Prince Shantanu was the son of king Prateep of Hastinapur. Even before the prince was born, Prateep had prayed to the divine River Ganga to marry his son and bless his household. Ganga had appeared before him and promised him that she will marry his son but on one condition. The son would have to marry her without asking her any questions and would have to accept all that she did. The day he would question her actions she would leave him.

Prateep agreed to the conditions. When his son Shantanu grew up, his father told him that a divine woman will come to him seeking to be his wife. Saying this he left his kingdom to become an ascetic. One day Shantanu reached the banks of River Ganga while on a hunt. He saw a beautiful, ethereal lady sitting on the banks of the river. He stared at her and fell in love with her almost instantly. Shantanu, immediately asked her to marry him. The lady agreed and put up a condition. She said that she will marry him and live with him only if he promised not to question her actions, and let her do whatever she wished to do. Shantanu agreed readily and married her.

Years rolled by and they lived happily. Only one thing troubled Shantanu. Whenever a child was born to them, his wife would drown the child in the river. Shantanu could not bottle his grief at the loss of his seven sons. When the eighth son was born and Ganga again took the infant to drown him, Shantanu could bear it no longer. He asked his wife, "Why do you kill these infants?" Ganga looked at her husband with sad eyes and told him that he had spoken too soon. If he had held his peace a little longer then Ganga would have told him all that he wanted to know and would live with him forever. She told him that she was the daughter of Saint Jahnu and that she was the holy River Ganga. She had drowned the seven children and wanted to drown the eighth one too as she was trying to rid them of a curse. She told him that they were the eight divine Vasus who were cursed so that they were to be born as humans. She was helping them get rid of the curse and as by questioning her before she could drown the last one he had broken his promise, he would have to look after his son as she would leave him. Saying this she left him and went to her heavenly abode. This eight son of Ganga and Shantanu was called Devvrata and was later known as Bheeshma.