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Markandeya Tells the Story of King Ashvapati and SavitriCh. 574
King Ashvapati of Madra, childless and aging, undertakes a grueling eighteen-year penance — eating sparingly, observing brahmacharya, offering a hundred thousand oblations to the goddess Savitri. When the goddess finally appears and offers him a boon, she tells him something unexpected: he will not have sons. He will have a daughter. And that daughter will be extraordinary.