Storytelling with Satyavati

Dear Alice,

 So, a truly weird thing is happening to me. In fact, it's always happened to me. I guess before I get to the matters at hand, I'll have to provide a little bit of backstory. I'm adopted, which isn't really that big of a deal because my parents are awesome, and they definitely stick close to my roots. My adopted father is a fisherman, but before I became basically his right hand girl, I spent a lot of time with my mother. It's kind of crazy because my stupid brother (I have a brother, by the way.) he lives with a king. You see, the king didn't want me because.... well, I'll get to that. So anyway, my real dad is named Uparichara. He's a king as well. What's all of this about me missing out on royalty? I don't even- whatever. I had the most natural of water births, and that's when my current father, who's definitely not royalty, found me and my brother. He took us to the king, who clearly didn't want me but took in my brother... who is now royalty. I'm not really bitter anymore, I guess, that's just how the cards fell for me. I honestly really love working with my father on the river. Being born of the water, it feels like home. I don't want to like, brag or anything, but when it comes to looks... well, let's say that I'm not lacking. Only it doesn't matter how beautiful I am, when I have this overwhelming... this... this problem. You see, I really want a husband. I know, I know what you're thinking... how about a boyfriend? That's just not how things work around here. Anyway, I really want to get married! I just can't seem to find a mate.... because...

well, I smell like a fish.

It's completely chronic! It's not because I work with my dad by the river, not at all! I work by the river so people won't think I just so happen to smell like a fish, but it's the truth! I SMELL LIKE A FISH! I've tried everything. Mudbaths, tonics, perfumes, bath bombs... nothing seems to work.

Please, please help.

Sincerely,

Fish Out of Water






Dear Alice,

 Well, I never did hear from you. Which was pretty disappointing because I was really beginning to lose hope. I was about to deem myself lost forever when, I'll tell you what, just the craziest thing happened. And trust me, I know crazy. So, I'm working one day for my dad. Rowing the boat across the stream. It was a very hot day, and those days are the worst because... I sweat a lot. And it smells like... well, I'm sure you remember, smells a lot like fish. A man approached the boat, got in, I asked where he was headed, across the way (he said), and we were off. I wasn't really thinking about much, just, you know, rowing the boat, when he started (to my surprise!) hitting on me? He said, "A woman so dark and beautiful didn't deserve to row a boat all day long in the hot, hot sun." Do you know what he did then? Of course you don't, but I'll tell you. He took my hand! I was actually shocked, and I hate to say it but my palms sure were clammy. He's trying so hard, like so hard for me! It was... well, really nice. Much deserved and a long time coming... but hold on. Things get even crazier. So we get to the other side of the bank and he's trying to... well, you know, move along really quickly in our relationship. Listen, I'm not a loose girl. But he was just so.... oh! I forgot to mention. He's a sage, right? And he promised me some really, really great things. There's kind of a list, honestly, but I'm THRILLED to say that, with no help from you, I solved my fishy situation! I got him to grant me the most beautiful smell of musk. In fact, you can smell it for MILES! It's incredible! Besides that, I've secured ever-lasting beauty, infinite virginity, and (all in ONE day!) I had a baby.

Anyway, Alice, what should I name him?
I'm thinking Vyasa.

Sincerely,

Satyavati

moving on to bigger ponds, am I right?
Jonathan Perez

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I had a lot of fun writing this one! I found my inspiration to write this story as a letter from some of the other blog's I've visited over the past two weeks. This story comes from one of the very first in the Mahabharata, Vyasa and Ganesha. I thought the story of Vyasa's mother was just so interesting and absurd. There seems to be a theme to my writing, I've written a lot about mothers and female figures of Indian literature. I love taking them down from their size and attempting to create something modern and realistic. Sometimes it feels like a crime... but a creative crime?

I also used addition research from, the most reliable, wikipedia

Reading Notes, Mahabharata Part A

There's something fishy about this...
Wordpress

I've decided to go with the first story from the Mahabharata, because I almost died laughing whilst reading about the children who were born to a fish.

I'm going to write a letter from the pen of Satyavati.

First of all, I'm very interested to see where she is taken within this story. What a strange character! Since I imagine her to be a teenager, I think I'm going to have her writing a letter to something like a Cosmo mag along the lines of, "Why do I smell like a fish? and other needs for advice."
I see a lot of people writing letters as their form of storytelling and I have habitually stuck to writing new, general, stories. Writing a letter will be a much different pace and I think it will provide challenges I didn't expect.


"There was a king called Uparichara, king of Chedi, so devoted to asceticism that the gods feared he was seeking to rob them of their power. They accordingly sent Indra to bribe him with the offer of a crystal car capable of carrying him through the sky, a privilege designed for him alone of all mortals. One day in spring, as he was flying through the sky, his semen fell into a river. It was swallowed by a female fish with the result that ten months after, when the fish was caught by a fisherman, two children — a boy and a girl — came forth.

The fisherman told the king of his wonderful find. The king took possession of the boy but left the girl to be reared by the fisherman’s wife. The girl was very beautiful, but she had a fishy smell. Her name was Satyavati. She often helped her foster father, who acted as a ferryman on the river Yamuna.

One day she was ferrying across the river the rishi Parashara. The rishi persuaded the girl to yield to his embraces by promising that she should remain a virgin. She also made a condition that she should lose her fishy smell. She became so sweet-smelling that the fragrance could be smelt seven miles away.
A child was born, and because he was born on an island, he was called Dwaipayana or Island-born. He is called Vyasa because he arranged the Vedas"

















mahabharata PDE