Bhishma

Bhishma's Oath, a painting
by Raja Ravi Varma

Bhishma: One of the strongest characters of the Mahabharata. He was the great-uncle of both the Pandavas and the Kauravas. A unparalleled archer, he once vanquished the mighty Parasurama.

Birth

Once the eight Vasus ("Ashtavasus) visited the Vashishta's ashram accompanied by their wives. One of the wives took a fancy to Nandini, the wish-bearing cow, and asked her husband Prabhasa to steal it from Vashishta. Prabhasa, then stole the cow with the help of the others who were all cursed by Vashishta to be born in the world of men. The seven Vasus who assisted in stealing Nandini have their curse softened to be liberated from their human birth as soon as they are born, but Prabhasa, due to his being instrumental in the theft, is cursed to endure a longer life on the earth, though the curse is softened so that he becomes one of the most illustrious men of his times. It was this Prabhasa who took birth as Devavratha (Bhishma).

Early life

Bhishma was born the youngest son of Shantanu by Ganga. The seven siblings born before him had been drowned by their own mother Ganga in order to break their curse - as they were incarnations of the aforementioned vasus. Shantanu, who protested against Ganga taking their eighth child - thus breaking a promise given to Ganga at marriage - was left alone to raise the child.

Bhishma learnt political science from Brihaspati, the guru of the Devas, Vedas and Vedangas from rishi Vasishta, and archery from Parashurama, also known as Bhargava, thus becoming an exceptionally skilled administrator. His banner in battle was a golden palm tree.

He was known as 'Bhishma Pitamaha' (i.e., Bhishma, the grandfather or grandsire) among the Pandavas and the Kauravas.

Bhishma's vow

'Bhishma' means 'He of the terrible oath', referring to his vow of life-long celibacy. Devavratha became known as Bhishma because he took the bhishan pratijna — the vow of life-long celibacy and of service to whoever sat on the throne of his father (the throne of Hastinapuri). This was because when his father Shantanu wanted to marry a fisherwoman Satyavati, her father refused, on the grounds that his daughter's children would never be rulers as Shantanu already had a son (Devavrata). This made Shantanu despondent. To placate Satyavati's father, Devavrata promised that he would never stake a claim to the throne, implying that the child born to Shantanu and Satyavati would become the ruler after Shantanu. At this, Satyavati's father retorted that even if Devavrata gave up his claim to the throne, his (Devavrata's) children would still claim the throne. At this, Devavrata, to make his father happy, took the terrible vow, thus sacrificing his 'crown-prince' title and denying himself the pleasures of intercourse. This gave him immediate recognition among the gods and his father granted him the boon of Ichhanda Mrityu (control over his own death — he could choose the time of his death, but not, as may be suggested, one of immortality).

Bhishma was a great archer and a warrior. In the process of finding a bride for his half-brother the young king Vichitravirya , Bhishma cleverly abducted princesses Amba, Ambika and Ambalika of Kashi (Varanasi) from the assemblage of suitors at their swayamvara. Salwa, the ruler of Saubala, and Amba (the eldest princess) were in love. Upon reaching Hastinapura, Amba confided in Bhishma that she wished to wed Salwa . Bhishma then sent her back to Salwa who turned her down as it was humiliating for a man to accept a woman so long in the company of another man. She then naturally approached Bhishma who refused her, citing his oath. Amba, who was humiliated and enraged beyond measure, vowed to avenge herself against Bhishma even if it needed taking rebirth over and over again.

Legend has it that at her maternal grandfather's suggestion Amba sought refuge with Parasurama who ordered Bhishma to marry Amba. Bhishma politely refused saying that he is ready to leave his life at the command of his teacher but not the promise that he had made. Upon the refusal Parasurama called him for a fight at Kurukshetra. At the battlegrounds, while Bhishma was on a chariot, he saw his guru on the ground. He requested Parasurama to be equal to him by taking a chariot and Kavacham (armor). Parasurama blessed Bhishma with the power of divine vision and asked him to look again. When Bhishma looked at his guru with the divine eye-sight, he saw the Earth as Parasurama's chariot, the four Vedas as the horses, the Upanishads as the reins, Vayu as the sarathy (Charioteer) and the Vedic goddesses Gayatri, Savitri & Saraswati as the armor. Bhishma got down from the chariot and sought the blessings of Parasurama to adhere to his dharma. Parasurama told him that if he would not have behaved in this manner Parasurama would have cursed him. Parasurama advised him to fight to protect his dharma of bramacharya and Parasurama would fight to protect his duty towards the word given to Amba. They fought for 23 days without any result. Parasurama is a chiranjeev or immortal, and Bhishma had a boon that let him choose the time of his death. On the 22nd night, Bhishma prayed to his ancestors to help him to bring the war to an end. His anscestors gave him a weapon which was not known to Parasurama . They told him that it would put Parasurama to sleep in the battlefield. A person who sleeps in the battlefield is considered to be dead as per Vedas. They advised Bhishma to call back the weapon at the end of day after sunset so that Parasurama will come back to his sense and that shall bring the end to war. However the weapon was never used as Bhishma walked out of the war Parasurama told Amba that he could not win over Bhishma and gave her the boon of "mahakal shiva". Amba did penance to please Shiva. Shiva gave the boon that she will be instrumental for the death of Bhishma. Amba would be born as a prince in the house of king Drupada.

Personality

Bhishma had a stature & personality that, in those times were fit for kings. He was a true Kshatriya as well as a disciplined ascetic - a rare combination.He never unnecessarily exhibited the passion & anger that were identified with a Kshatriya. A symbol of truth & 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 death 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.

Skills,Talents & Achievements

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 when he fell he used the opportunity to persuade both camps to put an end to the war. After the war he rectified Dharma's doubts regarding statesmanship.

In the Mahābhārata War

He is the one who witnessed the Mahābhārata completely from the beginning since the rule of the Shantanu.

In the great battle at Kurukshetra, Bhishma fought reluctantly on the side of the Kauravas; nevertheless, he gave it his best effort. At one stage Arjuna's disinclination to fight him, made Krishna break His vow of not actually fighting in the war. Krishna charged at Bhishma to kill him with his Chakra and was welcomed with folded hands by Bhishma. Arjuna pleaded with Krishna to stop and reminded him of the vow.

Not even Arjuna was able to stop Bhishma because he was blessed with choosing the manner of his death. He also took a vow to not to kill any of the Pandavas, as he loved them, his nephews. Duryodhan blamed Bhisma that he is not fighting on the side of Kuru as he is not killing any pandava and leting them kill kauravas. So he went to Pandava camp to tell them the secret of killing him, so that he wouldn't kill them. He told them that only woman can solve the problem because he will not Fight Women in the Battle. After that shrikhandi was on the cariot of Arjuna and then Bhishma was finally grievously wounded on the tenth day of the battle by Shikhandi with the active aid of Arjuna. Shikhandin (rebirth of Amba) was born a woman and to strike a woman was deemed unworthy of the chivalrous. Thus, the warrior did not resist but merely remarked to Dushasana, "These are Arjuna's arrows, they cannot be Shikhandi's because they tear my flesh as a crab's young ones tear their mother's body." . He was the supreme commander of the Kaurava forces for ten days compared to Drona's five, Karna's two and Salya on the final day. Bhishma fell, his entire body resting on a pincushion of Arjuna's arrows. After that Drona become the Commander-in-Chief of Kaurav army. After his demise Karna replaced him. Soon after this, Karna, who in the face of Bhishma's criticism had sworn his vow to keep out of the Kurukshetra till the withdrawal of Bhishma, approached the grandsire to seek his blessings. He implores Karna to persuade Duryodhana to end the carnage that had already resulted in such great slaughter. Karna refuses and insists to remain true to Duryodhana. He nevertheless receives the grandsire's blessing. He lay on the 'bed of arrows' till the end of the battle, and chose to die only after learning that the Pandavas had won, as he was now assured that the throne of Hastinapura was in safe hands. In his last days before he ascended to heaven, he recited to Yudhisthira the famous hymn, Vishnu sahasranama in praise of Krishna after the war, where Krishna or Vishnu is also called 'Rama', among other names of Vishnu, avatars of Vishnu and the names of Shiva.^[1].

Bhishma on his deathbed of arrows.
From the collection of the Smithsonian Institution.

Death

It is believed that Bhishma died after the age of 400 years. Considering that he was a true Yogi and lived like a true human, this age is not unbelievable. The relation between Bheeshma and pandav/kaurav can be describe as

Bharat Raja -> ....... -> Shantanu -> Bheeshma, ChitrVeer, Vicheetraveer -> Dhrutarashtra & Pandoo -> Pandav & kaurav's

References

External links

• Persons and Stories from Mahābhārata
• Small Story showing Bheeshma's greatness