Śaibyā (wife of Jyāmagha)

Śaibyā, “the princess of the Śibis”

Śaibyā has other meanings too: see all meanings of Śaibyā.

Śaibyā is the wife of King Jyāmagha of the Yadu line. The Brahma Purāṇa calls her strong and a pativratā, a wife wholly devoted to her husband. She had no children, yet Jyāmagha never took another wife; and in her old age, by the fruit of a maiden’s tapas, she bore a son, Vidarbha, from whom the line of Vidarbha comes. She is a different person from Śaibyā, the queen of Śrī Kṛshṇa.

Jyāmagha and Śaibyā

The Purāṇa tells the line of Kroshṭu, son of Yadu. Parājit, slayer of enemies, had five unconquered sons: Rukmeshu, Pṛthurukma, Jyāmagha, Pālita and Hari. Rukmeshu became king with the support of Pṛthurukma, and Jyāmagha, sent away by the two, lived in an āśrama. Instructed by brāhmaṇas, he went alone with his bow, his banner and a chariot to another land. Wandering on the bank of the Narmadā, he conquered Mekala, Mṛttikāvatī and the mountain Ṛkshavanta, and lived in the city of Śuktimatī.

His wife was Śaibyā, strong and a pativratā. Though she had no children, he did not take another wife.

The maiden and the birth of Vidarbha

Once Jyāmagha won a victory in war and obtained a maiden as a gift. He took her to his wife and, in fear, showed her to Śaibyā: “Here is your daughter-in-law.” Śaibyā asked, “Whose daughter-in-law?” Jyāmagha said, “She is the wife of the son who is to be born to you.”

The maiden performed fierce tapas, and as the fruit of that tapas Śaibyā, though old, bore a son, Vidarbha. Vidarbha, in that king’s daughter, begot two sons, heroes, learned and skilled in war: Kratha and Kaiśika. The Purāṇa says that one who hears of the offspring of the mahātmā Jyāmagha always gains supreme joy and is blessed with children.

Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 15

Sources

• Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 15