A scribe is someone who used to write down documents. This job was relevant when printing was not invented and any book had to be manually written down. Ganesha was the scribe for Mahabharata as per popular stories. However, in the original Mahabharata this is not the case.

Ganesha broke his own tusk to write down the Mahabharata. This is the reason he appears with a broken tusk. This is one of the many stories related to the broken tusk of Ganesha. There are also stories that when moon laughed at Ganesha (because Ganesha fell off Mooshika), Ganasha got upset at the moon. He broke his tusk and threw it at the moon because of which the moon also got blemishes.

Ganesha told Vyasa that he would write the Mahabharata down continuously and Vyasa should not pause and make Ganesha wait. Vyasa in return said “you can only write down what you understand.” Sometimes Vyasa had to stop and think. To make sure that he gets the time, he used to dictate difficult slokas which would take time for Ganesha to understand. Thus Vyasa got some time to think. These slokas are called Koota slokas. There are about 8000 Koota slokas in Mahabharata.

Vyasa Guha is near Badrinath, which is one of the Char Dhams. This is slightly upstream of Badrinath temple. It is located in front of the Saraswati river. The original Saraswati flowed from Himalayas to Arabian Sea. When Vyasa was performing Tapas, the river was making a lot of noise. Vyasa requested Saraswati to be quiet. Even now, you can see that the river is very silent in front of Vyasa Guha. The river Saraswati also joins the river Alaknanda nearby at a place called Keshava Prayaga. The river Alakananda flows through Himalayas and joins the river Bhagirathi at Dev Prayag. Thereafter it is called Ganga.

Pratipa was the King of Hastinapura. The river Ganga wanted to marry Pratipa. He did not agree but he told Ganga that she can marry his son who would be born later. Shantanu was born to Pratipa. He had the capacity to heal anyone with just his touch.

When Vichitravirya dies, the kingdom of Hastinapura is left without any son who can become a king. His mother Satyavathi is worried. Satyavathi mentions to Bhishma that she already had a son before she married Shantanu. His name was Krishna Dvaipayana (Vyasa), who was born to Satyavathi and Parashar. She called Krishna Dvaipayana and requested him to have children with Vichitravirya’s wives. When Ambika meets Krishna Dvaipayana she closes her eyes to avoid the radiance of Vyasa. A child was born to them but it was blind since Ambika had closed her eyes. The child is Dhritarashtra. Thus Dhritarashtra is the son of Vyasa who is the son of Parashara, thus becoming the grandson of Parashara.

Ganga had taken a promise from Shantanu that he will not question anything she does. Ganga would pick up her child as soon as it was born, she would throw it in the river Ganga. This was very painful for Shantanu to bear. But he could not stop his wife. This happened seven times. When the eighth child was born, he stopped Ganga and questioned her. Ganga said since you have broken the promise, I will leave you. In some stories the child is with Shantanu. Deva. In another version of the story, Ganga took the eighth child with her. Afte many years, Shantanu goes near the river Ganga but notices that the river has slowed down. He finds a small boy who had slowed down the river with his arrows. Then Ganga also appears and gives the boy to Shantanu. The boy is Devavratha who came to be called Bhishma later.

Shantanu comes across another woman near the river Yamuna. Her name was Satyavathi. He falls in love with Satyavathi but realizes that since he is the father of a grown up son, this is not possible. He returns sadly to the palace. Shantanu’s Son Devaratha noticed the sadness and asked his father what was wrong. Shantanu told him that he is concerned that if Devaratha gets hurt and dies he will be left without a son. An elder tells Devaratha about his father’s love for Satyavathi. Devaratha goes to Dasha Raja, Satyavathi’s father. Dasha Raja puts a condition that the children of Satyavathi should become the king after Shantanu.

Dasaraja puts a condition that that the children of Satyavathi should become the king after Shantanu. Devavratha agrees that neither himself nor his children will stake a claim for the throne. Thus, the children of Satyavathi and Shantanu can become Kings. Dasha Raja is not convinced that Devavratha’s children will keep the promise. Therefore Devavratha takes a vow that he won’t get married so that there is no chance of his children staking a claim to the throne. Because of the sacrifice that Devavratha made for his father, he is called Bhishma.

They are half brothers. Both Chitrangada and Vichitravirya were born to Shantanu and Satyavathi. Bhishma is born to Shantanu and Ganga. Thus they are half-brothers.

After Shantanu dies, Chitrangada becomes a king. He went to the forest for hunting. He came across the king of Gandharvas whose name was also Chitrangada. The king fought with Gandharva saying there can only be one person with the name Chitrangada. The King is defeated and dies. Later on Vichitravirya also dies without children. Thus, Bhishma, Chitrangada and Vichitravirya all do not have any children.

Vichitravirya becomes a good king after his brother Chitrangada dies. But he does not find a wife. Bhishma goes to Varanasi since the King of Kashi was performing the swayamwara of his three daughters – Amba, Ambika and Ambalika. Bhishma took the daughters as captives and also defeated all other Kings. The oldest daughter Amba said she is already in love with another person and therefore Bhishma let her go. Ambika and Ambalika were married to Vichitravirya. Vichitravirya also dies before he has children.

Bhishma arranges the marriage of his father Shantanu. Later on, he also abducts Ambika and Ambalika for marriage to his half brother Vichitravirya. When Dhritarashtra had to be married it was difficult to find a girl since he was blind. Bhishma goes to Gandhara and gave a lot of money to the King to get his daughter married to Dhritarashtra. Gandhari and 11 sisters were married to Dhritarashtra. Along with them Sakuni also came. Gandhari blindfolded herself since her husband did not have eyesight. For Pandu, Bhishma gave a lot of money to the King Madra and got his daughter Madri married to Pandu. Because of the promise he gave to Dasaraja, whose daughter Bhishma’s father was in love with, Bhishma remains unmarried himself.