Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c7.1217

c7.1217

2) Birth. There is an interesting story about the birth of Jamadagni. Gādhi was the son of king Kuśāmba. A daughter named Satyavatī was born to Gādhi. The hermit Rcīka giving a dowry of one thousand horses, each with one black ear, married Satyavatī. Once Satyavatī told her husband that herself and her mother wanted to get a child each. After the sacrifice of oblations to Agni (fire), Rcīka took two parts filled with boiled rice and gave them to Satyavatī, with mantras (spells). The radiance of Brahmā was invoked into one pot and the radiance of Kṣātra was invoked into the other. The hermit had asked Satyavatī to eat the rice into which the radiance of Brahmā had been invoked and to give the other pot to her mother. But the daughter and mother changed the pots secretly and Satyavatī ate the rice in the pot into which Kṣātra radiance was invoked and gave the pot of rice filled with Brāhma-radiance to her mother. Both the women conceived. As the child grew in the womb the radiance of Brahmā shone on the face of the mother and Kṣātra lustre was seen on the face of Satyavatī. Rcīka asked Satyavatī for the reason. She admitted the secret interchange of the pot.