Atul and Petul were two sisters who lived on the outskirts of a village . Their parents died when they were very young, so they had to fend for their lives by themselves. During the day they would go to the nearby village and beg for food and return to their hut by night to sleep. One day an old lady gave them an idali * to eat. Both the sisters loved it so much that they decided to prepare it by themselves. They gathered all the ingredients. Soaked the lentils in the afternoon, and ground it sitting on the stone grinder. In the night they mixed the ground lentils with rice powder and kept it for fermentation. Everything was done as per the old lady’s instructions.

Next morning they got up early, with the thought of eating hot idalis. But Oh! No! There was no wood to light the stove! The sisters grabbed a machete and a rope and rushed to the nearby jungle to gather dry wood. “Chop! Chop! Chop!” Atul started chopping the wood from a tree. A dugout close to the tree was the home of a tiger. He heard the loud noise of wood chopping and crawled out. “ Whose that? Who is chopping off the trees?” roared the tiger. Atul and Petul froze in fear. A huge angry tiger was looming over them bearing his big fangs.

There lived a pious Brahman who owned a number of cows. The cow named Bahula, was his favourite one among all. She was most sincere and kind and had given birth to a young calf recently. As usual on that day Brahmana sent out all his cows for grazing. Bahula too headed for the grassland. She wanted to have a few quick mouthfuls and return to her young calf to feed her. Unfortunately, she strayed into the deep forest while grazing. Suddenly she noticed a tiger before her getting ready to pounce upon her. Realising she will be devoured by the tiger, her eyes widened and began shedding copious tears. She thought of her hungry calf waiting for her back home and pleaded with the tiger, “ Let me go home and feed my calf for one last time, and then you can eat me” Bahula begged. The tiger took pity on Bahula and asked her return as quickly as possible after feeding the calf , as he was very hungry.

Bahula hastened home. She fed her calf her milk for the last time and told Brahmana, what had happened. After listening the tale, Brahmana said “O Bahula! If you die what will happen to your young calf ? Instead, let me offer myself to the tiger.” But Bahula was adamant. She explained to the Brahmana that she had promised the tiger to return and she cannot go against her word. Saying thus she returned to the tiger. Brahman and little calf too followed behind her. When they reached the jungle, Bahula gladly offered herself to the tiger. Instantly, the tiger changed shape and the brilliant form of Lord Shri Krishna appeared in place of the tiger. Krishna said “ I am so pleased with your truthfulness and integrity and from now on, this forest will be known as Bahulavan”