Chapter 1
Shakuntala, the daughter of Menaka and Rishi Vishwamitra had grown up and lived in the ashram of Kanva Rishi.
Indra granted Menaka a special status for her sacrifice by breaking Vishwamitra’s meditation. She went out of her way to safeguard Indra’s interests. In doing so, she suffered physically and emotionally during the mission. While she was acting like a worldly woman, she fell in love with Rishi and married him, and became the mother of her daughter.
Their love story became a tragedy when knowing that Menaka was an Apsara and came from heaven to break his meditation, Vishwamitra gave her a curse to remain separated from him forever.
She visited her daughter Shakuntala on Earth from time to time. Indra had provided her with a spaceship operated by Yakshas.
Once Menaka decided to visit Shakuntala. She landed on Earth using the Yakshas vehicle.
Shakuntala and Menaka were happy to see one another. Rishi Kanva provided the best possible accommodation for the boarding and lodging of Menaka. During the visit of Menaka, Shakuntala stayed with her.
Demons and gods were enemies all along. Their enmity had been worse from the time of sea churning. They felt cheated by the gods by using tricks while distributing precious things, which came out of the sea as a result of churning. These things were called gems and included Menaka and the elixir of life. The gods, along with other gemstones took over Menaka and drank all the elixir, serving alcohol to demons instead of elixir. Gods were very particular not to allow a noble and brave King like Satyavrat to enter heaven while Demons would forcefully enter heaven and disturb the dwellers.
Demons were quite advanced in the technological field. The demon kings like Ravana and Kuber were more resourceful than humans and gods.
They possessed magical and supernatural powers also.
A few demons learned about Menaka’s visit. They kept surveillance on the sky of the Saptsindu as the Indian subcontinent was then known.
After a fortnight Menaka set out for heaven in her spaceship along with its Yakshas crew.
The Menaka had occupied her special cabin.
At night the Demons chased Menaka’s spaceship and attacked it. They used firearms and anti-spacecraft missiles. The crew had retaliated and fired on the demon vessel, but they were finally killed.
Menaka’s sleep was interrupted by the sound of the firearms and the jolts she felt in the spaceship, She came out of her cabin and found the dead bodies of the crew members and marks of the battle. The crew had fought back and perhaps damaged the enemy’s craft, which was falling like a fireball toward the earth. It was creating various optical illusions while moving away from Menaka’s spaceship.
She asked herself, “Why did the demons let her go.
