Bheeshma: Not Just a Warrior but a Devotee

At the Rajasooya Yagna of Yudhishthira, there was a ritual to provide arghya to start the sacrifice. What that meant was that someone deserving had to be chosen, whose feet the king would wash, among other things, as a mark of obeisance and respect. Bheeshma along with Sahadeva suggested that Krishna be that person, as there was no one more deserving of that kind of glorification. The grandsire was more than just overjoyed with that prospect. In heralding this choice, he showed his devotee side, in addition to being the grand warrior patriarch.

At that time, Sisupala, from the kingdom of Chedi, strongly objected to that, and started hurling meaningless abuses at Krishna and later at Bheeshma too.

Now this also had a backstory. It turned out that many aeons ago, when the four sanat kumaras, who were the sons of Brahma, visited Lord Vishnu, the gates were guarded by two brothers, Jaya and Vijaya. They refused entry to the four brothers, and being the divine souls that they were, they cursed the two gatekeepers. Later Vishnu, while not totally negating the curses, gave them the option of redeeming themselves by one of the two options of life on earth. The first was seven lives as friends of Vishnu, and the second was three lives as enemies of Vishnu. Jaya and Vijaya chose the second, shorter version. They were therefore first reborn as Hiranyakashipu and his brother Hiranyaaksha, slain by Narasimha; later as Ravana and Kumbhakarna, slain by Ram; and finally as Sisupala and his brother, slain by Krishna. So in a sense, Sisupala’s slaying was preordained.

But one of the major abuses that Sisupala hurled was at Bheeshma, whom he insulted by saying that his vow of celibacy had no meaning as he was impotent anyway, and a coward to admit it. Bheeshma, being the warrior, was enraged by it, and was about to challenge Sisupala to a duel. But Krishna and the others calmed him and stopped him. Eventually, when Bheeshma saw Krishna get ready with his Sudarshan Chakra and warn Sisupala that his count of one hundred misdeeds (which Krishna had agreed to forgive in a promise to Sisupala’s mother) was almost full, that is when Bheeshma, realising that the Lord had other plans, rested at ease.

This was one of the early instances where Bheeshma as a devotee came to the fore. It does seem like he knew who Krishna was and had accepted His will. For him, devotion was, as important, if not more, than his prowess as the world’s foremost warrior.

In another instance, before the war started, it was Krishna who was the final messenger of peace to try and avert war. Bheeshma tried his best to change the minds of Duryodhana and Dhritarashtra, as he was convinced that the side that has Krishna would win. He scolded Duryodhana for his mistake of choosing Narayana Sena over Narayana, and said this visit by Krishna as the peace envoy was his last chance for redemption, before the war became inevitable. But Duryodhana made plans to capture and arrest Krishna instead. He said if Krishna was the only difference between the two sides, then by arresting him, the Kauravas could ensure that the Pandavas would be diminished and beaten. Astounded by this bizarre suggestion, Bheeshma walked out of the assembly lamenting his own failure to instil some sense in Duryodhana. In this instance too, Bheeshma’s mindset of surrender to Krishna, knowing well who he was, is evident.

Before the war began, Yudhishthira walked towards Bheeshma on the battlefield to seek his blessings, and to ask him how he can be vanquished. He knew fully well that an undefeated warrior who had beaten Parashuram, who himself had defeated the Kshatriyas twenty one times, and the warrior who had the benediction of choosing his time and place of death, was impossible to beat. Bheeshma, recognising that, blessed Yudhishthira with success, without telling him how he can be vanquished. All he said was that he would follow the rules of Kshatriya war fully and the time would come when he would lay down his arms as per the wishes of Narayana. While Yudhishthira went away not fully satisfied, Bheeshma was aware of his destiny and seemed to suggest that he was prepared for it at the hands of Amba reborn as Shikhandi as orchestrated by Krishna. His priority of being a devotee came forth even at the start of the biggest war of his life.

During the course of the war, on one of the days, Duryodhana, in despair, confessed to Bheeshma that he was astounded how despite having one and a half times the army of the Pandavas, the Kauravas were finding it so tough to overcome them. Bheeshma felt it was another chance for him to change Duryodhana’s mind. He explained to him that the Arjun Krishna pair were Nar Narayan reincarnate and their mission was to exterminate evil, and therefore it was impossible for Duryodhana and his side to win. He extolled the virtues and glories of Krishna to him, so much so that, for a while, Duryodhana started wondering if Krishna was actually God and even prayed to him, thinking that if not anything else, it might help him win.

But none of that was of any avail, as the next day Duryodhana accused Bheeshma of not fighting wholeheartedly on his side. This irated the grandsire so much that he put all his powers into five arrows, and gave a vow to Duryodhana that, with those five arrows, he will kill the five pandavas on the next day of war. Duryodhana was overjoyed with this, and knowing fully well that Bheeshma kept every vow he took, he felt the war will be over the next day and he secretly rejoiced. But that night, he got a doubt that this vow of Bheeshma may leak out via spies, and, hence, he asked Bheeshma to hand over the five arrows to him for safekeeping. Bheeshma did so to satisfy Duryodhana.

But it so happened that Krishna, being the all knowing, requested Arjuna to go to Duryodhana and ask for those arrows. There is a backstory to this in which Duryodhana had an unpaid debt towards Arjuna of some kind, as part of which he couldn’t refuse Arjuna whatever he asked for, once. Krishna used this occasion to exercise the repayment of that debt. Duryodhana therefore couldn’t refuse those five arrows that Arjuna asked for, and when he asked Arjuna how he came to know of these arrows, Arjuna told him that Krishna told him. The next day when Bheeshma asked Duryodhana for the arrows, he told Bheeshma about the happenings, hearing which Bheeshma is said to have secretly smiled, in acknowledgement of Lord Krishna’s plan to save both his devotees. On the one hand, Arjuna and the Pandavas were saved from those arrows, and on the other hand, Bheeshma was saved from the compulsion to keep his vow. That was another instance where the warrior devotee characteristics of Bheeshma could be seen.

But the epitome of the warrior devotee was still on store. Even after umpteen attempts, as the Kauravas position slid, Karna, who till Bheeshma stayed commander had vowed not to enter the battlefield, spurred Duryodhana to put him in charge. He claimed that he would finish the war immediately if put in charge. With that provocation, Duryodhana used his diplomacy to question Bheeshma’s commitment again. That is when Bheeshma vowed to finish Arjuna the following day, unless Krishna intervened with weapons in their duel. Everyone knew that Krishna had promised not to lift weapons and to play the charioteer role in this war. Duryodhana started rejoicing again. He felt the end of the war was near.

On the following day, Bheeshma rained weapons on Arjuna as if there was no tomorrow. Arjuna was unable to counter them despite his best efforts and continuous advice and manoeuvres from Krishna. It was also true that Arjuna was overcome by emotion seeing his grandsire, and may not have been at his best. Due to a combination of all factors, but primarily driven by Bheeshma’s own valour, there came a point where Arjuna was injured and in real danger of losing his life and the battle.

It was at that time that Krishna got off the chariot and lifted a wheel in his fingers like the Sudarshan Chakra. He charged towards Bheeshma and gave his verdict on him. He said that it is due to you that this war happened. As the royal patriarch serving the throne, it was your duty to show the rulers of Hastinapur the right path, but you have failed in that. On seeing the Lord himself pick up weapons against His promise, Bheeshma felt that there could be nothing better for him than to welcome death at the hands of the Lord. He had no problems in admitting that he had failed in his duty, if that was the will of the Lord. He kept his weapons down and bowed in obeisance.

Meanwhile, Arjuna dragged Krishna back and urged him to not break his promise as it would be a disgrace for him. Eventually Krishna didn’t use weapons but this episode displayed a couple of things. One is that Krishna was willing to go to any extent to protect his devotee Arjuna. And second is that a devotee like Bheeshma could happily play the role of an antagonist in this entire episode. It is said to demonstrate that even a mighty warrior and intense devotee like Bheeshma could end up on the losing side, if Krishna was not on his side. Moreover, it showed that, for Bheeshma, playing that role to let the Lord demonstrate this, it was both a matter of destiny and immense fortune. It turned out to be the epitome of his life, in his roles as a warrior and a devotee, in both of which Bheeshma showed that he was, perhaps, unmatched.

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