A king of Ayodhya. The Solar dynasty king Mitrasaha became an ugly demon called Kalmashapada by the curse of Sage Vasishta. Kalmasapada left palace and lived 12 years as demon in forest. one day the demon transformed King found Sage Gautama. Gautama felt sorry for the king and he adviced Kalmasapada to go Gokarna and dopenance to propitiate Lord Siva and attain Moksha.

Kalmashapada was born in Surya dynasty, so a forefather of Sri Rama. His lineage: Rtuvarna – Sarvakama – Sudasa Mitrasaha (Kalmashapada) – Asmaka – Khatvanga – Mulaka – Dilipa – Raghu – Aja – Dasaratha – Sri Rama

Mitrasaha once went to hunt in the forest. While hunting he came across two tiger cubs. Actually, they were two Raksasas in disguise. The King was unaware of it, killed one of them with an arrow. The other cub suddenly assumed his own form as a Raksasa and told Mitrasaha that he will take revenge on him at the proper time.

After the hunt the King while returning visited Vasistha and told him his wishes to perform Asvamedhayaga. The sage offered to assist him in it. Shortly after, one day, the old Raksasa-tiger, disguising himself as the sage Vasistha, came to Mitrasaha and said; "Oh King! I will tell you a secret. Don't tell anyone else. I have a great desire to eat meat food. Please send some cooked meat to my Ashrama without anyone knowing about it." After saying this, the disguised Raksasa-sage left the place.

The King told this secret to his wife Madayanti. They prepared the meat-food secretly and took it to Vasistha's Ashrama. When Vasistha saw the meat food, he took it as a personal insult and transformed the King into a Raksasa.

Mitrasaha became very angry as he was innocent in the incidence. He decided to pay back in the same coin by cursing Vasistha also. He took water in his hand and was about to throw it down with the words of curse. But his queen Madayanti stopped him. She reminded him that it was not right to curse a Sage like Vasistha and requested him to sprinkle that water on his own feet. The King's anger cooled down and he sprinkled the water on his own feet. Since his feet were polluted by the water of sin Mitrasaha came to be called "Kalmasapada", from that day.