In this episode, we’re continuing the story of Shantanu and Ganga from the Mahabharat.
If you haven’t heard the previous episode it’s a good idea to do that.
But if not, here’s a short summary.
At a party for the Gods, King Mahabhisha didn’t follow social and moral protocol. He got punished for it, by having to lead the life of Emperor of much of Ancient India! That may not seem to be a terrible punishment, but listen on and judge for yourself.
He was born as Prince Shantanu and retained no memory of his past life. That’s why he had no knowledge of Ganga, the personification of the holy river. She had been a willing partner in his crime in his past life and had suffered the same curse. But she was a Goddess and she was the daughter of the one who cursed them both. So the curse worked a little differently on her. It wasn’t a new life for her, she was just forced to spend a bit more time on Earth than she had planned.
Oh and in case I forgot to mention, Ganga is my sister, because Brahma the creator of the Universe and the one who cursed her, is my dad.
Where we left off was that Shantanu had just run into Ganga by the banks of the Ganga!
Shantanu’s father, who had the pleasure of meeting Ganga in his youth, had urged Shantanu to blindly accept any condition that any beautiful girl on the river bank imposed on him, including marriage.
“Hi, I’m Ganga,” my sister said and held out her hand.
As skeptical as Shantanu had been about his dying father’s wish, he was definitely now inclined to obey him. He’d fallen for Ganga at first sight. At least he had no recollection of his past life, so he thought it was first sight.
In an instant, he had made his decision. He took her hand and immediately got into wooing mode. “Charmed! I’m Emperor Shantanu, King of India. Say, you say your name is Ganga, and you’re standing next to the Ganga. Isn’t that a coincidence? Did I…. Did I mention I was the Emperor of all of India? I was also featured on the cover of both Royal India Today and Society magazines 3 months in a row!”
“I know,” said Ganga calmly. “And it’s not really a coincidence,” she added but did not elaborate.
Shantanu added “Say, I have a chariot waiting nearby. How about we go to a drive-in theater? Tonight? I know where they serve the best food. We could do dinner afterward”
“My, my. Quite a hurry we seem to be in, don’t we? I mean we just met” said Ganga
“It’s weird you say that. I could swear we’ve met before. It seems to me, my entire life I have been waiting for this moment to ask you… for your hand in marriage”
“Dinner and a movie will be just fine, thank you,” said Ganga.
Despite her initial cautious approach, it wasn’t many days before Shantanu again popped the question. Ganga was suddenly serious and took her time to answer.
“I have a condition. Just one” she said.
“You name it, anything!” said Shantanu.
“Careful. Don’t overcommit. Haven’t you learned anything from Kaikeyi and Dasharath’s experience?” asked Ganga
“Kaikeyi? Dasharath? Who are they?” asked Shantanu
“Episode 30 on my brother’s podcast,” said Ganga.
“Haven’t heard that one yet,” said Shantanu. “I’m lagging a bit. Administrative duties keep me occupied. Regardless, I’m not overcommitting. I know I can keep my word”
“Alright. Here’s my condition. You can never ever question or object to my action. The moment you do, I’m going to leave you forever.”
“Why did you even think I need such a condition…..aaaaa…. Is what I would have asked you if I meant to question your action. Which I don’t, so I won’t. I’m totally on board. I accept your condition. Let’s do this.”
“Nice recovery. Let’s see how long you can keep this going,” said Ganga.
Turns out Shantanu could keep it going for a while. Things were fine between the couple. They had a grand honeymoon. And Shantanu felt he had truly discovered the secret of a happy marriage. When everything his wife did was acceptable to him as canon, there were no arguments between the happy couple.
Months passed, and Shantanu had developed the art of not challenging his wife. He simply didn’t question her anymore why she hadn’t washed the last plate in the sink, or why she had used his credit card on her last shopping trip. But things were about to take a much more drastic turn.
That happened when Shantanu and Ganga’s first son was born.
Shantanu was on cloud nine. He was thrilled and excited to see his baby when he noticed that Ganga, who had just gotten through a long pregnancy, was already out of bed and heading for the River? The one that was also called Ganga? And she had their son with her! What was going on here?
He rushed to the scene just in time to see Ganga drowning their child in the river. Shantanu was dumbfounded. But could not lift a finger.
To curse it all, Ganga gave him a pleasant smile. “Nice weather we’re having,” she.
Shantanu was deeply disappointed. But he had to hide it from the one person who was supposed to be his shoulder to weep on. It was painful but he decided to move on.
It was a shock to him therefore when Ganga did exactly the same thing with their second baby the moment it was born.
And the third, the fourth, the fifth, sixth and seventh.
Shantanu who meanwhile had caught up on Episode 30 and finally saw the parallel with Kaikeyi and Dasharath. He cursed himself for not having understood earlier.
But he told himself. You know in most stories, there’s the power of 7. There was “Snow White and the 7 dwarves.”, there were seven Queens in other episodes, including Astro Boy and in Hari Pot-Breaker”. That’s exactly what will happen here. That must mean my next baby does not get this same treatment. He tried to convince himself. But a lingering part of his brain told him he’d felt exactly like this even for baby no 4 and baby no 6 because the numbers 3 and 5 had similarly appealed to him.
Well, it was that moment again. Baby number 8 was born. Half-heartedly, Shantanu slipped on his walking shoes and headed towards the river where Ganga would take the baby. He wanted to at least glance at his child even if from a distance.
In his dazed state, he tripped over a rock and fell down. Instantly his melancholy turned to anger. First against the rock, and then against his fate and against Ganga’s actions. How dare she do this to his children.
So when Ganga arrived at the scene, the 8th baby in her arms, he unleashed his thoughts. He said everything he had meant to say. And asked everything he had meant to ask. Why? Why was she doing this to their own children? What was the meaning of all this? And why couldn’t he even ask her why? And why do you put Spinach in everything you cook? That last cake you baked tasted horrible.
Ganga was calm, just as cool as her waters nearer the Himalayas.
“Of course I can explain everything, Shantanu. First of all, I am Ganga.”
“I know that” replied Shantanu. “Just like this river.”
“I am the River, Shantanu. I am Ganga”.
Shantanu was stunned.
Ganga proceeded to explain the incident in heaven with him as Mahabhisha.
“But then, why not just tell me? I would have willingly cooperated. And why drown these babies? What had they got to do it?”
“No you would not have willingly cooperated. Those babies are the 8 Vasus, the elementals.”
“The ones in the next Marvel movie?”
“No. You’re thinking of Celestials. These are elementals. Earth, Fire, Wind, Ether, Sun, Moon, Sky, and the Motionless. They were cursed by Rishi Vashishta. That happened one day when they were hanging out in the forest and saw a cow. They liked her and no one else seemed to be around so they simply took over. Only, Vashishta found out they had done that and it was his cow. So he cursed them to be born on Earth. The Vasus appealed to me, and I agreed to bear them and to give them a quick passage back to their regular shape. Except for this 8th baby – Devvrata”
“Why not? What stops you from sending this elemental back?”
“Well you did. Don’t ask me to explain all the physics here. I don’t know. I just know that now that we’ve discussed all this even if I tried the same fate as his brothers it will not work.”
“Let’s you and I raise him then.”
“No Shantanu. You’ve broken a promise. There must be consequences. I cannot be with you ever again. And as for this baby, I must take him with me. The best I can do is to promise you that one day I’ll bring him back to you.”
Reminded like that of the promise he had broken, which was an absolute no-no for anyone, most of all a King, Shantanu could only hang his head in shame. If he’d just kept his big mouth shut, maybe the 8th Vasu would have been freed and they would be free to live their lives. But on the other hand, he was going to get his prince back. When? He asked, but was shocked to see Ganga walking off into the river, baby in hand.
Hey! Hey, wait! What are you doing? How’ll he breathe in the water?
Ganga rolled her eyes. “Haven’t you been paying any attention to what I said? I’m Ganga. I am the river. He’s protected. I promised to give him back to you, and you will get him back. You know, it was easier with the condition at least you wouldn’t ask such a silly question.”
With that parting shot, Ganga disappeared from Shantanu’s life, just like that.
She hadn’t mentioned to Shantanu when she would return. And that became a problem. Because without having an ETA, Shantanu spent every evening after that at the Ganga riverbank, rain or shine. And he did this for years. Which can’t have been very good for the Kingdom.
That’s all for now
Next Time
We’ll leave Shantanu there waiting at the riverbank. We’ll come back to the Mahabharat in a subsequent episode, but we’ll switch gears a bit as we cover another Tenali Raman story in the next episode.
I’ll see you next time!