Birth

Puranas differ about her parentage.

Devi-Bhagavata Purana,^[7] Kalika Purana,^[8] Garuda Purana, and Brahma Purana^[9] note Asikni to have been born of Brahma's left thumb. According to the Bhagavata Purana^[10] and Shiva Purana,^[11] she was the daughter of Prajapati Panchajana.

Brahma Purana,^[9] Brahmanda Purana,^[12] Vayu Purana,^[13] Kalika Purana, Kurma Purana,^[14] Padma Purana,^[15] Garuda Purana,^[16] and Shiva Purana^[11] note her to be the daughter of Prajapati Virana.^[17]

Marriage

The broad theme is common to Vayu Purana,^[18] Bhagavata Purana,^[8] and Brahma Purana.^{[9][7][lower-alpha 2]}

Daksa was delegated by Brahma to create beings to populate the cosmos; he went on to create gods, sages, asuras, yaskhas and rakhashas from his mind, but failed to be further successful.^{[7][9][lower-alpha 3][lower-alpha 4]} Upon a successful penance, Vishnu granted Asikni as his wife and urged him to engage in sexual union.^{[7][10][lower-alpha 5]}

Children

Through their union, numerous children were born.^[8] A common theme spans across the Brahmanda Purana,^[12] Bhagavata Purana,^[10] Linga Purana^{[19][lower-alpha 6]}, Garuda Purana,^[16] Kurma Purana,^[14] Shiva Purana,^[11][17] Vishnu Purana,^[20][21] Vayu Purana,^[20][13] Padma Purana^{[15][lower-alpha 7]}, and Brahma Purana^[9] in this regard.^[8]

Daksha and Asikni initially produced five thousand sons, who were known as Haryashvas.^[7] They were interested in populating the Earth but upon the advice of Narada, took to discovering worldly affairs instead and never returned back.^{[7][lower-alpha 8]} Daksha and Asikni again produced another thousand sons (Shabalashvas), who had similar intentions but were persuaded by Narada to the same results.^{[7][lower-alpha 9]} An angry Daksha cursed Narada to be a perpetual wanderer. This time, he birthed sixty daughters from Asikni.^{[8][lower-alpha 10]} They were married off to different sages and deities, and went on to give birth to various species.^{[8][9][lower-alpha 11][lower-alpha 12]}

The Shiva Purana notes that thereafter Shiva had himself reincarnated within Asikni's womb; Asikni was widely respected and eulogized by all the deities during this span.^{[11][lower-alpha 13]} In the tenth month, Asikni gave birth to Sati; she and Daksa went on to take good care of her.^{[11][lower-alpha 14]}