Ganga

Ganga is the Hindu goddess of the river Ganges. She is the daughter of Himavat and granddaughter of Brahma. Her sister was Parvati. She waters the Earth alongside Saraswati.

Fall to Earth
The was once a king named Sagar. He had sixty thousand sons. One day he intended to sacrifice a horse to the gods, but the horse was stolen by Indra and placed in the Underworld. Sagar told his sons to find it and upon finding it (next to a holy sage), they told their father. However, thinking the sage had stolen it, they hurled insults upon him. The sage opened his eyes after many years and caused the sons to be burnt to death. Their souls roamed the Earth because their last rites had not been performed.

Sagar's descendant Bhagiratha prayed to Brahma to send Ganga down to Earth to cleanse the souls of the sixty thousand sons. Brahma agreed and sent Ganga to Earth. Ganga, feeling insulted, sought to sweep away the Earth with her descent. Brahma told Shiva to break the descent of Ganga. Shiva agreed and Ganga fell on his head. The river flowed through his matted hair and fell to Earth and eventually to the Underworld, cleansing the souls.

Marriage to Shantanu
The eight Vasus, attendants of Indra, stole a cow that belonged to a sage. The sage cursed them to be reborn as humans and they requested Ganga to be their mother. Later, Shantanu of the Kuru dynasty saw her bathing near a river and asked her to marry him. She agreed on one condition, that Shantanu never question her actions. If he did, she would leave him forever. After they married, they had seven children in order. Ganga took each one and drowned them in the Ganges. Shantanu could not act against her lest she leave him. When she was about to drown their eighth son, Shantanu was devastated and asked her why. She told him of the curse and how she released seven of the Vasus. She then left him alone with the eight Vasu, who would grow to be Bhishma.