The Love Tragedy of Goddess Ganges: A Curse That Altered Fate

Goddess Ganges in Hinduism is a goddess who is believed and worshiped as the goddess of fertility and cleansing all sins with the holy water she pours out. She is often depicted as a beautiful woman pouring out water in an urn. She is also the goddess of a sacred river in India, the Ganges. Hindus believe that by purifying oneself in the Ganges at the right time one can obtain forgiveness of sins and make it easier for one to attain salvation.

According to the Vishnawa legend, Goddess Ganga was born when Lord Brahma washed Lord Vishnu's feet and collected the water in his Kamandalu, then incarnated as a girl named Ganga. However, there is another version that says that Goddess Ganga is the daughter of Himawan who is the king of the mountain and his wife Mena. Each version says that Goddess Ganges was born in heaven, under the care of Lord Brahma.

Dewi Gangga's cloth blown by the wind (Source: Personal Collection)

Once upon a time, Lord Brahma was receiving several guests who were gods. Among the gods who were present at that time Goddess Ganga also attended. When the gods were worshipping Lord Brahma, unexpectedly a strong wind suddenly picked up the cloth worn by Goddess Ganga at that time, so that the cloth came off and part of the body of the angel became half-naked.

Unfortunately, when the incident occurred where the gods attending the event were supposed to lower their gaze, Mahabhisha continued to stare at him. Brahma who saw this was furious and lost his temper and cursed him to be born as a human. Goddess Ganga who also liked Mahabhisha's actions was cursed to be born as a human and returned only after she broke Mahabhisha's heart. Then Mahabisha begged Lord Brahma to be born as the son of king Kuru Pratipa and his wish was granted by Lord Brahma.

On her way to the world to serve her sentence, Goddess Ganga met eight wasu, where wasu are demi-gods. At that time the wasus were also on their way to the world to fulfill their curse. The eight wasu were cursed by Maha Rsi Wasistha for trying to steal Maha Rsi Wasistha's Kamadhenu.

The Wasu who appealed to Goddess Ganges (Source: Personal Collection)

In order to hasten the curse, the Astabasu then asked Goddess Ganges to be the means of their birth in the two worlds. The wasu also begged Goddess Ganges that when they were born, they wanted her to kill them immediately. This way they would not live too long as humans. Goddess Ganges agreed to their request.

Goddess Ganges trying to get close to King Kuru (Source: Personal Collection)

Long story short, when Goddess Ganges descended into human form, she tried to approach King Kuru Pratipa by transforming into a beautiful woman and sitting on his right thigh. She asked him to be her husband but he refused because he had vowed not to lust after anyone. After negotiating, Pratipa finally proposed that Goddess Ganga marry his son and the goddess agreed.

King Shantanu who saw Goddess Ganges (Source: Personal Collection)

One day Prabu Shantanu, the son of the king of Kuru Pratipa, was looking at a beautiful woman on the banks of the river Ganges. Shantanu then proposed to the woman who was none other than Goddess Ganga to be his consort. Ganga agreed to his proposal. However, on one condition, that Shantanu would never ask about her actions.

They got married and later had a son. However, every time Goddess Ganges gave birth to a child she threw the child into the Ganges River, Prabu Shantanu who saw it did not dare to reprimand her. One by one, the seven sons born were drowned by Ganges in the river.

King Shantanu tries to emphasize the deeds of Goddess Ganges (Source: Personal Collection)

However, when the goddess was about to drown her eighth baby, Prabu Shantanu was so devastated that he could no longer restrain himself, and then desperately rebuked and forbade the heinous act. Finally, Goddess Ganges explained everything to King Kuru about the curse they got from Lord Brahma. Then the goddess told him that their eight children were reincarnations of Astabasu who was cursed by Maha Rsi Wasistha. Goddess Ganga explained that she did all this just to ease the burden of the wasu. However, the eighth wasu was cursed to live a long life and not have a wife or children. Maha Rsi Wasistha also gave a boon that the wasu would become a virtuous person, fluent in all the teachings of the scriptures, and would be an obedient son to his father Santhanu. The baby was named Dewabrata as known as Ganggadata, who would later be known as Bisma the Great, the grandfather of the Pandavas and Kuravas.

Goddess Ganges leaving King Shantanu (Source: Private Collection)

After successfully giving birth to her eighth child, it could be concluded that Goddess Ganges had completed the curse given by Lord Brahma and now it was time for her to return to heaven to live as an angel. Goddess Ganges decided to return to her heaven and leave King Santhanu in the world. Meanwhile, Prabu Santhanu was overwhelmed with grief for being abandoned by Goddess Ganges and he was devastated at the thought of spending the rest of his life without her.