Bhishma wooden puppet

BHISHMA

(West Java's Sundanese ethnic style, in batik cloths; adaptation of Hindu epic Mahabharata)

The devoted son, the great duty-bound gentleman.

Born as Devavrata, son of king Shantanu and his first wife Goddess Ganga, he got the name Bhishma (means ‘He of the terrible oath’) because he took the vow of life-long celibacy and of service to whoever sat on the throne of his father. This was because when his father wanted to marry Satyavati, her father refused, on the grounds that his daughter’s children would never be rulers as Shantanu already had a son. This made Shantanu despondent.

A terrible vow

To placate Satyavati’s father, Devavrata promised that he would never stake a claim to the throne, implying that the child born to Shantanu and Satyavati would become the ruler after Shantanu. At this juncture, Satyavati’s father retorted that even if Devavrata gave up his claim to the throne, his children would still claim the throne. Devavrata, to make his father happy, took the terrible vow, thus sacrificing his crown-prince title. This gave him immediate recognition among the Gods and a boon of control over his own death. He could choose the time of his death, but not, as might be suggested, one of immortality.

As a student of Parashurama, Bhishma was a great archer and an undefeatable warrior. He was more considered to be one of the greatest examples of a duty-bound gentleman. Bound by his oath to serve the ruler, Bhishma fought on the side of the Kauravas in the great battle at Kurukshetra.

Traits

The day before Bhishma’s death, Pandavas and Krishna visited him in his tent at night to find out his weaknesses. When Yudhisthira asked Bhishma what they could do to defeat him who they honoured highly, he answered: “. . . kindly be advised that I will not attack a man who has thrown away his weapon, also who has fallen down his chariot. I won’t also attack someone without weapon in his hand, or whose flag has been torn, or who escapes, or who is in fright, or who has given up, and I won’t attack a female too, or someone whose name is like female’s name, or weak man and who can not protect himself, or a man who has only a son, or a drunken man. I don’t fight those all . . .”

The tenth day Kurukshetra war

On one hand, not even Arjun was able to defeat Bhishma; on the other hand, Bhishma took a vow to not to kill any of the Pandavas, because he loved them. As the Kauravas pushed him to kill the Pandavas, he went to Pandava camp in the night to tell them that only a woman could solve the problem. After that Shikhandi, in appearance as a man, was on the chariot standing before Arjun to fight Bhishma and then Bhishma was grievously wounded by Arjun’s arrows.

End of the war

At the end of the war, lying on the ‘bed of Arjun’s arrows’, Bhishma admitted he had been wrong to fight for the Kauravas even though he was the king’s warrior, since one’s only allegiance was towards righteousness.

After learning that the Pandavas had won, his soul ascended to heaven.

Product specification:
    Wood:       Alstonia spp.
    Dress:        Batik cloth.
    Process:    Hand made.
    Colour:       Full colour.
    Height:       ± 55 cm.
    Weight:      Approx. 2.5 kg (including packaging).