Shantanu - The Ancestor

This is part of my ongoing series on the Mahabharat, an epic poem of ancient India. For links to all previous Mahabharat posts go here. Or you can simply click on the Mahabharat page link above.


It has been argued that the devastation of the Mahabharat war has it's roots in the deeper history of the Kuru family. It has been argued that the first seeds of that war were sown during the reign of King Shantanu.

This is his story:


King Shantanu was the emperor of Hastinapur, a descendent of King Bharat. He was a powerful monarch and ruled his people with truth, justice and love. In his realm none were sick or poor or without food. All were employed. All were safe.

One day, Shantanu was riding his chariot along the banks of the Ganga river when he chanced to see a stunningly beautiful maiden sitting on the riverbank. She was dressed in white silk robes and had lustrous black hair and creamy skin. Her eyes were dark and liquid and fathomless.

His heart stopped in his chest. He alighted from his chariot and approached the lady. "Who are you?" He breathed.

She looked at him, her gaze piercing through him and making him almost delirious with desire. "I am Ganga," she said.

He realised she was the goddess of the river and daughter of the creator, Father Brahma. "I am King Shantanu of Hastinapur and I am in love with you. Will you marry me, Goddess Ganga, and be my queen?"

She blushed and looked away. "Yes," she said and Shantanu was the happiest man on earth. "But on one condition."

Shantanu rambled: "Anything, everything. Whatever you want."

"Oh King, hear my condition first. I will marry you but only if you promise never to question me or stop my actions, ever."

"Yes, yes, of course."

"Think again, great King. You should not be so quick to make decisions."

Shantanu brushed aside her warning. "I'll do anything to have you as my wife. I agree to your condition."

So Ganga accepted Shantanu as her husband and Shantanu was so enamoured of his bride that he left state matters to his ministers and spent all his time in the queen's apartments. His ministers were worried about the king's obssession with his wife but kept quiet and carried on taking care of the nation. They reasoned that after a few years things would return to normal.

Ganga herself told the king that he should not spend so much time with her at the cost of his people. A good king always ensured the smooth running of his kingdom before anything ese. But Shantanu brushed aside her words.

Soon the queen gave birth to a son and the people of Hastinapur rejoiced at the arrival of the prince. The word spread that the child was healthy and beautiful, with his mother's liquid eyes and his father's handsome features.

Shantanu was so happy he could barely contain himself. He opened up his treasury to the masses and made gifts of thousands of cows to the Brahmins.

As he was standing at his window, bestowing yet more charity to the Brahmins, he noticed Ganga walking out of the palace towards the river. She was carrying their son, barely a day old.

Surprised that she was already out of her childbed and concerned for her welfare Shantanu left the palace and followed her. He saw that she was taking the child all the way to the Ganga riverbank where she stood gazing at that sacred water that was her own self.

She was so beautiful and she had given him a son. He loved her so much.

Shantanu was about to move forward and take her in his arms when Ganga lowered their swaddled son to the water and let go.

Shantanu stared in horror as his son drowned. He ran forward to save the baby but then Ganga turned and saw him. She met his gaze with her fathomless eyes.

The condition of their marriage hit him. He had vowed never to question or stop her actions. Shantanu stood, frozen, unable to understand what was happening.

Their son was dead, drowned by Ganga herself.

Ganga rose to her feet and walked towards Shantanu. She looked up at him and smiled, then walked back to the palace.

He rushed to the riverbank but knew the child was gone, carried away by the secret depths of the Ganga river. His son was gone.

Blindly, he stumbled back to the palace, unable to speak or make sense of anything. He went to the queen's chamber and she was there sitting on her bed, gazing at the floor. She didn't say anything to him. All the maids were silent with horror, having witnessed from the windows what the queen had done.

Shantanu fell into a deep depression. He couldn't understand why Ganga would do such a thing. He knew that there must be a reason but since she never spoke to him of it or explained why, he could only guess at what drove her. He knew he couldn't question her or she would leave him.

He couldn't bear for her to leave him.

One by one Shantanu and Ganga had seven sons and Ganga drowned them all.

Shantanu had stopped rejoicing at the births of his children because he knew they would only live for a few hours. He spent the whole time of Ganga's pregnancies grieving for what he knew would come.

The deaths of the children threw a pall over the kingdom. The people were full of talk about the queen's unnatural actions. They asked what kind of mother Ganga was that she killed her own children. They asked what kind of father Shantanu was that he allowed it.

Then his eighth son was born. As always, Shantanu followed Ganga to the riverbank. Just as she reached down to lower their baby into the water Shantanu couldn't bear it any longer.

"Stop!" He raced forward and grabbed his son from her. "Why, Ganga? Why!"

Ganga gazed at him, her eyes sad and resigned. "Now I shall have to leave you, my lord."

"But why, Ganga?" Shantanu demanded. "Why do you kill our sons this way? What kind of mother kills her own children?"

Ganga closed her eyes. "A loving mother, my lord."

"What are you talking about? Tell my why, Ganga. Tell me why!"

Ganga turned away and took a deep breath. "In your past life you were a king in the celestial realm and sat in Lord Indra's court. One day I came there with my father Brahma and you looked at me with desire. I looked at you too. A gust a wind blew my veil from my body and all the men in the court turned away to preserve my modesty. But you didn't look away and neither did I.

When my father saw this he was enraged and he cursed us both that we should have to live on earth as humans. That is why you were born as King Shantanu and I came here to Hastinapur and agreed to be your wife."

Shantanu wasn't surprised at her words. He'd known that his desperate love for Ganga had to have it's roots somewhere in his past. "But why do you kill our sons? I've stood by and watched you drown seven of my children! Why?"

"It was for their own good."

"How can you say that?"

"It's true. They were eight celestials who played a prank on a sage by stealing his cows. The sage was enraged when his cows were hurt and cursed the celestials that they would have to be born on earth and live lives of great suffering. Stricken with fear they came to me and begged that I give birth to them. They made me promise to kill them as soon as they were born so that they didn't have to suffer through an entire human life."

Ganga stroked the head of the child in Shantanu's arms. "I was able to free seven of my children from the curse. But it seems that this last one will not escape. There is no choice now for him."

"You did it to spare them?" Shantanu stuttered. He'd known. He'd known that there had to be a reason. His wife wasn't an unnatural mother after all. "But why didn't you explain this to me? Why did you make me vow not to question you?"

"Because if you'd known you wouldn't have let me end their lives. You would have stopped me as you have stopped me with this eighth child. Now I have to leave you," Ganga said.

Shantanu went cold. "No. No wait. Ganga, you can't be serious. You can't leave me."

"It was the condition of our marriage, great King. You cannot prevent me."

"But-but-I didn't know! Don't go. I need you, Ganga. I love you!"

"And I love you," she told him. "But I cannot stay. My father is waiting." She took the child from Shantanu's arms. "I will have our son educated in the celestial realm. When the time is right I will return him to you."

She held the baby close in her arms and turned to walk into the river.

"Ganga, wait! Don't go!"

"I have named our son Devrath." Ganga said and moved deeper into the waters. The waves lapped around her but magically did not wet her body. She kissed the baby's head. The currents of the river water slid around her, the same creamy colour as her skin. She looked back, just once, and Shantanu drowned in her fathomless dark eyes. "I will return our son to you to fulfill his destiny. Until then, goodbye, my lord."

And Ganga disappeared with Devrath.


To be continued...
Go here to read the next part.

Go here to read the previous Mahabharat post.