Devavrata Hailed as Bhishma
Samskhepa Mahabharatam – Introduction
Mahabharatam authored by the supreme Vedavyasa Maharishi hailed rightfully as the fifth Veda is a priceless treasure house of ancient wisdom that has an amazing and boundless story value in addition to a detailed exposition of our ancient culture, heritage, ethos, dharma, raja niti, archery, war, philosophy, spirituality, description of celestials, rishis, kings, society and so on.
It is always a daunting challenge to present the great epic Mahabharatam with 18 awesome parvas in an abridged form because of the massive depth and width of the various stories and substories. It is proposed to present the entire gamut of Mahabharatam in a concise story form in 18 parts in a Series titled “Samskhepa Mahabharatam.”
King Santanu of Hastinapura fell in affection with Maa Ganga and craved to marry her. Ganga imposed certain tough conditions for marrying him.
These are:
- (a) He should never ask her who she was and from where she has come
- (b) He should not object to any of her deeds whether good or bad
- (c) He should not get angry with her any time
- (d) He should not speak anything which she does not like.
If the King breaks any of these conditions she will leave him at once. King Santanu lured by lust agreed to all of these conditions imposed by Ganga and married her. They led a happy and harmonious married life.
In due course, Ganga gave birth to seven children. As soon as each child was born, Ganga threw the newborn into the Ganges and returned happily. Santanu noticed all these killings by the mother of the children herself with grave astonishment and remained a mute spectator. Though it pained him very much, he could not ask Ganga anything as he feared that she would leave him at once.
When the eighth child was born and Ganga carried it to the Ganges, Santanu asked her to stop the killing of at least this eighth child. Ganga retorted that as he had broken his promise she would leave him immediately. She explained that due to the curse of Sage Vasishtha, the eight Vasus (ashtavasus) were born as human beings. Ganga spared the life of the newborn eighth child but disappeared with him.
Gangaputra
After leaving Ganga, Santanu led an austere life. One day when he was walking on the banks of the Ganges, a young bright boy playing by building a bridge of arrows over the Ganges and stopping the flow of the mighty river.
Before the astonished King, Ganga appeared and told him that the boy named ‘Devavrata’ was none other than his eighth child who had mastered the Vedas, archery, Raja Niti and various forms of arts. She blessed the boy, handed him over to Santanu and disappeared. Devavrata was looking lustrous and so handsome.
Being the beloved son of Ganga, he was also known as ‘Gangaputra’.
Santanu took Devavrata to his palace and showered on him all affection. King Santanu crowned him the prince of Hastinapura and wished him the best. After a few years, while Santanu was walking on the banks of the river Yamuna, he was enchanted by a divine fragrance that filled the entire place.
Satyavati or Matsyagandhi
Chasing the source of the fragrance, he found a ravishingly beautiful maiden. Her original name was ‘Satyavati’ (also called as Kali) who was earlier blessed by the great Sage Parasara through whom the great Veda Vyasa also known as ‘Krishna Dvaipayana’ was born.
By the grace of the Sage Parasara, she again became a maiden and a heavenly fragrance always emanated from her captivating body. Because of this, she was also called as ‘Matsyagandhi’.
The moment Santanu saw her, he was immediately attracted towards her. He moved towards her closely, introduced himself and asked her who she was. He also expressed his burning desire to marry her. She replied in her honeyed voice that she was the beloved daughter of Dasaraja, the chieftain of fishermen and that he might get consent from her father for the marriage proposal.
Santanu Approaching Dasaraja
When Santanu approached Dasaraja, he said so cleverly and selfishly that he would agree to get her daughter married to Santanu on the key condition that the son born out of this wedlock alone would rule Hastinapura after Santanu.
This was a great shocker for Santanu as in his mind the lustrous picture of his beloved son Devavrata born through Ganga flashed. He could not say anything to the chief of the fishermen though he pined immensely to marry the fragrant maiden.
He returned to Hastinapura with boundless sadness and disappointment. He did not tell anyone about this incident. He was undergoing the feeling of desperate loneliness and suffered the pangs of separation from Satyavati. His worries and unhappiness fully manifested on his face as well.
Devavrata noticed that something was wrong with his father and that he was not at all happy. He asked his father as to what worried him so much though he was the most powerful king of Hastinapura.
After repeated probing of Santanu by Devavrata and after talking to the Ministers, Devavrata figured out that there was something that his father had hidden from him. Then he approached the charioteer of his father and asked him where he had taken his father recently.
On persistent questioning by Devavrata, the charioteer gave information about the king meeting Satyavati and the exact place where she was living with her father. Thereafter, he concluded that his father had developed deep love towards her and he was unable to bear her separation.
Devavrata reached the place on the banks of the river Yamuna and met Dasaraja, the chief of fishermen. Devavrata inquired about his daughter and requested him to marry her to his father who was suffering because of her absence. The cunning Dasaraja repeated his condition that only the son born to her daughter should become the king after Santanu.
Devavrata immediately said that he would relinquish his claim to the throne and that the son of Satyavati alone would be entitled to become the king of Hastinapura. The wicked Dasaraja was not satisfied even with this great sacrifice of Devavrata. He said that even though Devavrata was ready to relinquish his entitlement to the throne, there could be threats to the sons of Satyavati from the offsprings of Devavrata at a later point of time.
Remain as a Bachelor
Keeping in mind only the happiness of his beloved father King Santanu, Devavrata without any hesitation at once declared that he would never get married and would remain as a chaste Brahmacari (Bachelor) forever and protect his celibacy. Hearing this great vow of Devavrata, the devas showered flowers on his head and the sound of “Bhishma” reverberated the entire place as a mark of celebrating this unheard-of selfless sacrifice.
This spirit of utmost sacrifice for the sake of his father earned him the name “Bhishma”, which stayed with him deservingly throughout his life. Bhishma led Satyavati to Hastinapura with great respect.
Santanu and Satyavati got happily married. Deeply touched by the supreme sacrifice of Bhishma at such a young age, Santanu gave him a boon of “iccha maranam” whereby Bhishma could choose the time of his death on his own volition and that until such time he would not face death due to any reason whatsoever. Bhishma started devoting his entire life to protecting the interests of the Hastinapura kingdom.
3 Princesses – Amba, Ambika and Ambalika
Two sons were born to Satyavati by name ‘Chitrangada’ and ‘Vichitravirya’. Thereafter Santanu died. Chitrangada was made the king but he was killed by the Gandharva. Bhishma himself performed his funeral rites. Vichitravirya ascended the throne. Bhishma went in search of a suitable bride for Vichitravirya and brought to Hastinapura the three princesses of the Kasi king named ‘Amba’, ‘Ambika’ and ‘Ambalika’ in a swayamvara by defeating all other kings who were desirous of marrying them.
When Amba told Bhishma that she was in affection with King Salva, Bhishma immediately sent her back to him. But King Salva rejected her as she was taken away by Bhishma.
When Amba was thus humiliated by both of them, she felt miserable and concluded that Bhishma was solely responsible for her pitiable condition and that she would take revenge on him. Amba started performing severe austerities with the sole objective that she alone should kill Bhishma as he has spoiled her life.
Bhishma got Ambika and Ambalika married to king Vichitravirya. Hastinapura prospered well with the valued guidance of Bhishma under the kingship of Vichitravirya.
For All parts of this series, click here
