Bhagavad Gita · Mahabharata Codex

Shantanu

शान्तनु · śāntanu

King of Hastinapura; father of Bhishma

His two marriages set the whole tragedy in motion.

Shantanu met a woman on the bank of the Ganga and married her on her terms: he would never question her. She was the river goddess, and she left him when he broke his word, leaving their son Devavrata. Years later he fell in love with Satyavati, a fisherman's daughter. To make that marriage possible his son gave up the throne and became Bhishma.