M108 - Parashara meets Satyavathi and Birth of Vyasa
Since Uparicara (vasu), king of Chedi, gave the female child back to the fisherman Dusharaj (also a ferryman) on the banks of the river Yamuna. As she was born from a fish, she had an odor of fish, naming her Matsya-gandha ("She who smells like fish"). The fisherman raised the girl as his daughter and named her Kali ("the dark one") because of her complexion. Over the course of time, Kali earned the name Satyavathi ("truthful"). The fisherman was also a ferryman, ferrying people across the river in his boat. Satyavathi helped her father, the fisherman, in his job and grew up into a beautiful maiden. One day the great sage Parasara, who was the grandson of sage Vasishtha (Manasa Putra of Lord Brahma), was travelling and in the course of his travels came wanted to cross the river and availed himself of her services to ferry across the river. While she was rowing the boat the sage asked from where the fishy smell was coming and Satyavathi confessed th...