2. ⚫ INTRODUCTION
⚫ VOW OF BHISHMA
⚫ PERSONALITY
⚫ SKILLS,TALENTS AND
ACHIEVEMENTS
⚫ IN THE MAHABHARAT WAR
⚫ STRETEGIC FORMATION:THE VYUHA
⚫ THE DEATH OF BHISHMA
5. Bhishma is often considered as a great
example of devotion and sacrifice. His name
itself is an honour to him, Bhishma which
means great and Pitamah which means
Grandfather which combined means Great
Grandsire.
Bhishma was born as the eighth son of the
illustrious King Shantanu and Ganga.
6. He was known as 'Bhishma Pitamaha'
(Pitamaha meaningthe grandfather or
grandsire) amongthe Pandavas and the
Kauravas.
He was a well known person for his
knowledge in politics and many other
subjects. He was a very good archer and he
won a battle with his Guru Parshurama, who
is otherwise unbeatable (due to the
influence of time and the relationship of
God and devotee).
8. oath,referring to
Bhishma means He of the terrible
his vow of lifelong
celibacy. Originally named Devavratha, he
became known as Bhishma after he took the
bhishana pratigya ('terrible oath') — the
vow of lifelong celibacy and of service to
whoever sat on the throne of his father (the
throne of Hastinapur).
9. Bhishma took another vow that he would
always see his father's image in whoever sits
on the King's throne and will serve him.
11. Bhishma had stature and personality that in
those times were fit for kings. He was a true
Kshatriya as well as a disciplined ascetic - a
rare combination. Like a true Kshatriya, he
never unnecessarily exhibited passion and
anger. A symbol of truth and duty, the
benevolent Bhishma was in all senses a true
human.
13. Bhishma was not only a good warrior, but
also highly skilled in political science
He had all the qualities and abilities fit for
an excellent king. His goodness and sacrifice
made him one of the greatest devotees of
Lord Krishna himself. He tried his best to
bring reconciliation between Pandavas and
Kauravas to prevent the war.
14. 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
Yudhishthiraonstatesmanship and
deep and meaningful instructions to
the
duties of a king.
16. Bhishma is the
Mahābhārata completely
one who witnessed the
from the
beginning since the rule of Shantanu.
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
wouldn't kill any Pandava but
would
fighting for the Kaurava camp as he
let
them kill
Kauravas.
19. 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.
25. Bhisma is lying on a bed of arrows Arjuna
standing above him with bow drawn and
pointed.
The relation between Bhishma and
Pandavas/Kauravas is described as that of a
grandsire.
26. Their descendence was in the following generations
Maharaj Hastin (founder of the Hastinapur empire)
(Many generations)
⚫ Kuru
⚫ Dushyant
⚫ Bharat
⚫ (many generations)
⚫ Shantanu
⚫ Bheeshma, Chitrangada, Vichitraveerya
⚫ Dhritarashtra & Pandu & Vidur
⚫ Pandavas & Kauravas
27. When Bhishma died, he was the eldest living
ancestor to the equivalent of 5
generations
grandparents. Their only living
heir
as the Pandavas themselves were
was
Parikshit, Arjuna's grandson, the son of
Abhimanyu and Matsya princess Uttara.
28. 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 Bhishmas mouth.
Its actually river goddess Ganga coming to
satisfy the thirst of her son Bhishma.
