Shantanu

King Pratipa had a son, Shantanu who went on to become the king of Hastinapura. One day Shantanu was walking along the shores of river Ganga where he came upon a beautiful maiden with a radiant face and slender features. Her hair flowed like the waters of Ganges. He was smitten. He asked the fair maiden to marry him. She said she would but only on one condition. The condition was that he would not ask her questions regarding her motives or actions. The moment he does, she would leave him and go away. Shantanu did not even think to consider. He agreed and they got married very soon.

She proved to be the perfect wife for King Shantanu. The young couple was soon anticipating the arrival of their 1st child. Soon enough, Shantanu's 1st son was born and Shantanu rejoiced. But the joy was short lived as the Queen took the son to river Ganges and drowned him. Shantanu was aghast. But he remembered the promise he had given her at the time of their marriage. So he did not question her actions. Time passed, and the queen delivered their next child. The queen drowned her second son too in Ganges. The biggest loss to a man is the loss of his offspring. King Shantanu suffered in silence as the queen continued to drown 5 more of their sons in Ganges. And each time the King did not ask her, her motives nor reasons for actions in fear of loosing her.    

Soon the Queen was expecting again. In the course of time, she gave birth to another son. King Shantanu was in grief at the birth of his eighth child as he knew what was to be its fate. On the fateful night, he followed the queen as she carried the baby towards Ganges. There he watched in horror as she was about to throw his son into River Ganges. He could not take it any longer and asked her to stop. She obliged by keeping the infant on the banks of the river. The King asked her why she killed all his sons. She replied that she was (the personification of the river) Ganga and that each of their 8 children were eight Vasus in their previous incarnation,cursed buy the great Maharshi Vasistha (one of the saptarishi's) to go through the trials and tribulations of being born as human beings on Earth. They pleaded with the Maharshi to take back his curse. He said he couldn't take back the curse but grant them favors. So he granted a favor that they would spend very less time on Earth. Thus Ganga had kept the promise of the great sage. However the Vasu, Dyauspitr was cursed to live a long life with neither wife nor offspring. This was the 8th son, Devavrata whom Ganga took with her leaving the King without his wife nor offspring.

Conclusion:

Shantanu later moves out of his grief by practice bhramacharya and becomes an able King. His son, Devavrata grows up to be Bhishma, (or Ganga putra) the grand uncle of Pandavas and Kauravas.

Everything that is happening around us is the result of something that has happened before. And everything that occurs in the present will be the cause of some other things yet to happen in the future. Things that happen around us happens for a reason, even thought we may not know the cause or reason at that point in time.