In the years that followed, she [Ganga] killed their [Shantanu] seven children in the same way, drowning them in the river.
The eighth pregnancy came. When the baby was born, the queen took him and with chilling calm headed for the river with the obvious intention of drowning that baby too. But Shantanu could no longer tolerate the horror that pervaded him.
“It is enough!” he shouted at her. “What are you doing? What kind of monster are you? Why do you kill our children? I don’t understand why you commit these crimes, but I will stop you from killing again!”
However, he realized that there must be a mystery behind those strange behaviors. In fact, the queen, despite the violent outburst, did not manifest any of the reactions that a normal person would have had in such circumstances. She didn’t react in any way, she just looked sad, disappointed.
“I’m sorry I’ve made you suffer,” she said in her usual soft voice, “but there is a reason for this. Believe me. A will greater than all of us forced me to kill our children.”
She paused, looking around.
“Now, I will have to go away. Do you remember the condition I imposed on you? If you objected, I’d leave you. This too is part of the plans of the Supreme Lord, often incomprehensible to us. I will leave, and this child, who I will call Devavrata, will come with me, but when he grows up, I will bring him back and he will stay with you.”
Shantanu did not want to lose her, which was the reason why he felt a great pain inside, but he was also seized by a strong curiosity to know what had caused those dramatic events.
“But at least tell me what happened. Why did you act like this? Why did you kill our children? What or who forced you to do it?” he inquired.
“I am Ganga, the goddess of the Ganges River,” she replied. “This great river, sanctified by the head of the god Shiva, which descends from the celestial planets and continues to flow on this earth, is mine.”
Shantanu was surprised. Was his wife a goddess? The goddess of the Ganges River? He couldn’t believe it.
“If you want, I can tell you what happened in your previous life and the reason that led me to drown our children.”
And she began to narrate.
In your previous life, you were the earthly king Mahabhishaka. Your qualities of virtue and wisdom were such that you were able to go to the heavenly planets at any time and stand to talk in company of Indra.
One day that you were there with the great sages and Devas of this universe, you noticed my presence. You were invaded by an irrepressible sexual desire which, however much you tried, you could not control. I became aware of this feeling of yours and in my heart, I wished I could reciprocate.
Unfortunately, a union between us was impossible, as I was a goddess and you a mortal; so the desire we felt was already a sinful act. Brahma realized what was happening and cursed us, saying:
“Because you have fallen prey to an illicit sexual desire, you are not worthy to stay on these planets, therefore you will be born on Earth, in that world devoid of colors and real beauty. You will marry and will live together for a certain period, then you’ll separate and suffer a lot from that separation. May this be your atonement”.
And so it happened.
You were born as king Pratipa’s son, and I am now here with you, like an ordinary mortal.
Shantanu listened. Of course he remembered nothing of his previous life, as humans forget everything at the moment of birth; however, something made him believe that story.
“But what does all that have to do with killing our children?” he asked.
Ganga resumed:
“In their previous life, those children were the eight Vasus. They found themselves born as our children under a similar sentence to ours.
Listen, I’ll tell you briefly what happened:
One day they were walking with their wives in a forest on their celestial planet, when they saw a beautiful cow that belonged to the sage Vasishtha. One of the women was so enchanted that she begged her husband to pick it up and take her to their gardens. Unable to refuse, he took the peaceful animal with him.
When the sage returned to the hermitage, he did not find his cow, which was necessary for the performance of the sacrifices. He looked for it for a while , then, in meditation, he went back in time to the moment in which the theft took place, and, realizing what had happened, he launched a powerful curse on the Vasus:
“Those who stole my cow will fall into the planet of the mortals, where life is short and full of anguish”.
Later, thanks to Brahma’s intercession, Vasishtha modified the curse so that only the one who had taken the cow would remain in this world for a long time while the others would be born here and soon after would return to their home planet.
When the eight Devas learned of their fate, they came to me and said:
“We know that you too have received a curse that requires you to descend into the median planetary system; therefore, we ask you to become our mother and drown us in the waters of the Ganges immediately after our birth in order to make possible an immediate return to our planet”.
I promised them to do it.
The seven sons I killed were those who did not participate directly in the theft of the cow, while the latter, whom I will call Devavrata, is the real culprit. He will live a long time on this earth, and he will be a glorious and respected man.
“Do you understand now”, Ganga concluded, “why I’ve behaved like this? I promised the Vasus to return them to their heavenly world.”
After having heard that, everything was clear; however, the satisfaction of curiosity in such circumstances was a meager palliative. Shantanu, having quenched his thirst for knowledge, suddenly felt unhappy. Now she’d have to go.
“I’ve loved you very much and would like to stay with you, but I can’t. We’ll see each other again,” she said.
And she disappeared.
Sixteen years later, Ganga returned and entrusted him with his son, Devavrata, who was beautiful as a sun.
Soon after, the young man was appointed crown prince to the throne. It did not take long for everyone in the court to feel conquered by his kind and polite manners.
This is a section of the book “Maha-bharata, Vol. 1”.
To buy the complete book, click above
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