Pained by the thought of separation from Satyavati, Shantanu immersed himself in grief. He vowed that he would remain loyal to the kings who would occupy the throne of Hastinapur during his lifetime and remain a caretaker of the kingdom until he breathed his last.
Since he took such a drastic oath without thinking of the consequences and its implications on himself, Devavrata came to be known as Bhishma. By continuing to use the site, you agree to the use of cookies. You can find out more by clicking this link.
DNA Exclusive: Pollution scam? Whom to blame for weather menace in India? News Lifestyle Spirituality. A symbol of truth and duty, the benevolent Bhishma was in all senses a true human. It is unfortunate that a person as noble as Bhishma saw a life full of loneliness, frustration and grief. But that was how Vashishta's curse was supposed to unfold.
Bhishma's human birth was destined to be marked with suffering, and that was how his life transpired right till the last moment; even his last moment on earth before ascension to heaven alive was very painful. But the strong as steel character which he possessed ensured that he never shied away from his duty, and never stopped loving those dear to him.. Bhishma was not only a good warrior, but also highly skilled in political science.
He tried his best to bring reconciliation between Pandavas and Kauravas to prevent the war. Even in the Kurukshetra war while he was the general he tried his best to keep the war low key by minimising confrontation between the two camps. Even as he fell he tried to use the opportunity to persuade both camps to put an end to the war. After the war, while on his deathbed he gave deep and meaningful instructions to Yudhishthira on statesmanship and the duties of a king. In the great battle at Kurukshetra , Bhishma was the supreme commander of the Kaurava forces for ten days compared to Drona's five, Karna's two and Salya's one-the last day.
He fought reluctantly on the side of the Kauravas ; nevertheless, he gave it his best effort. At one stage Arjuna 's disinclination to fight him, nearly made Krishna break His vow not to raise a weapon in the war. Not even Arjuna was able to defeat Bhishma because in addition to being a peerless warrior he was blessed with choosing the moment of his death.
In this war, Bhishma vowed not to kill any of the Pandavas, as he loved them, being their grandsire. Duryodhan often confronted Bhishma alleging that he was not actually fighting for the Kaurava camp as he wouldn't kill any Pandava but would let them kill Kauravas. But in fact, Bhishma was the strongest barrier that had protected the Kaurava camp from impending defeat.
The war was thus locked in a stalemate. As the Pandavas mulled over this situation, Krishna advised them to visit Bhishma himself and request him to suggest a way out of this stalemate. Bhishma knew in his heart that the Pandavas were righteous and chaste, and that he stood as the greatest obstacle in their path to victory, so when they visited Bhishma, he told them that if faced by an other gender that is a gender which has both features of a male and female in battle he would cease to fight and not lift weapons against her.
The Pandavas were initially not agreeable to such a ploy, as by bringing such a gender to the battleground they would disgrace themselves, but Krishna suggested a clever alternative. And thus, on the next day - the tenth day of battle - Shikhandi accompanied Arjuna on the latter's chariot and they faced Bhishma who put his bow and arrows down. He was then felled in battle by a reluctant, ashamed and tearful Arjuna pierced by innumerable arrows.
As Bhishma fell, his whole body was held above the ground by the shafts of Arjuna's arrows which protruded from his back, and through his arms and legs.
Seeing Bhishma laid on such a bed of arrows humbled even the gods who watched from the heavens in reverence, silently blessing the mighty warrior. Bhishma was succeeded by Drona as the Commander-in-Chief. Bhishma lay on the 'bed of arrows' till the end of the battle for an interesting reason.
Bhishma asked Krishna why he was suffering so much. Krishna told him it was a result of his reticence and silence towards Draupadi's cheer-haran which was a maha-papam great Sin. Bhishma failed to act to protect Draupadi at a time of dire need. Krishna further told him that the immediate time was not an auspicious time to leave the world.
Thus, Bhisma, who delayed his death by his own will, now waited for the auspicious time, when the sun turns northward, to depart from the world. One of his last acts was to impart his final instructions on administration and kingcraft to Yudhisthira.
A few formations mentioned in the epic Mahabharata are listed. Bhishma is lying on a bed of arrows with Arjuna standing above him with bow drawn and pointed. But practically, Bhishma and the Pandavas would be four generations apart as Bhishma was himself a prince of marriageable age when his father Shantanu married Satyavati, so Chitrangada and Vichitravirya were more like sons than brothers to Bhishma.
When both Chitrangada and Vichitravirya died heirless, Maharishi Ved Vyas was called upon to revive the lineage. Then Dhritarashtra, Pandu and Vidura were born. The Pandavas and Kauravas were the next generation, so although addressed as grandfather, Bhishma was equivalent to their Great-Grandfather.
When Bhishma ascended to heaven, he was the eldest living ancestor to the equivalent of 5 generations as the Pandavas themselves were grandparents. Their only living heir was Parikshit , Arjuna 's grandson, the son of Abhimanyu and Matsya princess Uttara. As the Kauravas were losing the battle, Duryodhana approached Bhishma one night and accused him of not fighting the battle to his full strength because of his affection for the Pandavas.
Bhishma, greatly angered took, "Tomorrow I will kill Arjuna or break Krishna's vow. Tomorrow I shall fight like a lion, and this time, either I will kill Arjuna or I will make Lord Krishna break His promise of not picking up any weapons during the war.
Although Arjuna was very powerful, he was no match for Bhishma. Bhishma soon shot arrows which cut Arjuna's armour and then also his Gandiva bow. Arjuna was helpless before the wrath of the grandsire. As Bhishma was about to kill Arjuna with his arrows, Lord Krishna threw down the chariot reins and jumped off the chariot onto the battlefield, lifted a chariot wheel and charged Bhishma.
Arjuna tried to stop Lord Krishna, but the Lord said, "In order to protect my devotee, I must break my own promise. Krishna, one who was a perfect Yogi and in control of senses including anger, lifted the Chariot Wheel in order to respect and uphold Bhishma's promise and word, as the latter promised he would make Krishna yield weapons source: Satsung CT. Eventually, however, Arjuna convinced Krishna to return to the chariot and put down the wheel, promising to redouble his determination in the fight.
All the while Bhishma stood with folded palms and tears in his eyes, awed by the beauty of the wrath of the Lord and the intense love that God bears for his friends, so great that He is willing to endure the censorship of ignorant foolish men.
Later the Lord told Arjuna how he could bring down the old grandsire, through the help of Sikhandhi. Using Sikhandhi as a shield, Arjuna shot arrows at Bhishma, piercing his entire body. Thus, finally, Bhishma gave up the fight, focusing his life force and breath, sealing the wounds, and waiting for the auspicious moment to leave this bed of arrows. Its said that once Bhishma fell down pierced with arrows he was feeling thirsty.
Duryodhana went to fetch water, but Arjuna shot an arrow at the ground and water came pouring out directly into Bhishma's mouth. Its actually river goddess Ganga coming to satisfy the thirst of her son Bhishma. He said that Santanu would have to agree to make the son that would be born from this marriage as his successor to the throne.
Santanu could not agree to this condition and hence his lovelorn state. On learning this Devavrata proceeded with an entourage to seek out the fisherman. In the presence of all his companions, he made two promises to the fisherman.
One was that he would never ascend the throne; and second that he would take the pledge of brahmacharya , and thus remain celibate all his life so there would be no sons who could claim the throne. On hearing these promises, the fisherman agreed to give his daughter to Santanu as a bride. The sacrifice that these promises contained impressed even the inhabitants of paradise, who rained flowers and declared that henceforward Devavrata would be known as Bhishma.
Death will come to you only with your permission. Bhishma, even as a young man, was a unique individual. He had agency over death — the one thing that is inevitable in life. The power to die only when he wished to die is only a step behind immortality since theoretically Bhishma may not have wanted to die.
There is an interplay here between agency and predestination. All these had been pre-scripted for him. But he had control over what was inevitable for all humans. Death would come to Bhishma only when summoned by Bhishma. This is an important point because Bhishma had no blood ties with Dhritarashtra. Because of his position and because he was a warrior par excellence , Bhishma was the natural first choice to lead the Kaurava troops at Kurukshetra.
In the very beginning of this parva — in fact even before the description of the battle has begun —- a downcast Sanjaya brings to Dhritarashtra the news that Bhishma is nihata. Mbh: Bhishma parva : adhyaya slokas: This raises two problems. Kaliprasanna Sinha, who, in the second half of the nineteenth century, translated the epic into Bengali prose taking it sloka by sloka not only recognised this problem but addressed it in a footnote.
Sinha wrote that on hearing the news that Bhishma was nihata , a surprised Dhritarashtra asked Sanjaya to narrate to him the details of the battle. Hence the first sloka of the Bhagavad Gita. Thus, according to Sinha, the announcement anticipates the Gita Sinha: i: The issue becomes more complicated as the narrative progresses and readers are presented with a graphic description of the battle on the tenth day of the war.
The epic says on that day, pierced by arrows all over his body — the arrows left a space of only two fingers between them — Bhishma contemplated that this was the right moment to die and the rishis and the vasus in the sky concurred with him Mbh: Bhishma parva : adhyaya ; slokas : He continued to fight a little longer but soon fell from his chariot. The arrows stuck in his body did not allow his body to touch the ground, and so Bhishma lay on a bed of arrows.
He realised that this was that time of the year when the sun was in the south and it was not the best moment to die. Bhishma asserts that he has the definite freedom to choose the time of his death. Mbh: Bhishma parva : adhyaya : 14; sloka : But Sanjaya, while reporting this incident to Dhritarashtra, says that after Bhishma had been slain nihata , the sons of Dhritarashtra did not know what to do Mbh: Bhishma parva : adhyaya : slokas : The word nihata is repeated again in sloka ; and in adhyaya 15 in slokas 3 and 5.
In sloka 6 the verb killed badh is used. Within a space of a few slokas , the Mahabharata is making two different and contradictory statements. According to Bhishma himself he is alive and has chosen his time of death. But the epic is also saying that he is nihata. He is alive since we hear him asking for a pillow, asking for water, advising Duryodhona and counselling Karna.
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