Pratipa

Pratipa (Sanskrit: प्रतीप, pratīpa m.), the name of a king in the Mahabharata, who was the father of Shantanu and grandfather of Bhishma.[1]

Origin and family

According to the Bhagavata-, Vishnu, Matsya-, Bhavishya- and Vayu-Purana Pratipa was the great-grandson of Bhimasena and son of Dilipa.[2] However, according to the Mahabharata he was the son of king Bhimasena and princess Sukumari of the Kaikeyas. He married Sunanda of the Shibis, on whom he begot Devapi and Shantanu.[3]

Meeting with Ganga

Once when King Pratipa was meditating on the bank of the river Ganges and muttering prayers, the Ganges, having assumed the form of an exceedingly beautiful woman, approached him and asked him to make love to her. But Pratipa refused to comply with her wishes in spite of her insistent requests, as he felt it was not in accordance with his own dharma. Finally, he proposed to her that she may marry his son and become his daughter-in-law. Ganga agreed on condition that Pratipa’s son should not know of her high birth and should never question whatever she did. Pratipa consented, whereupon Ganga disappeared in the river. At this time Pratipa and his wife were still without children, but after they had performed some acts of austerity, their son Shantanu was born to them. He was later to marry Ganga and became the father of Bhishma.[4]

Literature

J.A.B. van Buitenen, Mahabharata Book 1, Chicago 1973, pp.214–220

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References
  1. Monier Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (Oxford, 1899), p. 674.1
  2. M.M.S. Shastri Chitrao, Bharatavarshiya Prachin Charitrakosha (Dictionary of Ancient Indian Biography, in Hindi), Pune 1964, p. 469
  3. Mbhr. 1.90.45–46 (Pune Critical Edition)
  4. Mbhr. 1.92
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