Vyāsa Janana
Vyāsa was born to the ṛshi Parāśara and Matsyagandha, a fisherman’s daughter, on an island in the river Yamunā. He was born grown, he promised his mother to come whenever she called him, and he left at once for tapas (austerity). The Umā Saṃhitā of the Śiva Purāṇa tells this in Chapter 44. It then follows Vyāsa on his journey to the tīrthas (holy places), which ends at Kāśī.
Parāśara and Matsyagandha
Parāśara was a great yogin of the line of Vasishṭha. He was once on a tīrtha-yātrā (pilgrimage) and came to the lovely, sacred bank of the Yamunā. He wished to cross to the far side and called out to a fisherman to take him over. The fisherman was busy eating, so he sent his daughter Matsyagandha. He told her: “This is a great tapasvin who has seen the end of all four Vedas. Take him across with care.”
Matsyagandha had a dark skin and the smell of fish, and this is how she got her name. She steered the boat of the ṛshi across the Yamunā. Parāśara had never been moved even by the beauty of the apsarasas, but now desire overcame him. The text gives this as kula-mahima (the power of lineage) that had brought the two together.
The Umā Saṃhitā gives this in Chapter 44.
Her conditions and her change
Matsyagandha answered the ṛshi wisely and gently. She said: “You are of the highest Vasishṭha line, a brāhmaṇa, a yogin and a great scholar. I am a fisherwoman. How can our union be right? We are as different as gold and a glass bead.”
She named several worries: that the act would be improper in daylight, that people on the bank could see, that her father was watching, and that it would bring shame in society. Parāśara answered by making a thick fog with the power of his tapas. He turned midday into the look of night and gave them complete privacy.
Matsyagandha then set her conditions.
- The meeting must stay unknown to her parents and to all people.
- Her kanyātva (maidenhood) must stay whole after the act.
- She must receive the vara (a boon) of lasting sweet smell.
- Her youth must always stay fresh.
Parāśara granted all four. He gave her a new name, Satyavatī (“she whose truth is honoured”), and said that ṛshis and devas would bow to her. He gave back her kanyātva. He changed her matsya-gandha (fish smell) into yojana-gandha, a divine sweet smell that could be felt for a full yojana (about eight miles) in every direction. He also promised her a son of great glory, and said: “Your son will be born with a portion of Vishṇu.”
He also told her: “Even the beauty of the apsarasas does not move me. That you have moved me is the working of fate, brahma-likhita (what Brahmā has written). Accept this.”
The Umā Saṃhitā gives this in Chapter 44.
The birth of Vyāsa
Satyavatī conceived at once. On the island (dvīpa) in the middle of the Yamunā she gave birth to a son in an instant. He was already grown and shone like the sun. He held a kamaṇḍalu (water pot) in his left hand and a great daṇḍa (staff) in his right, and his matted locks (jaṭā) were the colour of honey.
As soon as he was born, he turned to his mother and said: “O Mother, go freely wherever you wish. I too am leaving this place now. Whenever you need me, whenever a wish rises in your mind, think of me. I will come to you at once and do what you ask.”
After saying this, he bowed at the feet of his mother and left for tapas, going toward the great tīrthas.
His name Dvaipāyana comes from dvīpa (island), because he was born on an island of the Yamunā. His name Vedavyāsa comes from his later work of dividing the one Veda into four branches, so that people could reach it.
The Umā Saṃhitā gives this in Chapter 44.
Vyāsa’s journey to the tīrthas and Kāśī
After leaving his mother, the young Vyāsa made a long tīrtha-yātrā. He went in turn to these places: Naimisha, Kurukshetra, Gaṅgādvāra, Avantikā, Ayodhyā, Mathurā, Dvārakā, Amarāvatī, Sarasvatī, Sindhu-saṃgama, Gaṅgā-sāgara-saṃgama, Kāñcī, Tryambaka, the tīrthas of the Godāvarī, Kālañjara, Prabhāsa, Badarikāśrama, Mahālaya, Oṃkāreśvara, Purushottama, Gokarṇa, Bhṛgukaccha, Bhṛgutuṅga, Pushkara, Śrī Parvata and Dhārā-tīrtha.
At each tīrtha he bathed (snāna) and did tapas. At last he came to Vārāṇasī, where Annapūrṇā and Viśveśvara give moksha to their devotees. At Kāśī, Vyāsa bathed at Maṇikarṇikā, offered pūjā to Viśveśvara and all the main liṅgas, and saw Kālarāja Bhairava. In the end he set up his own liṅga, the Vyāseśvara liṅga. Its darśana (sight) gives the mastery of vidyā (learning) that Bṛhaspati has.
The Umā Saṃhitā gives this in Chapter 44.
What the account gives
- Vyāsa’s father is Parāśara of the Vasishṭha line, and his mother is Satyavatī, who was Matsyagandha the fisherwoman.
- Satyavatī changed from a boat-girl with the smell of fish into Yojanagandha. She later became queen of Hastināpura by marriage to Śantanu.
- Vyāsa is born with a portion (aṃśa) of Vishṇu, as Parāśara promised.
- Vyāsa’s work is to divide the Veda into four branches and to compose the Purāṇas.
Sources
- Śiva Purāṇa, Umā Saṃhitā, Chapter 44