Satyavati - The Majestic Queen of the Kuru Clan!

Satyavati, the character from Mahabharatha, epitomizes courage and confidence. Her determination to retain the Bharata Empire with the Kurus (a clan which lived during Iron Age India), drove her to extremely tough situations and she sailed through them with her decisive style of managing and her step-son, the venerable Bhishma.

Birth & Early days of Satyavati

Satyavati was born to the Chedi King, Vasu and Adrika, a cursed Apsara-turned fish. Since she was born of a fish, she was also known as Matsyagandhi (one with the odour of a fish). She was also known as Vasavi (daughter of Vasu), Yojanagandhi (one with a fragrance that extended to a yojana- 7 to 8 miles) and Kali (the dark one). Satyavati was then adopted by the chief of fishermen in the kingdom and was lovingly brought up. She assisted her father in fishing and ferrying people across the River Ganga.

A Divine Child

On one such instance, Satyavati had offered to ferry Sage Parashara across the river. The sage was lost in her beauty and longed for a relationship with Satyavati. After requesting for boons of virginity and everlasting fame for the child who would be born from their relationship, Satyavati accepted to his proposal.

On the same day, she gave birth to the divine child, named Krishna (not to be confused with Lord Krishna, the Avatar of Lord Vishnu). The child grew up to become one of the most revered sages of all times, later known as Sage Vyasa. He also drew fame as he went on to write the epic, Mahabharatha.

Marriage with Shantanu

Satyavati grew up to be an embodiment of beauty & fragrance. One day, King Shantanu, who ruled over Hastinapura, came across her and decided to marry her. When he put forth his proposal to her, Satyavati coyly accepted and requested him to speak to her father. Shantanu agreed and reached out to her father who was willing to give her hand in marriage on the fulfillment of a condition. He asked Shantanu to promise that only the children born to Satyavati would be eligible to rule the kingdom and not Devavrata, who was the elder son of Shantanu (Devavrata was the born to Shantanu and Ganga, who was his first wife).

Grief-stricken, Shantanu refused to promise and returned to his palace, as he could not bring himself to surrender his dear son’s rights for his pleasure. Over the next few days, he lost interest in other affairs and was haunted by the thoughts of Satyavati day and night. Devavrata, on observing his father’s sick state, found out the real reason behind his illness and visited the chief of fishermen seeking the hand of Satyavati for his father. On hearing the condition imposed, Devavrata took an oath that he would never in his life demand rights on the kingdom. The chief was still not satisfied and Devavrata went a step ahead to take the vow of celibacy. From then on, he was called, Bhishma.

Satyavati’s father now agreed; Bhishma returned to the palace with Satyavati and got them married. Shantanu and Satyavati begot two sons, Chitrangada and Vichitraveerya. When the princes were very young, Shantanu expired due to illness and the kingdom was left without a ruler. Bhishma had vowed not to sit on the throne and hence Satyavati had to become the Queen of Hastinapura. Bhishma assisted his step-mother in ruling the kingdom until it could be handed over to the princes.

Loss of Sons – A Forlorn Mother

But as luck would have it, just before his coronation, the elder prince, Chitrangada died in a battle with a king of an adjacent kingdom. Vichitraveerya was born with a disease, which everyone knew, would claim his life at a very early age. Satyavati was now worried that the kingdom would be rendered heirless if Vichitraveerya lost his life before he had children. She quickly arranged for his marriage with the princesses of Kasi, Ambika & Ambalika.

Vichitraveerya lost his life as soon as he was married and Satyavati’s fear came true. The kingdom now did not have any heir. Afraid that she would lose her husband’s empire to other kingdoms, Satyavati did not announce the death of Vichitraveerya and restricted the news to the palace walls. She was flabbergasted at the thought that the two young princesses might have to follow Sati (a practice in ancient India, where wives mounted the funeral pyre when their husbands died).

** There have been questions on why Satyavati would insist on her daughter-in-laws to practice Sati, whereas she herself had not followed it on the death of Shantanu. Sati was primarily followed for women who were not mothers or at least mothers-to-be. This was followed because, in the event of a king’s death, his kingdom would come under attack by other kings. If the queen was neither a mother nor carrying, she would be abducted by the attackers. To save her from this dishonor and the pains she would have to face, Sati was rigorously practiced. Since Satyavati was already a mother of two, she was spared from the distress of mounting the Sati.

In ancient times, there existed a tradition “Niyoga”, where a man could be called upon to help a woman bear children to extend the family’s progeny. This entailed following a number of rules, to avoid misuse. The man and woman had to keep in mind that they were implementing Niyoga only for Dharma and not for lust or pleasure. Niyoga was practiced only with revered men, again to avoid the element of misuse. The rules also made clear that the man who fathered the child could not claim any rights over the child.

Bearing in mind this tradition, Satyavati called upon her son, Sage Vyasa, to father the sons of Ambika and Ambalika. This way she ensured that Hastinapura would have heirs and the two young queens would also not have to mount the funeral pyre of their husband, as they would be carrying. When Ambika saw the rugged looks of the sage, she closed her eyes and hence her son, Dhritharashtra was born blind. The second queen, Ambalika, grew pale on seeing his frightful appearance and hence her son, Pandu, was born a fragile child. On the third instance, Ambika, reminded of his fearsome face, sent her maid, Sivai, to her room in her place. This woman was strong and hence the child she gave birth to, Vidura (incarnation ofLord Dharma), was blessed to be a very intelligent and strong man.

Later Life

Dhritharashtra married Princess Gandhari (the princess from Gandhara) and Pandu married Princess Kunti (adopted daughter of Kuntibhoja; also known as Pritha) and Princess Madri (the princess of Madra). Both the princes remained childless for a few years after marriage. Satyavati was again worried that the Kuru clan would come to an end without heirs and sought the advice of the revered Sage Vyasa. According to his instructions, Gandhari performed certain religious rites and gave birth to 100 sons who later came to be known as the Kaurava Princes. Kunti & Madri gave birth to 5 sons with a help of a mantra which Sage Durvasa had taught Kunti during her early day. These children grew up to be known as the Pandava Princes.

** Satyavati was tormented with the problem of lack of heirs to her kingdom. The death of Shantanu when her sons were barely a few years old, the death of her sons at very early ages, even before their were made the crown princes and her grandchildren who remained childless for years, all left the throne of Hastinapura at question many a time. Why did such situations keep arising repeatedly in Satyavati’s Life?

According to the Hindu belief, the effect of Karma leaves none unaffected. That which is done to others, would return back to the doer. In Satyavati’s life, it was her father who nullified Bhishma’s progeny. An entire descendent race was wiped off due to his oath of celibacy. This curse of Karma followed Satyavati for generations and kept the throne of Hastinapura worried.

The fight between these cousins triggered the famous Kurukshetra war in the Mahabharatha. Foreseeing these events that would cause misery to the family, Sage Vyasa advised Satyavati to retire from her worldly life to the forest. Satyavati, along with her two queens, Ambika and Ambalika retired to the forest, where after a few years of penance, she died.

Thus ended the saga of an obedient daughter, a dutiful wife, a caring mother and a decisive queen.