Birth of Bhishma

There are several important and interesting characters in Mahabharatha. Bhishma is one among them.

The main story centres around the royal dynasty of the Purus. There was a famous king among them called Pratheepa. Once he was meditating by the banks of the holy river Ganga (Ganges) for a few days . One day a beautiful damsel suddenly appeared there and sat on the right thigh of the meditating king. When asked in surprise she introduced herself as the guardian angel of the river in human form. She requested the king to accept her as wife.

Pratheepa spoke to her in kind words that the right thigh of men is meant for a daughter-in-law. It is the left one that is meant for the wife. Since Ganga sat on his right thigh, he would accept her as wife for his son. Ganga had to agree with that logic and promptly disappeared.

Pratheepa got a son in his old age who was given the name Shanthanu. Once, Shanthanu came to the banks of the same river Ganges while hunting. He met a beautiful maiden there. She was none other than the same Ganga. The king was enamoured by her beauty and requested her to be his wife. Ganga accepted his proposal on one condition. The king should never object to anything she did and speak nothing against her. The king agreed to this. Thus, the two got married and started living happily in the royal palace.

Ganga gave birth to a handsome boy in due course. As soon as the boy was born, Ganga threw the boy into the river and killed him. The king was shocked by this ghastly deed, but bore that with anguish remembering his promise to her. Soon, another boy was born who also met with the same fate. Thus, Ganga bore seven boys to the king, who were all killed by their mother in the same manner. The king grew sadder after each child birth because of this.

Then, Ganga delivered yet another extremely handsome boy. She was about to throw him into the river when the king could not contain himself any more. He mustered enough courage to block his wife and ask: “Who are you and why are you being so cruel?”.

To this Ganga replied with a sad tone : “King, you have broken your promise to me. Hence, I have to leave you. I shall not kill this boy, but, I will take him with me and bring him up to become a fine youth. Then I shall leave him back in your care”.

She then narrated her story. There were eight divine brothers known as the Vasus in heaven. They were travelling in the world above in the company of their wives. They happened to see the divine cow, Nandini of sage Vasishtha there and were transfixed by its grace. One of the Vasus, by name Dyov, explained the special gifts of the cow to his wife. That made her mind set on getting the cow for herself. Her husband and his brothers were all apprehensive of the wrath of Vasishtha. But, she was adamant. Finally, they yielded and took Nandini to their home.
When the sage returned to his hermitage for his daily rituals for which the sacred cow was essential he found his beloved cow missing. He could see with his intuitive powers what happened, and cursed the Vasus to be born as humans, for the way they behaved.

The Vasus came to know of this curse immediately and fell at his feet for forgiveness. Vasishtha was willing to tone down the punishment, but, it was not possible to forgive altogether. So he decided he would let seven of them who were only accomplices to take birth and die immediately. The eighth, Dyov, had to live the life of a human through, but, with honour and dignity. He suggested that they could appease the Holy Ganga to help them in this plan by becoming their mother on earth. That was how the seven children of Shanthanu happened to be killed at birth.

With these words Ganga disappeared from there taking the new born with her.

Shanthanu ruled over his kingdom in an exemplary manner. Every one lived happily under his rule. There was peace and prosperity throughout his kingdom.

One day the king reached the shores of the river Ganges while hunting. He was surprised to see the river unusually low on water. He started moving upstream looking for the reason for this. He was surprised to find a handsome youth blocking the flow of water with a dam built by the arrows he skillfully dispatched one after other . The sight of the young lad brought memories of his sole surviving son and departed wife, Ganga to the mind of Shanthanu. At that very moment Ganga appeared in person as though materialized from his thoughts. She was holding the hand of that very youth who was the son born to her from the king. She had educated him in all necessary fields, each subject from its authority. Ganga then handed him over to the king and disappeared for ever.

The boy was named Devavrata, who later came to be known as Bhishma.