"Vaishampaayana said, 'The lady then, hearing those soft and sweet words of the smiling monarch (Shantanu), and remembering her promise to the Vasus, addressed the king (Shantanu) in reply. Of faultless features, the lady sending a thrill of pleasure into the heart by every word she uttered, said, 'O king, I shall become your wife and obey your commands. But, O monarch, you must not interfere with me in anything I do, be it agreeable or disagreeable. Nor shall you ever address me unkindly. As long as you shall behave kindly I promise to live with you. But I shall certainly leave you the moment you interfere with me or speak to me an unkind word.'
"The king (Shantanu) answered, 'Be it so.' Immediately, the lady obtaining that excellent monarch, that foremost one of the Bharata race for her husband, became highly pleased. King Shantanu also, obtaining her for his wife, enjoyed to the full the pleasure of her company. Adhering to his promise, he refrained from asking her anything. The lord of earth, Shantanu, became exceedingly pleased with her conduct, beauty, magnanimity, and attention to his comforts.
"The goddess Ganga also, of three courses (heaven, earth, and subterranean) assuming a human form of superior complexion and endued with divine beauty, lived happily as the wife of Shantanu, having as the fruit of her acts of Dharma, obtained for her husband, that tiger among kings equal to (Lord) Indra himself in splendour. She pleased the king by her attractiveness and affection, by her luring and love, by her music and dance, and became herself gratified. The monarch was so delighted with his beautiful wife that months, seasons, and years rolled on without his being conscious of them. The king, while thus enjoying himself with his wife, had eight children born to him who in beauty were like the very Devas themselves.
"But, O Bharata (Janamejaya), those children, one after another, as soon as they were born, were thrown into the river by Ganga who said, 'This is for your good.' The children sank to rise no more. The king, however, could not be pleased with such conduct. But he spoke not a word about it because of the possibility that his wife would leave him.
"But when the eighth child was born, and when his wife as before was about to throw it smilingly into the river, the king (Shantanu) with a sorrowful face and desirous of saving it from destruction, addressed her and said, 'Kill it not! Who are you and whose? Why do you kill your own children? Murderess of your sons, the load of your sins is great!'
"His wife, thus addressed, replied, 'O you desirous of offspring, you have already become the first of those that have children. I shall not destroy this child of yours. But according to our agreement, the period of my stay with you is at an end. I am Ganga, the daughter of Jahnu. I am ever worshipped by Maharishis; I have lived with you so long for accomplishing the purposes of Devas. The eight illustrious Vasus endued with great energy had, from (Rishi) Vasishtha's curse, to assume human forms. On earth, besides you, there was none else to deserve the honour of being their father. There is no woman also on earth except one like me, a celestial of human form, to become their mother. I assumed a human form to bring them forth. You also, having become the father of the eight Vasus, have acquired many regions of everlasting joy. It was also agreed between myself and the Vasus that I should free them from their human forms as soon as they would be born. I have thus freed them from the curse of the Rishi Aapava. Blessed be you; I leave you, O king (Shantanu)! But you bring up this child of rigid vows (vrata in Sanskrit). That I should live with you so long was the promise I gave to the Vasus. Let this child be called Gangadatta.'"
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