earth from the womb of a Sudra. Accordingly Dharmadeva took birth from the womb of the servant of Ambika and Ambalika. (Page 848, Puranic Encyclopedia - Vettam Maṇi)