Dashraj

Dashraj was a fisherman. His story is found in the Mahabharata. As per the story, one day he caught a fish and cut her up as usual. He was surprised to find twins in her belly. One was a baby boy and the other was a baby girl. He immediately took the children to the king named Uparichar. The king kept the baby boy for himself and returned the baby girl to the fisherman as she was stinking fish. The boy was named Matsya and the girl was named Satyavati. It is this Satyavati who became the mother of the sage Vyas and later the queen of Shantanu.

How the fish conceived? The Mahabharata relates that the fish was no one but an Apsara named Adrika. She was living in the river Ganga as a fish due to a curse. Once, the semen of the king Uparichar happened to fall into the river which she swallowed and became pregnant. Dashraj happened to catch this fish and found the twin in her belly.