Pratīpa

Pratīpa was a righteous king of the Kuru line and the father of Śāntanu. The Mahābhārata remembers him above all for the day Gaṅgā came to him on the river bank and asked to marry him. His promise on that day led to the marriage of Śāntanu and Gaṅgā.

Gaṅgā comes to Pratīpa

Pratīpa was known for his righteousness and devotion. He used to sit in meditation on the bank of the Gaṅgā. One day Gaṅgā came before him in a radiant human form. She sat down on his right thigh and showed that she wished to be united with him.

Pratīpa told her the rule about the body. The right thigh is the place of a daughter or a daughter-in-law. The left thigh is the place of a wife. She had come to the wrong place. He could not take her as his own wife.

But he made her a promise. When a son was born to him, he would give that son to her in marriage. He set two simple conditions. She must never harm his son, and she must never leave him. Gaṅgā agreed. She set one condition of her own: she must never be questioned about her actions.

Pratīpa as the father Mahābhiṣa chose

Before Gaṅgā came to Pratīpa, the account had already told how King Mahābhiṣa received a śāpa (a curse) from Brahmā and was to be born again among humans. Mahābhiṣa chose Pratīpa as his father for that next birth. The son born to Pratīpa was Śāntanu. In him both the choice of Mahābhiṣa and Pratīpa’s promise on the river bank were fulfilled.

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Ādi Parva, Sambhava Parva, Chapters 96–98