Shantanu

Shantanu (Sanskrit: शंतनु, शन्तनु, IAST: Śaṃtanu, Śantanu) was a king in the ancient India then Bharat mentioned in the epic Mahabharata. He was the King of the Kuru kingdom with his capital at Hastinapura. He was a descendant of the Bharata race, a forebearer of the lineage of the Chandravamsha, the father of Bhishma and the great-grandfather of the Pandavas and the Kauravas. Shantanu was the youngest son of King Pratipa of Hastinapura and had been born during the king's later years. His eldest brother, Devapi, had leprosy and had given up his rightful claim before becoming a hermit. The middle son, Bahlika (or Vahlika), abandoned his birth kingdom, and had started living with his maternal uncle in Balkh, subsequently inheriting his kingdom. Shantanu, thus, ascended the throne of Hastinapura.