Week 6 Story: The Goddess of the Ganges
Image Credit. Goddess Ganga. Source: Word Press.
Ganga would not come up by invitation of the servants so she lounged and waited for the king himself. When Shantanu finally made his way down Ganga was still waiting for him. They spent the evening talking and eating and slowly began to develop feelings for each other. They decided to be married but Ganga had a few stipulations for her soon to be husband. Shantanu was intrigued at what these could be and waited patiently for Ganga to tell him.
Ganga told Shantanu that she could only be his wife if they were completely open and honest with each other. King Shantanu was surprised at this and immediately agreed. Ganga told him that she was the goddess of the Ganges river and that when they had children she would have to throw them in the river so she could remain the goddess. She assured him that the children would live in the river and lead happy lives. Shantanu was very displeased at having to lose his children but knew that remaining a goddess was very important to her.
They had a happy marriage for a little while, but King Shantanu became more and more displeased with having no heir. They began to fight constantly. Ganga could not take the fighting any longer and one night she slipped away into the river leaving King Shantanu. Shantanu was very heartbroken but one day he heard his servants yelling about visitors. He hurried to the docks and Ganga was there with all his sons. She let Shantanu meet them all and he was very pleased and happy.
Author's Note:
I wanted to alter the story of King Shantanu and Ganga after I first read it. It was very sad to me that their marriage had to end because Ganga was not able to be honest with her husband. However, I wanted to keep their separating in my story because I just did not think it would work for them. I also altered the ending because I wanted it to have a happy ending. I hope you all enjoy it!
Bibliography:
PDE Mahabharata: King Shantanu and Ganga.
Hey Hannah! I enjoyed reading your story. I was also very confused when I initially read this story. Why would Ganga want the king to think that she was drowning their kids? I understand the king's anger with her, and was wondering why it didn't happen sooner in the story. I like how you started with the original story but deviated greatly after the marriage occurred.
ReplyDeleteI remember reading this story and thinking it was so sad so I love that you made it a happy ending. I think you wrote the story so that it was very easy to ready and understand. You could have maybe added some detail about his sons that she had thrown in the river or what her feelings were as their marriage started to fall apart. Overall I really enjoyed reading your story and I think your ending was better than the sad original.
ReplyDeleteHey Hannah! I really like how you rewrote this story. I didn't think it was fair for the King to lose all those children originally so I think your rewrite does a great job of making it a little more fair to him. Your story was really easy to read and I think your Author's Note helped to explain why you made the changes you did. Overall, a really great job!
ReplyDeleteI was also intrigued by Ganga and Shantanu's relationship! It seemed to me that creating such grave stipulations as requiring he accept she drown their children doesn't exactly seem like something he should have gotten into in the first place, so it's no wonder they were so unhappy with each other in the end. I think I enjoyed most your wording of your first couple of sentences, they set the scene and really got my imagination working picturing the lovely setting. I think this story has some potential for drama since such emotions are behind the events between the couple, I wonder if you considered doing a narrative with dialogue? Something to think about!
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