There was a settlement of fishermen on the bank of river Yamuna, One day, a few fishermen caught a big fish. When the fish’s stomach was tore open, a newborn girl-child appeared out of it. The fishermen carried the girl to their chieftain who adopted the girl as his daughter. She was named Satyavati. As she smelt of a fish, she was also called Matsayagandha. When she grew up, she used to ferry passengers across the river in her father’s boat.
One day, Satyavati took sage Parashar in her boat to an island in the middle of the river. The sage began to live there in a hermitage. Satyavati would serve him. Being pleased with the devotion of Satyavati the sage turned her bad odour into fragrance. Satyavati was blessed with a son. As the child was dark-complexioned and born on an island, he was named Krishna Dwaipayan. After he had grown up, sage Parashar took the child with him. But Krishna promised her mother that he would be before her the moments she remembered him. Later on, Krishna Dwaipayan went on to become a learned sage and came to be called sage Vyasa.
Satyavati and Sage Parashar
