The Vow That Emptied a Dynasty

He gave up a throne so his father could marry. That was not enough, so he gave up having children too. He then lived long enough to watch everything that vow was meant to protect destroy itself.

Before the vow

Devavrata was the eighth son of Shantanu and Ganga, the only one his mother did not return to the river.

She raised him away from the court, and had him trained by the best there was.

He learned the Vedas from Vasishtha, statecraft from Brihaspati, and arms from Parashurama.

And then she brought him back to Hastinapura fully grown, and gave him to his father.

Shantanu made him yuvaraja, the heir, and for four years that was simply how it stood. It was not in doubt and nobody wished it otherwise.