Śantanu

Śantanu was a king of the Kuru dynasty, the line from which the chief family of the Mahābhārata comes. Some texts spell his name Śāntanu. He was the son of Pratīpa and the brother of Devāpi and Bāhlīka. The name is explained as śānti (peace) and tanu (body): whoever he touched, even an old person, became young again.

He is remembered for two marriages. He married Gaṅgā, who bore him seven divine sons, the Vasus, and an eighth, Devavrata, later known as Bhīṣma. Later he married Satyavatī, and for her sake Bhīṣma took his famous vow of lifelong brahmacarya. Śantanu gave Bhīṣma the vara (boon) of icchāmṛtyu, death only by his own wish. In an earlier life he was the Ikṣvāku king Mahābhiṣa.

Birth and earlier life

Śantanu was the son of the righteous Kuru king Pratīpa. In his earlier life he was Mahābhiṣa, a great Ikṣvāku king. Through the puṇya (merit) of many yajñas (fire rituals) he had won a place in the divine court of Brahmā. But in that court he looked with desire at Gaṅgā, and he received a śāpa (a curse) to be born among humans. He chose Pratīpa to be his next father. His birth as Śantanu was the working out of that descent.

Lineage

The Viṣṇu Purāṇa gives the Kuru line in this order: Kuru, Sudhanu, Jahnu, Suratha, Vidūratha, Sārvabhauma, Jayatsena, Arādhita, Ayutāyu, Akrodhana, Devātithi, Ṛkṣa, Bhīmasena. Devāpi, Śantanu and Bāhlīka come after them.

Bāhlīka, Śantanu’s other brother, founded the Bāhlīka branch. His son Somadatta had three sons: Bhūri, Bhūriśravas and Śalya. All three appear in the Mahābhārata war.

Devāpi and the drought

Śantanu’s elder brother Devāpi gave up the kingdom in childhood and went to the forest. Śantanu became king. But for twelve years no rain fell in the kingdom, and the whole realm was in danger of ruin.

The brāhmaṇas told Śantanu: “Your elder brother Devāpi owns this land. As long as he lives and has not fallen through any fault of dharma (patanadoṣa), the kingdom is rightfully his. You are the younger brother who has taken it. You are a parivettā, one who goes before an elder brother. This is the cause of the drought.”

Śantanu asked what he should do. The brāhmaṇas said: “Give the kingdom to your elder brother.” So Śantanu got ready to go to the forest and offer the kingdom to Devāpi.

But Śantanu’s minister Aśmarāvi saw trouble ahead. He sent teachers of false views, who argued against the words of the Veda, to Devāpi. Devāpi was simple and honest by nature, with a fine mind. Little by little he was led to speak words against Veda-dharma. This made him a pātita, one who has fallen from his place in dharma.

Śantanu came to the forest āśrama with the brāhmaṇas. Devāpi, his views spoiled by the minister’s plan, spoke many words against the Vedic teaching. The brāhmaṇas said: “Your elder brother has become pātita by speaking such words against the Veda (veda-virodha vākya). So the fault of parivettṛtva no longer touches you. Go back and rule the kingdom.” Śantanu returned to his capital. The skies opened and the rains came.

Marriage to Gaṅgā

Before Śantanu was born, his father Pratīpa was visited by Gaṅgā on the riverbank. She sat on his right thigh, the place of a daughter or a daughter-in-law. Pratīpa promised that when his son was grown, he would be given to her in marriage. He asked only that she never harm his son and never leave him. Gaṅgā agreed, with her own condition: no one must ever question her about her acts.

When Śantanu came to the Gaṅgā in his youth, he saw her standing there in a shining human form. He knew at once that she was no common woman. He asked for her hand. She accepted on the condition that he never question her. They married and lived very happily.

Eight sons were born one after another. Gaṅgā took seven to the river and drowned them. Each was a Vasu who needed a short human life because of the śāpa of Vasiṣṭha. When Gaṅgā moved to drown the eighth, Śantanu could not stay silent. He cried out in pain and begged her to stop. In this way he broke the condition of the marriage. Gaṅgā showed herself, told him the whole divine account, and took the baby Devavrata to bring him up herself. She promised to bring him back at the right time.

The Viṣṇu Purāṇa says that from this union was born the great Bhīṣma. He was known for his deep learning in all the śāstras, his firm brahmacarya and his unbreakable vow, and he had boundless fame and knowledge of the meaning of the śāstras.

Devavrata returned and named Bhīṣma

After years alone, Śantanu came upon a shining young man playing with divine arrows near the river. He was his son, already a master of the Vedas and of dhanurveda (the science of the bow). Gaṅgā appeared beside Śantanu and gave Devavrata back to him. He was named Gāṅgeya (son of Gaṅgā) and Devavrata (whose vow is divine). Later he received the name Bhīṣma.

Love for Satyavatī and his grief

In his later years Śantanu met Satyavatī on the bank of the Yamunā. She was the daughter of Dāśarāja, the chief of the fishermen, and she gave off a divine fragrance. Śantanu fell deeply in love with her and went to Dāśarāja to ask for her hand.

Dāśarāja set a condition: only Satyavatī’s sons would inherit the Kuru throne. Śantanu was not willing to cut off Devavrata, who had done nothing wrong. He went back to his palace in silent grief. He could not love fully, could not give her up, and could not settle the conflict between his love for Satyavatī and his duty to his son.

Bhīṣma’s vow and the vara of icchāmṛtyu

Devavrata learned from Śantanu’s charioteer what was causing his father’s grief. He went to Dāśarāja without his father’s knowledge and freely gave up his right to the throne. Dāśarāja pointed out that Devavrata’s own future sons might challenge the grandsons of Satyavatī. So Devavrata took a second and more terrible vow: he would never marry and never have children, and he would keep complete brahmacarya all his life. The devas named him Bhīṣma for this fearful vow.

Śantanu learned what his son had done. Bhīṣma had given up his whole personal life for his father’s happiness. Śantanu was struck with deep grief and thanks. He gave Bhīṣma the vara of icchāmṛtyu: he would die only when he himself chose to die.

Marriage to Satyavatī and the Kuru line

After Bhīṣma’s vow, Śantanu was free to bring Satyavatī to Hastināpura as his queen. Satyavatī was the fisherwoman who was also the mother of Kṛṣṇadvaipāyana Vyāsa, born to her by Parāśara. Two sons were born from this marriage: Citrāṅgada and Vicitravīrya.

Citrāṅgada was killed in his youth, in battle, by a Gandharva king who had the same name. Vicitravīrya married Ambikā and Ambālikā, the daughters of the king of Kāśī, whom Bhīṣma had brought. He died of kṣaya-roga (tuberculosis) without children.

Satyavatī then asked Kṛṣṇadvaipāyana Vyāsa to father children by niyoga on the widows of Vicitravīrya. From Ambikā came Dhṛtarāṣṭra, who was blind because she closed her eyes. From Ambālikā came Pāṇḍu, who was pale because she turned pale. From a serving maid came Vidura, the great minister of dharma.

Śantanu died in time, and the rule of the kingdom passed through his sons. Bhīṣma remained the true power and protector of the Kuru line throughout.

Much later, lying on his bed of arrows (śaraśayyā), Bhīṣma swore by the truth of his own lifelong devotion to brāhmaṇas that he would reach the same uttama-lokas (highest worlds) that Śantanu had reached. This is his last call on the memory of his father, in the Śreṣṭha-Brāhmaṇa Mahima of the Anuśāsana Parva.

Sources

• Viṣṇu Mahā Purāṇa, Caturdhāṃśa, Chapter 20
• Mahābhārata, Ādi Parva, Sambhava Parva, Chapters 96–102
• Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 8