Chapter IV
On the birth of the Vasus
1-8. Suta said :– On the king Pratipa, ascending to the Heavens, the truly hero-king Santanu went out a hunting tigers and other forest animals. Once, while he was roaming in a wild wilderness, on the banks of the Ganges, he saw a fawn-eyed well decorated beautiful woman. No sooner the king Santanu saw her than he became addicted to her and thought within himself thus :– “Certainly my father spoke of this beautiful faced woman who is looking like a second Laksmi, endowed with beauty and youth.” The king could not rest satisfied simply with seeing the lotus-like face. The hairs on his body stood on their ends and his heart was very much attracted to her. Ganga Devi, too, knew him to be the king Mahabhisa and became, in her turn, very much attached to him. She then went smiling towards the king. Seeing the blue-coloured lady looking askance at him, the king became very happy and consoled her in sweet words and said :– “O, one of beautiful thighs ! Are you Devi; Manusi (human kind) Gandharvi; Yakshi, the daughter of Nagas (serpents), or a celestial nymph? Whoever you may be, O beautiful one ! be my wife; your sweet smiles, it seems, are brimful of love; so be my legal wife to-day.”
9-26. Suta said :– The king Santanu could not recognise the lady to be Ganga; but Ganga knew that he is the king Mahabhisa and is born as Santanu. Hearing the above words of the king, Ganga, out of her previous affections, spoke out to the king, smiling :– “O king ! I know that you are the son of the king Pratipa. Behold ! Though it is inevitable that woman will get their husbands, yet who is that beautiful lady that does not husband according to her liking and qualifications? But I can take you as my husband, if you make a certain promise to me. Hear my resolve afterwards I will marry you. O king ! Whatever I will do, be it good or bad, auspicious or inauspicious, you must not hinder or interrupt me nor ever say that is not to
your liking and satisfaction. Whenever you will break this my resolve, I will instantly quit you and go to another place wherever I like. The king Santanu, then, said :– “Well ! That will be” and promised to the above effect; then Ganga Devi recollected within herself VasuS words and thought of the attachment of the king Mahabhisa and accepted Santanu as her husband. Thus married to the king Santanu, the beautiful Ganga in human form went to his abode. The king, on having got possession of her, began to enjoy in pleasant gardens. The lady, too, appreciated his mental feelings and began to serve him to his satisfaction. Thus many years elapsed in lovely enjoyments and intercourses between the couple who looked like Indra and his pair Sachi; and they did not feel at all how the time passed. The lady endowed with all qualities and the clever king, well-versed in the art of loving, began to enjoy incessantly like Laksmi and Narayana, in their divine palace.
Thus many years passed when the lovely eyed lady became pregnant of the king Santanu’s sperm and, in due time, gave birth to a son who was a Vasu. No sooner the son was born than Ganga Devi threw it in the waters of the Ganges. Thus the second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh sons were threwn successively on the waters. Then the king became very anxious and thought within himself :– “What am I to do now? How my family be preserved? This my wife, incarnate of sin, has killed my seven sons; if I now desist her, she will instantly leave me and go away. Now this is the eighth pregnancy as desired by me. Now if I do not interrupt her, she will certainly throw my son in the Ganges. Whether a son will be born again or not is doubtful; and even if that be born, it is doubtful whether she will preserve that child; now what am I to do in this doubtful point? However I will try my best to continue the thread of my family line.”
27-46. Now, in due time, the Vasu who, having been influenced by his wife had stolen VaSistha’s cow Nandini, became born as the eighth son of Ganga Devi; the king Santanu, seeing this son fell unto Ganga’s feet and said :– “O thin-bodied woman ! I pray to you to give my life to-day; better nourish this my one son. O beautiful one ! You killed in succession my seven exceedingly beautiful sons. O one of beautiful hips ! I now fall at your feet. O beautiful one ! save the life of this child of mine. If you ask from me any other thing to day, even that be very rare, I will give it to you; but you better now keep the thread of my family line. The Pundits, versed in the Vedas, say that he who has no issues cannot go to Heaven; so, O Beautiful one ! To-day I pray to you to keep the life of this my eighth son.” Though thus spoken by Santanu,
Ganga Devi was eager to take away the son to throw in the waters; the king became very sorrowful and angrily spoke out “O vile and vicious woman ! What are you going to do? Do you not fear hell ! of what villain are you the daughter, that you are always doing this vicious deed? O Sinner ! go away wherever you will or remain here as yon like, it matters little; but my son will remain here. When you attempt to bring my family to extinction, what use is there in living with you?” When the king thus spoke to the woman who was ready to take away the son she angrily spoke as follows :– O King ! When you have acted against my promise, my word is broken and my connection with you has stopped from to-day. Therefore I will take this son to the forest, where I will nourish him. I am Ganga; to fulfil God’s work I have come here. The high-souled VaSistha cursed before the eight Vasus :– “Better be born as men”; they became very anxious; and seeing me they prayed :– “O Sinless one ! let you be mother of us all.” O best of kings ! I granted them what they desired; and then for the purpose of serving god’s ends, I became your wife. Know this my history. The seven Vasus already were born and were freed; now this is the last Vasu and he will remain here for sometime as your son. O Santanu ! now take this son offered by Ganga. Know this to be the Deva Vasu
and enjoy the pleasure of having a son. O highly fortunate one ! This son will be famous by the name of Gangeya (Ganga’s son) and will be the most powerful of all. O King ! To-day I will take this son to the place where I chose you as my husband; I will nourish him and when he attains his youth, I will return him to you. For, this son, if deprived of mother, will not be happy nor will he live.” Thus saying, Ganga vanished with the son; the King Santanu became very sorrowful and passed away his time in his palace. The king thought always of the separation from his wife and son and thus painfully governed his kingdom.
47-69. Thus some time passed on, when, once on an occasion, the king Santanu went out a hunting and killed, with arrows, buffaloes, boar, and other wild animals and came to the banks of the Ganges. Here he saw with great wonder that a boy was playing with a great bow and was shooting arrows after arrows. The king’s attention was more attracted towards the boy, but whether that boy was his or not, did not at all come to his mind. Looking at his extraordinary feats, his agility in shooting arrows with ease and quickness, his learning that can have no equal and his beautiful form, as if of Cupid, he became greatly surprised and asked him :– “O Sinless one ! whose son are you?” The hero boy did not reply anything but went away shooting his arrows. The king thought within himself “Who is this boy? Whose son is he? What to do now? To whom shall I go now?” Thus pondering, he recollected within himself and began to recite verses in praise of Ganga; Ganga, assuming her beautiful form as before, became visible to the king. Seeing her, the king said :– “O Ganga ! Who is this boy that has just gone? Will you show him once more to me now?” Hearing these words of Santanu, Ganga said :– “O king of kings ! He is your son, he is that eighth Vasu. So long I have nourished him and now I hand him over to you. O Suvrata ! This is the great ascetic Gangeya. He is the illustrious scion of your family. The glory of your line will be enhanced. I have taught him the whole science of archery. This pure son of yours dwelt in the hermitage of VaSistha and has become versed in all the Vidyas and skilled in all the actions. Your this son knows everything that Jamadgni ParaSuram knew. So, O king of kings ! Take now your son and be happy. Thus saying, Ganga gave him his son and vanished; the king also became very glad and embraced his son; he smelled his head and took him to his chariot and drove towards his own city. On returning to Hastinapur, the king held a great festival (utsab) in honor of the arrival of his son; he called all his astrologers and enquired what day was auspicious. He then called all his subjects and ministers and installed Gangeya as the Crown Prince. The religious Santanu became very happy on making Gangeya, the Crown Prince; he forgot the pains due to Ganga’s bereavement. Suta said :– “Thus I have described to you the cause of the curse on Vasus, the birth of Bhisma from the womb of Ganga, the union of Ganga and Santanu, etc., He who hears in this world this holy story of Ganga’s birth and the birth of the Vasu, is freed of all sins and gets mukti. O Munis ! I have described these meritorious holy accounts, as I heard from the mouth of Vyasa. Any body who hears this holy Srimad Bhagavatam, endowed with five characteristics and filled with various anecdotes, that came out of the mouth of Vyasa, finds all his sins destroyed and attains peace and blessedness. O Munis ! Thus has been described completely to you this holy history.
Thus ends the fourth Chapter on the birth of the Vasus in the Mahapurana Srimad Devi Bhagavatam of 18,000 verses.