The Story of Bhishma’s Birth

Shantanu , the king of Hastinapur, was the great grandfather of the powerful Pandavas & Kauravas. He once saw a beautiful woman on the banks of the river Ganges (Ganga) and asked her to marry him. She agreed but with one condition: that Shantanu would not ask any questions about her actions.

They married and she later gave birth to a son. But she drowned the child. Shantanu could not ask her the reason, because of his promise, or else she would leave him. One by one, seven sons were born to them , and were drowned by Ganga. When Ganga was about to drown the eighth son, Shantanu, devastated, could not stop himself and confronted her.

Finally, Ganga explained to King Shantanu that she is the Goddess, River Ganga, cursed to take a human form. The sons born to her were the eight notorious demigods. They had stolen Sage Vashistha’s cow. Cursed to be humans, seven of them were allowed to leave their physical bodies soon after their birth. So Ganga had drowned them to relieve them of their curse. But the eighth one, who actually stole the cow, would have to live on Earth. Ganga offered to take him to the heavens to train him properly for the King’s throne and status. With these words she disappeared while King Shantanu returned to his Kingdom to carry out his duties as a king, awaiting the return of his son.

Years later, Ganga returned with a young man who was well educated in Vedas & had mastered all the weapons of mankind. He was Devvrata, & later called Bhisma Pitamah who fought from the Kauravas side in the famous Mahabharata war.

Ganga drowning her child & Shantanu Ganga handing over her 8th child, trying to stop her. Devvrata or Bhishma, to Shantanu.

So, in this story, Ganga was seen committing a severe crime of drowning her kids. But she did this to serve a greater purpose of getting the demigods rid of their curse.