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Gandhavati or Satyavati
Gandhavati known as Satyavati was the queen of the Kuru king Shantanu of Hastinapur and the great-grandmother of the Pandava and Kaurava princes. She is also the mother of the seer Vyasa, author of the epic. Her story appears in the Mahabharata, the Harivamsa, and the Devi Bhagavata Purana.

Daughter of the Chedi king, Vasu (also known as Uparichara Vasu) and a cursed apsara (celestial nymph) who turned into a fish called Adrika; Satyavati brought up as a commoner. She is the adopted daughter of a tribal angler chieftain, Dusharaj (also a ferryman) on the banks of the river Yamuna. Due to the smell emanating from her body, she was known as Matsyagandha ("She who smells like fish") and helped her father in his job as a ferryman.

She knew by numerous names in the Mahabharata, among them Daseyi, Gandhakali, Gandhavati, Kali, Matysyagandha, Satya, Vasavi, and Yojanagandha. The name "Daseyi" – a term often used by her stepson Bhishma used to address her – means the daughter of Fisherman King Dasa, since the king Dasa adopted her as his daughter. Vasavi means "daughter of king Vasu". Her birth name, Kali (the dark one), indicates her dark complexion. Her other birth name, Satyavati, means "truthful"; Satya means "veracity". As noted above, she also was known as Matsyagandha or Matsyagandhi in her earlier life – and Gandhakali ("fragrant dark one"), Gandhavati and Yojanagandha in later life.