This episode of Mahabharata begins with King Bharat returning from a conquest in which his kingdom Hastinapur has been expanded from the Himalaya mountains to the seashores on the peninsula. He is seen as a wise and just ruler, but he still has one more duty to perform - to name a Crown Prince as his successor among his nine sons. When he goes to a sage for advice on this, the sage replies with a cryptic “you have conquered armies and lands, but you still haven’t conquered yourself”.
After thinking about this, Bharat makes a shocking announcement - that none of his nine sons are worthy. He will instead adopt one of sage Bharadwaj’s sons as his own and appoint him to be the Crown Prince.
The personification of Time then narrates that choosing a Crown Prince based on merit rather than birthright became a long standing tradition in Hastinapur - until it was broken by a king named Shantanu.
We then cut to king Shantanu hunting game on his chariot, when he approaches the banks of the river Ganga. He is transfixed by the sight of a beautiful woman standing on the river bank. Shantanu stops the hunt and walks over to introduce himself to her. After some awkward flirting between the two, Shantanu asks her to marry him.
Ganga accepts his proposal on one condition - that Shantanu must never ever question any of her actions or forbid her from doing anything. She must have absolute freedom to do anything, else she will leave him forever. A lovesick Shantanu agrees.
And then Ganga starts drowning her babies immediately upon giving birth to them. The king looks on in horror, unable to act for fear of losing Ganga forever.
Tropes found here are
- Bowdlerize: Time treats Bharat’s decision to appoint a successor based on merit as the beginnings of democracy in India.
- Decoy Protagonist: For those unfamiliar with the original epic, it may seem as if this story is about King Bharat. After all, his name is even in the title - Mahabharat. But this epic tale actually begins with King Shantanu.
- Ethereal White Dress: Ganga, the spirit of the Ganga river is always clad in white.
- I Gave My Word: Why Shantanu doesn’t do anything when Ganga drowns her babies. He promised that he’d never question or interfere with whatever she does.
- Love Makes You Dumb: How else can Shantanu agreeing to give Ganga absolute immunity from judgement for any and all actions, be explained?
- Offing the Offspring: Ganga drowns five of her babies.
- Passed-Over Promotion: Bharat passes over all nine of his sons for the role of Crown Prince - and appoints some other Brahmin boy, solely based on the wisdom that boy has demonstrated.
