Ganga and Shantanu

A LOVE STORY WRITTEN ON WATER

A king of a powerful race in an ancient age falls in love with a woman. What he does not realize is that she is no ordinary woman; she is the incarnation of the great Mother-Goddess River Ganga or Ganges herself. Compelled to take human form for one lifetime as the result of a curse, she must commit a series of terrible unspeakable acts in order to free herself from the curse and return to her true state. The curse forbids her from confiding in her human husband, who is unable to comprehend why she must act so cruelly. Finally, her awful tasks completed, she returns to the natural state of water whence she came. But she cannot abandon her human lover without one final gift: the gift of a son, and a most unusual son at that. This story, and the events it sets into motion, sets the stage for the great war and clan-conflict that is at the center of the great epic story-cycle of the Mahabharata. But in itself, it is also a beautiful, heart-breaking yet ultimately inspiring tale of love beyond boundaries and forms. A love story written on water. Retold by Ashok in his Mahabharata Series, this stolen tale of love and loss will break your heart even as it reveals a facet of love rarely witnessed by mortal eyes.