King Vasu, renowned for his valor, had five sons, each equal in strength and courage. In his wisdom, the king established these sons as rulers over different lands, entrusting them with power and responsibility. At the proper time, Vasu’s queen, Girika, having bathed and purified herself, approached him with her desire to conceive. On that very day, Vasu’s ancestors appeared to him and instructed, “Go hunt animals.” Though he heard their command, his thoughts lingered on Girika, knowing it was her fertile period. Respecting the authority of his ancestors, Vasu set out for the hunt, but his mind remained with his beautiful wife, Girika, whose radiance and charm filled his heart as he journeyed into the forest. While he stayed in the forest, thoughts of Girika overwhelmed him, and, overcome by passion, his seed was released. The king quickly caught it as it fell upon a banyan leaf. He lamented, “My seed has been spilled in vain—how can it not be wasted?” Yet, knowing his seed was always potent and realizing it was Girika’s fertile time, he resolved to send it to her. Carefully sanctifying the seed, he placed it upon the banyan leaf. Seeing a hawk nearby, the king addressed the bird, “O fortunate one, take this leaf swiftly to my house and give it to Girika, for today is her fertile time.” The hawk, swift and obedient, took the leaf and soared into the sky. As the hawk flew, another hawk spotted the first carrying what seemed to be meat and rushed to intercept it. The two birds clashed in midair, fighting fiercely with their beaks. In the struggle, the leaf carrying the king’s seed fell from the sky and dropped into the waters of the Yamunā river. At that moment, an apsaras named Adrikā, devoted to her twilight prayers, was in the river. She swam beneath the surface and, in her play, seized the foot of a brahmin absorbed in meditation. Startled from his practice, the sage looked upon the lustful apsaras and, in anger, cursed her, “Because you disturbed my meditation, become a fish!” Thus cursed, Adrikā immediately took the splendid form of a fish in the Yamunā. As fate would have it, the king’s seed, dropped from the hawk’s grasp, was swallowed by Adrikā in her fish form. After some time, when ten months had passed, a fisherman caught this beautiful fish. Cutting open her belly, he found, to his astonishment, two human children—a handsome boy and a lovely-faced girl. Amazed by this wonder, the fisherman reported the birth of the children to King Vasu. The king, filled with awe, took the auspicious boy, who became known as Matsya, righteous and strong, equal in valor to his father. Vasu gave the radiant girl to the fisherman, naming her Kālikā, though she became known as Kāli, Matsyodarī, and among the people as Matsyagandhā, “she who smells of fish.” Raised in the fisherman’s house, the auspicious Vāsavī grew and flourished. The sages, curious, asked, “What became of the apsaras Adrikā after she was split open and died? How did her curse end, and how did she return to heaven?” Sūta explained: When Adrikā was cursed, she was distraught and praised the sage, beseeching him for mercy. The compassionate sage replied, “Do not grieve, O blessed one. After you give birth to two human children, you will be freed from this curse.” Thus, after giving birth, Adrikā shed the body of a fish, regained her celestial form, and, her curse ended, ascended once more to the world of the immortals. So it was that Matsyagandhā, beautiful and radiant, grew up as the fisherman’s daughter, performing her daily tasks with brightness and grace. In time, the great sage Parāśara, filled with energy, arrived on pilgrimage to the banks of the Kālindī river. Approaching the fisherman, who was preparing food, Parāśara requested, “Take me across the river by boat.” The fisherman, hearing the sage’s words, called his charming daughter, Matsyagandhā, and said, “Child, take this pure-hearted sage across to the far shore by boat, as he desires.