  in the epic mahabharata, shantanu was a kuru king of hastinapura. he was a descendant of the bharata race, of the lunar dynasty and the ancestor of the pandavas and the kauravas and great-grandfather of the pandavas and kauravas .misra, v.s. (2007). ancient indian dynasties, mumbai: bharatiya vidya bhavan, isbn 81-7276-413-8, p.84 he was the youngest son of king pratipa of hastinapura and had been born in the latter's old age. the eldest son devapi suffered from leprosy and abdicated his inheritance to become a hermit. the middle son bahlika (or vahlika) abandoned his paternal kingdom and started living with his maternal uncle in balkh and inherited the kingdom from him. shantanu became the king of hastinapura by default. ==brahma's curse and birth of shantanu== in his previous birth, shantanu was mahabhisha, a king of the ikshvaku dynasty. due to his meritorious deeds he attained heaven after his death. once he got an opportunity to visit the court of brahma where all the devas and ganga were also present. while the celestials were worshipping brahma, a wind blew and displaced ganga's clothes revealing her body. everybody present there bashfully bent their heads except mahabhisha who kept on gazing at her body. upon seeing this act, brahma lost his temper and cursed him and ganga to be born as mortals and that ganga will cause much emotional pain to him. he also said that he will be only freed from this curse when he becomes angry upon ganga's deeds. mahabhisha then requested brahma to be born as the son of the kuru king pratipa and his wish was granted by brahma. the eight vasus who had been cursed by the sage vashistha to born as mortals on earth as a punishment for crossing him approached ganga. they requested to be born as her and shantanu's sons and also requested her to kill them. ganga agreed upon the condition that at least one child might live. they accepted her condition and told her that they will all contribute an eighth part of their energies to that child and he will be remain childless for his whole life. the kuru king pratipa was once meditating. at that time ganga took the form of a beautiful woman approached the king and sat on his right thigh. when he asked her what did she want, ganga requested him to become her husband. pratipa however refused since he had ta
Ancient_Indian_people Characters_in_the_Mahabharata