Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c7.1882

c7.1882

3) *Birth and Family.* In the Purāṇas Surabhi is described variously as Dakṣa’s daughter, Kaśyapa’s wife, Kaśyapa’s daughter, etc. Although at first sight there may appear some discrepancy in these statements, in the light of them we may clearly arrive at the ancestry and birth of Surabhi. Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Araṇya Kāṇḍa, 14th Sarga says that Kaśyapa, the son of Marīci and the grandson of Brahmā married Dakṣa Prajāpati’s daughters—Aditi, Diti, Danu, Kālikā, Tāmrā, Krodhavaśā, Manu and Analā. From verses 20 and 21 in the same Sarga we understand that Surabhi was the daughter of Krodhavaśā, Dakṣa’s daughter, by Kaśyapa. In the same Sarga we find that two daughters, Rohiṇī and Gandharvī were born to this Surabhi and from Rohiṇī were born all the cows in the world that we see today and from Gandharvī were born all the horses. It was by her own father Kaśyapa himself that Surabhi's offsprings were born. Therefore, the reference to Surabhi as the wife of Kaśyapa may also be justified.² Since Krodhavaśā, the daughter of Dakṣa was the daughter of Surabhi, actually Surabhi was the grand-daughter of Dakṣa, But in a broad sense, a grand-daughter may be considered as a daughter. So the reference to Surabhi in Bhāṣā Bhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 83, Verse 28 as Dakṣa's daughter is correct in that sense.