Dileepa

An illustrious king of the Solar dynasty; an ancestor of Sri Rama. Though renowned for his valor, Dileepa tended the celestial cow Nandini like a cowherd. In an ultimate act of piety, he offered himself as food to a lion to protect Nandini, and thus proved his worthiness in a test posed by Nandini herself. After covering himself with glory, he gave up the kingdom and spent his last years in meditation in forest, setting a noble ideal.