Uparichara Vasu was a scion of the Puru dynasty. He was also
the maternal grandfather of Sage Vyasa in the Mahabharata. He is Uparichara
because Garuda made him travel in the sky by the grace of God.
He was devotee of Vishnu. He accepted the kingdom of Cedi on
the advice of Indra, the king of Devas. He was also blessed with the “all
knowing” faculty.
As a king, Uparichara Vasu took delight in hunting. Later,
he turned to asceticism, which impressed gods and sages so much that Indra
gifted him with a celestial chariot, a bamboo stick, and a garland of vaijayanti
flowers.
King Uparichara in gratitude started the tradition of
worship of Indra by anointing the bamboo stick. Pleased by this ritual, Indra
accepted it and explained its enormous merit.
Uparichara Vasu married Girika, daughter of Shuktimati.
The subjects of Cedi found in Uparichara Vasu a righteous
king who made his subjects happy. The king had five children – Brihadratha,
Pratyagraha, Kusambu, Mavella and Yadunabha. Near the capital of Cedi flowed
the Shuktimati River.
Once it so happened that the seminal fluid of Uparichara was
swallowed by a fish called Adrika. The fish was caught and cut by a fisherman.
To his amazement he found a boy and a girl emerging out of it. The boy later
became King Matsya. The girl smelt like fish and she was known as Satyavati.
She gave birth to Sage Vyasa, whose father was Sage Parashara.
Satyavati later married King Shantanu and she gave birth to
Chitrangada and Vichitravirya.