A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History, and Literature c5.1649

c5.1649

SATYA-VATĪ. 1. Daughter of Uparichara, king of Chedi, by an Apsaras named Adrikā, who was condemned to live on earth in the form of a fish. She was mother of Vyāsa by the Rishi Parāsara, and she was also wife of King Sāntanu, mother of Vichitra-vīrya and Chitrāngada, and grandmother of the Kauravas and Pāndavas, the rivals in the great war. The sage Parāsara met her as she was crossing the river Yamunā when she was quite a girl, and the offspring of their illicit intercourse was brought forth on an island (dwīpa) in that river, and was hence called Dwaipāyana. (See Vyāsa.) She was also called Gandha-kālī, Gandha-vatī, and Kālānganī; and as her mother lived in the form of a fish, she is called Dāsa-nandinī, Dāseyī, Jhajhodarī, and Matsyodarī, ‘fish-born.’ 2. A daughter of King Gādhi, wife of the Brāhman Richīka, mother of Jamad-agni and grandmother of Parasu-rāma. She was of the Kusika race, and is said to have been transformed into the Kausikī river. See Richīka and Viswāmitra.