Ganga was dry- completely dry

Shantanu, who used to visit the river devoutly, arrived one day, and upon reaching the river, his gaze was drawn to something that left him dumbstruck. The Ganga River's creek had dried up. Shantanu, stunned, regained consciousness and resolved to find out why.

“Parmeshwara! What would have happened here to have resulted in this situation?

He went in the opposite direction of the creek, which led him to learn about a majestic and valiant boy who was practising weapons.

The boy was the one who ceased the creek of river Ganga with the influence of his arrows. Shantanu was taken aback when he realised how brave the boy was, but he was enraged at him for he stopped the creek of river Ganga. While he was approaching the boy to learn more about him, the boy vanished, leaving Shantanu with a deluge of questions.

When Ganga gave birth to her eighth child.

"Maharaja, since you broke your promise, I must leave you." "Forever.” Ganga sobbed, her eyes welling up with tears.
"I am Ganga, and the eight children were eight vasus who were tormented by Maharishi Vashishta and gave birth in human wombs."

Shantanu stood firm, but he was astounded.

"There were eight brothers known as the Vasus," Ganga continued. They came across Maharishi Vasishta's ashram while travelling with their wives and encountered Nandini, a very beautiful cow."

"Because they were so drawn to the cow, their wives urged their husbands to steal it."

"Their wives urged their husbands to steal the cow because they were so drawn to it by its beauty. They took the cow with them, not knowing that it belonged to Rishi Vashishta. Rishi Vashishta became enraged when he learned of this and cursed the eight vasus.”

"His curse said that these eight Devatas will be born as humans on earth. The vasus then gave him back the cow and begged him to pardon them. Although he was persuaded, he said that the curse could not be reversed and that he could only lessen its impact.

“Our eighth son was destined to live the complete human lifecycle and he has now taken birth”

An astonished Shantanu still didn’t get his answers.

Not very soon Ganga disappeared along with the eighth son. Leaving Shantanu broken and unanswered.

Back to present

Shantanu who was utterly disturbed with the thoughts going in his mind proceeded back to the main Ganga, to his surprise the creek of Ganga had started flowing again.

Little did he knew something huge awaited him-
Something which will change everything.
He will get answer to all his questions.

Shantanu proceeded to main Ganga
Shantanu had a bunch of things in his mind.
Some doubts, some thoughts and lastly a scads of questions that were left withheld years ago.
A zephyr passed by that led him to take the right decision. He thought only extremely trained Warriors could have the power to stop the creek of the Pious river Ganga. He knew that is the moment he wanted all his answers. He could not live with the grief of losing his eight sons and his wife. The king then began to praise Ganga and chant

“ऊँ नमो गंगायै विश्वरूपिनी नारायणी नमो नम:”
“हे नारायण स्वरुपिणी विष्णु रूपिणी तुमको मेरा नमस्कार”

Ganga then appeared.

“bhāryā! Today after years when I couldn’t live with the pain of being away from you and my sons I come to you for the answers that were left unanswered years ago.

Ganga spoke “Maharaja I know what’s going on in your mind, I know that you doubt if the boy you saw at the other end of Ganga is our son because you know our eighth son had to live the entire human lifecycle. I know I left you alone without answering the other questions.”
She continued calling a boy from her melodious voice
“Putra. Putra Devratha come child.”
Devratha the boy practicing for weapons at the other end appeared leaving Shantanu with tears.

“Maharaja, this is our son Devratha. He is called Devratha for he can do anything to express love for his family. Responsibility, kindness, selflessness, empathy, and loyalty are his greatest qualities. He follows the path of Paropkara.

He is as erudite as dev guru Brihaspati and Asura guru Shukracharya, He is also a great archer like Indra the king of devatas, he is the logist of all types of weapons which Lord Parshuram has knowledge of. I now request you to accept your son.”

Saying so she disappeared. The king who was like a dead man living burst into tears of joy and hugged his son.
He cried out

“Devratha! My Putra! I feel alive now. My son you are the greatest blessing of my life, I am so grateful to God to have you back and your mother Ganga too who trained you to be such a great warrior. Come let us proceed to your own home, your kingdom.”

As Devratha and Shantanu reached Hastinapur they were welcomed with huge celebrations. all the people of hastinapur cried out

“Hail king Shantanu, Hail Prince Devratha.” Flowers were showered upon them with each step their chariot took. The air was filled with happiness and tears of joy. Hastinapur felt alive again.

All the worries of people of the kingdom flew away. They were happy to get their prince back. Devratha was impassive yet he was overwhelmed by the love of the people. He knew he had to be devoted to the kingdom, to its people forever and ever. His aim was to serve his father, his kingdom and its people. No one could ever stop him from doing this.

As they entered in the court the royal ministers bowed down to him while Devratha joined his palms in respect. The Royal Palace was lighten up with diyas and decorated with flowers as the prince returned to the kingdom.

I hope you all liked this chapter

×××××××××××××××

Each and every comment and vote means a lot to me and inspires me to write more. I would love to know your feedback. ♡
I am always open for constructive criticism.

Thanking you,
Dharā