Pratipa
Pratipa (Sanskrit: प्रतीप, pratīpa.) was a Kuru king, the father of Shantanu and grandfather of Bhishma. He was the son of king Bhimasena of Hastinapur and princess Sukumari of the Kaikeyas. He married Sunanda of the Shibis, on whom he begot Devapi, Shantanu and Bahlika.
Once when King Pratipa was meditating on the banks of river Ganga, the latter assuming the form of an exceedingly beautiful woman, sat on his right lap and asked him to marry her. But Pratipa refused to comply saying that she is equivalent to his daughter or daughter-in-law as she sat on his right lap. Alternatively, he proposed that she marry his son. Ganga agreed on a condition that Shantanu should not know of her high birth and should never question whatever she did. Pratipa consented, whereupon Ganga disappeared. At this time Pratipa and his wife were still without children, but after they had performed some acts of austerity, three sons were born to him, one of them being Shantanu, a reincarnation of king Mahabhisha. Shantanu later married Ganga and fathered Bhishma.