BOOK 6 BHISHMA PARVA- Sub Parvas

[Anne Terri]

"GOD'S LIVING BIBLE ---- THE THIRD TESTAMENT ----- RESEARCH LIBRARY" ©*

The Mahabharata
of
Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa
BOOK 6
BHISHMA PARVA
Translated into English Prose from the Original Sanskrit Text
by
Kisari Mohan Ganguli
[1883-1896]

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SUB-PARVAS

This Parva (book) has 4 sub-parvas (sub-books or little books) and 124 adhyayas (sections, chapters). The following are the sub-parvas:

1. Jamvu - khanda Vinirmana Parva (Sections I - X)

The parva begins with a meeting of two sides where the rules of war are agreed. Rishi Veda Vyasa, the grandfather to both Kauravas and Pandavas, offers a blessing to Dhritarashtra - who is blind - in the form of the gift of sight, so he can see the tragedy unfolding ahead. Dhritarashtra declines the offer, claiming he does not want to witness the slaughter of his family and friends. Vyasa grants the blessing to Sanjaya to see anyone and everyone, anywhere, while the war is in progress and describe the war to Dhritarashtra. Vyasa then makes a final attempt to Dhritarashtra to seek peace and avoid the war. King Dhritarashtra confides that his sons do not listen to him or obey him. Vyasa counsels war is evil, victory in war is uncertain, only sorrow and slaughter on all sides is certain no matter who wins. Dhritarashtra, aware of Sanjaya's special powers to see the world, asks him about the visible world. Sanjaya describes the sights of world to him. He describes the world near him, as well as far of places in north, south, east and west, everywhere with beautiful people, of forests, fruits and birds, of moon and planets that appear with stars at night. The description makes Dhritarashtra sad that his sons are choosing war, rather than a negotiated peace.

2. Bhumi Parva (Sections XI - XII)

Sanjaya continues to describe the world. He mentions island nations, nations without kings, lands with white people, black people, mixed race people, celestial gems, ocean of milk and ghee. Then he describes the planets seen at night, why they are believed to be globes, that light-giving sun too is a very large sphere according to calculations of Arka, eclipses occur when planets temporary cover the sun or moon. Such is the merit of the world we live in, says Sanjaya.

3. Bhagavat Gita Parva (Sections XIII-XXIV)
The Bhagavad Gita is within Sections XXV-XLII - Chapters I-XVIII of this Parva

On the 1st day of war, Sanjaya announces to Dhritarashtra that the commander in chief of Kauravas, Bhishma is dead. Dhritarashtra is shocked. He asks for the details of war over the ten days. Sanjaya describes how Bhishma marshaled the Kaurava army by declaring, "to die at home is a waste of life, a chance to die in battle for a cause is the highest honor a man can have." Arjuna described the Kaurava army as one with 100,000 elephants trained for war, 10 million chariots, 1 billion horsemen, 10 billion archers, 100 billion soldiers with sword and shields. Learning about this vast army of cosmic proportions, Yudhishthira is in grief. Arjuna reminds him that victory ultimately comes to the side of right.

Pandavas headed by Yudhishthira meet Bhishma in the battlefied before the start of Kurukshetra war. They ask for the enemy commander's permission to fight his army and him, to death.

Arjuna asks Krishna, his charioteer, to bring the chariot between the two assembled armies, to see who were assembled to fight. He sees friends, families and human beings on both sides of the war. Introspective Arjuna wonders if their cause justifies war, bloodbath. War only kills, it arouses only hate among kindreds and human beings. Arjuna tells Krishna, "I seek neither victory nor a kingdom." Arjuna doubts whether war is ever justified. To Arjuna's doubts, Krishna gives various answers. These answers range from nature of life to demands of justice, to three paths of liberated and free life, to human duty, and are collectively called the Bhagavad Gita.

Arjuna is not alone in his grief and introspection. Just before the war, Yudhishthira too takes off his armour, comes off his chariot, and with namaste (pressed hands) walks over to the enemy side. His brothers amazed by his act, join him and walk across the line of war. These Pandavas without battle armor meet and bow before Bhishma, Drona, Kripa and others - seek their permission to fight them, to death. Bhishma, moved by this humane action, says he admires their sense of humanity, and wishes them victory. Other generals of the enemy are equally moved. With choked voices and tears, soldiers of both sides cheer the Pandava brothers for their namaste and exhibition of respect for the human beings on the side of the enemy. Yudhishthira and Pandava brothers return to their side. The conches blare the start of war. The war begins.

4. Bhishma-vadha Parva (Sections XLIII - CXXIV )

On the first day, flying arrows cover the sky and a cloud of dust obscures the sun. The twang of bowstrings and battle cries of two sides creates a tempest of sound. Abhimanyu engages Bhishma, a battle that ends in draw for the day; Uttara engages Salya, Uttara dies but cripples Salya chariot; Sweta kills hundreds of princes fighting for the Kauravas. Bhishma kills Sweta, and numerous soldiers fighting for the Pandavas. The conches and drums blare to mark the end of that day's war. Hostilities end for the first day, to be continued the next day, and each side retires for the night. On second day, conches blare the restart of war. Arjuna and Bhishma battle each other to a draw.  But thousands of others die. The king of Kalingas, is slain by Bhima. The king of Nishadas fighting for the Kauravas is killed. At sunset, hostilities are suspended, both sides retire. On the third day, so many Kuru and Pandava soldiers are killed that a streams of blood flow on the battlefield. On the fourth day, Bhima kills eight of hundred Kaurava brothers, shocking Duryodhana.

This sub-parva describes the various days of war through the 10th day. By the end of 9th day, the war has slaughtered over 100 million people and many key personalities of the Epic. Each night, either Duryodhana or Yudhishthira are depressed with massive losses of their men, or key generals. Bhishma makes multiple attempts to be killed by Krishna, as he knows Krishna is a reincarnation of Vishnu, and death at Krishna's hands will release him into heaven. But Arjuna prevents this from happening, because Krishna has promised not to fight, only drive Arjuna's chariot. Embedded in the parva are treatises on war - various ways to arrange and advance army, various forms of attack and defense, and war logistics. The parva also describes the efforts by Pandavas and Bhishma to a negotiated peace, even while war was in progress. These efforts fail.

At night, after the 9th day of war, the Pandavas discuss ways to kill Bhishma - the commander-in-chief of Kauravas. They can't figure it out, so they decide to ask Bhishma. They approach his tent, unarmed. Bhishma welcomes them. He says he would welcome being killed, but continues to battle because he is a trained warrior. Bhishma suggests that Pandavas should place Sikhandi in front of Arjuna, as he has taken an oath to never fight Sikhandi; they should then destroy his weapons, only then can they kill him. On 10th day, that is what Pandavas do. Everyone attacked Bhishma, but Bhishma did nothing because in front he could see Sikhandi. Soon he was fatally injured and his body so full of deadly arrows that when he fell to the ground, his body floated above a bed of arrows. When he fell, both sides stopped fighting. Everyone standing on the battlefield bowed their head and paid tribute to Bhishma. As he slipped into death, surgeons rushed to give him medical help, but Bhishma refused medical care. He called Duryodhana and made another appeal to stop the war, enter into peace negotiations. Duryodhana refused. Karna, who had taken an oath not to fight till Bhishma is alive and a general, meets Bhishma to pay homage and to seek forgiveness for his past errors. Bhishma receives Karna kindly, pardons him with affectionate words, then urges that Karna should not fight the war on Kauravas side because they are wrong and unjust; Bhishma recommends Karna to fight on the side of his step brothers Pandavas because they are on the side of truth and justice. Karna refuses to accept the advice of dying Bhishma.

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THE MAHABHARATA of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa

“God / Brahman Speaking To Anne Terri Through The Holy Spirit: This will be an ongoing endeavor, which will take many hours to build. I Begin this new section within The Third Testament - Research Library, to Bring forward one of the most important ancient texts of Hinduism, The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa as translated into English from Sanskrit. by Kisari Mohan Ganguli [1883-1896] In doing so, I have Asked of Anne to begin advanced studies on this, for the purposes of future links with other Hindu Study Guides currently in process. It is important to note that
The Mahabharata was written between 540 and 300 B.C. Most credit has been given to Vyasa. The Bhagavad Gita appears in Book 6. .... Juliet Sutherland, Project Manager. at sacred-texts.com, 2003, has asked that the Attribution appear with this public domain work as it is written below. AMEN”

*© NOTICE OF ATTRIBUTION
Scanned at sacred-texts.com, 2003. Proofed at Distributed Proofing, Juliet Sutherland, Project Manager. Additional proofing and formatting at sacred-texts.com, by J. B. Hare. This text is in the public domain. These files may be used for any non-commercial purpose, provided this notice of attribution is left intact.