Satyavati

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Satyavati (Sanskrit: सत्यवती, IAST: Satyavatī; also spelled Satyawati) is a character in the ancient Hindu epic Mahabharata. She was the queen of the Kuru kingdom, married to king Shantanu of Hastinapura, and is a great-grandmother of the Pandava and Kaurava princes. She is also the mother of the seer Vyasa, author of the epic. Her story appears in the Mahabharata, the Harivamsa, and the Devi Bhagavata Purana. Satyavati was the foster daughter of a fisherman chieftain, Dasharaja and was brought up as a commoner on the banks of the river Yamuna. Satyavati was the biological daughter of the Chedi king Uparichara Vasu (Vasu) and a cursed apsara (celestial being), who was turned into a fish called Adrika. Due to the smell emanating from her body, Satyavati was known as Matsyagandha ("She who smells like fish"), and helped her father, Dasharaja, in his job as ferryman and fisherman. As a young woman, Satyavati met the wandering rishi (sage) Parashara, who fathered her son Vyasa out of wedlock. The sage gave blessed her with a sweet, musky body fragrance that could spread across the distance of one yojana, which earned her names like Yojanagandha ("She whose fragrance is spread as far as a yojana") and Gandhavati ("fragrant one"). Later, King Shantanu, captivated by her fragrance and beauty, fell in love with Satyavati. She married Santanu on her father's condition that their children inherit the throne, denying the birthright of Shantanu's eldest son (and crown prince) Bhishma. Satyavati bore Shantanu two children, Chitrangada and Vichitravirya. After Shantanu's death, she and her sons ruled the kingdom with the help of Bhishma. Although both her sons died childless, she arranged for her eldest son, Vyasa, to father the children of the two widows of Vichitravirya through niyoga. The children, Dhritarashtra and Pandu, became the fathers...