Shantanu y Ganga
Years had passed, and Pratipa had grown old. So, he retired to the forest to spend the last years of his life in devotional service and meditation.
Shantanu had inherited his father’s throne and ruled with equal righteousness and ability.
Still being young, he particularly loved long walks on the banks of the Ganges, alone, absorbed in a serene and peaceful state of mind. He felt satisfied because the people, happy with his way of governing, respected the laws and lived peacefully.
One day, while he was walking aimlessly on the banks of the sacred river, he saw a beautiful girl who, with no one to accompany her, came to meet him, looking at him insistently. The situation was somewhat unusual because sunset was approaching and the girls usually did not walk around alone at that time of the day. He walked over.
“What are you doing here alone?” he asked gently. “The day is coming to an end and the sun has already hidden behind the horizon. It will be dark soon, and it is dangerous for a girl to walk around without a companion.”
She didn’t answer.
“You have a soft, sweet appearance,” Shantanu resumed, “and your beauty is irresistible. You intrigue me. Tell me, who are you and where do you come from? Who is your husband and who are your parents?”
“I don’t have a husband; I’m a single girl,” she replied, “and I’m walking along these shores without a reason or a precise destination. As for my name and my origin, I don’t want to reveal them to anyone for now. Rather, tell me, who are you? From the clothes you wear you look like a Kshatriya of noble birth.”
“My name is Shantanu,” he replied, “and I am the king of these lands. It doesn’t matter if you don’t want to tell me your name for now, but know that you have already won my heart, and that I would like you by my side as a wife.”
The girl smiled. The king was a handsome, proud-looking young man; she too felt attracted to him.
“How could I refuse such an opportunity? I certainly accept, but I need to set some conditions.”
Hearing those words, Shantanu was happy. That girl had such a gentle, almost melodious voice that it sweetened the heart. He felt enraptured by that celestial beauty and was willing to do anything to have her with him.
“I am the king of vast territories, and I have no difficulty in fulfilling any of your wishes. Tell me what you want and you will have it.”
The mysterious girl said:
“You must never demand to know my name or my origin, and neither object nor criticize anything I do, even those actions that might seem the strangest. If you accept these conditions without even knowing why I impose them, I will be happy to marry you and come to live with you. But if you break this covenant I will leave immediately. Think about it, then.”
The king was so taken with that girl that he didn’t even think about what this might entail and accepted all her conditions. Together they went to Hastinapura and a few days later the wedding was celebrated.
More than a year had passed since that day and it had been a time of intense rejoicing and happiness. The king was happy and satisfied along with his beloved queen.
A little later she gave birth to a boy, but the happiness was stifled by an unexpected tragedy: to everyone’s amazement and horror, the queen took the newborn and threw him into the Ganges, killing him.
Shantanu, who had waited so long for his heir, was desperate, but he could not say anything, remembering the conditions she had set: he must not hinder or criticize his wife’s actions, otherwise she would abandon him. Apart from what seemed like a moment of madness to everyone, she was otherwise an exceptional woman, loving, kind, deeply attached to her husband and her duties as wife and queen.
Then, the second son was born, and he had the same fate as the first. And then the third and the fourth. Shantanu was desperate. He could not understand the reasons for such behavior. What prompted her to kill her children? But he was too afraid of losing her to protest.
In the years that followed, she killed their 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, 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 found 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.
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