Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c9.401

c9.401

3) Birth of Jamadagni. One day Satyavatī made a request to Ṛcika that she should have a son. Besides, she requested him that her mother should be blessed with a son, so that she might have a brother. Ṛcika performed a “homa” and after that he made two balls of rice and gave them to Satyavatī. He advised her to eat one of them and to give the other to her mother. Ṛcika had put “Brahmatejas” (brilliance of Brahmins) in the first rice-ball and “Kṣatratejas” (brilliance of Kṣatriyas) in the other. When Satyavatī and her mother ate the rice-balls, it so happened that the rice-ball intended for her mother was eaten by Satyavatī and the one intended for Satyavatī was eaten by the mother. Later Ṛcika came to know of this mistake. In due course, Satyavatī and her mother gave birth to sons, Satyavatī’s son was named Viśvāmitra. (Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa, Chapter 57).