Bhīshma’s Fall and Śaraśayyā

On the tenth day of the Kurukshetra war, Bhīshma Pitāmaha, the grandsire of the Kurus, fell from his chariot. In battle no ordinary warrior could overcome him. But he had himself told Yudhishṭhira the way he could be made to fall: he would not fight Śikhaṇḍin, who was born a woman.

With Śikhaṇḍin in front and Arjuna behind, Bhīshma took the arrows without answering them. The shafts that pierced his body held him above the ground, and this was the śaraśayyā, the bed of arrows. He lay there fully awake. He held his vara (boon) of icchā-mṛtyu, the power to die at will, and waited for the sun’s northward turn, Uttarāyaṇa, before leaving his body.

The secret night visit

In the days before his fall, Yudhishṭhira went to Bhīshma secretly by night, into the Kaurava camp, to ask how the war could be won. Bhīshma answered with great openness. He said that no warrior born a man could kill him.

He then told Yudhishṭhira that Śikhaṇḍin was the one chosen by destiny for his fall. Śikhaṇḍin had been born a woman named Ambā and had then become a man. Bhīshma would not raise a weapon against Śikhaṇḍin, because he had been born a woman.

Bhīshma had earlier told Duryodhana in the sabhā before the war that he would fight on the Kaurava side, but that victory would go to those who had Kṛshṇa.

The tenth day

On the tenth day the Pāṇḍavas set their forces with care. Śikhaṇḍin was placed in front, as the one who seemed to attack. Arjuna stood directly behind him, with Śikhaṇḍin as cover. The plan used Bhīshma’s own rule of honour against his strength.

When Bhīshma saw Śikhaṇḍin come near, he lowered his bow. He would not dishonour himself by striking one born a woman, even to defend himself. So Arjuna’s arrows flew without any hindrance. Bhīshma did not shoot back or guard himself. He only accepted them.

Arrow after arrow struck him. They came so thick and so well aimed that his body was covered with shafts. His armour was broken, his charioteer was struck down, and his banner was cut. Bhīshma stayed standing for a time, taking the arrows. Then he fell from his chariot.

The śaraśayyā

When Bhīshma fell, the arrows that had gone through his body made a frame of shafts, and it kept him from touching the earth. He lay above the ground on the sticking-out ends of the arrows. This is the śaraśayyā. The very weapons that brought him down held him up.

The greatest warrior of the age lay with his body full of arrows, awake and calm. He used his icchā-mṛtyu by choosing not to die yet. He announced that he would not leave his body until Uttarāyaṇa began, the northward passage of the sun, which is the auspicious time for an ātmā (soul) to depart.

Warriors from both sides came to him. Duryodhana and the Kauravas came in grief, and the Pāṇḍavas came with reverence. Droṇa, Kṛpa, Bhagadatta and others came to the fallen grandsire. Karṇa came too. He had kept out of the war through all ten days because of his quarrel with Bhīshma.

The haṃsas from Mānasa Sarovara

Bhīshma lay on his śaraśayyā while the sun was still in Dakshiṇāyana, its southward passage, which is not a good time to die. Then maharshis came to the place in the form of haṃsas (swans). They had come from Mānasa Sarovara, the great lake on the slopes of the Himavat. They were no ordinary birds. They were ṛshis in haṃsa form, sent by Gaṅgādevī, Bhīshma’s own divine mother, who was troubled for her son.

The haṃsas asked Bhīshma why he lay there, his body pierced with arrows, during Dakshiṇāyana. Bhīshma told them that he had the vara of icchā-mṛtyu, death at his own will, and had chosen not to die yet. He would wait. He would hold his body, awake and patient, for as many days as were left until the sun turned north at Uttarāyaṇa. Only when the sun began its northward passage would he let go of his body. The haṃsas were content with this answer and flew away.

Arjuna’s gift of water

Bhīshma grew thirsty. The kings around him brought fine drinks and sweet water from their tents, but he refused them all. They did not suit a warrior lying on the field. He asked for water that was right for his state.

Arjuna understood what his grandsire needed. He set an arrow to the Gāṇḍīva bow and shot it into the earth beside the śaraśayyā. Where the arrow struck, a stream of pure water rose, cool and clean and śuddha. It was water of the earth itself, called up by the Parjanyāstra, the arrow that brings rain or pure water. Bhīshma took the water and drank.

Bhīshma’s counsel to Duryodhana

From his śaraśayyā, Bhīshma urged Duryodhana to make peace with the Pāṇḍavas. He had told Duryodhana the same before the war: Kṛshṇa and Arjuna, being Nara and Nārāyaṇa, could not be defeated. Now he said it again, as one who had felt it in his own body. The grandsire who had fought ten days with supreme skill was himself the proof of his words, for victory was with the Pāṇḍavas.

Bhīshma asked Duryodhana to put down his pride, make peace, give the Pāṇḍavas back their kingdom, and end the killing. Duryodhana did not accept this counsel. He chose to go on with the war under new commanders. Droṇācārya was made supreme commander after Bhīshma’s fall.

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Bhīshma Parva, Chapters 110–122