Chitrāngada was the elder son of Shantanu and Satyavati

Satyavati

Satyavati was the queen of the Kuru king Shantanu of Hastinapur and the great-grandmother of the Pandava and Kaurava princes . She is also the mother of the seer Vyasa, author of the epic...

. Since his elder half brother Bhishma

Bhishma

Bhishma or Bheeshma or Devavrata or 'Bhishma Pitamah' was the eighth son of Kuru King Shantanu who was blessed with wish-long life and had sworn to serve the ruling Kuru king. He was one of the most prominent characters of the great Indian epic, the Mahabharata. He was the grand uncle of both the...

 (son of Shantanu and Ganga

Ganga in Hinduism

In Hinduism, the river Ganges - referred to as Gaṅgā in the Hindu context and India - is considered sacred. The river, personified as a goddess, is worshipped by Hindus, who believe that bathing in the river causes the remission of sins and facilitates liberation from the cycle of life and death...

) took a vow of not ascending the throne of Hastinapura

Hastinapura

Hastinapur is a town and a nagar panchayat in Meerut district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.-History:Hastinapur was the capital of the kingdom of the Kauravas, belonging to the Kuru dynasty of kings. The throne of this city was the prize over which the Kurukshetra War of the epic...

, he became the king after Shantanu and was very successful. Unfortunately, his success angered a Gandharva

Gandharva

Gandharva is a name used for distinct mythological beings in Hinduism and Buddhism; it is also a term for skilled singers in Indian classical music.-In Hinduism:...

 king of the same name. They fought an even matched duel for three years, before the human Chitrāngada was slain heirless. His younger brother Vichitravirya

Vichitravirya

Vichitravirya in the Hindu epic Mahabharata is the younger son of queen Satyavatī and king Śaṅtanu. His elder brother, Chitrāngada, had initially succeeded their father to the throne of Hastinapura, but when he died childless, Vichitravirya succeeded him.Vichitravirya was still a child when he was...

then ascended the throne.