Shantanu Desires Satyavati but Refuses the Fisherman's Condition
While wandering near the Yamuna, King Shantanu is captivated by the beauty and divine fragrance of Satyavati, a fisher-girl. He asks her father for her hand, but the fisherman-king sets one condition: Satyavati's son, not Shantanu's heir Devavrata, must inherit the throne.
One day, King Shantanu went to a forest along the Yamuna river. As he wandered, he inhaled an extremely sweet fragrance coming from an unknown direction. Searching for the source, he saw a woman from the fisherman tribe, as beautiful as a goddess. He asked her, “Who are you, and what are you doing here?”
She replied, “I belong to the fishermen. Following our dharma, I ply a boat on the instructions of my father, who is the king of the fishermen.”
Seeing her beauty and inhaling her fragrance, Shantanu was consumed with desire. He went directly to her father and asked for her hand.
The king of the fishermen received him with respect and said, “From the day she was born, I knew I would have to give my daughter to someone. O king, if you desire to take her as your wife in accordance with dharma, you must truthfully make me a pledge, for I know you are true to your word. Grant this, and I will give her to you, for I will never find a husband her equal.”
Shantanu replied cautiously, “Tell me what you ask. If it can be granted, I will do so.”
The fisherman said, “The son born from her must be instated king of the earth after you, and no one else.”
Though his body burned with the sharp pains of desire, Shantanu was unwilling to grant this. It meant disinheriting Devavrata — his only son, his radiant heir, trained by the gods themselves. The lord of the earth could not do it. He turned away, returned to Hastinapura alone, his heart burdened by sorrow and unfulfilled longing, thinking constantly of the fisherman’s daughter.