mahabharata5

• So, Shantanu asked for Ganga to marry him -and she accepted his proposal with a starnge condition - that he would never question her - whatever she chose to do . Ganaga was Ganga, she knew what she was going to do - ther is nothing wrong with her putting a condition like that (more so because she must have been sure that shantanu would never allow her to kill their offspring if he wasn't tied down by his own promise) - but what about a king - who is supposed to be pious and on the path of a king's dharma - accepting to make such a promise? Just to satisfy his own blind love - didn't he himself play a much riskier gamble than his descendent yudhishthira did years later? After all he didn't know anything about Ganga and she could have asked for anything after such a blind promise and marriage - when she would officially be the queen of the empire!!! This also goes to show that while Shantanu was blind in his love - Ganga wasn't ! After all when she promised the Vasus that she would bear them as her children and kill them on birth - she  knew that shantanu would be the father, and he would suffer - and she never thought to ask him or to take his agreement to the sin of being a mute watcher to the killing of his sons (in his eyes - it was definitely a sin - though it wasnt a sin in ganga's eyes - - in normal viewing - you decide - is it not a sin to kill? if you feel she was killing the vasus' withtheir own permission  - then i ask you - do you think suicide is not a sin? Then is mercy killing wrong? Why did the supreme court not allow active  mercy killing of the long suffering Aruna Shanbaug ? while it is right for ganga to kill the vasus on birth because they  wanted it - how is it wrong to kill Hritick Roshan in the movie guzarish??? 

• Well - let us leave the decision making to the individual readers, and proceed with the story... Ganga agreed to Shantanu's marriage proposal - and they were married. Soon Ganga was expecting the first baby - and the whole kingdm was in a celebration mode - waiting for the new yuvaraja - please note two things - It was assumed that the child would be a male  and also that he would be named yuvaraja - the next king without any reference to whether he she would be fit to be a good king!! Here are the first steps - from Bharata's methods - who - despite having own sons - chose a deserving yuvaraja from outside - to the time of shantanu - when - even before birth - the child was assumed to be the next yuvaraja. 
•  Well - finally the wait was over - and Ganga delievered a baby boy - and ther was a wave of joy throughout the capital city. But even before the joy could be celebrated - the population was shocked to know that - the new beautiful queen - the goddess likwe ganga - had taken her own child to the waters of the ganges and  smilingly drowned it!!!! People were bewildered - and there was a wave of disgust at the cruel mother who could do this to a new born child. But the king -  did not question his lovely wife because he was too attached to her to risk losing her in wake of his breaking his promise!!! Now - please remember - he had not promised her  not to ask wuestions - just that if he asked  she would leave him and go . Therefore - if he did question her act - he would not have been guilty of breaking his vachana - just lose her !!!! Would that be such a great loss ?? I mean losing a wife who murders your son is a worse loss than being a silent accessory to further such murders?? 
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• And - this went on - for the next children too - till the last child - Devavrata - was born. After so many incidences did Shantanu come out of his blind attachment - and questioned Ganga - just as she was about to drown the baby. She then told him the whole sad story - and then left him. Doesn't it go to show the depth of her love to him? While she was not cursed to live a fully human life on earth - as sahantanu was - she had the rememberance of her actual self - while he did not - but - if she had truly loved him - would she have taken advantage of the escape clause to leave him and return to heaven - where they both belonged - leaving him to suffer the life alone?
• But, while Ganga went - she did not leave the baby with shantanu - she took him with her - to be trained by divine gurus , so that he would be capable and fit  to take over the dynasty of the great Bharata. Remember - she was a goddess - and knew what was the tradition of the family - that birth alone should not guarantee on to be entitled to be the yuvaraja - one had to prove one's worth too!! And she also had at least an inkling of what the future held - for her husband and their son....
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• Till next time - cheers ....