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STORIES · THE MAHĀBHĀRATA · Anuśāsana
Bhīṣma Leaves His Body at the Turning of the Sun
Classical
At the end of his long teaching Bhīṣma dismissed Yudhiṣṭhira with a promise: when the sun stops going south and starts north, come back and I will leave my body. Yudhiṣṭhira obeys, returns to Hastināpura, has himself duly installed, comforts the war-widows with gifts, and lets fifty nights pass. He sees that the sun has begun its northward course.
He sets out with Dhṛtarāṣṭra, Gāndhārī, Kuntī, Vidura, Yuyutsu, Sātyaki and Kṛṣṇa, carrying ghee, garlands, sandalwood and silk for the cremation, and Bhīṣma's own sacrificial fires. He finds the old warrior on his bed of arrows with Vyāsa, Nārada, Devala and Asita beside him. Yudhiṣṭhira announces himself and says everything has been prepared.
Bhīṣma opens his eyes, takes Yudhiṣṭhira's hand and says that he has lain on the arrows for fifty-eight nights, and that each has felt like a century. It is the month of Māgha, the bright fortnight. He consoles Dhṛtarāṣṭra: Duryodhana and his brothers were wicked, and the Pāṇḍavas are as much his sons. He tells him to rule with them in love.
He then turns to Kṛṣṇa and praises him as the supreme person, Nara's companion Nārāyaṇa. He recalls that he had told Duryodhana that Dharma lay with Kṛṣṇa and victory with Dharma. He asks for leave to go. Kṛṣṇa says: go, you have done no wrong, and death waits on your pleasure like a servant. Bhīṣma charges the Pāṇḍavas to hold to truth and honour Brahmins.
Then he falls silent and gathers his breath, drawing it up through the body's parts, as in yoga. The arrow wounds heal one by one. The breath breaks through the crown of his head and flies upward like a meteor. The drums of heaven sound, flowers fall, and the sages cry 'Excellent'. The Pāṇḍavas and Vidura then take up the body to perform the funeral rites, with the fire and fragrant woods they have brought.
Told by Vaiśampāyana → Janamejaya
Who: Bhīṣma, Yudhiṣṭhira, Kṛṣṇa, Dhṛtarāṣṭra, Vyāsa, Nārada
Bound to
Bhishma on the bed of arrows gives the thousand names origin
Bhishma's bed of arrows: why? (karma explanations) origin
The eight Vasus, Vasishtha's cow, and Bhishma's birth curse
Bhishma: a Vasu, a cow, and Bhishma Ashtami birth
Places: Kurukṣetra, Hastināpura
Where this comes from
- read for this telling · Mahabharata, Ganguli translation (text as scanned on archive.org; mahabharataonline.com section pages could not be opened from the working environment) Anushasana Parva, Sections CLXVI-CLXVIII