Bhishma, also known as Pitamaha, Gangaputra, and Devavrata, is a major character of the epic Mahabharata and the protagonist of the Bhishma Parva episode. He was the supreme commander of the Kaurava forces during the Kurukshetra War of the epic. He was the only character who witnessed the entirety of the events of the Mahabharata, beginning from the reign of his father, King Shantanu of the Kuru kingdom. Bhishma was the stepbrother of Vyasa, the grandfather of both the Pandavas and the Kauravas. He was a prominent statesman of the Kuru Kingdom. He was born as the youngest son of the illustrious King Shantanu and goddess Ganga.
Statue of Bhishma
Shantanu stops Ganga from drowning their eighth child, who later was known as Bhishma. Painting by Raja Ravi Varma.
Ganga handing over her son Devavrata to his father. Painting by BP Banerjee.
Devavrata taking his oath, painting by Raja Ravi Varma
The Mahābhārata is one of the two major Smriti texts and Sanskrit epics of ancient India revered in Hinduism, the other being the Rāmāyaṇa. It narrates the events and aftermath of the Kurukshetra War, a war of succession between two groups of princely cousins, the Kauravas and the Pāṇḍavas.
Manuscript illustration of the Battle of Kurukshetra
Krishna and Arjuna at Kurukshetra, 18th–19th-century painting
Modern depiction of Vyasa narrating the Mahābhārata to Ganesha at the Murudeshwara temple, Karnataka.
Sauti recites the slokas of the Mahabharata.
