Bhishma

Grandsire, and one of the
major contributors to the great war of  Mahabharat

 

In my view, one of the main person responsible for the entire war of Mahabharat, is Santanu-putra Ganga-putra Devavrat Bhishma !

Though born with great intelligence, great strength, great future prospects, he exercised none of this in his confused idea of “duty” – Dharma.

1) First time he faltered was, when he gave up his rights to the throne and took up celibacy for sake of his step mother’s ambitions !  As a prince, and an heir, he had no right to take such an oath without due consultation with his subjects.  They had a rights over him which he availed without due consideration.

No one can know the future.  How could Devavrat jeopardise the future of Kurus by assuming that the child / children born to his step mother will be able leaders of the kingdom ?  Only a gambler gambles on the unknown future.  A prince has no right to gamble away the future of his subject.  That is definitely against dharma !

2) The next time he strayed from dharma was when he suggested Dhritrastra should be the king, as he was the elder of the three sons of Vyas.  To give Dhritrastra a false hope that he could or should be the king, sowed the seeds of doubts and rise to the feeling of being short changed by the Kauravas.

If Vidur knew that Pandu was the better of the three, surely, Bhishma knew this too !   To let Vidur be the fall guy who must stand in the way of Dhritrastra’s coronation and take on the life long hatred of his sons, was unfair of Bhishma.  As the elder of the clan, it was his duty to make a stand and be the one who makes such a monumental political and family decision.  But he let a junior take the responsibility of the senior, with no way of providing any political protection to the junior.  Poor Vidur, he suffered terribly at the hands of the Kauravas in their court for this reason alone. 

3) Third fatal error occurred when Bhishma was unable to give Yudhisthir his inalienable rights to the throne.  Dhritrastra was only the caretaker of the throne.  He assumed full control and his sons consolidated that control under the very nose of Kuru-vrudha Bhishma !   Having seen that amongst the 105 Kuru princes, only Yudhisthira was the most able and worthy to be the king, Bhishma should have awarded him the crown and insisted that he sit on the throne of his father, as was his right.   Bhishma failed at this major turning point in Kuru history.

 

4) Having known the conspiracy and conspirators who attempted to murder their clan members with such audacity, Bhishma remained silent !  Varanavrat was a major incident which emboldened the young Kauravas to use such evil means to carry out their political designs.  It was the responsibility of the eldest of the Kurus to stop such plans in their tracks, and once carried out, to punish the culprits without mercy. 

A nation where the very princes of the country are so vulnerable to murder, what hope is there for the ordinary subjects ?  Rot may start in any part of the tree, but, it will eventually get to the roots and kill the entire tree !   The best thing to do is to cut off the infected branch.  That is the merciful thing to do, not to let the entire tree die !

5) On their miraculous return from Durpad’s court, Bhishma should have accepted the corrupt nature of the Kaurava branch of the family and cut if off from any future rights to the throne.  Now, when Duryodhan’s evil plan had become so public (as opposed  to family secrets of earlier attempts on Bhima’s life), it was an ideal time for Bhishma to do the right thing by the throne of the Kurus and the subjects of Hastinapur. 

Yet, once again he failed due to some misplaced sense of duty towards the incumbent on the throne rather than the throne itself !  There is no need to think that there was no precedence for this in the past, King Bharat, who gave his name to the clan, himself decided to cut off his 100 sons from the throne and instead passed it to his adopted son.

Division of the kingdom into two was a sad decision and it should never have come to this.  Surely, to cut your nose to spite your face is no way to be !

6) The most publicly known incidence when Bhishma failed not only his family, but the entire society, is when he did nothing to help Drupadi during the druta-sabha.  No matter what the legal status of a slave or his wife, the status of a woman in an assembly of civilised citizens should have been of paramount importance.  To have stayed silent at that momentous moment is unforgivable. 

This was probably the lowest point in the life of this great man.  To have to stay seated silently while the entire world you have created collapse around you, must be the most painful thing on earth.  Bhishma gave up any prospect of a family, children, kingdom, kingship and all this, so that his step brothers could have all that could have been his.   It was not to be !  To see the very children he raised with such love and care, fight such dirty battles, and so openly, must be heart wrenching.

Unlike Drona and Krupacharya, he had no compulsion to stay silent.  Yet he did !  This is the biggest enigma of the entire Itihas !!

7) The Peace Conference attempted by Shri Krishna was the last possible opportunity for Bhishma to stop the rot in the family.  It was already late, very late, but there was still the chance to arrest the fall of the greatest royal family of Aryavrat.  To stop the murder of thousands of princes, tens of thousands of soldiers and ruining the lives of millions of their dependants was in the hands of Bhishma.  Sadly, he did not rise to the occasion, and once again the potential of greatness, remained just that – a potential.  Hopes of having a fair hearing failed as Bhishma claimed inability to influence the events, Dhritrastra incapacity to act and Vidur left in despair from the court of Kurus.

8) Bhishma could have followed Vidur’s example and walked away from the battle in name of Dharma.  He didn’t.   Egged on by the Kauravas and their cohorts, he decided to stay on and provided the longest reign of any chief Generals in charge of the Kaurava armies.  Sadly, he was fated to see the carnage of Mahabharata with his own eyes, unlike Dhritrastra. 

Sadly, this great man died so late, so painfully aware of the tragedy that had befallen his beloved family.  If only he had acted earlier !  If only he had interpreted Dharma differently.  If only he had acted in defence of the country rather than the family !

Sadly, this is not a matter of Itihas – history – only !

Even now, the so called Bhishmas of the country, keep quiet when they should speak.   Even now, they sprout such talks as “due process of law” or “with the concensus of the minority community” !  It is their responsibility to act not to pass the buck !  

India is at cross roads in its history.
Having finally rid itself of foreign rulers, atlast it is able to charts its own future.  
However, there are too many Bhishmas, sitting in positions of power who are unwilling, unable and without due understanding to take this opportunity for what it is. 

Our history, culture and religious heritage is being thrown away at the rate of knots.  Our great persons and institutions, like the seer at Kanchi Mutt, are being derided in public, very much like Drupadi was, while the Bhishmas mumble "due process of law".  Our temples are being systematically looted by government enforced trusts, while Bhishmas spout homilies on fair distributions.  No church or mosque has to share its wealth with the nation, so why must the temples ?  In their misguided attempt to be fair, the government enacts one reservation law after another, further isolating the masses from real opportunities.  Merit is murdered for sake of ideology, while Bhishmas look on silently.

Lament is always too late.
As a nation, we need to wake up to what is happening and take a stand.
In a democracy, it is the obligation of every citizen to make sure the state and the leaders they choose do not falter.

So awake the Bhishmas of India, and ACT !
Save our nation, least there be another great war !!

 

 

© Bhagwat Shah

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