Introduction
Khyati is a daughter of the Prajapati Daksha and a wife of the sage Bhrigu, founder of the Bhargava line. In one Puranic tradition, distinct from the more common story of Lakshmi's emergence at the churning of the ocean, Khyati is named as the mother of Lakshmi.
Family
As a wife of Bhrigu, Khyati is the mother, in various Puranic lists, of Dhata and Vidhata (sometimes given as sons of Dhata the Aditya elsewhere), and, in this tradition, of Lakshmi and, in some accounts, of Shri and Bhrigu's other children.
Two traditions of Lakshmi's birth
The best-known account has Lakshmi rise from the ocean of milk during its churning, fully formed, and choose Vishnu as her husband. A second, less prominent tradition, found in some Puranas, instead makes her the daughter of Bhrigu and Khyati, born in the ordinary way, which the tradition reconciles in various ways, sometimes by treating the ocean-birth as her true, cosmic origin and the Bhrigu lineage as a secondary, terrestrial connection.