#original artwork

“I'm sorry for bothering you, Tristan.”

The way she said his name sound pointed, deliberate, like she knew she had information she wasn't supposed to have, and he realized then that his first mistake had been giving her his real name.

Vent art again

When Ashtavakra asked for Suprabha's hand, Suprabha's father, before giving his blessings, told him to travel northwards across the Himalayas and return after worshipping the old woman that he finds there.

When Ashtavakra reached the palace of this old woman, he received a warm welcome, and the woman (and her seven attendants) spent several days trying to convince Ashtavakra to sleep with her instead of his betrothed. Every night, she climbed into bed with him, citing being too cold, but Ashtavakra insulted all women and did not entertain her requests.

The woman also then bathed and fed him, and then appeared as a younger woman to him, but still Ashtavakra refused her advances, and repeated sexist points from Manusmriti to express his frustrations with the situation.

Her real name is unfortunately not documented in Mahabharata, but some sources do call her Atreyi, and identify her as a sister of Vashishtha. However, Mahabharata, in one place, also notes Vyaghrapada as a son of Vashishtha.

She is a wife of the sage Vyaghrapada. Her sons are Upamanyu and Dhaumya.

In Upamanyu's childhood, she could not afford to feed him real cow's milk, and she had to feed him rice paste dissolved in water instead. This made the little Upamanyu feel dejected and alienated from his peers with richer parents. Not finding any alternative, she then advised him to worship Shiva.

After Upamanyu had managed to please Shiva with his tapasya, all he asked the deity for was to be able to magically obtain milk whenever he wanted to drink it.