Bheeshma, The Invincible Warrior

To know about Bheeshma first we need to know about his past life. Bheeshma was once a God, a vasu, the king of Vasus and his name was Dyaus. ( Greek -Zeus ).While visiting Vashishtha Rishi, Dyaus’s wife Prutha fell in love with the ashram’s Kamadhenu and her calf – main sacred-cow(s) that supplied milk and ghee for the sacraments.  Vashishtha was unwilling to part with his cow for any amount of inducement / money.  At the insistence of his wife, Dyaus abducted the cow(s) with the help of his fellow Vasus.

zeus ( Dyaus)

On learning of the theft, Vashishtha cursed the Vasus to be born as a human and suffer pain and disappointments.  Vasus begged to be let off the curse.  Those Vasus who had helped in the abduction only out of loyalty, rather than desire for the cow, were told their time on the earth will be limited.  But Dyaus was told that he would suffer a long life for being the instigator and for giving into the unreasonable demands of his wife.

Goddess Ganga

  Vasus and Ganga decided to help each other out.  Ganga said she would give birth to the Vasus and kill them off one by one. 

She gave birth to many children; each

newborn babe she took to the Ganges and

cast into the river, and then returned to the

king with a smiling face.

The Vasus felt relieved and approached the goddess Ganga and begged of her:

"We pray you to become our mother. For

our sake we beseech you to descend to the

earth and marry a worthy man. Throw us

into the water as soon as we are born and

liberate us from the curse."

Santanu and Ganga

 The goddess granted their prayer, came to the earth and became the wife of Santanu. When the goddess Ganga left Santanu and disappeared with the eighth child, the king gave up all sensual pleasures and ruled the kingdom in a spirit of asceticism. One day he was wandering along the banks of the Ganges when he saw a boy endowed with the beauty and form of Devendra, the king of the gods. The child was amusing himself by casting a dam of arrows across the Ganges in flood, playing with the mighty river as a child with an indulgent mother. To the king who stood transfixed with amazement at the sight, the goddess Ganga revealed herself and presented the child as his own son.

She said: 

"O king, this is that eighth child

I bore you. I have brought him up till now.

His name is Devavrata. He has mastered

the art of arms and equals Parasurama in

prowess. He has learnt the Vedas and the

Vedanta from Vasishtha, and is well

versed in the arts and sciences known to

Sukra. Take back with you this child who

is a great archer and hero as well as a

master in statecraft."

Then she blessed the Dyaus/Devavrata would be spared the instant death so that he can live out his curse. This is cited as the reason behind seven infanticides of Ganga who became the wife of king Shantanu.

Later King Shantanu fell in love with Satyavati, the local head fisherman’s daughter. Her beauty and grace mesmerized Shantanu; he yearned to marry her and make her another one of his queens. Unfortunately for the king, this would not be an easy task. Satyavati’s recent palm-reading predicted that her sons would be rulers of Bharat. Her father worried that if Satyavati married Shantanu, their children would not get a chance to rule the great kingdom since his son, Devavrat, was first in line for the crown. Looking out for his daughter’s well-being, the fisherman placed a proposition before Shantanu: Devavrat would have to forfeit the throne, or else Shantanu could not have Satyavati’s hand in marriage.

Shantanu was very hurt by this proposition because he knew that it was Devavrat’s right to be the next king. Knowing he would be doing injustice to his son he tried to forget about Satyavati. However, being away from Satyavati caused Shantanu to become depressed. Devavrat, through his father’s charioteer, came to know of the reason behind his father’s depression and decided that as a son, he should help his father regain his happiness. 

Devavrat arranged a meeting with the fisherman. Devavrat promised Satyavati’s father that he would let her children rule the kingdom if he consented Shantanu to marry her.  However, this generous offer was not enough for the fisherman. He was worried that there was still a possibility that Devavrat’s future children may challenge the right of Satyavati’s future children. To quell the fisherman’s fears, Devavrat vowed to practice eternal celibacy. Devavrat’s will to help his father astonished the gods in the heavens, who immediately showered flowers upon him, crying “Bhishma, Bhishma, Bhishma!” Bhishma means “one with a terrible oath” and so from then on, Devavrat was referred to as Bhishma. Hearing about his son’s immense sacrifice, Shantanu granted him the boon of iccha mrutyu, which gave him the ability to choose his time of death

"I shall never marry and I dedicate myself

to a life of unbroken chastity."

Years later, in the process of finding a bride for his half-brother, the young king Vichitravirya, Bhishma 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; Salwa attempted to stop the abduction but was soundly beaten. Upon reaching Hastinapura, Amba confided in Bhishma that she wished to wed Salwa. Bhishma then sent her back to Salwa, who, bitter from his humiliating defeat at Bhisma's hands, turned her down. Disgraced, Amba approached Bhishma for marriage. He refused her, citing his oath. Enraged beyond measure, Amba vowed to avenge herself against Bhishma even if it meant being reborn over and over again.

Amba

Amba sought refuge with Parasurama, who ordered Bhishma to marry Amba, telling Bhishma it was his duty. Bhishma politely refused saying that he was ready to give up 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, Parasurama was on foot. Bhishma requested Parasurama to also take a chariot and armor so that Bhishma would not have an unfair advantage. Parasurama blessed Bhishma with the power of divine vision and asked him to look again. When Bhishma looked at his guru with the divine eyesight, he saw the Earth as Parasurama's chariot, the four Vedas as the horses, the Upanishads as the reins, Vayu (wind) as the Charioteer and the Vedic goddesses Gayatri, Savitri, and Saraswati as his armor. Bhishma got down from the chariot and sought the blessings of Parashurama to protect his dharma, along with permission to battle against his teacher. Pleased, Parashurama blessed him and advised him to protect his vow as Parasurama himself had to fight to uphold his word as given to Amba. They fought for 23 days without conclusion, each too powerful to defeat the other.

Parashuram

In the end, the demigods showered praise on Bhishma, and he sought the blessing of Parashurama as his guru. The Avatara then acknowledged that his former student was truly invincible, telling Amba:

Using even the very best of weapons I have not been able to obtain any advantage over Bhishma, that foremost of all warriors! I have exerted now to the best of my power and might. Seek the protection of Bhishma himself, thou hast no other refuge now.

—Mahabharata 189:1

However, Amba refused to listen to Parashurama's advice and left, angrily declaring that she will achieve her objective by asceticism. Her predicament unchanged, did severe penance to please Lord Shiva. Lord Shiva assured her that she would be born as a man named (Shikhandi) in her next birth (and still she would recall her past) and could be instrumental in Bhishma's death, thus satisfying her vow.

On the tenth day of Mahabharata war  Arjuna was assigned the task of killing Bhishma. Arjuna’s reluctance to engage his revered guru in serious battle, made Krishna lose his patience and he was about take on himself the task of killing that invincible and glorious warrior when Bhishma's arrow struck his head. Bhishma was not in the least disturbed, but on the other hand he was filled with joy. In fact his own wish had been fulfilled; for, he had vowed that he would make Sri Krishna take up his Chakra.

Bhishma jumped down from his chariot and threw down his bow and arrows. He praised Sri Krishna.

With folded hands he said,

 "Lord, I am a child before you; should you look for my shortcomings? I am your devotee; should you be angry with me? I shall be happy if you kill me, for then I shall go to heaven. Come, my Lord."

 But Arjuna intervened and reminded Krishna of his vow not to take up arms in the war. Krishna relented when Arjuna promised that he would do everything possible to kill Bhishma. A low stratagem had, however, to be employed. Sikhandin (Amba in previous life) had taken a vow to kill Bhishma as an act of revenge for the wrong done to her by Bhishma. As Sikhandin was born a woman, it was not chivalrous for Bhishma to fight her. So, Sikhandin was placed in front of Arjuna, Who used Sikhandin as a shield. The war raged in its full ferocity. Sikhandin shot arrows at Bhishma unaware of Bhishma’s feelings and without any fear of retaliation, from his victim.  Bhishma was offended when Sikhandin’s arrows pierced his body. He however controlled his anger. But when Arjuna’s arrows wounded him he told the Kaurava prince, Dushasana.

“These are the shafts of Arjuna; they cannot be sikhandin’s; because they tear my flesh as a crab’s young Ones tear their mother’s body”.

 Such was his love for his dear disciple Arjuna. Though Bhishma fought for the Kauravas reluctantly, he did his duty by them. (It must have been a matter for satisfaction to him that he lived to see  that the Pandavas won the war of righteousness). Bhishma’s body was now pierced all over by arrows so numerous that when he was grievously wounded and fell from his chariot, his body did not touch the earth, but rested on a bed of arrows sticking to his body. By this time, the sun had  crossed the equator to the southern Hemisphere and  he had to wait for an auspicious moment of death which would not be for another six months when the sun returns to the  northern  hemisphere. Six months on a bed of arrows! As his head was without support, he asked for a pillow.

 Though princes brought some pillows, he was not satisfied. Arjuna shot arrows on the ground below his head in such a way as to give a prop befitting  the brave warrior. When he asked for water to drink, Arjuna again sent an arrow which pierced  earth so deep that water came gushing straight to Bhishma’s lips to quench his thirst! It  was as if Mother Ganga herself came to moisten her son’s dry lips. 

From his bed of arrows, he appealed to all to stop the war. But it was too late and nobody listened to his advice.Bhishma, as requested by Krishna, imparted Valuable advice on Dharma and other matters of importance to Yudhishthira and others who had gathered round him to pay their respects. At last when he gave up life at a moment of his own choice, gods from above saluted him with folded hands and a gentle
breeze laden with fragrance blew over the Battle field. The surviving warriors gathered around him to pay homage. His mission over,he finally returned to the abode of the Vasus as Dyaus.