GODDESS GANGA AND BHISHMA

Bhishma was the son of the Kuru King Shantanu of Hastinapur and his wife Ganga, the goddess of the river Ganges called Ganga in India. Bhisma means " born of the terrible oath".

Bhartavarsha or the country of Bharat was ruled by many kings and Bharata was one among them. Notable among the rulers of Bharat was Hasti who founded the city of Hastinapura and Kuru who conquered the region thereafter called Kurukshetra. His descendants were called Kauravas. Santanu the son of Pratipa who ascended the throne of Hastinapura, was a remarkable king in many respects.

One day as Santanu was taking a stroll outside the precints of the fort of Hastinapura a lovely maiden of intoxicating beauty came across his way. The king asked," O graceful girl of superhuman loveliness, I do not know who you are. Why are you here?" The girl replied, "Gracious king, you need not know who I am. I am here at my pleasure." The King said " Whoever you are, I do not mind, I want you to be my queen." The girl stipulated certain conditions saying," Best of the Bharata race, if you want to marry me you should never try to probe who I am, once I am married you should never stand in my way; I must be allowed to do whatever I wish to do. My freedom of action shall never be curtailed. If you do otherwise I will leave you then and there; please think over the pros and cons and then only give your consent.

The infatuated king accepted the stipulations imposed by the girl, captivated by her transcendental charms and took her as his wife. The couple lived together happily oblivious of the passage of seasons. She gave birth to many children. But as soon as each child was born she used to take it and throw it into the Ganges. Seven children were thus killed quite mercilessly. Santanu bound by the promise made to her, controlled himself time and again, of course with great difficulty. Often he wondered who the murderous witch was and from where she came. She was perfectly a normal house wife otherwise, very civil, very charming and very considerate. When the eighth child was born king Santanu decided to put an end to the massacre of the innocents and came to wife and chided. "Oh brutal beauty, enough of it, the foolish promise made by me restrained me all these days. No more can I allow you to murder this child. Moreover I should like to put a pertinent question to you. Are you human or a devil incarnate?" The lady kissing the child in her arms replied smilingly, "True I am not human; neither I am the brutal beauty of apprehension. Know me to be the Goddess Ganga adored by the heavenly beings as well as the humans at large. I had to accept this apparently cruel mission paradoxically on compassionate grounds." The bewildered King was eager to know the whole story.


Goddess Ganga continued, "One day the eight Vasus, the divine noble men of heaven, came down to the earth with their wives to enjoy a holiday. They saw Nandhini, the cow of the great sage Vasistha, grazing on the grounds of their ashram with her calf. It was really a sight for the angels to see. All the ladies of the picnic party praised the cow and the calf and one of the ladies wanted to possess them. Her husband however said that the immortals needed not the milk of Nandhini as they had Amritha to drink and asked his wife to change her mind. But the lady persisted in her demand. All the eight Vasus quite chivalrously seized the cow and the calf by force and made their way.

When Vasistha returned to the ashram, he did not find the cow and calf. Having come to know of the high-handed behavior of the Vasus who were puffed up of their divine authority, Vasistha cursed that they should be born as mortals on the earth. The Vasus came to know of the curse, went to the great Rishi and repented and apologized to him with a request for pardon. The Sage said that he could excuse all with the exception of Prabhasa who took the initiative. He modified the curse to the extent that all the seven could come back to heaven as soon as they were born on earth but Prabhasa would live long of course in great glory on earth before he could return to heaven. This is not a mere child. He is the veritable incarnation of the Vasu - Prabhasa. He is destined to great glory and will be the worthy son of a worthy father. In fact in breaking your promise you have saved me from this mundane presence. Now I must depart; of course I am taking the child with me as a mother’s duty, only to be returned to you in due time. But remember I have performed an unpleasant duty forced upon me by a conspiracy of circumstances and I am not a devil."

Goddess Ganga disappeared while the bewildered king, Santanu stood staring at the void. Santanu, having developed a sense of revulsion against sensual pleasures, ruled the kingdom with rare dedication for sometime. One day while going for a walk along the banks of the Ganges he saw a boy hero constructing a dam of arrows with his bow. The little child was braving the irresistible currents of the Ganges as if he was sporting with an indulgent mother. As Santanu stood stupefied, Goddess Ganga holding the boy in her hand came to him and said, "This is Devavrata, who I bore you. He is no more a child; he has learnt the Vedas at the feet of Vasistha who bestowed his compensatory kindness on him and archery from the great Parasurama at my special request and he is well- versed in the doctrines of polity propounded by Sukracharya." Santanu was extremely happy to receive the boy into his custody and he installed Devavratha as Yuvaraja, the heir apparent after a few days at a colourful function. Later one day while the King Santanu was going along the banks of the Yamuna, all of a sudden fragrant breezes blew over him. On enquiry he was astonished to learn that it emanated from the body of the fisher girl, Satyavathi who was transporting the passangers by boat doing free services at the behest of her father, the chieftain of the fisherman tribe.

When he met the girl, Santanu was attracted by her extraordinary beauty and charming manners. Four years elapsed since Ganga deserted him. The king asked Sathyavati to be his wife. She replied that she was a maiden under the custody of her father and that the king might to be pleased to approach him. Santanu approached the chief of the fisherman and requested the hand of his daughter. Sathyavati’s father replied," May it please your majesty, my daughter is in the right age for marriage and it is fine that I fix up a good match. It is our good fortune that you have asked for her hand. As her guardian I am expected to safeguard her interests. She will be your queen provided you are willing to make her son born of you the heir apparent to your throne. Santanu was dumbfounded. Acceding to the request of the fisher-chief it would mean disinheriting Gangeya, the son of Goddess Ganga, a proposition which Santanu was not prepared to agree. The king returned home. The disappointment was evident in his face. Devavrata came to his father and made searching enquiries about his condition. He could not reveal that he fell in love with a fisher girl nor could he discuss the implication of the conditions imposed by the fisher -chief for giving his daughter in marriage to him. Instead he said, "My dear Devavrata, you are my soul surviving son, though your mother gave birth to seven earlier. Elders say that one son is no son at all. You are a hero and interested in warfare. I am interested in the continuation of the dynasty. I want to marry so that I may beget some more children."

Devavrata could understand that his father was evading the question and made his own enquiries and met the fisher-chief directly. When the father of Sathyavati reiterated his stand, Devavrata declared in the presence of cheering crowd that he was renouncing his right to the throne in favour of the progeny of Sathyavati. However the astute fisher-chief raised a counter objection, "Oh Devavrata, it is becoming of a great hero like you to sacrifice your claim to the throne for the sake of your father. But what is the guarantee that your sons who are bound to be heroes like yourself will not fight for the throne later." Devavrata saw the force of his argument and took a vow in the presence of one and all that he would not marry at all and would be a life-long bachelor to clear the apprehensions of the fisher-chief. All the people present there praised him as the Bishma one who had taken the terrible vow and the title given by the people in spontaneous applause stuck to him as his proper name, thereafter.

The marriage of Sathyavati and king Santanu was performed with great pomp. King Santanu appreciated the great sacrifice made by Bhishma and conferred on him the boon of Svacchandamarana, death at his will and pleasure. Satyavati gave birth to two sons Chitrangada and Vichitravirya. After the death of Santanu, Chitrangada ascended the throne of Hastinapura. As he died in a battle with the Gandharvas and as he had no children Vichitravirya was crowned King. As he was a minor Bhishma governed the kingdom as a regent. However Bhishma took the greatest care to see that the image of Vichitravirya as the real ruler was not impaired.