Ganga is a strikingly beautiful seer who is actually the goddess of the Ganges River in mortal form. When Pratipa encounters her one day, he is overcome by her beauty but ultimately decides that to sleep with her would go against his dharma, so he arranges for her to have children with Śamtanu—his son—when Śamtanu comes of age. When Śamtanu encounters Pratipa one day as a young man, she fulfills her promise. She ends up having eight of Śamtanu's children, though she drowns seven of them because they're actually gods who took mortal forms due to a curse. Śamtanu stops her before drowning their eighth son, whom Ganga spares before leaving Śamtanu. This sole surviving child is Bhishma.
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Ganga Character Timeline in Mahabharata
The timeline below shows where the character Ganga appears in Mahabharata. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1. Beginnings
Pratipa reigned in peace for many years when one day he sees the beautiful seer Ganga (a mortal form of the goddess of the sacred river Ganges). He fears she may...
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When Śamtanu grows up, Pratipa tells him about his arrangement with Ganga. Pratipa then makes Śamtanu the king of his own kingdom. One day, Śamtanu is out...
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Before Ganga can kill their eighth son, Śamtanu begs her to stop. She explains that she had...
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...river with his arrows. Śamtanu figures this boy must be his son, so he asks Ganga to show herself again. Ganga confirms that he is Śamtanu’s son (Bhishma), and that he...
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Chapter 13. Instruction
...cremate his body and then make an offering to him by the banks of the Ganga, where the goddess Ganga herself (Bhishma’s mother) comes to mourn him.
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