Epic Tales with Samrudhi V kadam

Seeing Shantanu in a distressed condition, Devavrata was heartbroken and wanted to help his father and fulfil his wish so decided to take matter in his own hands.

Devavrata headed to Dasharaja’s hut and requested him to give his consent for the marriage, but Dasharaja put forth the same condition. Upon hearing the condition, Devavrata made a vow, that he would never become the king of Hastinapur and would be as royal guard to the sons of Satyavati who would succeed the throne after his father. He also vowed to never marry and never have kids, to prevent any disputes regarding the rights to the throne. Because of his terrible vow, he was given the name Bhisma (one who has taken a terrible vow), and when Shantanu heard the vow Bhisma made, he gave Bhisma a boon, that only when he wishes to die, he would die in the way he wanted.

After the vow was made, Dasharaja was pleased and agreed to the marriage of the couple, Satyavati became the Queen of Hastinapur and they were blessed with two sons, Chitrangada and Vichitravirya.

Shantanu was overjoyed with the return of his son that he performed 7 Ashwamedha Yagnas on the banks of the river Yamuna. He crowned Devavrata as the prince who would become his successor.

While travelling near the banks of River Yamuna, Shantanu smelled an aromatic musk fragrance and he started to search for the root of the smell. And he came across a young lady, Satyavati, he fell in love with her and asked her father Dasharaja, the Head of the Fishermen for Satyavati’s hand for marriage.

But he refused, saying that his son Devavrata and his lineage would become the Kings of Hastinapur, while the Satyavati and her kids would be like servants to Devavrata. Saying this he put forth a condition that only if Shantanu promised that Satyavati’s children would succeed the throne, he would give his consent to Satyavati and Shantanu’s marriage.

After hearing this Shantanu was left in a dilemma, as he did not want to cheat his son Devavrata by making this promise, but he also wanted to marry Satyavati.

Devavrata or Gangaputra, was taken to different sages by his mother Ganga, for the purpose of gaining knowledge.

Parashurama, the 6th avatar of Lord Vishnu, the son of Sage Jamadagni, the guru of Devavrata and also of Dronacharya. Devavrata learnt the skills in warfare from Parashurama, Sage Vashishta taught him about the vedas and Lord Indra, the King of the Devas, gifted Devavrata celestial weapons. He was skilful and had immense knowledge.

Once while talking a stroll, Shantanu saw that the flow of the river was shallow while looking for the reason he noticed that a young boy had built a dam with arrows using his celestial weapons. Shantanu did not recognise him as his son, but Devavrata recognised him. Soon, he used his power of illusion and disappeared, leaving Shantanu in a confusion, if it was his son or not.

Shantanu called out to Ganga, and she appeared in front of him, and when asked if the young boy was his son, she revealed to him that Devavrata was their son, and was a disciple of great sages. Hearing this Shantanu was pleased to be blessed with a son who had gained great knowledge.

Since Devavrata was given to Shantanu by Ganga he is also known as Gangadatta.

While walking on the banks of the river Shantanu saw a beautiful maiden, Ganga, charmed by her beauty he proposed Ganga for marriage. Ganga accepted his proposal upon one condition- That he must never question her about any of her actions. As he was in love, he thought it would be a small request after all and agreed immediately.

They lived a happy Married life, and soon Ganga was pregnant but as soon as the child was born, she drowned the new born baby in the river Ganga. And the same happened with the next 6 children too. When she was about to drown the 8th child, Shantanu stopped her and questioned her thus breaking his promise.

Ganga then explained him how the 8 vasus were cursed by Sage Vashishta and had requested her to immerse them in Ganga to free them from the curse.  The 8th child born was Prabhasa, and he was cursed to live long as he stole Nandini, but the Sage had also given him a boon that, he would be known as one of the important persons in the holy scriptures. Saying this Ganga, took Devavrata, the 8th son, and said, she would return him to the king after training him for the King’s status and left.

After the curse, Ganga took a form of a beautiful maiden and approached Pratipa, the Kuru King of Hastinapur, who was meditating in the banks of the river Ganga. She sat on his right lap, and asked him become her husband. As there was a custom that the daughter or daughter-in-law sits on the right thigh of a man, Pratipa proposed that, Ganga should wait until he had a son and marry him.

Pratipa was childless so at his old age along with his wife, Sunanda, he worshipped the gods and 3 children were born to him, Devapi, Bahlika, and Shantanu.

Devapi, suffering from leprosy, declared that he would become a hermit, and Shantanu would become the next king of hastinapur.

With Devapi and Bahlika’s Blessings Shantanu succeeded his father and became the next Kuru king of Hastinapur.   

Parashara was a renowned Author and a Maharishi because of his immense knowledge. Once while crossing the river Yamuna, he came across a beautiful maiden, Satyavati who was also known as Matsya-Gandha (the one who smells like fish) was the daughter of the King of Chedi Kingdom, Uparicara Vasu, but the girl was raised as Kali (the one with dark complexion) by the fishermen chief, Dasharaja. Parashara was smitten by her beauty and wanted a heir from her but she told him that she stank, so he used his powers and transformed her from smelling like a fish to smelling like musk. She was given the name Kasturi Gandha and Yojana-Gandha because her smell could be smelled across a yojana (3.5 to 15kms). Later, She asked for a boon that the child should be knowledgeable and should be known as one of the great sages, and a male child was born, who was named as Krishna Dvaipayana(Krishna- dark complexion, Dvaipayana-born on an island).

Krishna Dvaipayana was also known as Veda Vyasa, because he classified and organised the vedas- Rigveda, Samaveda, Yajurveda, and Atharvaveda. Veda vyasa with the help of Lord Ganesha, the son of Parvathi and Shiva wrote the epic Mahabharata.

Mahabhisha was a powerful king of the Ikshavaku dynasty. Because of his good deeds and by peforming thousands of Ashvamedha Yagnas and hundreds of Rajasuya Yagnas while being the King, he attained a place in heaven, and once visited Lord Bramha’s Court, where all the celestial beings along with Goddess Ganga was present. While the celestials were worshipping Lord Brahma, a strong wind blew and it displaced Goddess Ganga’s clothes. Everyone bent their head, except for Mahabhisha. Seeing this inappropriate act of Mahabhisha, Brahma fumed with anger and cursed Mahabhisha and Ganga to be born as mortals, and Ganga would be able to come back after breaking Mahabhisha’s heart. 

Thus, Mahabhisha was reborn as Shantanu, the son of the Kuru king Pratipa.

Sage Vashishta was the royal priest of the Raghu Dynasty which belonged to Lord Rama. Arundhati, wife of Vashishta used to help him in teaching the Vedas to his disciples. In order to help Arundhati with her chores, Lord Brahma gifted them a wish fulfilling cow, Nandini, daughter of Kamadhenu.

One day, the 8 vasus (divine beings) after having a meal at Sage Vashistha’s house, went and told their wives about Nandini and Prabhasa, one of the vasus, provoked the other vasus, and attempted to steal Nandini from the Ashram as he wanted to gift it to his wife upon her desire. When Sage Vashishta found out he cursed the vasus, that they would all be born on Earth. After they begged for mercy, the Sage reduced the potency of the curse and said that Prabhasa, the one who tied Nandini was cursed to live a long life on earth without wife and children. But was given a boon to be one among the important persons in holy scriptures. While the others would be immersed in the holy Ganga, to wash away their sins, as soon as they were born. And the cursed Vasus were born as the sons of Ganga and Shantanu, and Eighth child was Devavrata who lived for a long time.

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