Resumo de 1.devavrata: Mahabharata

King Santanu, grandfather of Vichitravirya, was overwhelmed by the beauty of goddess Ganga, who was unknown to him. He offered her his hands; Ganga consented to become his queen with the conditions that she would not reveal her identity to the king or anyone else and that she would not be questioned for anything she did. The king, enchanted as he was, gave assent to her conditions and they got married. They lived a happy and fulfilled life, during which Ganga bore him several children. But, each time a child was born, she would take it to the Ganges and cast it in the river. In this way, she got rid of seven children. Anguish and helplessness seized Santanu. He often wondered about her identity and behaviour, but his all-consuming love for her restrained him from asking questions. His patience, however, gave in when, after the birth of their eighth child, Ganga, as always, prepared to take it to the Ganges. Now, the king could not, but ask her the reason. Ganga reminded him that he had violated his promise. Nevertheless, she went on to provide the explanation to her fiendish behaviour ever since their first child was born. She revealed that she was goddess Ganga and had been constrained to act as she did as a result of a curse from sage Vasishtha. Sage Vasishtha had cursed the eight Vasus (who belonged to the family of gods), due to certain wrongs committed by them, and had condemned them to be born in the world where the mortals belonged. Ganga had agreed to become their mother on the Vasus? humble request. The eight children born to Ganga were none other than the Vasus born on earth. Earlier, the Vasus, visiting the hills on vacation with their wives, had come across the hermitage of sage Vasishtha at a time when the sage himself was away but his cow, Nandini, was there, grazing. Nandini was divinely beautiful. One who drank her milk, attained immortality. The cow so enchanted the ladies that that one of them insisted that her husband secure it for her. All arguments to the contrary were of no avail. The Vasus, falling prey to the persistent demand of the lady, took Vasishtha?s cow and its calf away. On return, Vasishtha found Nandini, who was indispensable for his daily rituals, missing. Through yoga, he could also visualise that the Vasus were responsible for what had happened. He was carried away with anger. He inflicted a curse on the Vasus that they be born on planet earth. The Vasus, now repentant as ever, revisited the sage and begged to be forgiven. But a sage?s words cannot be retrieved. All that Vasishtha could do was alleviate the effects of the curse by introducing some conditions. He, therefore, reassured the Vasus that while they will have to go through with the curse, seven of them will be freed from bondage soon after being born on earth and that the eighth ? who had stolen Nandini ? will lead a long and glorious life. The Vasus, somewhat relieved, prayed to goddess Ganga to be their mother during their earthly sojourn. Goddess Ganga gracefully agreed. One day, long after Ganga had left, King Santanu was taking a stroll on the banks of the Ganges, when he came across a smart, handsome and playful boy. He was busy shooting arrows, the one piercing the former, and thus forming a cascade of arrows across the Ganges in flood. As the king stood dumbfounded, Ganga appeared before him and revealed the identity of their son. The boy had already learned the Vedas and Vedanta under the tutelage of sage Vasishtha and the arts and sciences through sage Sukra. He was named Devavrata ? later to be known as Bhishma - the granduncle of the Kauravas and the Pandavas. Ganga blessed the boy and handed him over to Santanu.

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