We’re at an extremely important juncture wherein Bhishmachaarya is being surrounded on all sides by the Paandava brothers and Shikhandi comes in front of Bhishmachaarya for the first time in the battlefield. As we know, Shikhandi is a person who was originally a female but converted herself into a male, exclusively to kill Bhishmachaarya. This incident happened several years ago and Bhishmachaarya also knows this at the back of his mind. The previous night (Day Nine), Bhishmachaarya himself has revealed to Yudishtra that if at all there should be an end for him, it should be through Shikhandi and nobody else. Even Arjuna cannot defeat Bhishmachaarya in any situation. Thus, paying heed to Bhishmachaarya’s advice, Bhagawan Krishna, along with Arjuna and Yudishtra chart out a plan to bring Shikhandi into the battlefield on Day Ten of the war as Bhishmachaarya continues his rampage against the Paandava army.
The moment Bhishmachaarya spots Shikhandi’s arrival in front of him, he turns his eyes away from Shikhandi and starts fighting with the rest of the people who are trying to surround him. Arjuna motivates Shikhandi to fight with Bhishmachaarya, and accordingly, Shikhandi hits Bhishmachaarya with his arrows. Even as this happens, Bhishmachaarya is unmindful of this and he continues to ignore Shikhandi. At a point, Shikhandi’s arrows start piercing through Bhishmachaarya’s protective shields and slowly start hitting his body! As this happens, Bhagawan Krishna motivates Arjuna thus, “Oh Arjuna! Now this is the best opportunity for you to hit Bhishmachaarya! Go for it! If you hit now, Bhishmachaarya would not be able to attack you back, as his body is full of arrows from Shikhandi. Now hit him with more arrows so that he is completely paralyzed!”
As Bhagawan Krishna says thus, Arjuna is in two minds – On one hand, he gets reminded of his “Pratignya” that he would be the one to kill Bhishmachaarya and all that happened on that fateful gambling episode runs in his mind. Whereas, on the other hand, Bhishmachaarya being his beloved grandfather is getting hit and upon seeing this scene, Arjuna is wanting to shed tears of sorrow! Balancing both these feelings thus, Arjuna obeys Bhagawan’s words and starts hitting Bhishmachaarya with his sharp arrows. A helpless Bhishmachaarya drops down his weapons slowly one after the other as he is being hit! Finally as Bhishmachaarya is about to fall down from his chariot, he has a request to Arjuna! Bhishmachaarya says to Arjuna thus, “Oh my dear Arjuna! Today your “Pratignya” is coming true and I appreciate it! I only have one request for you – Pierce me with more of your arrows! I would like to fall on the ground with your arrows piercing my body from all sides. I should not fall on the ground with those arrows that Shikhandi let on me. Please go ahead and let more of your arrows pierce me and with this, I would be proudly falling down with the thought that I’m getting overpowered by a great warrior on the battlefield!”
As Bhishmachaarya says thus, a teary-eyed Arjuna starts piercing Bhishmachaarya with more and more arrows, even as Shikhandi is trying to attack him. Unmindful of Shikhandi, Bhishmachaarya tries to move away and away from him, even as Shikhandi follows him! However, Ajruna is smart enough to manoeuvre these things and he hits Bhishmachaarya repeatedly with his arrows! Now there’s a point wherein Bhishmachaarya’s body is completely pierced with Arjuna’s arrows and there’s not even a single inch of space in his body for another arrow to pierce him. Finally, as everyone around looks with shock and disbelief, Bhishmachaarya slowly falls on the ground, clamped with all the arrows that have pierced him. In fact, Bhishmachaarya’s body does not touch the ground. He is “embedded” upon the arrows that have pierced him. Thus, as many of us might be aware, Bhishmachaarya falls on the “bed of arrows”, right in the middle of the battlefield at Kurukshetra!
Upon seeing Bhishmachaarya fall down slowly onto the ground, the entire world is in shock! The Devas including Indra, Vaayu, Varuna, etc. are in utter disbelief upon looking at what had just happened! Until that point, Bhishmachaarya was an invincible warrior in any battlefield and there’s no history wherein Bhishmachaarya has lost a battle against someone! However, here, an unusual event has unfolded wherein Bhishmachaarya has fallen down to Arjuna’s prowess! Was it Arjuna’s prowess that brought the downfall of Bhishmachaarya or was it because of Bhishmachaarya’s own wish that he wanted to be killed by Arjuna in front of Bhagawan Krishna? So for today, Bhishmachaarya has fallen down on the ground and let us understand up to this point. We shall continue this discussion further in the next episode as well! Stay tuned!
The Indian Dharma 