He was born as the daughter of a nishada (a low-caste hunter). In course of time, this woman married another nishada from the same tribe and became the mother of three sons and four daughters. She spend fifty years with the nishada tribe, having forgotten all about her life as Somasharma. One day, Vishnu came and took the woman to the banks of the river and asked her to bathe in it. She left her clothes on the bank of the river and dived deep into the water. When she emerged, she was transformed back into the brahmana Somasharma.

As a brahmana, Somasharma had several sages and hermits as his neighbours. When he returned after having apparently had his bath, all these sages and hermits crowded around him. “What took you so long today?” they asked. “You never take this long for a bath.”

But Somasharma remembered his life as a nishada woman and was struck with remorse. He kept thinking of the evil deeds that he had committed as a nishada, of the acts that were not deserving of a brahmana. In utter confusion, Somasharma went and sat down on the bank of the river and contemplated his miseries.