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It is said that this epic of the Mahabharata was written by sage Vedavyasa, who compiled and edited the vast amount of information available with him. The Sanskrit epic is an unparalleled depiction of human experience. "Mahabharata" means "the Great Bharatha."The story begins with a simple family living in peace and harmony -- but fate had other plans for them. When King Shantanu married this beautiful woman Ganga, their first child was a son; however, because he was born prematurely and had red hair, they called him Shanthi (which meant "peace"). Unfortunately the infant died soon after birth due to his early arrival. Shantanu and Ganga had four more sons, whom they named Chitrangada, Vichitravirya, Bhima and Arjuna (in that order). The first three were stillborn and the youngest disappeared on the same day he was conceived. The "fourth" son was born three years later; however, as his mother had taken a vow to conceive only when the first three children were born alive and then die with him if he too died as an infant, Lord Vishnu took on her form as Mohini (the enchantress) and seduced Shantanu to break that vow. Shantanu was aghast to learn about his infidelity and had cursed Ganga to become a river. She flowed down the mountains until she reached the plains, where King Bhagiratha prayed for her salvation and she ultimately returned to the heavens as the river Ganges. Ganga blessed Bhagiratha, saying that all of her children will be kings of their own realms. In accordance with his mother's wish, King Shantanu asked Satyavati, daughter of a fisherman from Matsya kingdom, if she would marry him and be queen. She agreed and they lived in peace and harmony for years. She bore him a daughter, Princess Rukmini, whom he named Pritha and raised as his own. Time passed and when King Shantanu was old and had no heir, he prayed to Indra for a son. Indra is the God of rain and time and is the ruler of the elements. As is customary for kings, he went to Brahma to request a boon. Chief among his requested was for a son so that his legacy will be carried on by someone worthy. At this point in time there were two main sects of Hinduism: Shaiva (followers of Shiva) and Vaishnava (followers of Vishnu). The preceptors of Shaivism were against sons being born in times of famine or any other bad omen, whereas Vaishnavas held the opposite view. The two sects often came into conflict on the issue of how to treat pregnant women when there are bad omens. King Shantanu was a Vaishnava, thus when he asked for a boon that his son will be strong enough to carry on his legacy without any hindrance during or after his own lifetime, he also asked if this will happen with good omens. He later regretted asking for the boons in this manner because even though he had gotten what he wanted, it had its own share of problems. cfa1e77820
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