One evening, when daylight was gradually fading and the sky was darkening, Mara sensed that it was going to rain very heavily. He called his son in and shut the door of his hut. Raindrops started battering his roof and at midnight the wind rocked his hut. Mara became anxious and came out of his hut. He saw Veda thundering down the mountain and also felt the wind shaking the earth. He went to the edge of the water in the tank and watched the waves rising to a man’s height and hammering at the bank. The water level had risen to just a hair’s breadth below the shore. He thought it might heave and flow over the banks any moment.

Mara went on his knees and prayed to the Goddess of the river. She appeared before him in an angry mood. Her tresses were wild, her eyes gleamed with a strange light; there was a sword in her hand and her forehead was splashed with vermilion. When he cowered at her sight she asked him to stand up and listen to what she was going to say. Then she told him to clear out of his hut at once as she desired to destroy the tank built around her. Mara pleaded with her to spare them and have pity on them. But the Goddess did not change her mood. Then Mara requested her to grant his one wish. He begged her to promise him that she would stay her hand and not carry out the devastation until he returned from the king’s palace after informing him about what was going to happen to the tank.

The Goddess gracefully granted his wish and agreed to wait until he came back. Thus having stayed the decision of the river Goddess, Mara had to somehow save the tank and his people. That is why Mara met the King on a stormy night.