Once upon a time, there was a princess of Kalinga, who was abducted by a lion who forced her to bear him a child. The child, Sinhabahu, killed his own father and, for this crime, was told to leave the country on a ship. He travelled to a special island in the south known as the island of gems. There, he met a yakshini and together, they had children.

But, to become a king, he needed an Aryan wife and thus, he married a princess from the Pandyan lands. This angered the yakshini, who returned to her people, but her people rejected and killed her. In some versions, she turned against her husband, forcing him to escape on a special flying horse. After which, she went to his country and ravaged it, until she was finally overpowered by the lion king.