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Bhisma : Bhīṣma was in reality Prabhāsa, the youngest of the eight Vāsūs (q.v.). Once, when they visited Maharshi Vasishtha’s ashram with their wives, compelled by his wife he & his brothers carried away Kāmadhenu, the wish-bearing cow of the Rishi. Cursed by the Rishi they were cast to earth but, relenting on their pleas, he granted the accomplices the boon of dying soon after birth but Prabhāsa was to endure lifelong earthly suffering. All eight were born as Gungā’s sons by King Shāntanu, the Kuru emperor who ruled from his capital Hastināpura. To fulfil the curse, she drowned the first seven into her waters, & transported Prabhāsa, whom she named Devavrata, into the higher realms. There he was taught the duties of kings (Dandaneeti) & other Shāstras by Bhrihaspati; all branches of knowledge by Shukrāchārya, son of Bhrigu & preceptor of the Asūras; the Vedas, Vedāṇgas, & other scriptures by Vasishtha & Chyavana; Anvikshiki, all mental & spiritual sciences, by Sanatkumāra, eldest son of Brahma; duties of Brāhmaṇas by Mārkandeya, who had acquired everlasting youth from Shiva; all forms of warfare by Parashurāma; & provided celestial weapons by the Devas. This made him an invincible warrior, capable of defeating four mahārathis (chariot-borne master-warriors) at once. The Devas named him Bhīṣma for the bhīṣma pratigyā (awesome oath) when in order that his father Shāntanu could marry Satyavati &, as demanded by her father, only her children could claim the throne, he renounced his birth right to his father’s throne, vowed to serve Satyavati’s progeny unto death as well as to never marry to eliminate the possibility of his progeny claiming the throne. A grateful Shāntanu granted him the boon of ichchā-mrityu by which he could choose the time of his death. ― In the Kurukshetra war, since he was too powerful to be defeated by anyone, Sri Krishna advised the Pandavas to beg him for a way out. Bhīṣma hinted that he would lay down his arms if he was forced to face Shikhandi who in his past life had been the princess Amba whom he had brought to Hastināpura to marry his half-brother Vichitravīrya (q.v.). When she refused since she was betrothed to a king she loved, he had returned her to her father, the King of Kāshi. After her fiancé refused to marry her, she had obtained the boon from Brahmā, to be born a man & kill Bhīṣma. Thus, on the tenth day of the battle, when Shikhandi stood beside Arjūna on his chariot & challenged him, Bhīṣma threw down his arms. After Arjunā’s arrows pierced his body, he fell on the ground with the arrows forming a bed under him. Arjūna made him a pillow of three of his arrows, &, to his thirst, shot an arrow into the earth for his mother Gungā to erupt from underground & quench her son’s thirst. On the last day of his life, on Sri Krishna asking him, Bhīṣma imparted his knowledge of the Rājadharma to Yudhishthīra who was soon to be crowned emperor.