Suta said: ‘Then that best of serpents honored his own full sister with kindness, esteem, gifts, and fitting reverence. And then that child grew — greatly radiant, shining like the sun, like the moon rising in its waxing half in the sky, O best of the twice-born. In due time, O brahmin, the serpent's sister gave birth to a boy resembling a child of the gods, the remover of his father's and mother's fear. And he grew up there, in the abode of the king of serpents; he learned the Vedas together with their auxiliary sciences from the son of Cyavana, [a descendant] of Bhṛgu. Already as a boy he was filled with intelligence, goodness, and virtuous qualities, steadfast in his vows; and his name became renowned throughout the worlds — Āstīka. Because his father, [having said] ‘there is’ (asti), departed [to the forest while the boy was] still in the womb, his name became renowned as ‘Āstīka.’ Already as a boy, dwelling there, [he], of boundless intelligence, grew up, carefully protected in the house of the king of serpents. And, like the lord of the gods, the Trident-bearer (Śiva), the giver of gold, as he grew he gladdened all those serpents.’