Also called Devavrata, Gangaputra, Pitamaha.
Bhishma
भीष्म
The grand-uncle whose vow of celibacy was meant to secure the succession and instead left it disputed for three generations.
Appears in
- The birth of the Kuru princes — A blind heir, a pale one and a renunciant's vow leave the succession contested before any of the cousins can walk.
- The house of lac — A guest house built to burn: the first attempt on the Pandavas' lives, and the escape that lets them be thought dead.
- The Rajasuya sacrifice — Yudhishthira's consecration as emperor — the height of the Pandavas' fortune, and the sight that decides Duryodhana to act.
- Draupadi in the assembly — Dragged into a full court, the queen puts a question of law to the elders — and every one of them declines to answer it.
Embodies
- The binding vow — A promise that outlives the reason it was made for, and the ruin its keeping costs everyone around it.
- The impossible choice — Not good against evil, but duty against duty — every open course breaks an obligation the chooser also owes.
Questions to explore
- Bhishma is the greatest authority on dharma in the hall and gives Draupadi no answer — is that failure, or is it the epic's point about dharma?
- Does a vow taken for a good reason keep binding once the reason is gone?
