The breeze blew softly as King Shantanu was walking on the banks of river Ganga. He the youngest son of King Pratipa of Hastinapura became the king of Hastinapura by default. His elder brother suffered from leprosy and abdicated his birthright to become a hermit. His second elder brother devoted his life to conquer . Thus Shantanu became the king of Hastinapura by default.

As he passed by the river Ganga he came across a beautiful woman. At the very first sight of the woman attracted King Shantanu.

KING SHANTANU MEETING GANGA ON THE RIVER BANKSOF RIVER GANGA

The King went to her and asked "Who are you? Your grace and divine beauty has struck me at the very first of you. Do you wish to marry me as I do?"

"Who are you?" the woman questioned back the King who was completely attracted by the beauty of the woman.

The King replied "I, Shantanu, King of Hastinapura, having been captivated by your divine beauty and love, wish to marry you."

The woman replied "Oh King Shantanu, I Ganga would accept to marry only when you accept my two conditions."

The King replied "What are they? Whatever for you I would sacrifice and do."

Ganga replied "Firstly, you shall never question me from where do I come or any of my past life. Secondly, you will never stop me from doing anything or ask the reason of anything I do. If so I would leave you and go."

Shantanu was totally gripped by the beauty of Ganga, and immediately accepted her conditions. They instantly entered into Gandharva vivah (love marriage) and returned home.

Things went on quite smoothly for some time and then Queen Ganga gave birth to a lovely boy. As soon as King Shantanu heard of this good news, he was overjoyed and rushed to the palace to congratulate the queen. But he was astonished to see the Queen taking the newborn child into her arms, going to the river, and drowning him in the river. The King was shocked and felt miserable, yet he could not question the queen about her action. He was bound by his pledge, not to question or interfere with her actions.

QUEEN GANGA DRAWNING HER CHILD AND KING SHANTANU WATCHING THIS AND UNABLE TO QUESTION HER BECAUSE OF HIS PROMISE.

Hardly had King Shantanu recovered from the shock of the death of his first son at the hands of the Queen when she became pregnant again. The King felt happy and thought that the Queen would not repeat her dreadful action again. But the queen again took the newborn child into her arms, and drowned him in the river.

QUEEN GANGA CONTINUING TO DRAWN HER CHILDREN AND A HELPLESS KING.

This continued till the birth of the eighth child. At last when the Queen was about to drawn the eighth child the King lost his grievance and questioned the Queen for all the misdeeds she has done for his seven children.

SHANTANU STOPS GANGA FROM DRAWNING THEIR EIGHTH CHILD, WHO WAS LATER KNOWN AS BHISHMA.

Queen Ganga replied "Maharaj, these eight children are the Vasus from heaven. Once when they came to Earth with their wives, they settled down near the ashram of Sage . One of the wives saw the beautiful, wish-bearing cow Nandini and said to other wives. They asked their husbands to get the cow for them. But they refused as it was Rishi Vasishtha.

At last with lot of fear the Vasus accepted to steel Nandini. When Rishi Vasishtha was out Prabhasa one of the eight Vasus led the remaining seven Vasus and stool Nandini. When Rishi Vasishtha returned back he got angry that someone has stolen Nandini. Using his divine and ascetic power he found that the Vasus have stolen his cow. This caused the Sage to extreme anger and he cursed the Vasus to be born on the Earth as men in the mortal form. The Vasus pleaded to him for their misdeeds.

The Sage limited the curse saying that seven of them would be would be freed from this curse within a year of their birth as humans as they only assisted in stealing Nandini. So I released the seven of them from this life by drowning them all." the Queen explained.

She continued, "However the Vasu Prabhasa also known as Vasu Dyaus, was cursed to live a long life and to never have a wife or have children as he was the who one led the other Vasus. But the sage also gave a boon to him that he would be virtuous, conversant with all the Holy Scriptures and will be an obedient son to his father. The Vasus requested to be born as our sons and also requested me to kill them. I agreed upon the condition that at least one child might live. They accepted my condition and told me that child will be remaining childless for his whole life.... So I took birth to fill full their curse as well as the curse given by Brahma on you because of me."

These words gave shock to King Shantanu as he did not remember his curse and inquires the Queen about his bad deeds.

Queen Ganga replied "Maharaj, in your previous birth, you was Mahabhisha, a king of the Ikshvaku dynasty . Due to your good deeds you attained heaven after your death. Once you got an opportunity to visit the court of where all the Devas and I was present. While the celestials were worshiping Brahma, a wind blew and displaced my clothes revealing my body. Everybody present there nervously bent their heads except you who kept on gazing at my body. Upon seeing this act, Brahma lost his temper and cursed you and me to be born as mortals and that I will cause much emotional pain to you. He also said that you will be only freed from this curse when you become angry upon my deeds. You then requested Brahma to be born as the son of the Kuru King Pratipa and your wish was granted by Brahma."

She also tells her meeting with King Pratipa.....

The Kuru King Pratipa was once meditating. At that time Ganga took the form of a beautiful woman approached the king and sat on his right thigh. When he asked her what she wanted, Ganga requested him to become her husband. Pratipa however refused since he had taken a vow not to desire for anybody and that she had sat on his right thigh and according to traditions a man's right thigh was for his daughter or daughter-in-law while the left thigh was for his wife. He then proposed her for marrying his son to which she agreed. She also said that his son should never question her acts.

A child was born to Pratipa and his wife in their old age. He was named Shantanu.When he grew up into youth, his father told him that if he meets a celestial damsel in secret who asks to marry him, he should agree and he should never question her acts.

"Thus I will take our son to the heavens to train him properly for the King's throne and status." With these words the Queen disappeared along with the child while Shantanu was struck with grief thinking about spending rest of his life without her.

GANGA TAKING DEVAVRATA TO HEAVEN LEAVING KING SHANTANU ALONE.

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A/N:-

Hey people.

So this is gonna be exact narration of the epic Mahabharat.

No extra lengthy convos.

Hope you all like it.

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Yours,

Rithushree.