THE MAHABHARATA
The Terrible Vow
The scent led Shantanu to a girl in a boat. She was Satyavati, the ferry girl we met before. The king asked her father for her hand.
The fisherman chief was polite and firm. “Her sons must be kings,” he said. “You already have an heir.”
Shantanu could not agree. He went home and grew thin and quiet. Devavrata noticed. He asked the ministers, and they told him about the girl.
The prince rode to the river himself. “Give her to my father,” he said to the fisherman. “I give up my claim to the throne. Her son will rule.”
The fisherman shook his head. “You may keep your word. But your sons will be strong, and they may not.”
Devavrata raised his hand. “Then hear this. I will never marry. I will never have a child. The throne is hers.”
The sky shook. Flowers fell. The gods named him Bhishma, the one who made the terrible vow. His father, in gratitude, gave him a gift no man had held before: Bhishma would die only when he chose to.
Satyavati came to Hastinapura and bore two sons, Chitrangada and Vichitravirya. When Shantanu died, Bhishma crowned the elder.
Chitrangada was brave and proud. Too proud, perhaps, when a stranger with his own name challenged him.
A THOUGHT FOR TODAY
Keep your word, even when it costs you everything.
Tomorrow: Satyavati’s eldest son picks a fight with a being who shares his name.