Vasus’s Family Tree

About Vasus →

Family

• Ganga(parent),Shantanu(parent),Bhishma(sibling)— Marriage

  Shantanu married the goddess Ganga, who bore him eight sons — the Vasus incarnated in mortal form to fulfill a curse. She drowned seven at birth to free them, keeping only the eighth, Devavrata Bhishma, alive at Shantanu's insistence, then departed.

Contains

• Bhishma

  Bhishma was the mortal incarnation of Dyaus, one of the eight Vasus cursed to human birth for stealing the sage Vasishtha's cow Nandini. As the eighth Vasu, Bhishma alone was destined to live a full mortal life as punishment.

• Dyaus Pita

  Dyaus Pita is one of the eight Vasus, the attendant deities of Indra who personify the fundamental elements of nature — in the Mahabharata, he leads their fateful theft of Vasishtha's cow that condemns them all to mortal birth.