Yuvanāśva, a king of radiant brilliance that outshone the three worlds, was renowned for his supreme righteousness. His wife was Gaurī, a woman deeply devoted to her husband. However, fate took a sorrowful turn when, due to a curse from her own husband, Gaurī was transformed into the river Bāhudā. Their son, Gaurika, rose to become a universal monarch, ruling with distinction. Yuvanāśva’s lineage continued with his son Māndhātā, a king of such power that he conquered the three worlds themselves. Ancient verses, revered by the wise, speak of Māndhātā’s dominion: wherever the sun rises and sets, all that land belonged to him. Those learned in the royal lineage also recite that Yuvanāśva was a mighty sacrificer, and Māndhātā, they declare, was an incarnation of Viṣṇu himself. Māndhātā’s wife was Caitrarathī, the virtuous and strikingly beautiful daughter of Śaśabindu, known as Bindumatī. She was devoted to her husband and was the eldest among her ten thousand brothers. From her, Māndhātā begot three sons: Purukutsa, Ambarīṣa, and the illustrious Mucukunda. Ambarīṣa’s heir was another Yuvanāśva, whose own son was Harita. The descendants of Harita, known as the Hāritas, gained fame as heroes—brāhmaṇas of the Aṅgiras line who had embraced the kṣatriya path. Purukutsa’s heir was Trasaddasyu, a prince of great renown, born on the banks of the Narmadā river. His son was Sambhūta, followed by Anaraṇya, a mighty and valorous king. In ages past, Anaraṇya fell in battle to Rāvaṇa during the latter’s conquest of the three worlds. Anaraṇya’s son was Trasadaśva, whose own son was Haryaśva. Haryaśva fathered King Vasumat on the Drṣadvatī river. Vasumat’s son was the righteous Tridhanvan, whose own son, Traidhanvana, was learned in the three Vedas and a master on the battlefield. Traidhanvana’s son was the powerful prince Satyavrata. Satyavrata, however, brought turmoil to his house. In a moment of passion and confusion, driven by desire, strength, delusion, and the force of Saṅkarṣaṇa, and compelled by destiny, he slew celestial beings and abducted the wife of Vidarbha. Because of this act, he was barred from the marriage rites. His son, Viṣṇuvṛddha—so named because Viṣṇu increased him—continued the line. These were also sons of Aṅgiras, brāhmaṇas who had taken up the kṣatriya path. Satyavrata’s father, a man of deep Vedic learning, could not tolerate his son’s unrighteousness. In anger, he repeatedly commanded Satyavrata to leave, and when Satyavrata asked where he should go, his father told him to live among the outcastes. “I do not desire a son through my own son, O stain upon the lineage,” he declared. Thus, at his father’s command, Satyavrata departed from the city, while his father retreated to the forest. The venerable sage Vasiṣṭha did not intervene. Satyavrata, wise and steadfast, now freed by his father, dwelt near the abode of the outcastes, while his father resided in the forest. In his absence, calamity struck the land—Indra withheld the rains, and for twelve years, drought prevailed due to the stain of unrighteousness. Amidst this hardship, the great ascetic Viśvāmitra, leaving behind his wife in the drought-stricken land, undertook severe austerities on the ocean’s shore. In desperation, Viśvāmitra’s wife, seeking to feed herself and her family, bound their middle-born natural son by the neck and offered him for sale with a loud cry. Witnessing this, the righteous and disciplined prince Satyavrata, son of a great sage, intervened and freed the boy. Moved by compassion and a desire to satisfy Viśvāmitra, Satyavrata provided for the boy’s sustenance. This boy, bound by the neck, became known as Gālava, a great ascetic, and his father, the sage Kauśika (Viśvāmitra), was freed from hardship by Satyavrata’s valor. Through his vow, devotion, compassion, and promise, Satyavrata steadfastly supported Viśvāmitra’s wife. He hunted deer, boars, buffaloes, and other wild animals near Viśvāmitra’s hermitage and cooked their meat to provide sustenance. Observing the upāṃśu vow and undertaking a twelve-year initiation, Satyavrata served at his father’s command while the king remained in the forest. During this time, the sage Vasiṣṭha, with the help of priests and teachers, protected Ayodhyā and the royal palace. Yet, from his youth, Satyavrata, driven by the force of destiny, harbored greater anger toward Vasiṣṭha than the sage did toward him. When his father, weeping, banished him from the kingdom, Vasiṣṭha did not intervene, for reasons of his own. Satyavrata performed the marriage mantras up to the seventh step, as is the culmination of the rites. However, Vasiṣṭha, well-versed in dharma, chose not to recite the mantras, harboring silent anger toward Satyavrata for his conduct. Vasiṣṭha, the wise guru, acted with discernment, but Satyavrata did not observe the upāṃśu vow with full wisdom. When Satyavrata left, whoever ruled in his father’s place could not avert the drought—Indra withheld the rains for twelve years. Thus, the initiation that Satyavrata undertook, though now weakened and varied on earth, became a means of atonement for both family and self. Eventually, Vasiṣṭha intervened, preventing further hardship for Satyavrata, saying, “I will consecrate him to the kingdom later.” Yet Satyavrata, steadfast in resolve, endured the twelve-year period of initiation, even as Vasiṣṭha, the great-souled sage, had no meat available for sustenance. One day, driven by anger, delusion, exhaustion, and hunger, Satyavrata saw the cow that grants all desires and, in his state, was compelled to act—a deed that would have further consequences for his destiny and lineage.