Pratipa Refuses Ganga and Promises Her to His Son
The goddess Ganga, in human form, approaches the meditating King Pratipa and offers herself to him. Pratipa refuses, interpreting her choice of seat as a sign she is meant for his son, and accepts her as his future daughter-in-law on one condition.
King Pratipa spent many years in meditation on the banks of the Ganga, devoted to the welfare of all beings. One day, the river herself arose from the waters. She assumed the form of a woman of supreme beauty and all desirable qualities. She approached the meditating rajarshi (royal sage) and sat on his right thigh, which was as solid as a shala tree.
Pratipa opened his eyes and asked the beautiful woman what he could do to please her. Her desire was plain: “I desire you. I offer myself. Accept me and love me in return.” She told him that wise men always considered it evil to refuse a woman full of desire.
Pratipa’s refusal was immediate and grounded in dharma (righteous duty). “Out of desire, I can never go to another man’s wife or to one who is not equal to me in varna (social order). Know that this is the vow I have taken.”
She pressed him, assuring him she was not forbidden, not malignant, but a divine lady of supreme beauty. Pratipa held firm. “I must refrain. I have taken a vow and if I break it, dharma will bring about my destruction.” Then he pointed to the significance of where she had chosen to sit. “You have seated yourself on my right thigh. That is the seat earmarked for daughters and daughters-in-law. The left is the seat for the woman one finds pleasure with. But you have rejected it. Therefore, I cannot satisfy desire with you. I accept you for my son. Be my daughter-in-law.”
The goddess accepted his interpretation. “Let it be as you say. Let me be united with your son.” Out of her love for Pratipa, she promised to love the famous Bharata lineage. But she set a condition for this future union: her husband must not know her high birth, and he must never question anything she did. Living under those terms, she would make his son happy and bring about his welfare. Having said this, she disappeared.