Book 2/Chapter 4/1:69
On the birth of the Vasus
1-8. Sûta said :-- On the king Pratîpa, ascending to the
Heavens, the truly hero-king S’antanu went out a hunting tigers and other
forest animals. Once, while he was roaming in a wild wilderness, on the
banks of the Ganges, he saw a fawn-eyed well decorated beautiful woman.
No sooner the king S’antanu saw her than he became addicted to her and thought
within himself thus :-- “Certainly my father spoke of this beautiful
faced woman who is looking like a second Laksmî, endowed with beauty and
youth.” The king could not rest satisfied simply with seeing the lotus-like
face. The hairs on his body stood on their ends and his heart was very
much attracted to her.
Gangâ Devî, too, knew him to be the king Mahâbhisa and became, in
her turn, very much attached to him. She then went smiling towards the
king. Seeing the blue coloured lady looking askance at him, the king
became very happy and consoled her in sweet words and said :-- “O, one of
beautiful thighs!
Are you Devî; Mânusî (human kind) Gandharvî;
Yakshî, the daughter of Nâgas (serpents), or a celestial nymph? Whoever you may be, O beautiful one! be my wife; your sweet
smiles, it seems, are brimful of love; so be my legal wife to-day.”
9-26. Sûta said :-- The king S’antanu could not recognise the lady to be
Gangâ; but Gangâ knew that he is the king Mahâbhisa and is born as S’antanu. Hearing
the above words of the king, Gangâ, out of her previous affections, spoke out
to the king, smiling :-- “O king! I know that you are the son of the king
Pratîpa. Behold! Though it is inevitable that woman will get their
husbands, yet who is that beautiful lady that does not want a husband according
to her liking and qualifications? But I can take you as my husband, if
you make a certain promise to me. Hear my resolve afterwards I will marry you. O
king! Whatever I will do, be it good or bad, auspicious or inauspicious,
you must not hinder or interrupt me nor ever say that is not to your liking and
satisfaction. Whenever you will break this my resolve, I will instantly
quit you and go to another place wherever I like. The king
S’antanu, then, said :-- “Well! That will be” and promised to the above
effect; then Gangâ Devî recollected within herself Vasus' words and thought of
the attachment of the king Mahâbhisa and accepted S’antanu as her husband.
Thus married to the king S’antanu, the beautiful Gangâ in human
form went to his abode. The king, on having got possession of her, began
to enjoy in pleasant gardens. The lady, too, appreciated his mental
feelings and began to serve him to his satisfaction. Thus many years
elapsed in lovely enjoyments and intercourses between the couple who looked
like Indra and his pair Sachî; and they did not feel at all how the time
passed. The lady endowed with all qualities and the clever king,
well-versed in the art of loving, began to enjoy incessantly like Laksmî and
Nârâyana, in their divine palace.
Thus many years passed when the lovely eyed lady became pregnant
of the king S’antanu's sperm and, in due time, gave birth to a son who was a
Vasu. No sooner the son was born than Gangâ Devî threw it
in the waters of the Ganges. Thus the second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth
and seventh sons were threwn successively on the waters. Then
the king became very anxious and thought within himself :-- “What am I to do
now? How my family be preserved? This my wife, incarnate of sin,
has killed my seven sons; if I now desist her, she will instantly leave me and
go away. Now this is the eighth pregnancy as desired by me. Now if
I do not interrupt her, she will certainly throw my son in the Ganges.
Whether a son will be born again or not is doubtful; and even if that be born,
it is doubtful whether she will preserve that child; now what am I to do in
this doubtful point? However I will try my best to continue the thread of
my family line.”
27-46. Now, in due time, the Vasu who, having been
influenced by his wife had stolen Vas’istha's cow Nandini, became born as the
eighth son of Gangâ Devî; the king S’antanu, seeing this son fell unto Gangâ's
feet and said :-- “O thin-bodied woman! I pray to you to give my life
to-day; better nourish this my one son. O beautiful one! You killed
in succession my seven exceedingly beautiful sons. O
one of beautiful hips! I now fall at your feet. O beautiful
one! Save the life of this child of mine. If you ask from me any other
thing to day, even that be very rare, I will give it to you; but you better now
keep the thread of my family line. The Pundits, versed in the Vedas, say
that he who has no issues cannot go to Heaven; so, O Beautiful one!
To-day I pray to you to keep the life of this my eighth son.”
Though thus spoken by S’antanu, Gangâ Devî was eager to take away
the son to throw in the waters; the king became very sorrowful and angrily
spoke out “O vile and vicious woman! What are you going to do? Do
you not fear hell! Of what villain are you the daughter, that you are
always doing this vicious deed? O Sinner! Go away wherever you will
or remain here as you like, it matters little; but my son will remain
here. When you attempt to bring my family to extinction, what use is
there in living with you?”
When the king thus spoke to the woman who was ready to take away
the son she angrily spoke as follows :-- O King! When you have acted against my
promise, my word is broken and my connection with you has stopped from to-day.
Therefore I will take this son to the forest, where I will nourish him.
I am Gangâ; to fulfil God's work I have come here. The high-souled
Vas'istha cursed before the eight Vasus :-- “Better be born as men”; they
became very anxious; and seeing me they prayed :-- “O Sinless one! let
you be mother of us all.” O best of kings! I granted them what they
desired; and then for the purpose of serving god's ends, I became your wife.
Know this my history. The seven Vasus already were born and were freed;
now this is the last Vasu and he will remain here for sometime as your
son. O S’antanu! now take this son offered by Gangâ. Know
this to be the Deva Vasu and enjoy the pleasure of having a son. O highly
fortunate one! This son will be famous by the name of Gângeya (Gangâ's
son) and will be the most powerful of all. O King! To-day I will
take this son to the place where I chose you as my husband; I will nourish him
and when he attains his youth, I will return him to you. For, this son, if deprived of mother, will not be happy nor
will he live.”
Thus saying, Gangâ vanished with the son; the King S’antanu became
very sorrowful and passed away his time in his palace. The king thought
always of the separation from his wife and son and thus painfully governed his
kingdom.
47-69. Thus some time passed on, when, once on an occasion, the
king S’antanu went out a hunting and killed, with arrows, buffaloes, boar, and
other wild animals and came to the banks of the Ganges.
Here he saw with great wonder that a boy was playing with a great
bow and was shooting arrows after arrows. The king's attention was more
attracted towards the boy, but whether that boy was his or not, did not at all
come to his mind. Looking at his extraordinary feats, his agility in
shooting arrows with ease and quickness, his learning that can have no equal
and his beautiful form, as if of Cupid, he became greatly surprised and asked
him :-- “O Sinless one! whose son are you?” The hero boy did not reply
anything but went away shooting his arrows.
The king thought within himself “Who is this boy? Whose son
is he? What to do now? To whom shall I go now?” Thus pondering, he
recollected within himself and began to recite verses in praise of Gangâ;
Gangâ, assuming her beautiful form as before, became visible to the king.
Seeing her, the king said :-- “O Gangâ! Who is this boy that has just
gone? Will you show him once more to me now?”
Hearing these words of S’antanu, Gangâ said :-- “O king of kings!
He is your son, he is that eighth Vasu. So long I have nourished
him and now I hand him over to you.
O Suvrata! This is the great ascetic
Gângeya. He is the illustrious scion of your family. The glory of
your line will be enhanced. I have taught him the whole science of
archery. This pure son of yours dwelt in the hermitage of Vas'istha and
has become versed in all the Vidyâs and skilled in all the actions. Your
this son knows everything that Jamadgni Paras'urâm knew.
So, O king of kings! Take now your son and be happy.
Thus saying, Gangâ gave him his son and vanished; the king also became very
glad and embraced his son; he smelled his head and took him to his chariot and
drove towards his own city.
On returning to Hastinâpur, the king held a great festival (utsab)
in honor of the arrival of his son; he called all his astrologers and enquired
what day was auspicious. He then called all his subjects and ministers
and installed Gângeya as the Crown Prince. The religious S’antanu became
very happy on making Gângeya, the Crown Prince; he forgot the pains due to
Gangâ's bereavement.
Sûta said :-- “Thus I have described to you the
cause of the curse on Vasus, the birth of Bhîsma from the womb of Gangâ, the
union of Gangâ and S’antanu, etc., He who hears in this world this holy story
of Gangâ's birth and the birth of the Vasu, is freed of all sins
and gets mukti.
O Munis! I have described these
meritorious holy accounts, as I heard from the mouth of Vyâsa. Anybody
who hears this holy S’rîmad Bhâgavatam, endowed with five characteristics and
filled with various anecdotes, that came out of the mouth of Vyâsa, finds all
his sins destroyed and attains peace and blessedness. O Munis! Thus has been described completely to you this holy
history.
Thus ends the fourth Chapter on the birth of the Vasus in the
Mahâpurâna S’rîmad Devî Bhâgavatam of 18,000 verses.
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