Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c8.1839

c8.1839

2) *Birth.* Śantanu, a King of Candravaṁśa, had two wives, Gaṅgā and Satyavatī. Even while Satyavatī was a maiden she got of the sage Parāśara a son named Vyāsa. But because of the blessing of the sage Satyavatī did not lose her maidenhood. She got of Śantanu two sons, Citrāṅgada and Vicitravīrya. Citrāṅgada died young. Vicitravīrya married the two daughters, Ambikā and Ambālikā, of the King of Kāśī. Vicitravīrya died before any progeny was born to him. To save the dynasty from extinction Satyavatī asked her first son Vyāsa to beget children of Ambikā and Ambālikā. Accordingly Dhṛtarāṣṭra was born to Ambikā and Pāṇḍu to Ambālikā. (Chapters 63 and 105, Ādi Parva).