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Reading Notes: Mahabharata Part A

  • King Shantanu and Ganga
    • I chose to focus on this story because I like the idea of Ganga having agency and not just submitting to her husband. She makes the rules of the marriage and once he breaks them she is no longer bound to him
    • The story focuses on King Shantanu and the goddess Ganga
    • Ganga marries King Shantanu in human form but before they are married she says that he can never speak harshly toward her or try to keep her from doing as she pleased; if he does this she is allowed to freely leave him
    • The long and Ganga have 7 children and she throws each one into the Ganges River 
      • the king does not know that these children are actually the Vasus who were cursed to be born as human babies because of upsetting Vashishtha 
      • she threw them into the river after birth so they could regain their celestial forms
    • the king kept his word and never spoke harshly to Ganga even though he was upset about her throwing his children into the river
      • until the 8th child - Devavrata 
      • he unleashed his pent-up anger when she tried to drown the 8th baby giving Ganga the freedom to leave as their marriage vows entailed 
      • she left with the child
      • revealed that she was a goddess to the king and why she had thrown the babies into the river
      • she disappeared but eventually returned to the King with his son, described as fair and noble who was endowed with an 8th of the Vasus' powers 
  • Storytelling ideas: According to Wikipedia the Vasus are elemental based deities and I want to focus on them rather than Ganga, the Kind, or Devarata. I want to do something with the elemental powers and I was thinking of writing something fun like a witchy element-based magic coven or something. I don't know, stay tuned. 
(Elemental picture from Witchy Chick)

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