At first, Yayati is himself apprehensive of Devayani’s proposal for marriage because he fears ‘the sin’ of bearing offspring of mixed-caste. Her marriage to the kshatriya king Yayati, is a step down according the caste hierarchy. On the other hand, Devayani was born to a brahmin father, Shukra. Sharmishtha’s asura origins are therefore of no consequence to the storyline after Puru is This is consistent with the idea (appearing elsewhere in the text) which treats the mother as only the vessel through the father is reborn as the son. But the Mahabharata never pauses to reflect on the fact of the asura half in the Pandavas’ ancestry. Sharmishta was an asura princess, and it follows that Puru was half asura. Later, when Yayati accepts his old-age again, Puru becomes the first king of what would be known as the Pourava dynasty, ancestors to kings such as Dushyanta, Bharata, and the later Kouravas and Pandavas. Yayati enjoys, in parallel, 1,000 years of youth.
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