Indian Epics Blog

  Ganga the River Goddess: Wikimedia Commons Once there was a beautiful woman whose hair flowed like a river. She always had a lovely white lily in her hair as well as all over her clothes. During the day, she loved spending her time on the side of the river looking for more lilies to add to her collection.  One day while she was performing her lily hunt, a handsome young man appeared from out of the woods. He was immediately in love and begged for her hand in marriage. She agreed, but only if he would allow her all of the freedom in the world and that he never questioned her motives. He agrees without second thought and they become married. This man, we discover, was actually a King! His name was Santanu.  They lived a very happy life, as she was a perfect spouse. Santanu wondered what freedom she possibly could request that he needed to question. She was spectacular in every way. Eventually, his wife and him have a baby son, who he loves very much. However, his wife too...

  The Pandavas: Wikipedia Dhritarashtra discovers that the Pandavas are still alive; however, he does not hate them. His sons do hate them though. Bhishma and Vidura tell Dhritarashtra that he should try to make peace while Karna tells him that they are all traitors. In the end, he decides to make peace by giving them a piece of his lands. After given the lands, the Pandavas decide to build a great city: Indraprastha. One day, they are visited by a sage who warns them of potential conflicts due to sharing a wife. One conflict that does occur is Arjuna walks in on Yudhishthira and the wife making love and thus he is exiled for 12 years. During this 12 year exile, he marries a naga princess as well as the sister of Krishna. During this time, Yudhishthira is crowned to become king. Since he was to have a coronation, Duryodhana, one of Dhritarashtra's sons,  decided to go. Duryodhana, is deeply jealous of the kingdom. Shakuni, his maternal uncle, begs him not to mess with the...

The Mahabharata: Wikimedia Commons Santanu was the ruler of an ancient kingdom. He came across a beautiful woman one day while hunting and decided he wanted to marry her. She agreed to marry him only if she could still have her freedom and he never questioned her. Eventually, the two had a baby that she drowned in the river. Santanu was shocked, but could not ask her any questions due to their agreement. From then on, every child they had she drowned in the river until they got to the eighth child. Santanu followed her to the river and begged her to stop. She agreed to spare the child, but stated that they had to part. He begged for her to tell him why. He discovers his wife was the deity of the river: Ganga. She had taken human form in order to give birth to the babies that only he was worthy to give her. In the babies' past lives, they had been the eight vasus which were Indra's attendants. They had been cursed to be born on earth due to stealing Sage Vasishta's rare cow....