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सत्यवतीलाभोपाख्यान (satyavatIlAbhopAkhyAna)

 
Mahabharata
English
[Satyavatīlābhopākhyāna(ṃ)]
(“the episode relating how Śāntanu got Satyavatī”). § 165 (cf. Āpavop.): Description of Śāntanu, the princes anointed him as “King of Kings” (rājarājyē, v. 3974)
he ruled the earth from Hāstinapura, the town (puṭabhedana) of the Kurus (v. 3978)
there was no killing of deer, boars, etc., under his reign (cf. § 162!) except for the sacrifices to the gods, ṛshis, and pitṛs. For thirty-six years he, without enjoying the love of women, roamed about in the woods, and his son, Gāṅgeya Devarata, the Vasu, was equal to him. One day, when pursuing a deer he had wounded along the banks of the Gaṅgā, he saw a youth who, with a heavenly weapon, checked the flow of the Gaṅgā. It was his son who, knowing him, but not known by him, and clouding his perception by illusion (māyā), suddenly disappeared. On Śāntanu's prayer, Gangā appeared holding the boy, and having told him that he was his son, and that he had studied all the Vedas and their Aṅgas with Vasishṭha and knew all śāstras that were known by Uśanas and Bṛhaspati (adored by the gods and Asuras), and by the ṛshi Rāma Jāmadagnya, and also the rājadharmas, she let him take him to his capital, where he was installed as heir-apparent. After four years Śāntanu met with Satyavatī in the wood on the banks of Yamunā, and demanded her hand from her father, the king of the fishermen (dāśarāja), who would not consent unless Śāntanu would promise that his son by Satyavatī should become his successor on the throne. Śāntanu would not grant the boon, but returned to Hāstinapura and passed his time in sorrow until Devavrata, having learned from the old minister the cause of his grief, by declaring that he would adopt the vow of brahmacarya (including celibacy), prevailed upon the fisherman (who had formerly rejected the Devarshi Asita, because Parāśara had pointed out to him Śāntanu as a suitable husband for her), that he gave Satyavatī to Śāntanu, while the gods and ṛshis showered flowers upon Devavrata, calling him Bhīshma. Bhīshma then took the maiden to Hāstinapura on his chariot, and Śāntanu bestowed upon him the boon of death at choice (I, 100). (For continuation v. Citrāṅgadop.) Satyavatīputra, Satyavatīsuta, Satyavatyātmaja = Vyāsa, q.v.