Bhishma and the Vow That Emptied a Throne

Devavrata was the son of Ganga and Shantanu — accomplished in arms and in learning, and the declared heir of Hastinapura.

One day Shantanu saw Satyavati on the bank of the Yamuna and lost his heart. But her father, the chief of the fisherfolk, set a condition: "Only my daughter's son shall be king."

Shantanu came away. Devavrata was his heir; how could he promise such a thing? But he grew silent and low.

Devavrata learned the reason from the charioteer and went to the fisher chief himself.

"I vow," he said, "that I will never sit on the throne. Your daughter's son will be king."

The chief said, "And your children? Tomorrow they will claim the right."

Then Devavrata gave the promise that made flowers fall from the sky: "I will remain celibate all my life. I will have no children."

From that day he was called Bhishma, he of the terrible vow. Shantanu, moved, gave him the boon of choosing his own hour of death.

And then

Both of Satyavati's sons died young — one in battle, one childless. The throne stood empty, and Bhishma was bound by his vow.

To continue the line, three princesses of Kashi were carried off. One of them, Amba, loved another man; Bhishma sent her back, but her life was already ruined. She took a vow of revenge and was born again as Shikhandi — the cause of Bhishma's own fall at Kurukshetra.

Then came Dhritarashtra and Pandu, the split between Kauravas and Pandavas, and the dice hall — where Bhishma, the senior-most man present, sat silent, because his loyalty was bound to the throne rather than to justice.

In the end he fought for the side he himself considered to be in the wrong, and lying on a bed of arrows he gave Yudhishthira a long teaching on the duties of a king — the Shanti Parva.

Moral: Bhishma's vow was without equal, but he gave his loyalty to an office rather than to dharma. When injustice was done in open court, that silence weighed heaviest. A promise is a large thing — but to whom it was made, and at whose cost it is being kept, is a larger question still.