The Bheeshma Complex

Bheeshma's entire life was proof that he was never greedy for power. There were umpteen instances, including the frantic urging of Satyavathi for Bheeshma to reclaim the throne.

- LAKSHMI BAYI

When the Pandavas and Kauravas fought each other for the right to rule Hastinapura, the Mahabharata war happened. The land area of this terrible war was more than what is present-day India. The One Hundred sons of Dhritharashtra lay dead. All the children of the Pandavas equally so. Satyavathi, the Matriarch of the Kurus, and her father insisted that King Shantanu guarantee that it would be her children who would inherit the kingdom. Devavratha, the son of King Shantanu and Devi Ganga, was quite happy to forgo his right to the throne, to ensure his father's happiness.

Then came the political statement. There was no guarantee that the children of Devavratha would be equally amenable to Satyavathi's children and their children becoming monarchs. The bloodline of the then eldest son, Devavratha, would definitely be royal, but would have to languish far away from the throne. The drastic solution Devavratha found out was to take a vow NEVER to marry, NEVER to beget a child.

In this promise lay the seed of Devavratha's own death. Amba, the eldest of three princesses Devavratha was to kidnap for his stepbrothers, was abandoned by Satyavathi's sons when they heard about her betrothal to the Salva king. Her fiance rejected her as Amba had been taken captive by Bheeshma. Amba appealed to her captor Devavratha to marry her and save her from dishonor. Bound by his vow, Devavratha, by then Bheeshma, refused her. It was this Amba who, after great penance, was reborn as Shikhandi, who covered Arjuna, the warrior Pandava, to kill Bheeshma. Shikhandi was a eunuch. One wonders whether Bheeshma's refusal to fight Shikhandi had smidgens of a love for the magnificent Amba; Bheeshma dared not acknowledge even to himself!

Satyavathi's master plan failed miserably. It was only Bheeshma's firm commitment to the Hastinapur throne which saved Satyavathi's bloodline time and time again.