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THE Book of 'BHISHMA' (Bhī.Smaparvan)

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THE Book of 'BHISHMA' (Bhī.Smaparvan) I N T R O D U C T I O N B ‘B’ (Bhīs.maparvan), the sixth T book of the eighteen-book epic the “Maha·bhárata,” narrates the events that occurred during the first ten days of the great battle between the Káuravas and the Pándavas, fought on the vast plain of Kuru·kshetra, the sacrificial ground of their common ancestor Kuru. Books Six through Nine, which cover the eighteen-day war, are named after the four successive generals: Bhishma, Drona, Karna and Shalya, who lead the Káurava forces and are killed in se- quence. e present CSL volume contains the second of the two parts of ‘Bhishma.’ e Background e epic recounts the story of the great fratricidal war waged by the descendants of the Bharata lineage for the suc- cession of the kingship. e text views this war as merely an episode in the eternal cosmic struggle between the gods and the demons, transferred to the Earth. e Pándavas are de- scribed as the sons of the gods, whereas the Káuravas as in- carnate demons. On the earthly plane, the conflicting par- ties are represented by two groups of cousins, the sons of the royal brothers Dhrita·rashtra and Pandu. Since the for- mer had been born blind, the latter, his junior, rules in his place. Pandu dies, leaving five young sons, the Pándavas, born from his two wives: Yudhi·shthira, Bhima and Árjuna from Kunti, also named Pritha, and twins Nákula and Saha· deva from Madri. Dhrita·rashtra, now regent, has a hun- dred sons, called the Káuravas. e eldest of them, Duryó- dhana, is born after Yudhi·shthira who is thus recognized xv as legitimate heir. Duryódhana envies his cousin and plots against the Pándavas, but the five brothers manage to es- cape, wander in disguise and marry the Panchála princess Dráupadi. Dhrita·rashtra, attempting to reconcile the ri- valry, partitions the kingdom. Yet Duryódhana seeks to de- prive his cousins of their share. He challenges Yudhi·shthira to a ritual game of dice, during which, through the trick- ery of Duryódhana’s uncle Shákuni, Yudhi·shthira loses his part of the kingdom. As a penalty, the Pándava brothers, to- gether with their joint wife humiliated by the Káuravas, are exiled to the forest for twelve years, after which, in order to regain their kingdom, they are to spend one year incognito. Upon return from their exile the Pándavas justly claim their share, but Duryódhana rejects their demand. Both sides as- semble allies and start preparations for war. ‘Bhishma’ com- mences on its very eve. ‘Bhishma’ e first half of ‘Bhishma’ comprises a discourse on tra- ditional cosmology, the famous “Bhagavad Gita” (“Song of the Lord”), and the detailed description of the first four days of the great battle, as related to the blind King Dhrita· rashtra by his divine-sighted messenger the charioteer Sán- jaya who acts as a war reporter. e narration of warfare begins with a flash-forward (a pattern common to the four war books) in which Sánjaya suddenly returns from the battlefield to announce to Dhrita·rashtra the fall of general Bhishma and, at the request of the lamenting king, reports to him at length what had happened during the preceding days. xvi e second half of ‘Bhishma’ recounts the battle events which take place from the beginning of the fifth day of the war till the end of the tenth. It opens with King Dhrita· rashtra, the father of the Káuravas, asking Sánjaya about the cause of their cousins being invincible. Referring to the same question posed by the eldest of the Káuravas, Dur- yódhana, before grandfather Bhishma, the patriarch of the family and the commander of the Káurava army, Sánjaya quotes the latter’s reply, in which Bhishma explains that the major reason for the Pándavas’ invincibility and in- evitable victory is that their ally Krishna, the charioteer of Árjuna, is the incarnation of the Lord Vishnu-Naráyana himself, while Árjuna is the incarnation of the god Nara (“Man”). Despite Bhishma’s appeal to Duryódhana to con- clude peace with the Pándavas, he decides to continue the hostilities. Formations of troops, heroic feats of arms, bloody mas- sacres, fierce duels, tremendous confusion of routed forces, and scenes of violence and valor are depicted in ‘Bhishma’ in great detail. Fighting with varying success, the two armies suffer heavy casualties and, after an overnight retreat, driven by Fate and by Time, they resume their horrible fight at the dawn of each following day. e key role in the strategy and tactics of battle through- out the present book belongs to general Bhishma, the com- mander of the Káurava forces. Due to his outstanding mil- itary skills, he draws up the troops in the most effective way and leads the army in the course of battle. Whenever the Káuravas suffer a reverse, the mighty and heroic warrior Bhishma interferes and always succeeds in improving the xvii situation and inflicting heavy losses on the Pándavas. At the war’s outset he promises Duryódhana to kill ten thousand warriors of the Pándava army every single day of battle; and he fulfills his promise. Nevertheless there is some ambiguity in Bhishma’s role. He is obligated to the court of King Dhrita·rashtra for giv- ing him a livelihood and has no choice but to side with his patron. According to his own words, it is his weakness for material wealth that has made him dependent on the Káu- ravas and compelled him to fight for them. Yet his sym- pathies are clearly with the Pándavas and he wishes them to win. Bhishma promises Yudhi·shthira to help him with good counsel. After the ninth day of war, when Bhishma has wreaked havoc on their troops, the Pándavas realize that they will be unable to win as long as unconquerable Bhishma is alive, and decide to concentrate all efforts on slaying him. Krishna even expresses his readiness to break his vow of non-engagement in the fight, however Yudhi· shthira rejects that proposal as unrighteous. Instead he of- fers an alternative plan. He recalls asking Bhishma, on the eve of the great battle, for his blessings, permission to fight against him, and the means to defeat him. Old Bhishma had then blessed the eldest Pándava and, saying that it was not yet the time for his death, invited Yudhi·shthira to come to him on another occasion and inquire again. When the Pándava brothers come now to their old grandfather’s tent to take counsel, Bhishma willingly reveals to them the method of killing him, which they will follow. xviii Bhishma’s Past Bhishma, whose original name is Deva·vrata (“Divine Vow”), is a son of King Shántanu by the goddess Ganga (the river Ganges). He is an incarnation of the god Dyaus who, along with seven other Vasu deities, was cursed by the great celestial sage Vasíshtha to be reborn as a mortal for stealing his wish-granting cow. Unlike the other seven, Dyaus was doomed to dwell for a long time in the human world, to become a law-abiding mortal, expert in all weap- ons and devoted to his father’s well-being, yet to give up the pleasure of being with a woman and the begetting of off- spring. e cursed Vasus then came to Ganga and begged her to let them be born of her womb and to release them from the world of mortals at birth. e ever young goddess promised to help them, descended to the earth, went di- rectly to King Pratípa of the Lunar Dynasty, sat down on his lap and told him: “I want you to marry me.” e king replied: “Lady, if you wanted me to marry you, you should have sat on my left thigh and not on my right, which be- longs to the son or the daughter-in law. Let a son be born to me, and I will have him marry you.” Ganga agreed and Pratípa got a son, Shántanu. When the son came of age, Pratípa left the kingdom to him and retired to the forest. Once while hunting on the bank of the Ganges, Shántanu saw a beautiful woman, the goddess Ganga, and fell in love with her. She agreed to become his wife, but set her condi- tion: “Whatever I may do, whether you like it or not, you must neither interfere nor blame me. e day you do that, I will leave you.” e infatuated king accepted the terms. Every time a child was born, Ganga would drown him in xix the Ganges. Shántanu restrained himself, but when she was about to drown their eighth child, the king exclaimed: “At least don’t kill this one! What a horrible woman you are!” Ganga spared the child, but immediately vanished with him. One day she reappeared to give Shántanu back his son Deva·vrata, a youth trained in all the arts of the war- rior clan. e king took him to the capital and made him the crown prince. Later, however, while out hunting Shán- tanu saw a fair young maiden Sátyavati and asked for her hand. Her father, a chieftain of fishermen, consented to the marriage provided that her descendants would be heirs to the throne. In order to gratify his old father’s desire to marry her, prince Deva·vrata waived his right to succession and took a vow of celibacy. Henceforth, due to his awe- inspiring vow, he is called Bhishma (“Awesome”). Pleased at his son’s extraordinary self-sacrifice, Shántanu granted him the boon of being able to choose the time of his death.
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