Bheeshma: Backstory, Birth and the Vow

Right from creation starting with Brahma, the first king in the Sun dynasty was Vivasvin and subsequently there was a lunar branch to it in which Bharat was the most successful emperor. In that dynasty, which is the earliest descendent of the Kurus, was a king named Mahabheesha.

Mahabheesha was a very righteous king and due to his deeds, he got elevated to heaven after his death, and once, got the opportunity to be part of an assembly which had Brahma, the Devatas and all esteemed members of the heavenly community present. In that was also Ganga Devi who faced a strange situation due to heavy winds where her clothes flew away. When this happened, the heavenly participants, as per dharma, turned their sight elsewhere, but Mahabheesha didn’t. Even Ganga apparently didn’t feel discomfited by the stares of Mahabheesha. All of this was seen by Brahma who was infuriated at both of them. It resulted in a curse that Mahabheesha will have to go back to earth in human form and so will Ganga. But given his past record of good deeds, Mahabheesha was allowed to choose who he would like to be born as, and after careful deliberation, he chose to be born as the third son of one of his own descendents, King Pratipa. This third son, Mahabheesha reborn, was Shantanu. Ganga initially attempted to go down to earth as Pratipa’s wife, but he himself was a renunciant by then, and suggested that she can be his daughter in law in the form of the wife of his son Shantanu.

Now, Shantanu had forgotten his past history as Mahabheesha but still maintained some of those character traits. While Ganga being an original heavenly person remembered everything and the objective of her descent to earth. Therefore she had the privilege of doing her acts on earth to make up for her misdemeanor, while still maintaining her heavenly attributes. Before she went to earth, she saw a set of eight brothers, namely the Vasus, who are among the servants of the Devatas, crying in misery.

There was a Backstory to that too. It so happened that these eight Vasus had seen Kamdhenu, the cow of Sage Vasishta and one of them, on the bidding of his wife, had tried to snatch the heavenly cow, in the process angering the sage. The sage had cursed all of them to take human birth on earth, against which they had pleaded with all their heart. The sage then said that in that case, they will still have to take birth, but seven of them would have short lives and come back to heaven soon. But the eighth one who had done the actual misdeeds of trying to steal Kamdhenu would have to live a long and full life and that too, without the pleasures of a wife, because he had fallen prey to the demand of his wife for Kamdhenu this time.

Now these Vasus begged Ganga to become their mother while she completed her term on earth. Taking pity on them, Ganga agreed to their request, saying she will drown the first seven on birth, and also try doing the same for the eighth, so that they can quickly return to heaven.

Therefore, Ganga took the form of a beautiful woman on earth. One fine day, Shantanu, formerly Mahabheesha, who had ascended to the throne after his father Pratipa had renounced it and his two elder brothers had refused to take up the role too, saw Ganga and was bewitched. He proposed to Ganga to marry her and be his queen to which Ganga agreed, but on one condition. That was that he will not interfere in her life and provide her full freedom to do whatever she does without any questions asked. Shantanu being in love, agreed to her and Ganga became his queen.

They had seven children as was preordained and Ganga, to Shantanu’s utter dismay, drowned all of them, one after the other, in the river. But because of the promise, he couldn’t ask her why she did such a gruesome act on their children, and restrained himself. Finally when she tried to drown the eighth child, he could not stop himself from asking her the reason for such cruelty. She told him the reason and who she was, but also said that he had broken his promise, and therefore, she will now go back to heaven. Shantanu urged her to take the eighth son along with her, to which she agreed and went away.

Many years later, Shantanu on a walk realised that the river Ganga had dried up. Unable to understand how a river as mighty as the Ganga could dry up, he followed the trail and saw that a noble youngster had built a dam on the Ganga simply using his skills of archery. He wished to know who he was and Ganga Devi appeared and told him that he was Devavrat, their son, who had been trained in all skills that kings need as well as all the wisdom of the scriptures by the choicest teachers of heaven. Shantanu was mighty pleased and appointed him as the prince regent and his worthy successor, to everyone’s joy.

But we know what Devavrat was destined for, from his backstory. Therefore the twist in the tale happened a few years after his appointment as the heir apparent.

Shantanu, perhaps due to his own past traits or other reasons, one day was attracted by a fragrance that took him in the direction of a Matsya princess named Satyavati. She had her own backstory of being found by a fisher woman in a fish stomach, and another blessing to prevent the foul smell, that she would have a fragrance that would be irresistible. Shantanu, on reaching the source of the fragrance, saw that she was surrounded by her community and hence, being the king, approached her father for her hand in marriage.

In normal circumstances, such a proposal of an alliance from the emperor should have overjoyed the father of Satyavati who, though he was a king, to put it in context, wasn’t of the stature of Shantanu. But this father was more ambitious than that. He asked Shantanu that he would give Satyavati in marriage, if he promised that her son would succeed Shantanu as the king. Now this was not possible, as Devavrat was already the heir apparent, and hence Shantanu returned in despair.

This despair was visible to his son Devavrat who made some enquiries and found the reason for his father’s despair. In normal circumstances, one would think that a son who hasn’t even been brought up by Shantanu would just let things be. He had no particular affinity for Shantanu as he was brought up mainly by Ganga in heaven. But call it his own call towards dharma, or his preordained destiny due to his backstory, some things are inevitable. Devavrat volunteered to give up his claim to the throne so that his father may be able to accept the conditions set by Satyavati and her father. But when Shantanu went forth with his acceptance, it turned out that even that wasn’t enough to quell their suspicion. Satyavati and her father raised the doubt that while Devavrat may have given up his right to the throne, his future progeny will seek their claim, and Satyavati’s children may not succeed Shantanu, after all.

This is what led Devavrat to make the mighty promise that at first might appear to be completely lacking in sense of proportion. He declared that he will not only give up his right to the throne, but will not marry and stay celibate all his life. If that wasn’t enough to convince anyone, he vowed that he will devote his life to serve the throne of Hastinapur all his life.

The Gods from heaven blessed Devavrat and showered the name of Bheeshma on him. This was an exemplary act of sacrifice for a person who was supposed to be the prince regent and heir to the throne. Not only had he given up that claim but also promised to live a renunciate’s life while serving the future kings. This was a double sacrifice that combined the highest sacrifices of the warrior and priestly classes, and hence qualified to be the biggest sacrifice possible. Hence the name Bheeshma – indicating huge and terrible.

As a result of this, Shantanu was filled with both joy and grief. While his marriage to Satyavati was now possible, the sacrifice that Devavrat, now Bheeshma, had to make filled him with grief. Shantanu due to his past deeds as Mahabheesha, had the ability to bless Devavrat and in that moment, he bestowed the blessing of Death by his own choice to Bheeshma, who could now choose the timing of his departure from this earth.

If one were to analyse these events in a literal sense, each of the characters have a reason to do what they did. At a moral or ethical level, Bheeshma followed dharma to the extreme. And at a spiritual level, one can say that Bheeshma’s was a destiny preordained by the Lord to play the role that he had set for him for the future as part of His plan.

Bheeshma’s birth and vow are the single most important back stories in the epic which set the stage for Satyavati’s children and the next generation. If not for this, things were all set for Devavrat to succeed Shantanu and none of the events of the epic would have followed. Therefore, Bheeshma’s vow is a significant event in the early part of the epic, signifying Bheeshma’s extreme adherence to dharma throughout his life and eventual death.