Satyavati: A Feminine Mythique or A Femme Fatale?

While the men in Mahabharata played dice and fought wars in the Mahabharata, women too wielded power and influence. Women took the decisions and it is their decisions that changed the entire trajectory of the Kuru Kingdom. Let’s meet one such woman whose femme fatale took her on a journey where she transformed from a fisherwoman to a queen.

Satyavati: A Woman Ahead Of Her Times; Image Source: Wikimedia Commons

Long long ago, somewhere in the dense forest, lived a hermit. One fine day, while he doing his meditation, a beautiful nymph named Adrika saw him and decided to disturb him just for fun. Little did she know that this would change her entire life. The hermit fumed with anger and cursed Adrika that she would become a fish and live in the waters of the Yamuna for her entire life. One day, King Vasu was on a hunting expedition and was passing through the very same forest where Adrika was cursed. At night, while thinking about his wife, he had a nocturnal emission. He then sent his semen to his wife using an eagle, but in mid-air, the eagle dropped the semen while fighting with another eagle. The semen fell into the Yamuna river, and unknowingly, Adrika swallowed it, and as a result, she became pregnant. Soon, a fisherman caught hold of her and realized that she was pregnant. Cutting her in half, he found two babies and presented them in front of the king. While the king kept the male child, he returned the female child to the fisherman.

On one hand, the boy grew up to become the Matsya king and the founder of the Matsya kingdom, and on the other hand, the girl grew up to be a fisherman’s daughter and was given the name of Matsyagandha or ‘someone who smells like a fish’, by the king. But her father monikered her as Kali or ‘the dark one’, and with time, she came to be known as Satyavati or ‘truthful’.

But how did a fisherman’s daughter become the Queen Mother of Kuru Kingdom? In her inexorable drive to achieve all that she could, how did the dusky fisher-girl manage to capture the heart of King Shantanu? Was this her destiny or her plan to reach the top of the hierarchy?

The love story of Satyavati and Shantanu started after the king was left all alone. Ganga had left him and he was deprived of a loving partner. But destiny was yet to show its colours. One day when King Shantanu was on a hunting expedition, he was fascinated by a musk fragrance that surrounded the air. Trying to trace the source, he finally reached the Matsyagandha Satyavati. Not able to resist her scent and beauty, he immediately asked Satyavati’s father for his daughter’s hand in marriage.

However, Satyavati’s father, Dashraj kept forth a condition. The condition was that his daughter would marry him only if her sons inherited the throne. But it was not possible as Shantanu had already took the decision of declaring Devavrata as the future king of Hastinapur. Sad and dejected, he returned back to his kingdom. When Devavrata saw his dejected father, he decided to take the matter in his hand. He went to Dashraj and requested him to let Satyavati marry his father. But Dashraj again put forth the same condition.

Devavrata finally took an oath that shook the earth and the heavens. It was an oath that would echo down the corridors of history and eventually bring about a war that would reshape Bharatavarsha. Last but not least, this oath would transform Devavrata into Bhishma.

Long long ago, when Satyavati was ferrying Rishi Parashara across the Yamuna river, the sage wanted to satisfy his lust by spending sometime with her. But Satyavati was not ready and she reprimanded the rishi for his unsuitable desires. After constant persuasion, she agreed to his proposal due to the fear that he would get angry and topple the boat in the middle of the river. Upon reaching the other side of the river, they finally decided to get intimate.

But Satyavati warned that her body smell was like that of a fish and this might trouble the rishi. Parashara gave her a boon and she transformed into Yojanagandha, or the one whose fragrance can be smelled from across a yojana. After getting intimate for the first time, Parashar was still not satisfied. In the second time, Satyavati objected by saying that if they got intimate once again, she would lose her virginity. To save her from embarrassment, he blessed her with virgo intacta. After having the intercourse, Satyavati was blessed with a son, who later came to be known as Vyasa, the writer of Mahabharata.

Queen Satyavati thus, called Vyasa to impregnate her daughter-in-laws. But Vyasa’s fearful face sacred both Ambika and Ambalika. This was the reason why their sons were born blind and pale. Satyavati was not happy with the result and she again demanded Vyasa to impregnate Ambika. Frightened of Vyasa’s appearance, she sent a maid to her chamber. The maid was not at all afraid of him and embraced him with love. She gave birth to Vidura, who was the incarnation of God Dharma.

Now that we have come to an end of Satyavati’s happening life, we could say that she had many shades to her character. While we could say that she used her beauty and cunningness to win the heart of King Shantanu and become the Queen Mother, at the same time we cannot deny the fact that she actually had the ability to turn the tide of tradition. During those days, after a husband dies, the wife was forced to jump into the funeral pyre. However, Satyavati not only saved her daughter-in-laws from this cruel practice, she also had her way and gave Hastinapur its heirs.

When Satyavati put forth the condition that she would marry King Shantanu only when her sons would become the future heirs of Hastinapur, little did she know that she would again have to come back to a point where she had never expected to be. To rectify the situation, she persuaded Bhishma to abandon his bachelorhood and marry Ambika and Ambalika and become the king of Hastinapur. But we could say that she was using the situation to her own convenience and perhaps this was the reason why she could never lead a happy life even after marrying the King of Hastinapur.

Different situations showcased different characters of Satyavati. Somewhere, she was described as a power-hungry woman, who manipulated people with her beauty and shrewd nature, and in some other places, she was described as a woman who had the ability to look beyond the abnormal situation and find a solution that would pave for the future advancements. Though the world might have branded her as a power monger and calculative woman, the decisions that she took were commendable and much ahead of her times.

He pledged to be a Brahmacharya for the rest of his life. And finally this terrible oath gave Satyavati and her father the assurance that only Satyavati’s kids would become the future heirs of Hastinapur and she would become the Queen Mother.

All her dreams came true and Satyavati could finally gain the powers that she had always wanted. After the marriage, Shantanu and Satyavati had two sons, Chitrangada and Vichitravirya. But happiness did not last for long as Shantanu died soon after the marriage. Upon Satyavati’s command, Bhishma made Chitrangada the king of Hastinapur, but he too was killed by a gandharva. Next in line was Vichitravirya and thus, he was crowned as the king. As he grew up, he was married to Ambika and Ambalika, the princesses of Kashi-Kosala, whom Bhishma abducted from their Swayamvara. Even this attempt was gone to waste as Vichitravirya soon met his untimely death due to tuberculosis.

Since Ambika and Ambalika were widows and were left with no off-springs, Queen Satyavati requested Bhishma to marry the widows and rule the kingdom. But Bhishma refused to abandon his promise and instead suggested that a Brahmin could also be hired to for this task.

At this point, Queen Satyavati remembered her hideous past and someone from her past could only help Hastinapur.

The relationship of Parashar and Satyavati bore a secret that would change the entire horizon of Hastinapur; Image Source: The Indian Quarterly

When Devavrata’s oath transformed him into Bhishma; Image Source: Wikimedia Commons

 A painting by Raja Ravi Varma depicting King Shantanu and Satyavati; Image Source: Wikimedia Commons

Vyasa: The sage who gave Hastinapur its heirs; Image Source: Mahabore’s Mumblings- WordPress