Chapter 4 – The Growth of the Kuru Dynasty

There is another story to Satyavati, the Godmother of Kuru Dynasty.

Satyavati was actually born from a fish and was brought up by the Leader of the Fishermen Group. Since she was born from a fish, she had an odour of fish all over her body. One day, Rishi Parashara came there and was very pleased with Satyavati’s service. So he told her to ask for a boon. Satyavati told that she wanted the odour of fish from her body to be turned to a Sweet scent. The Rishi granted her the boon and apart from that, he also gave her a child who will be energetic and will develop his body with his own will. He was named Krishna Dwaipayana, because he was born in an island ( Dwaipayana ) and was dark in color ( Krishna means dark ).  He was also called Ved Vyasa , because it was he who arranged the vedas.

Coming back to the story of Shantanu’s sons – Vichitraviriya died childless. So Satyavati called for Vyasa and told him to give children for her daughters-in-law. When Vyasa went to Ambika, she closed her eyes till he went out. So Vyasa said that the son born to Ambika will be blind and will be named Dhritarashtra. Then Vyasa went to see Ambalika. She turned pale in fear. So Vyasa told that the son born to Ambalika will be pale and will be named Pandu. Satyavati was unhappy because both the grandsons had defects and so she wanted another healthy child. So she requested Vyasa to give another child to Ambika. But Ambika sent a maid with her ornaments to get the child. When the maid saw Vyasa, she did not give any reaction. So Vyasa gave her a healthy looking child and named him Vidura.

And the future of Kuru dynasty was thus formed.

Previous Chapter 3 – Sons of Shantanu

Next Chapter 5 – The Pandavas & Kauravas

Chapter 3 – Sons of Shantanu

This chapter will have lots of new characters and  hence lots of names to remember.

Shantanu then got married to Satyavati . They both bore two children and were named Chitrangada and Vichitraviriya. After Shantanu died, Chitrangada was made the King. One day Chitrangada was called for a fight by a Gandharva with the same name Chitrangada. At the end of the fight, Chitrangada died. So Vichitraviriya was made the king. Because he was too young , Bheeshma indirectly ruled the kingdom.When it was time for Vichitraviriya to get married, Satyavati told Bheeshma to go the swayamvara of the three Princess of Kashi – Amba, Ambika and Ambalika.

The story of Bheeshma and Amba is quite long and I tried to make it short.

Amba liked King Shalva and was ready to garland him during the Swayamvara. But when Bheeshma came there, he won over all the Kings including King Shalva and took the three princess with him to Hastinapur.

When they reached Hastinapur, Amba told Bheeshma that she had wanted to marry King Shalva only. So Bheeshma  asked her to return back. Amba went straight to King Shalva, but he refused to marry her because he had been defeated by Bheeshma. In the meantime, Vichitraviriya got married to Ambika and Ambalika. When Amba came back, she saw her sisters married. So she went to Bheeshma and asked him to marry her. Bheeshma refused because he had taken an oath of Celibacy .

Amba became very angry and blamed Bheeshma for her plight. She wanted to take revenge on Bheeshma. She went to Sage Parasurama, one of the Gurus of Bheeshma and asked for help. Parasurama called Bheeshma and asked him to marry her or face him for a fight. Bheeshma refused to marry Amba. So they both got into a fight.

They fought for a very long time . Parasurama stopped the fight realizing that this will never end and let Bheeshma go. Then he told Amba that he can be of no help.

Amba went to the forest and kept doing severe penances to please Lord Shiva. Shiva , pleased with her appeared before her and asked her “What boon do you want?” . Amba replied ,”I want to take revenge on Bheeshma. I want to kill him”.  Shiva told Amba that she will not be able to anything in this birth, but granted a boon that she will be the one to kill Bheeshma in her next birth and disappeared. Amba was impatient for her next birth and hence ended up her life by making fire and jumping into it.

After some years, Amba was reborn as Shikandi , the daughter of Drupada , the story of which I will narrate at a later stage.

Previous Chapter 2 – Devabrata’s oath                                          Next Chapter 4 – The Growth of Kuru Dynasty

Chapter 2 – Devabrata’s Oath

Devabrata was extremely knowledgeable and grew to be a skilled person in warfare and all other forms of arts. He was very powerful and all the neighbouring kingdoms were afraid of his strength.

One day, when King Shantanu was going for one of his country visits, he smelt a nice fragrance. When he went in the direction of the fragrance, he saw an extremely beautiful girl in a boat. He went to the girl and asked “Who are you?” She said,”I am Satyavati, the daughter of a fisherman.” Shantanu went to the fisherman’s house. When the fisherman saw the king, he respectfully stood up and said “My Salutations to the King. What brings you here, Dear King? ” Shantanu replied “I seek the hand of your beautiful daughter”.

The fisherman said, “I am very happy because you want to marry my daughter, but I will not be able to accept this”. “What makes you say this fisherman?” , asked the king.  The fisherman said “I would like the child born to both of you to become the King of Hastinapur. But only your son Devabrata has all the abilities and the right to become the King”.

Shantanu liked his son very much and wanted him to become the King.So he left to his palace. For the next few days, Shantanu was very sad because of this incident. Devabrata became thoughtful of his father’s condition. He asked his father’s charioteer what made the King sad. The charioteer had seen all that had happened at the fisherman’s place and told everything to Devabrata.

Devabrata went to Satyavati’s father and said “Please let your daughter marry my father”. “I can’t because my grandsons can never rule the Kingdom”, replied the fisherman. Hearing this Devabarata said, “I promise that I will never become the King and will let one of your grandsons to take the throne”. The fisherman replied,”You have sacrificed the throne but I cannot expect the same from your sons.”

Then, Devabrata took an oath , “I will never marry for the rest of my life and serve the King of Hastinapur forever”. Because he took an oath of celibacy, all the Gods began showering flowers on Devabrata from the skies. From that day onwards, all the Gods in Heaven and all people in the world called him “Bheeshma ” (Bheeshma means Terrible Oath ).

Shantanu heard about his son’s terrible oath and arrived at the spot immediately. He was extremely sad and equally proud of his son. So Shantanu gave Bheeshma a boon that he can choose when to die, till then death will not approach him.

Such is the greatness of Devabrata whom I will address as “Bheeshma” in my further chapters.

Previous  Chapter 1 : King Shantanu and Ganga

Next Chapter 3 – Sons of Shantanu

The Mahabharat I know…

The blog of mine is my understanding of the Great Indian epic – The Mahabharat. With Prayers to Lord Almighty, I started penning down the epic on the 1st January 2016. I plan to finish the story faster than the time Lord Ganesha managed to finish the epic :-). The idea is to post a series of blogs – chapter by chapter on the complete epic.

Please pardon me if there are any mistakes or if I have mentioned wrong facts. It will also help if you point out my mistakes for me to check for the facts and make necessary corrections.

I am thankful to my Grandfather who instilled in me , the love for Indian Mythology and to my Mother for continuously guiding me along this journey.

This blog is a dedication to all the young fans of Indian Mythology.

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Chapter 1 : King Shantanu & Ganga

My Mahabharat starts with the story of  Shantanu, the Kuru King.

One day, King Shantanu , the King of Hastinapur went for hunting to the forest. There he saw a beautiful girl standing near a tree. He wanted to marry her.

He went to the girl and asked her “Will you marry me?”. The girl replied , “Yes, I will . But you have to agree for one condition, that you will never question me for whatever I do. Else I will have to leave you. Can you agree to that? “. Shantanu immediately agreed & they both married.

When they bore their first child, the girl put the child in the river. Shantanu felt disappointed, but was scared to question her, since he knew she would leave him otherwise. Whenever she bore a child, she threw the baby into the river & Shantanu remained silent.

When it was time for the eighth child to be thrown, Shantanu stopped her.He asked “Why are you throwing our children into the river? “. She replied “I am Mother Ganga. These children were Devas in their previous births who were cursed to be born in Earth. Since you have stopped me now, I will have to leave you and this child will not be drowned. In 16 years, I will get this child trained in all types of arts with the best of Gurus. The child shall be named Devabrata.” Saying this, Ganga along with the child disappeared.

After 16 years, Ganga came back to Shantanu along with Devabrata. She said to Devabrata “You should always be at your father’s service and protect Hastinapur.” Then Ganga left.

And thus Devabrata was brought to this earth. My next chapter will talk about Devabrata’s greatness.

Next Chapter 2 : Devabrata’s Greatness