Mahabharata is the great
epic of the Indian people. It depicts the history of 3-4 generations
ranging from Shantanu to Parikshit. Through these generations the
culture, the social status of women, administration of the State and the
social Older are represented in this epic. This is a poetic history of
the Hindu civilisation.
Originally composed by Vyasa Muni (Sage), there were several
alterations in this epic, which were subjected to research. A critical
edition was the result, known as the "Bhandarkar Edition", it
is now in the Bhandarkar Oriental Institute, Poona. Based on it, the
story of Shantanu and Bhishma, in the context of this oil- painting, is
as under:
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For certain reasons, Ganga descended on the earth, when, at the same
time, owing to a curse of Vasishtha, Ashtavasu also had to arrive on the
earth. Eight of them prayed to Ganga that they would take birth as her
children but she should kill them soon after giving birth to them, to
enable them to free themselves from the consequences of the curse.
Agreeing to do this, Ganga appeared on the earth and directly went to
the King Pratip, wishing to sit on his right lap, and to marry him. Upon
that, Pratip told her that if she wanted to be his consort, she could
sit on his left lap because the right lap belonged to sons or
daughters-in- law, alternatively, she could marry his son to be able to
sit on his right lap but for that he should have a son. The immortal
Ganga accepted the proposal. Pratip got a son by name Shantanu. When
Shantanu was old enough, Pratip relinquished his kingdom. Shantanu was
fond of hunting and once, while hunting saw a beautiful young girl on
the bank of river Ganges, and he fell in love. She was Ganga. Before
marrying Shantanu, she put her strange conditions : She would do
whatever she pleased to do; she would not be blamed or opposed and
should he ever do that, she would leave him. The lovelom Shantanu
accepted all her conditions. Ganga made him happy in all possible ways.
She, however, went on drowning every child she gave birth to. When she
gave birth to her eighth child, Shantanu could not restrain himself and
in response to his protest, as per her pre- condition, she disappeared
taking her newborn son with her.
Then Shantanu without his consort or a child, again turned to hunting
to pass his days. Later, one day, Ganga returned to Shantanu his son,
Devavrata, by then well-versed in all arts and disciplines. Shantanu
brought Devavrata to the capital and coronated him who became very
worthy, mighty and popular king of the Kuru family. After abdicating his
Hastinapur throne in favour of his son, and thus becoming carefree,
Shantanu resumed his sport of hunting and once, while hunting, was
struck by the look of a charming fisher-woman. She was the daughter of a
Dasyu king in whose love this Kuru king had fallen, and he vowed to
marry her, in the presence of her father. But this time, it was not the
daughter but her fatherwho put certain pre-conditions for marriage, the
most important was that his daughter Satyavati's son should get the
throne. It created a dilemma for Shantanu because Devavrata had proved a
mighty, benevolent king and aworthy son. Shantanu was sad and continued
to remain so, even after returning to the capital. Devavrata tried to
find out the cause of the depression but Shantanu was not able to
disclose the reasons to his virtuous son. Thereafter, Devavrata
approached other members of the Royal family, and after knowing the real
problem, but without telling it to his father, he went to the Dasyu king
along with ministers and elder relatives, and asked for the hand of
Satyavati for his father. When the Dasyu king reiterated his conditions,
Devavrata, in the presence of all, took a vow that he would not ascend
the throne. The Dasyu king was not fully convinced. So, Devavrata
pronounced his vow of remaining a bachelor forever. For the reason of
his very difficult vow, he was recognized as a "Bhishma" and
the words "Bhishmalike vow" came to be used. Mahabharata has
enriched our language with several words and phrases e.g. "Savyasachi"
as a person who can use both his arms with equal ability. But the most
significant word is "Bhishmapratigya" - the Bhishmalike vow.
Satisfied by this vow, Dasyu king presented his daughter to Bhishmawho
took her in his chariot, escorted her to the capital and got her married
to Shantanu. Pleased with this extraordinary sacrifice on the part of
Devavrata, Shantanu granted him the boon of "wished- death".
But Bhishma never wanted anything in return for his sacrifice. He was
not aware that he was a cursed soul. But Ganga had revealed this to
Shantanu. Devavrata had probably arrived into the physical world to
escape from the cycle of births, but got trapped in it. He might have
taken this vow of remaining a bachelor to avoid further involvement.
Without marriage, without kingdom and with the boon of "wished
death", Bhishma could have freed himself, but the fate associated
with his birth put him back in the worldly affairs.
Shantanu had two sons from Satyavati and when he died, it was not
possible for Bhishma to leave alone the young mother with small sons.
Again he got entangled with the worldly affairs. Though himself not a
king, for about two and half generations, he, not only had to shoulder
the responsibility of the kingdom, but also to arrange marriages of
decendants from Vichitravirya to Vidur. Embroiled in the worldly
affairs, this cursed soul could not get out of it till the end. 6 (The
oil-painting in this collection depicts this incident picturised by the
artist in lively and in full emotional gestures).
This romantic episode has two main characters - Shantanu and Matsyagandha,
Late Shri Daman Mehta has exquisitely depicted the romantic
moments on canvas of 45 x 65 cm. The other paintings by the same artist
who was originally from Ahmedabad, are also in the collection of this
museum.
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