Tag: Samskhepa Mahabharatam

Killing of Bakasura

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.”

Killing of Bakasura

The frightening sound from the wild animals reverberated in the forest. Kunti was very tired and sleepy. Bhima looked at his brothers who were also exhausted. Leaving them resting at a safe location, Bhima searched for water in the pitch darkness. He located a large pool of pure cold water. After drinking water from the pool, Bhima brought adequate water for his mother and brothers and quenched their thirst.

While Kunti and the other Pandavas slept deeply without knowing what was happening outside, Bhima was vigilant and took great care of them throughout the night. As the day dawned, all of them started walking through the bushes, plants, shrubs and plants. The path was filled with sharp stones and thorns and tough to walk. The Pandavas took turns and carried their beloved mother Kunti on their shoulders through the dangerous path. They rested whenever it was too tough for them to proceed further.

While the Pandavas along with Kunti were asleep, a demon named Hidimba saw them. As he was hungry, he thought that he would have a great feast ahead. He ordered his sister named Hidimbi to kill them and bring their flesh so that they could share it merrily. Hidimbi disguised as a beautiful lady went to the place where the Pandavas were sleeping. Looking at the stunning handsomeness of Bhima, she was immediately attracted towards him. She changed her mind.

Bhima woke up and when he came to know about her love towards him, he told her to take him to her brother Hidimba. When Hidimba came to know that her sister had a switched mind, he got furious and threatened to kill her. Bhima appeared before him and challenged him to fight with him first. They fought terribly with trees and creepers and the sound made Kunti and others awake.

Kunti was amazed at the beauty of Hidimbi, who told the truth about her. Hidimbi conveyed her deep love towards Bhima. Bhima killed the demon Hidimba in the fight. Afterwards, Kunti approved of the engagement of Bhima with Hidimbi. Both of them enjoyed a lot. A valiant son named Ghatotkacha was born to them.

The Pandavas and Kunti roamed from one forest to another and in due course, they met the great sage Veda Vyasa and took his blessings and advice. Veda Vyasa consoled them and inspired them to be brave as human life was always conditioned by ‘karma’ as it had ups and downs.

Ekachakrapura

One should be bold enough to face the challenges of life and move forward on the path of righteousness. As advised by the sage, they got themselves disguised as Brahmans and walked towards the city, ‘Ekachakrapura’. No one could recognize them as the Pandavas. They stayed in the house of a Brahman at Ekachakrapura and ruminated about their pitiable condition. They also discussed their plan which was quite uncertain.

The Pandavas used to go to the houses of other Brahmanas in that city and beg for food. As new visitors in that place, the Pandavas developed a rapport with the community of the Brahmans and were vividly noticed by all. Whatever food was obtained, they gave it to Kunti. She would divide the collected food into two parts.

She gave the first part of the food to the mighty Bhima who was always feeling hungry. The balance of the food was equally divided among the four brothers. But the growing appetite of Bhima could never be satisfied. Because of this, Bhima became lean. Kunti and the Pandavas started worrying about Bhima. To get more alms, Bhima got an unusually very big earthen pot.

One day when the four brothers were away begging, Kunti and Bhima heard a loud weeping sound inside the house of their landlord. Deeply shocked, they concluded that some tragedy had befallen on the family of the landlord. Kunti rushed inside their house to inquire about it. She heard a very touching conversation of the family of four members comprising of father, mother, daughter and young son each vying with the other to sacrifice their life at the hands of the demon named Bakasura.

Kunti came to know that Bakasura had killed the people of that place at random earlier. There was an agreement made between the demon and the people. Every week Bakasura would be given an enormous quantity of food in a cart driven by two mighty bullocks along with a person from a family for the demon. The turn of the landlord came. There was so much grief engulfing the family.

Kunti was deeply touched by their plight of them and immediately offered to help the family by sending one of her sons in lieu of the son of the landlord. Hearing this, the landlord said that it would not be proper for someone else to be sacrificed for the sake of protecting his family. Kunti was convinced that his son had special powers and that he would kill the demon.

Finally, Kunti convinced the landlord to accept her offer. Kunti discussed with her sons and Bhima volunteered to fight with the mighty Bakasura. Bhima drove the bullock cart with huge quantities of food, ate them all and challenged Bakasura to fight with him. Bakasura was furious on seeing this.

After a fierce fight, Bhima killed Bakasura. Bhima’s arrival made the people happy and they praised him for his immense powers, selflessness and heroic deeds. They were greatly relieved of the fear of the demon. The landlord and his family conveyed their deep sense of gratitude to Kunti and Bhima for saving their family from the jaws of death.

Drupada, the glorious King of Panchala never forgot the bitter enmity that he had with Drona and the humility he had undergone in the past. He wanted Arjuna to marry his beautiful daughter Draupadi. Though Drupada came to know about the fire mishap in the lacquer palace, he secretly got the information that the Pandavas had somehow escaped the fire.

He firmly believed that Arjuna would come to Panchala in case a ‘swayamvara’ was organized for his beloved daughter Draupadi. He took great care to ensure that the information about Draupadi’s ‘svayamvara’ reaches nook and corner of the country.

When Kunti and the Pandavas continued to live at Ekachakrapura disguised as Brahmans, they heard through other Brahmans that King Drupada of Panchala had called for the ‘swayamvara’ of his beautiful daughter Draupadi. All the Brahmans planned to go there to get gifts from the King on this auspicious occasion. When Kunti and the Pandavas came to know about the proposed ‘swayamvara’ of Draupadi, they thought that the time had come for them to leave Ekachakrapura and go to Panchala so that they could participate and demonstrate their matchless valour in the ‘swayamvara.’

Along with a batch of Brahmans, Kunti and the Pandavas left for Panchala. After reaching that beautiful city, they stayed quietly in a potter’s house disguised as ordinary Brahmans. They were amazed at the great pomp and glory of the festivities about the ‘swayamvara’ of Draupadi.

For All parts of this series, click here

Part 5 of Samskhepa Mahabharatam – Arjuna’s Guru Dakshina

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.”

Exhibiting Archery Skills

Dronacharya entered the designated arena decorated lavishly for the demonstration of the martial arts of the Hastinapura princes and propitiated the Gods. As per tradition, he also sought the blessings of the learned Brahmanas for the young princes.

Thereafter, the princes offered their obeisance to their Guru Dronacharya. Dhrutarashtra was seated along with Vidura, Bhishma, Krupacharya and others. Among the royal women were seated Kunti and Queen Gandhari with their eyes closed and covered by a piece of cloth. Many enthusiastic people from Hastinapura were also seated in their allotted space.

A royal band of musicians played music to cheer up. The Pandava princes and the Kaurava princes along with Karna who was known by the name of Vasusena and who also learnt the Dhanurvidya from Dronacharya appeared in the scene to showcase their martial capabilities. Starting with Yudhishthira, based on the age seniority, they exhibited their archery skills individually. The detailed description of the happenings over there was conveyed to King Dhrutarashtra by Vidura and to Gandhari by Sanjaya.

The mace fight started between Bhima and Duryodhana. As time passed, it became more serious and violent. On noticing this, Dronacharya sent his son Asvatthama to bring a truce and separate them. Each of the other princes showcased their martial arts prowess, capturing the public’s appreciation.

Arjuna’s Extraordinary skills – Archery

Arjuna displayed his extraordinary skills in archery never witnessed before and won the admiration of all those assembled there. Karna followed suit and exhibited with ease not only all those feats of Arjuna but some more advanced ones as well. Karna immediately won the adoration of the public. Arjuna got disturbed looking at the amazing archery skills of Karna.

Krupacharya rose and objected that Karna was not qualified to challenge and compete with the royal princes as he was not a Kshatriya. Hearing this, Karna felt very sad and agitated as he was not allowed to prove his archery skills based on the ground that he was born into a low class not belong to a royal family. Realizing the gravity of the situation, Duryodhana spontaneously stood up and declared that he was crowning his dear friend Karna as the King of Anga and asserted therefore that there was no bar from then onwards on Karna challenging Arjuna. Karna felt overwhelmed with joy at the grand gesture of Duryodhana.

At that moment, Karna took the resolve that he would always support Duryodhana and prove his unflinching loyalty and deep sense of gratitude towards him forever. Adiratha, the foster father of Karna came to the scene with tears in his eyes and Karna bowed before him with full respect. The competitive demonstrations finally ended. But this resulted in creating more enmity between the Pandavas and the Kauravas. All the princes paid their obeisance and Dakshina to their respected Guru Dronacharya and took his blessings and benedictions.

Now Dronacharya demanded the Guru Dakshina that was so close to his heart. He reminded the princes that King Drupada of Panchala should be defeated and brought before him tied with a rope to avenge the insult that was done to him by Drupada earlier. Initially, the Kauravas comprising of Duryodhana, Dussasana and others along with Karna went to Panchala and fought with Drupada. But they retreated after getting defeated by Drupada. Thereafter the Pandavas readily marched towards Panchala and fought with Drupada.

Bhima caused huge damage to the Panchala army with his Club. Nakula and Sahadeva also actively participated in the fight. In the fierce battle, Arjuna defeated Drupada by deploying his powerful archery skills. When Bhima was ready to kill Drupada, Arjuna stopped him. Arjuna paid his Guru Dakshina to Dronacharya by bringing Drupada hand-folded before him. Dronacharya was immensely pleased at this and blessed Arjuna from the bottom of his heart for fulfilling his wish.

Dronacharya reminded King Drupada of the fact that now he was no longer the king of Panchala. He continued that there was no need to fear for his life as he would still consider Drupada as his equal friend and would give him half of Panchala. Thereafter Dronacharya gracefully released Drupada.

Uttara Panchala & Dakshina Panchala

Drupada was given Uttara Panchala while Dronacharya assumed control of Dakshina Panchala. (click here for the Panchala) Drupada requested Dronacharya that their friendship should continue in future as well. Even after both became friends, Drupada could not take lightly his defeat and the humility faced by him at the behest of Dronacharya whom he considered inferior to him.

He decided to do austerities so that a powerful son was born to him who would kill Dronacharya. After many consultations, he approached the Sages Yaja and Upayaja who were brothers, to help him achieve his objective. His request was not at all readily accepted.

After Drupada served Upayaja for a year, they finally consented to perform the special sacrifice for Drupada. From the sacred sacrificial fires, a boy and girl emanated. The boy had a crown on his head and was holding a bow and sword in his hand. The girl was so dazzling, beautiful and youthful. Immediately thereafter a celestial voice was heard which said that the boy would kill Dronacharya when he grew up. The boy was named Dhrishtadyumna and the girl was named Krishna who also came to be known as Panchali and Draupadi.

Queen Prishati and King Drupada were extremely happy having been blessed by an amazing son and a lovely daughter. They returned to Panchala and took great care of them. Drupada was delighted that he was so fortunate to have a daughter who could marry Arjuna, the great archer and a powerful son who could kill the mighty Dronacharya in future.

King Dhritarashtra made Yudhishthira the crown prince of Hastinapura. Arjuna proved his might by effortlessly defeating the Kings Sauvira, Vipula and Sumitra as well as the King of Yavana. Arjuna’s fame as an ace archer and powerful warrior spread far and wide. On one occasion, Dronacharya made Arjuna accept his command that even when there was a situation to fight, Arjuna should never hesitate to fight against Dronacharya who was his own beloved Guru.

The Pandavas started getting the goodwill and appreciation of people from all walks of life. The growing power, popularity and recognition of the Pandavas made Duryodhana so spiteful and envious. He could not tolerate the praises showered on the Pandavas and their exemplary conduct. He started polluting the mind of his father Dhrutarashtra by convincing him that the Pandavas pose an imminent threat to the continued well-being of the entire Kaurava clan and that some effective measures should be taken quickly to put an end to them.

By transgressing neutrality and being devoid of any morality, Dhrutarashtra began to support his eldest son Duryodhana in his nefarious designs in a blind manner. Duryodhana held many deliberations with Sakuni and Karna and with their connivance devised of a dastardly secret plot to eliminate the Pandavas in a wicked manner.

For All parts of this series, click here

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.”

Dhrutarashtra

The King Vichitravirya died without children to forward the royal legacy. Deeply pained, Satyavati commanded her son Vyasa to beget children from Ambika and Ambalika to continue the thread of the royal lineage. The sage Vyasa had no option but to come to Hastinapura for fulfilling his mother’s order.

When the sage appeared in an unpleasant, old form with matted hairs, Ambika did not like to see his face and closed her eyes. Owing to this act of closing her eyes, she got a blind son. He was ‘Dhrutarashtra’.

Paandu

The next day, when Ambalika saw the sage in an unattractive form, she turned so pale. As a result, she gave birth to a son with white patches on the body. He was a ‘Paandu’.

Vidura

On the third day by the direction of Satyavati, her maid-servant Parishrami and sage Vyasa, blessed with a son. He was ‘Vidura’. Owing to the curse of the sage Mandavya, Lord Yama was born as ‘Vidura’. All were happy as they had three sons to care for the kingdom.

The sage Vyasa went to the forest to continue his penance. Bhishma looked after Dhrutarashtra, Paandu and Vidura with great love and affection. He taught them all forms of ‘Dharma Shastras,’ ‘raja niti,’ the Vedic scriptures and ‘dhanur vidya’. They were trained in all forms of martial arts including archery, mace fighting and so on.

Specialized coaching was given on elephant riding and horse riding to use skillfully in warfare. Over a while, Dhrutarashtra emerged as the strongest of the three and Paandu evolved into a great archer.

The youngest brother Vidura was sagacious and ‘satvik’ by nature with amazing and insightful knowledge in ‘Niti Shastras.’ All the three brothers were amiable and affectionate. Being the eldest brother, Dhrutarashtra was given due respect by both Paandu and Vidura.

Amba tried to take revenge on Bhishma as she loved Bhisma. She wanted to take revenge on Bhishma. She lived a life of utter frustration and despair. She led a life of great austerity. She won a garland of refreshing lotus from Lord Kartikeya with a benediction that whoever wore that divine garland would turn into an enemy of Bhishma. She approached many kings to help her but none came forward to fight against the mighty Bhishma.

She approached Drupada, the king of Paanchala who also refused to fight against Bhishma. She then kept the garland hung on the gate of the palace of Drupada and left with utter dejection. As advised by some sages, she finally approached Lord Parasurama and sought his help. When Parasurama offered to make Salva agree to marry her, Amba said that she was no longer interested in marriage and her only wish was that she wanted Bhishma to be subdued and killed.

Accordingly, Parasurama fought with Bhishma for a long time and finally conceded that he could not win Bhishma. Amba got dejected and went straight to the Himalayas and did rigorous penance propitiating the Supreme Mahadeva. Pleased by her austerities, Lord Shiva appeared before her and granted her a boon that she would kill Bhishma in her next birth.

Amba did not want to wait any more. She jumped into the burning pyre and immolated herself. Amba was born as the daughter of king ‘Drupada in her next birth’.

All along the divine garland was hanging on the gate of the palace of Drupada as no one dared to touch it because of Bhishma. As a young girl, she wore that divine garland. On knowing this, Drupada drove her out of his palace. The young girl did severe penance in the forest and turned into a male warrior known as ‘Sikhandi’.

The three brothers Dhrutarashtra, Paandu and Vidura were brought up very well in a cultured manner suitable for a royal place. Paandu was made the king of Hastinapura. As they grew up and attained marriageable age, Bhishma got Dhrutarashtra wedded to ‘Gandhari’. Paandu married ‘Kunti’ in her ‘Swayamvara.’ Vidura married ‘Sulabha’.

Gandhari was the beloved daughter of Subala, the king of Gandhara. She was very beautiful. Initially, Subala was not interested in giving his beloved daughter to a blind person. Later on, he was convinced that this royal alliance with Hastinapur would bring him great respect and royal credibility.

To respect the words of her father, Gandhari consented to marry Dhrutarashtra. She took a piece of cloth and tied it around her eyes so that she could not see the physical world outside. Only through her ears, she could understand what was happening around her. She was brought to Hastinapura by her brother Sakuni. Bhishma blessed the marriage of Dhrutarashtra with Gandhari. Both of them led a happy married life.

Kunti was the first-born daughter of King Shurasena of the Yadava clan and the sister of Vasudeva whose son was Lord Krishna. Kunti’s original name was Pritha. As Kuntibhoja had no children, he adopted Pritha as his beloved daughter. Given this, Pritha came to be known as Kunti. She used to serve the respectful Brahmanas and sages who came to the kingdom of Kuntibhoja. Once the sage Durvasa came to meet Kuntibhoja.

Knowing that Durvasa might get angry any time even on trivial matters, Kuntibhoja deputed Kunti to serve Durvasa with great care. Accordingly, Kunti devotionally served Durvasa and meticulously fulfilled all his needs. She specially cooked for Durvasa at very short notice and earned his appreciation. Immensely pleased by Kunti’s humility and dedication, Durvasa gave a ‘mantra’ to Kunti and said that whichever deity she wished to propitiate she could do so and that particular deity would appear before her and also bless her with a child.

After the departure of Durvasa, Kunti was curious to test the power of the ‘mantra.’ She chanted the .mantra’ invoking Lord Surya. Captured by the ‘mantra, Lord Surya appeared before Kunti and blessed that a son would be born to her. When Kunti got worried about this, Lord Surya said that even though a son was born, her virginity would not be affected.

Later on, Kunti gave birth in secrecy to a shimmering son with two Kundalas and a Kavacha protecting his chest. Kunti Devi put the newborn in a wooden box with her clothing inside. She took the box and floated it in the river Yamuna. This box was picked up by a charioteer named ‘Adiratha’. He and his wife ‘Radha’ brought the child up as their beloved son. The child was known as ‘Karna’.

Kunti – King Paandu

Kuntibhoja conducted the ‘Swayamvara’ of Kunti grandly. Kunti chose King Paandu of Hastinapura as her husband. Paandu took Kunti to Hastinapura with all royal reception. Later, Paandu also married the beautiful Madri, the daughter of the king of Madra and the sister of Shalya.

Dhrutarashtra, Paandu and Vidura lived a happy life while Bhishma continued his commitment to protect and guide the kingdom of Hastinapura.

For All parts of this series, click here

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