The River's Son

Dadhīca, as the Mahābhārata calls him, was a sage of great austerity who kept the vow of a student and mastered his senses. Indra could not tempt him with rewards of any kind, so he sent the lovely apsaras Alambusā to tempt him.

The sage was on the bank of the Sarasvatī, offering water to the gods, when she came and stood near him. When he saw her heavenly beauty, his seed fell into the Sarasvatī, and the river took it. Seeing it, the river held it in her womb for the sake of a son, and when the time came, the best of rivers bore a son, and took him and went to the sage.

She found him in an assembly of seers and gave him his son. Brahmin seer, she said, this is your son, whom I carried out of devotion to you. When you saw the apsaras Alambusā, your seed fell, and I held it in my womb out of devotion to you, so that your power would not be lost. Take your son, whom I give you, and who is without fault.

The sage took him with great joy, and kissed his head with love, saying the sacred verses over him, and held him in his arms for a long time. Then he gave the Sarasvatī a boon: The gods and the ancestors, the gandharvas and the apsaras will be satisfied when they are offered your water. And he praised her: You flowed long ago from Brahmā's lake, best of rivers; the sages of strict vows know you. You have always done what was dear to me. So your great son will be known by your name, Sārasvata. In a drought of twelve years he will teach the Vedas to the best of the brahmins. And by my grace you will be the holiest of all holy rivers. So the great river, praised and blessed, took her son and went away glad.