Part I: The Previous Generations
King Santanu Marries a Goddess
The powerful king of the Kurus,
Santanu
is out hunting deer in the forest. Exhausted, he reaches a river and sits
down to recover. While he rests by the river, the Goddess Ganga who resides
in the river approaches. On seeing her, he falls in love with her immediately.
He asks her to marry him. She agrees, under one condition: "No matter what
I do, you must never stop me or question me. If you do, I shall leave."
Santanu accepts this condition without hesitation. His new bride moves
into the palace, amid public acclaim.
One year later, Ganga is pregnant. She has a son. But almost immediately,
she takes him down to the river and drowns him. Santanu, mindful of his
promise, says nothing. Next year, Ganga has another son, and again she
drowns him in the river. Santanu looks on but says nothing. The third time,
Ganga has a son, and drowns him. This happens for a seventh time. By now,
Santanu is worried: he needs to have an heir. He also feels he has been
party to infanticide, a heinous sin. For the eighth time, Ganga gives birth
to a son. As she is putting him in the river, Santanu can hold back no
longer. He shouts: "Stop! How many times must this occur?" The goddess
replies, "You have broken the condition of our marriage, so I will leave
you now, O king. I will take this child, Devavrata, with me and will return
him at a later age. He will be a mighty warrior, the leader of the Kurus
for many generations." This consoles the heart-broken Santanu. He says,
"Very well. At least tell me why you drowned the other seven." She answers,
"Know, O king, that the sons I bore to you are actually eight deities,
the Vasus, who were cursed to be born as mortals. By drowning them I returned
them to the heavens and to immortality. However, this eighth one will remain
a mortal for a long period of time."
Eighteen years later, Santanu goes to the river and sees a young man
in armor, practicing with weapons. He moves toward him, but the man becomes
invisible. Santanu is puzzled. Just then, the Goddess Ganga emerges from
the river with the young man beside her. "This is your son, Devavrata,"
the goddess tells the king. She returns to the river, and Santanu returns
to the palace with his son.
The Daughter of the Chief of Fishermen
Years pass. Santanu is still grieving over the wife he lost. One day, he
goes hunting. After an unsuccessful hunt, he comes upon a hut in a clearing
by a lake. As he approaches the lake, he gets the scent of a delightful
fragrance. Moving in its direction, he goes to the hut and sees a beautiful
young woman. The love-struck King speaks, "Who are you, wondrous one?"
She replies, "I am Satyavati, daughter unto the king of fishermen." He
confesses he has fallen in love with her and asks her to live with him
in the palace. She says, "Ask my father, the chieftain of the tribe of
fishermen." The king comes before the fisherman-chief and makes his request.
The crafty chief answers, "O mighty ruler of this great nation of the Kurus,
how can you be denied? But, my daughter must be made your lawful wife and
her son must be the heir to the throne." Santanu replies sadly, "What you
ask for is impossible! I already have a son, Devavrata, who is destined
to rule: he will be my heir." He leaves, crestfallen.
His son by the goddess Ganga--Devavrata--finds out that the king is
in love and has refused the fisherman chief's conditions. He goes to meet
Satyavati's father. Devavrata promises that the chief's daughter's son
will be the heir, rencouncing his own claim to the throne. The chief replies,
"I know you are great and magnanimous, O prince, but I worry about your
successors who may be ambitious for power." Devavrata replies, "I renounce
love of any woman forever. Your daughter's line will rule the kingdom of
the Kurus." This vow of lifelong celibacy impresses the chief, who consents
to the marriage. Devavrata goes to Satyavati and says, "Mother, I shall
take you to my father's palace." He brings her to the palace in his chariot.
Santanu is overjoyed. Hearing of Devavrata's vow, he renames him Bhishma
("awe-inspiring" or "terrible"). Santanu blesses him saying, "For this
noble renunciation, you shall be rewarded. No person can end your life
unless you wish it: you may choose the time of your
death."
Bhishma Steals Three Brides for his step-brothers
Bhishma's stepbrothers are of marriageable age. A neighboring king holds
a ceremony to select husbands for his three daughters. Bhishma attends
and kidnaps the three, bringing them back for his stepbrothers. One of
the three women, Amba, is pledged to another man, so she goes to him, but
the man rejects her. She comes back, begs Bhishma to marry her. He refuses:
he has sworn lifelong celibacy. She leaves in rage, swearing
to kill Bhishma though he cannot die unless he chooses to do so.
Heirs Needed
Bhishma's two stepbrothers die without heirs. His step-mother, formerly
the fisherman's daughter, wants him to continue the family
line by having sons by the two young widows. But he has taken the vow
of celibacy. His stepmother then remembers her
illegitimate son named Vyasa
who is now a hermit. He can continue the royal lineage, so his mother summons
him. But he is rather ugly and disgusting (he's been meditating in the
forest for years); the first widow averts her eyes when they are in bed
and so the first son, Dhritarashtra
is blind. The second widow turns pale with fear, so her son, Panduis
abnormally pale. For good measure he has a third son by a servant-girl.
The servant bore a normal child,
Vidura("far-sighted),
the wisest of the three, but destined never to rule.
Pandu Becomes King
Dhritarashtra becomes king when he comes of age. But, because he is blind
(which is considered inauspicious according to rules laid down by the brahmins),
he soon relinquishes power in favor of his younger brother, Pandu. The
new king is out hunting one day: he discovers a pair of mating deer and
shoots them. The deer are actually a brahmin hermit and his wife who magically
transformed themselves to deer for a while. The hermit curses him: "At
a time that all creatures hold sacred, you denied us the pleasure of love.
For this violation, you will die while attempting to make love to a woman."
Pandu is distraught: there are no heirs to the kingdom and he cannot father
any children. He adbdicates in favor of Dhritarashtra and becomes a hermit.
His wives, Kunti and Madri follow him. Then one of his wives, Kunti
tells him she was once given a mantra which allowed her to summon any of
the Gods to her bed. She had used it once with the Sun God--Surya--and
had an illegitimate son named Karna,
whom she sent downstream in a small boat (ã la Moses), where he
was found by a charioteer and his childless wife. (Much to Kunti's dismay,
Karna will make a dramatic
reappearance in the future.) Pandu is delighted that he can have heirs
fathered by the gods.
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II: The Pandavas & Kauravas