Women in Mahabharata - Vishaya
She is the daughter of Dhrishtabudhhi, the evil minister of Kuntalpur.
Her father once sends Chandrahas to Kuntalpur, to his son Madan, with a letter containing instructions for Madan to kill him with 'vish' [poison] once they meet.
Vishaya, who is out in the forest with her friend Champakamalini, the princess of the kingdom, sees Chandrahas asleep under a tree and quietly extracts the letter from his waist and reads it.
She assumes that the 'vish' is a misprint by her father, and smitten as she is with Chandrahas, she changes the word to Vishaya, assuming her father meant for her to be married to this man.
This accidental trick works out because Madan and Chandrahas end up getting along like a house on fire, and he is only overjoyed to marry Vishaya off to Chandrahas.
Her father is furious with the situation when he returns to the kingdom (he never figured out what happened), but he is unable to kill Chandrahas despite trying one more time by sending assassins to a temple outside town and luring him out (which results in the death of Madan instead).
Driven insane by his son's death, her father kills himself in the same temple (to be magically brought back to life along with his son when Chandrahas offers to sacrifice himself to the presiding goddess).
After this, Champakamalini too is married to Chandrahas, and Vishaya is overjoyed to have her friend back by her side.
She later gives birth to a son named Makaraksha, who helps his brother Padmaksha rule their kingdom when Chandrahas desires to take a step back.
