Chapter 98

“Vaisampayana said, ‘The maiden then, hearing those soft and sweet wordsof the smiling monarch, and remembering her promise to the Vasus,addressed the king in reply. Of faultless features, the damsel sending athrill of pleasure into the heart by every word she uttered, said, ‘Oking, I shall become thy wife and obey thy commands.

But, O monarch, thoumust not interfere with me in anything I do, be it agreeable ordisagreeable. Nor shall thou ever address me unkindly. As long as thoushalt behave kindly I promise to live with thee. But I shall certainlyleave thee the moment thou interferest with me or speakest to me anunkind word.’ The king answered, ‘Be it so.’ And thereupon the damselobtaining that excellent monarch, that foremost one of the Bharata racefor her husband, became highly pleased. And king Santanu also, obtainingher for his wife, enjoyed to the full the pleasure of her company. Andadhering to his promise, he refrained from asking her anything. And thelord of earth, Santanu, became exceedingly gratified with her conduct,beauty, magnanimity, and attention to his comforts. And the goddess Gangaalso, of three courses (celestial, terrestrial, and subterranean)assuming a human form of superior complexion and endued with celestialbeauty, lived happily as the wife of Santanu, having as the fruit of hervirtuous acts, obtained for her husband, that tiger among kings equalunto Indra himself in splendour. And she gratified the king by herattractiveness and affection, by her wiles and love, by her music anddance, and became herself gratified. And the monarch was so enrapturedwith his beautiful wife that months, seasons, and years rolled on withouthis being conscious of them. And the king, while thus enjoying himselfwith his wife, had eight children born unto him who in beauty were likethe very celestials themselves. But, O Bharata, those children, one afteranother, as soon as they were born, were thrown into the river by Gangawho said, ‘This is for thy good.’ And the children sank to rise no more.The king, however, could not be pleased with such conduct. But he spokenot a word about it lest his wife should leave him. But when the eighthchild was born, and when his wife as before was about to throw itsmilingly into the river, the king with a sorrowful countenance anddesirous of saving it from destruction, addressed her and said, ‘Kill itnot! Who art thou and whose? Why dost thou kill thy own children?Murderess of thy sons, the load of thy sins is great!'” His wife, thusaddressed, replied, ‘O thou desirous of offspring, thou hast alreadybecome the first of those that have children. I shall not destroy thischild of thine. But according to our agreement, the period of my staywith thee is at an end. I am Ganga, the daughter of Jahnu. I am everworshipped by the great sages; I have lived with thee so long foraccomplishing the purposes of the celestials. The eight illustrious Vasusendued with great energy had, from Vasishtha’s curse, to assume humanforms. On earth, besides thee, there was none else to deserve the honourof being their begetter. There is no woman also on earth except one likeme, a celestial of human form, to become their mother. I assumed a humanform to bring them forth. Thou also, having become the father of theeight Vasus, hast acquired many regions of perennial bliss. It was alsoagreed between myself and the Vasus that I should free them from theirhuman forms as soon as they would be born. I have thus freed them fromthe curse of the Rishi Apava. Blest be thou; I leave thee, O king! Butrear thou this child of rigid vows. That I should live with thee so longwas the promise I gave to the Vasus. And let this child be calledGangadatta.'”