Adi Parvamu- The Oath of Bhishma

 Devavrata had understood the intention of King Dasa, he immediately decided what he was going to do. "Oh! King Dasa, I hereby take an oath in front of all these people, I am giving up my rights of becoming a king at this very moment. The royal heir of the kingdom would be the one born to King Shantanu and your daughter Satyavati, he would be the king and the sole Lord of our dynasty." Everyone around were very unhappy by this decision and felt sorrowful.

King Dasa said "What you say is true, you are a strong follower of Dharma, you will abide by your words....but..." and he paused again and then said "What is the guarantee that your kids would abide by your decision?"

Devavrata said " Do not hesitate, I will not be marrying anyone. I take an oath to remain celibate, I do not care if I do not have kids or reach the Punya Loka." and took an oath. Gods started to shower flowers in praise of his mighty oath and called him Bhishma , people started singing praises in his glory. He was referred as  Bhishma by one and all.

King Dasa succeeded in achieving what he wanted, he sent YojanaGandha along with Bhishma. He took her to Hasthinapur in a golden chariot. Shantanu hugged his son in extreme happiness and said "You have done something that is not done by humans, you are my beloved" and kissed him on his forehead. "You will not have death until you wish for it" blessed the father to his son Bhishma who had sacrificed his happiness for the sake of the dynasty.

Shantanu and Satyavati got married in a very lavish and royal manner. They had two sons  Chitrangada and Vichitravirya, before their sons could reach adolescence Shantanu passed away. Bhishma performed the last rights to his father and crowned Chitrangada as the next king. Chitrangada was always a very fickle minded person, very arrogant and would not care for anyone or heed to anyones words. He would pick up fights with everyone and would disrespect gods and gandharvas. A gandharva named Chitrangada could not handle this behaviour of Kaurava Chitrangada  and waged a war against him. The grounds of Kurukshetra were turning in to extreme battle grounds, the Kauravas and gandharvas went in to a very fierce battle. Kaurava Chitrangada and gandharva Chitrangada fought like bulls. Gandharvas are known for their tricky magical spells, they fought the battle with deciet, Kaurava Chitrangada was assasinated.

Bhishma throned Vichitravirya as the king, he also started looking for alliances for Vichitravirya. At the same time , the King of Kashi was also looking for alliances for his three daughters Amba, Ambika and Ambalika. He had declared a Swayamvara for his daughters. Bhishma immediately started to Kashi and was armed with weapons.

Many kings from various lands had come to the Swayamvara, Bhishma made his way ahead of all of them. Everyone was surprised at the way Bhishma was progressing, he asked the princesses to be seated in his chariot and said " I am taking the princesses for my brother Vichitravirya, if you are capable, take them away from me" and challenged all the kings who had assembled there. " Showing demonic behaviour in weddings is a trait of gandharva kings, winning princesses in a Swayamvara is even more great. Hence, I will win over all the kings aeembled here and leave" said Bhishma to the King of Kashi. All the kings were offended, they waged a war against Bhishma, the place had turned in to a battle field. There was a shower of arrows all over.

 Bhishma became Pralaya Rudra (Lord of destruction), he held his bow and arrows and started to wage war fiercely. He defeated all the kings, everyone ran to save their lives. Bhishma was stopped by King Salva while he tries to head home. Salva challenges Bhishma to wage a war, everyone around starts praising Salva for his brave attempt. King Salva shot thousands of arrows and fought a very fierce battle against Bhishma. This did not stop Bhishma, he started to retaliate back, with one of his arrows he killed the charioteer of King Salva, then his two horses, then broke the chariot. King Salva begged for his life and left the battle.

Bhishma was the unstoppable, he took the princesses and came back to Hasthinapur, he brought them to his mother Satyavati. She wanted to get the princesses married to Vichitravirya, but the older princess Amba was in love with King Salva, she refused to marry Vichitravirya. She requested Bhishma to follow Dharma and return her back to King Salva. Bhishma and Satyavati thought about her request and consulted many saints and sages, they then sent her to King Salva's kingdom along with some elderly people, they got Ambika and Ambalika married to Vichitravirya. The wedding was a grand ceremony, but Vichitravirya had changed completely after that. He was a very responsible king but after the wedding, he was in the comfort of his wives enjoying marrital bliss and had shunned all the responsibilities as a King. Ambika and Ambalika were very beautiful and he was spending his whole time admiring their beauty, he was a lustful person always engaged in his own world of lust. Having engaged in bodily happiness and lust all the time, he passed away very soon due to tuberculosis. He did not have any heir, Bhishma has to perform his last rights. All her dreams were shattered, Satyavati was mourning the loss of both her sons. Ambika and Ambalika were mourning the death of their husband, the kingdom has no king now. Bhishma was the only heir of the dynasty, he consoled his mother and his sisters in law., he had to take up the responsibility of the kingdom once again.

One day Satyavati called Bhishma and said " The glory of King Shantanu lies in your hands, you are the sole heir performing his last rights and death ceremony each year. I want his glory to shine and go for generations, for that I would need your help. You have studied all Dharmas and you know everything, please do not say no to my request. You will have to rule the Kuru Kingdom and also marry and have kids. Our dynasty started from Lord Brahma and has flourished well with kith and kin, I do not want our dynasty to stop with you."

" Please do not order me to do this Mother, I have taken an oath to be celibate. The Moon may give up his cold and the Sun may give up the heat, but I will not give up on the oath taken for my father. But, I will make sure your wish is fulfilled. I will make sure that my father's dynasty survives and prospers. I do not have to give up my oath for this, there are many alternatives in Dharma, there has always been a Kshatriya Dharma which has been coming down from ages. " Bhishma said.

He immediately summoned the ministers, sages, learned people of the community and started conversations with them regarding the problem mentioned by his mother. " Parashurama's father was killed by Karthaveerya Arjuna. Parashurama not only killed Karthaveera but also made sure that he even killed the babies of these kshatriyas in their wombs. The women were left with no husbands and
 had to resort to brahmins to keep their dynasty intact(they had bourne the kids of brahmins).