An Index to the Names in the Mahabharata, with Short Explanations and a Concordance to the Bombay and Calcutta Editions and P. C. Roy's Translation c5.s9.379

c5.s9.379

Matsya¹, a king, son of Vasu Uparicara. § 76 (cf. Ādivamçāvataraṇa): When Girikā’s season came, the pitṛs of Vasu (q.v.) asked him to slay deer; when he in the forest was longing for Girikā, he gave his semen, enveloped by an açoka leaf, to a hawk in order that it should be carried to Girikā; persecuted by another hawk, the hawk let the semen fall into the Yamunā, where it was swallowed by the Apsaras Adrikā, who had by the curse of a brahman been transformed into a fish. In the tenth month the fish was caught, and out of its womb came a boy, who was given to Uparicara and afterwards became the king Matsya, and a girl, Satyavatī, who was of a fishy smell, and was retained by the fisherman. When killed, Adrikā assumed her own celestial shape and went away to the regions of the Siddhas, the Ṛṣis, and the Caraṇas: I, 63, 2393 (rājā).—§ 267 (Yamasahāv.): II, 8, 320 (in the palace of Yama). Cf. next.