Story Planning Week 9: Shantanu the Unfortunate

Shantanu, a King of Hastinapura in the Mahabharata,
saw a beautiful woman on the banks of the river Ganga;
1894
  • Shantanu is one of the key characters in the early beginnings of the Mahabharata so I thought it would be interesting to research into his background a little more and maybe tell a story from his perspective.
  • He was a descendent of the Bharata race and was the youngest son in his family. His middle brother, Bahlika, abandoned his fathers kingdom and lived with and soon inherited his uncles kingdom in Balkh. His eldest brother, Devapi, had leprosy and relinquished his title to Shantanu so that he could retire into the woods and become a hermit.
  • Writing about potential conflict within Shantanu about taking his brothers place could be a good storyline.
  • Writing about Shantanu going on an adventure to find a cure for his brothers leprosy could also work well as a story. This could allow him to meet gods or goddesses that do not appear in the original Mahabharata.
  • In an attempt to make it fit into the original stories timeline, Shantanu could be telling a story to his son. This could help it make sense within the original context.
  • Shantanu is the great-great-great grandfather to not only the Pandavas, but also to the Kauravas. His bloodline was already pretty impressive, but this could be good information for a future post.
  • All of this information could be used in either: a storytelling situation where Shantanu sees the future (? [not great, put could lead into a better direction]) and sees his bloodlines path.

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