Satyavatī, Daughter of Gādhi

This Satyavatī is the daughter of King Gādhi of the Kuśika line. She became the wife of the ṛṣi (seer) Ṛcīka of the Bhṛgu line and the mother of Jamadagni. In her later life, after great tapas (austerity), she became the sacred river Kauśikī.

She is not the same as Satyavatī the fisher-maiden, the daughter of Daśarāja, who became queen of Hastināpura and mother of Vyāsa.

Birth and marriage

Satyavatī was born to King Gādhi. His line runs Ajamīḍha, Jahnu, Sindhudvīpa, Balākāśva, Vallabha, Kuśika, Gādhi. Gādhi had spent time in the forest, performing soma-yajñas (fire rituals with soma) to gain worthy children.

Satyavatī had beauty that no one could match. The ṛṣi Ṛcīka, son of Cyavana of the Bhṛgu line, asked for her hand. Gādhi thought the ṛṣi was too poor a match and at first refused. Then he set a bride-price of one thousand horses. They had to be moon-white, swift as the wind, and each one had to have one dark ear.

Ṛcīka received these horses at once from Varuṇa. This happened at the tīrtha (holy place) near Kanyākubja, which has been called Aśvatīrtha since then. Gādhi was astonished. He also feared a ṛṣi’s śāpa (curse). So he gave Satyavatī to Ṛcīka in marriage with full honours. The Mahābhārata tells this in the Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 4.

The two caru and the exchange

Ṛcīka was pleased with Satyavatī’s devotion and offered her a vara (a boon). She told him of her mother’s wish for a son through her son-in-law’s power.

Ṛcīka prepared two caru (offerings of cooked rice and milk), each made holy with mantras. One held brahma-tejas, the radiance of a brāhmaṇa. The other held kṣatra-tejas, the radiance of a warrior. He told the two women, who had just bathed after their monthly period, to eat the caru while embracing a chosen tree. Satyavatī was to eat the caru with brahma-tejas while embracing the udumbara tree. Her mother was to eat the caru with kṣatra-tejas while embracing a different tree.

Satyavatī’s mother hoped for an even more distinguished son. She proposed that they exchange both the caru and the trees. Out of love for her mother, Satyavatī agreed. They made the exchange in secret. The Mahābhārata gives this in the Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 4.

Ṛcīka finds out

Ṛcīka understood what had happened only when he saw his wife was with child. He grieved. The caru and the trees had been switched. Gādhi’s queen would now bear a son famed as a brāhmaṇa. Satyavatī would bear a son of fierce kṣatriya nature.

Satyavatī was struck with grief and fell to the ground like a felled creeper. When she recovered, she begged Ṛcīka that if a kṣatriya-natured child could not be avoided in her line, it should fall on her grandson and not on her son. Ṛcīka granted this.

Satyavatī then bore Jamadagni, who was mild by comparison. The kṣatra-tejas that was held back showed itself a generation later in her grandson Paraśurāma. Gādhi’s queen bore Viśvāmitra, who spoke the Veda as a brahmavādin. This is from the Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 4.

Becoming the Kauśikī river

In her later life Satyavatī performed great tapas. She became the sacred river Kauśikī. The river is named after her father’s line, Kuśika. The Kauśikī is known today as the Koṣī river of Nepal and Bihar. The Purāṇas count it among their sacred rivers. This is from the Brahmāṇḍa Mahā Purāṇa, Madhyama Bhāga, Chapter 66.

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapters 3–4
• Brahmāṇḍa Mahā Purāṇa, Madhyama Bhāga, Chapter 66