Tataka was the daughter of a powerful yaksha named Suketu. The legend has it that Suketu
had no children and prayed to Lord Brahma for an offspring. Lord Brahma granted Suketu a
daughter with the strength of thousand elephants, Tataka. Suketu raised his daughter like a
son. When she came of age, Suketu got his daughter married to Sunanda, a noble man. Over
the years, Suketa and Sunanda bred two sons, Maricha and Subahu. The family lived a
modest life in the forest.
One day, the children were hungry but there was no food at home, so Sunanda went looking
for food but could not find anything for his children. He came across an ashram and noticed
that the courtyard was loaded with fruits and grains. A yajya was in preparation but since no
one was around Sunanda saw no harm in taking some fruits and grains for his hungry
children. But the sages emerged from the ashram then and accused him of ruining their yajya.
He tried explaining that he was not a thief and, in that commotion, Sunanda accidentally fell
into the fire and died.