English
Bhishma's Vow
Source: Mahabharata, Adi Parva (Sambhava Parva)
Devavrata was the son of King Shantanu of Hastinapur and the goddess Ganga. He had learnt the Vedas from the sage Vasishtha and the art of arms from Parashurama. Delighted by his virtues, the king made him crown prince.
Some years later, King Shantanu was wandering in the forest along the Yamuna when a wonderful fragrance came on the breeze. Following it, he came upon a beautiful young woman who ferried a boat across the river. She was Satyavati, daughter of the chief of the fisherfolk.
The king asked the chief for her hand. The chief replied respectfully, “Great king, a daughter must be given to someone. But I have one condition: her son must be king after you.”
Shantanu could not give that promise. His worthy son Devavrata was already crown prince. He returned home in silence, but his heart stayed behind. The king grew sad and troubled.
Devavrata asked his father what was wrong, but the king turned the question aside. So Devavrata learnt the whole truth from his father's old minister, and taking some elder Kshatriyas with him, went to the fisher chief himself.
The chief repeated his condition. Without a moment's thought Devavrata said, “I give you my word: the son of this maiden shall be our king. I give up my right to the throne.”
Yet the chief was still not fully at ease. “Prince, you are true to your word, there is no doubt of that. But the sons you will have one day, will they honour this promise too?”
Before everyone present, Devavrata declared, “Hear me, chief of the fisherfolk. The kingdom I have already given up. Now I settle the matter of offspring too. From this day I take a vow of lifelong celibacy. I shall have no children. Even without a son, I shall reach the undying worlds of the virtuous.”
The young prince who had a whole kingdom and a happy family life before him gave up both in a single moment, only so that his father's sorrow might be lifted.
Hearing this, the chief was overjoyed and said, “Then I give my daughter to your father.”
At that very moment the apsaras and the gods showered flowers from the sky and cried out with one voice, “This is Bhishma!” Bhishma means one who has taken a terrible, unbending vow. From that day Devavrata was known to the world as Bhishma.
Then Bhishma said to Satyavati, “Mother, please mount the chariot. Let us go home.” He brought her to Hastinapur and told his father everything.
When Shantanu heard of the hard sacrifice his son had made, his heart overflowed. He granted Bhishma a boon: “As long as you wish to live, death shall not touch you. Your death will come only at your own will.”
Bhishma kept that vow all his life. He placed Satyavati's sons Chitrangada and Vichitravirya on the throne and guarded Hastinapur through generation after generation, but never once sat on the throne himself.
Many years later, lying on a bed of arrows on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, Bhishma used that very boon to wait until the sun turned north at Uttarayana, and only then did he leave his body. From that same bed of arrows he also taught Yudhishthira the duties of a king and the deeper lessons of life.
What this story teaches
Bhishma gave away his whole future for his father's happiness. A true promise is one kept without conditions, for a whole lifetime.
Bhishma Ashtami falls on Magha Shukla Ashtami, observed as the day Bhishma left his body. It is customary to offer tarpan in his name on this day.
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