Why is Bhishma called Gangaputra?
Bhishma was a Vasu in his earlier birth. There are eight Vasus in total. It is said that once the Vasus came across the cow Nandini who belonged to Rishi Vashishth. A Vasu named Prabhas stole the cow at the request of his wife.
When Vashishth came to know of the theft, he cursed all the Vasus to take birth on the earth as human beings. The Vasus were devastated on hearing this. They requested Vashishth to reduce the curse.
Vashishth said that the seven Vasus would be killed immediately after taking birth, but Prabhas would have to live much longer on earth.
Bhishma was the Vasu Prabhas. After hearing the curse, the Vasus requested river Ganga to be their mother and kill the seven of them as soon as they were born. Ganga agreed.
Once King Shantanu was roaming around the Ganga river when he saw an enchanting woman. He asked her to marry him. But the woman who was Ganga had a condition. She said she would stay with Shantanu till he never asked her any questions.
Ganga started to kill her children as soon as they were born. King Shantanu kept quiet till the seven children were killed, but stopped Ganga when she wanted to kill the eighth child. On this, Ganga said that Shantanu had broken the condition of their marriage and she left. Before leaving she revealed to Shantanu the real story.
Ganga brought up Devavrata and brought him back to Shantanu when he grew up. This is the reason why Bhishma is also called Gangaputra.
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