Shantanu was a Kuru king 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...

, who is mentioned in the great epic of the Mahābhārata

Mahabharata

The Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India and Nepal, the other being the Ramayana. The epic is part of itihasa....

. He was a descendant of the Bharata

Bharatas

Bhāratas are an Aryan tribe mentioned in the Rigveda, especially in Mandala 3 attributed to the Bharata sage Vishvamitra. In the "river hymn" RV 3.33, the entire Bharata tribe is described as crossing a river. Bharatá is also used as a name of Agni Bhāratas are an Aryan tribe mentioned in the...

 race, of the lunar dynasty and the ancestor of the Pandava

Pandava

In the Hindu epic Mahābhārata, the Pandava are the five acknowledged sons of Pandu , by his two wives Kunti and Madri. Their names are Yudhisthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva. Although, Karna is told by Lord Krishna that according to the laws and ethics he is the first son of Kunti making...

s and the Kaurava

Kaurava

The term Kaurava is a Sanskrit term, that means the descendants of Kuru, a legendary king who is the ancestor of many of the characters of the Mahābhārata.The term is used in the Mahābhārata with two meanings:...

s. The Rigveda

Rigveda

The Rigveda is an ancient Indian sacred collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns...

 (X.98.11) mentions Shantanu. He was the youngest son of King Pratipa of Hastinapura and had been born in the latter's old age. The eldest son Devapi

Devapi

In Hindu mythology, Devapi or Devāpi Arṣṭiṣeṇa is an immortal sage. According to the Nirukta , the Brihaddevata, the Mahabharata and the Puranas, he was a Kuru prince and the eldest son of King Pratipa of Hastinapura...

 suffered from leprosy and abdicated his inheritance to become a hermit. The middle son Balhika devoted his life to conquer Balkh

Balkh

Balkh , was an ancient city and centre of Zoroastrianism in what is now northern Afghanistan. Today it is a small town in the province of Balkh, about 20 kilometers northwest of the provincial capital, Mazar-e Sharif, and some south of the Amu Darya. It was one of the major cities of Khorasan...

. Shantanu become the king of Hastinapura by default.

Shantanu and Ganga

Shantanu saw a beautiful woman on the banks of the river 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. But she drowned the child. Shantanu couldn't ask why because of his promise not to ask else she would leave. One by one, seven children were drowned. Shantanu, devastated, could not restrain himself and asked her why she was killing the children when she was about to drown the eighth child. She explained that she was in fact the goddess Ganga, and that the infants she had drowned were demi-gods who had been cursed into being born as humans. She had been freeing them from their curse. Since Ganga revealed the truth to Shantanu, she could not free the last demi-god. So she left the baby in Shantanu's care and went back to the river. The baby was named Devavrata, and eventually came to be known as the mighty warrior Bhishma.

Shantanu and Satyavati

When Shantanu's son 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...

 had grown into a young prince, Shantanu came across 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...

, an adopted daughter of a ferryman on the Yamuna

Yamuna

The Yamuna is the largest tributary river of the Ganges in northern India...

 river), and fell in love with her. The ferryman agreed to the marriage on condition that any child 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...

 bore the king would inherit the throne.

King Shantanu was unable to give his word on accession as his eldest son 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...

 was the heir to the throne. However, 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...

 came to know of this and for the sake of his father, gave his word to the ferryman that he would renounce all claims to the throne, in favour of 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...

's children. To reassure the skeptical ferryman further, he also vowed life-long celibacy to ensure that future generations borne of 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...

 would also not be challenged by his offspring.

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...

 went on to have two sons, Chitrāngada

Chitrangada

Chitrāngada , was the elder son of Shantanu and Satyavati. Since his elder half brother Bhishma took a vow of not ascending the throne of Hastinapura, he became the king after Shantanu and was very successful. Unfortunately, his success angered a Gandharva king of the same name...

 and 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...

. After Shantanu's death, 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...

 continued to rule the kingdom with her two sons, with help from 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...

.