Those who give alms and charity on earth, liberally attain Brahmaloka. Such people assist Lord Brahma in his work and achieve salvation. Among the great people at Brahmaloka the name of Ishvaku king Mahabhishek is prominent.

One day a meeting was organized in Brahmaloka. All the gods and saints were present.At that moment Gangaji arrived there. Everyone welcomed her. Just by chance, a gust of wind blew away the hem of Gangaji's saaree baring her breasts. Everyone bowed their heads, but Mahabhishek continued to stare at her. As a result Brahma cursed Mahabhisheka and Ganga to take birth on Mrityulok (the earth).

At that time, king Prateep was ruling the earth. Mahabhishek thought it better to take birth as Prateep's son. Thus Mahabhishek took birth as the son of Prateep. He was named Shantanu. Shantanu began to grow. Because of his sharp mind, he very soon perfected in all the arts, he grew popular among the subjects as well. Thereafter crowning him as the king Prateep set for Vanaprastha (forests) in order to observe penance. But before leaving, he informed his son Shantanu that a celestial damsel wanted to marry him. She would meet him and he should marry her."

On the other hand, while Gangaji was returning from Brahmaloka,she saw 8 vasus(demi- gods) descending from heaven. Amazed she asked them why they were descending from heaven to the earth together. The Vasus replied : " O mother, by the curse of sage Vashishta we have to take birth on earth. O mother we wish to take birth from your womb and you should kill us by throwing us into the waters. Thus, the curse of the sage will be kept and we will soon find salvation as well. Gangaji consented to their request and said : " Okay, I accept your proposal. But one of you will have to stay alive." Vasus also agreed with her. They said : " Each of us will bestow a part of his glory to the 8th Vasu Dhyanuma, who will live and will be a great warrior but his lineage will not last after him."

There on earth, king Shantanu was running his kingdom efficiently. One evening, he was strolling on the banks of the Ganges river when he saw a heavenly beauty staring at him intently. Shantanu asked her : " O beautiful lady, who are you ? Are you the same divine beauty who my father had hinted? If you are the same, kindly accept me as your husband and oblige me." Remembering the Vasus, Ganga said : " I am indeed the same lady. I will fulfill your desire. But on one condition that whatever I do, you will not stop me. If you ever break your promise, I will at once leave you."

Blinded by passion and lust, shantanu agreed. Thereafter they married and returned to the kingdom. Their married lives were passing happily. With time, Ganga gave birth to 7 kids but killed them immediately by throwing them in the water. When their 8th son was born, Ganga took him up and was just about to throw him in the river.King Shantanu could not control himself and began to abuse her. Ganga then revealed her identity. : " I am Ganga, the daughter of sage Jahnu. The 7 sons of yours whom I had killed were in fact the 7 Vasus. I killed them because they had requested me to free them from bondage. This is the 8th Vasu. You will not be able to raise him properly. So I am taking him with me. At the appropriate time I will hand him over to you." Saying this Ganga disappeared.

One-day king Shantanu was strolling at the bank of the Ganges. There he saw a boy who blocked the flow of the river with one arrow only. With the next arrow the river began to flow again. Shantanu was amazed. When Ganga came there, she introduced the boy to him and handing him to the king, she disappeared again. That boy was the 8th Vasu Dyunama who became Devrata, the son of Shantanu and later came to be known as Bheeshma.

Appointing Devrata as Yuvaraj i.e. heir to the throne, king Shantanu had become free of worries. Now all the onus of running the kingdom was on Devrata's shoulders. One day Shantanu was strolling on the banks of the Yamuna river. Suddenly he felt a strong, divine scent. Curious to know the source, Shantanu advanced in the direction. There he saw an extremely pretty girl. It was her body the source of the divine scent. She was the daughter of Dasharaja, the oarsman. By the boon of sage Parashar, she had acquired a sweet and enchanting scent. The king Shantanu fell in love with that girl , so he went right away to her father Nishadaraja and begged him to give his daughter in marriage. But the witty oarman put forth a condition to accept the king's proposal that only the son born to his daughter would be king in the future.King Shantanu did not accept the condition and returned to his kingdom.

Shantanu could not forget that beauty named Satyavati. He missed her so much that he fell ill. Shantanu's illness could not remain obscure from Devrata. He enquired about the health from his father but did not get a proper answer. So he consulted the elder ministers and came to know the reality. Alongwith his ministers, Devrata at once visited Dashraja and begged him to give his daughter Satyavati to his father in marriage. Dasharaja replied : " O prince, your order is supreme. But my condition is that only the son born to Satyavati shall become the king in future. I can believe your words. But there is no guarantee that your sons and Satyavati's sons will not fight for the throne." Hearing Dasharaja's words, Devrata proclaimed his vow of abiding by celibacy then and there. Witnessed by the present kings, ministers and the elders, I swear that I will remain a true celibate as long as I live and spend my life reciting God's name." Hearing this awful vow of devrata, the gods began to shower flowers on him and thus got the name Bheeshma. Thereafter, they returned to Hastinapur and on an auspicious moment she was married to king Shantanu. From then on Shantanu and Satyavati began to live peacefully. While Bheeshma managed the kingdom, he made every effort to keep his father happy and kept himself devoted to the Lord. Many years passed thus. With time, Satyavati begot 2 sons - Chitrangad and Vichitravirya. They grew into strong and beautiful princes.Then King Shantanu met his death. Bheeshma then crowned Chitrangad as the king. Chitrangad was so strong that he defeated Gods, demons and human beings.

But Chitrangad was very egoistic. Because of his ego, one day he began a fight with a Gandharva(demi-god) also known as Chitrangad with the petty excuse as to why he had taken his name. They continued to fight for 3 years. At last, the demi-god Chitrangad won and Satyavati's son was killed. After Chitrangad's death, Bheeshma crowned Vichitravirya as king and became his guardian to help him rule the kingdom for Vichitravirya was a minor. Tempted to have grandsons, Satyavati ordered Bheeshma to get Vichtravirya married off soon. At that time, a Swayamvara had been organized for the princesses of the Kashi king, who were unmatched in beauty. Their names were Amba, Ambika and Ambalika. Defeating all the invited kings at Swayamvara, Bheeshma kidnapped all the 3 princesses and brought them to Hastinapur. The eldest princess Amba revealed to Bheeshma : " O great man, I have chosen the king of Shalva as my husband." Bheeshma hence allowed Amba to go to Shalva while Ambika and Ambalika were married to Vichitravirya who thereafter began to enjoy his married life with both of his queens.

By the permission of Bheeshma and accompanied by a maid and elder Brahmanas, Amba reached Shalva but the king refused to accept her as his wife. Then Amba went into the refuge of Parshurama. Parshurama assured her : " Bheeshma is my disciple, he will definitely regard my words and accept you as his wife. Thus taking Amba, Parshurama visited Bheeshma. Bheeshma welcomed and treated Parshurama well. Parshurama ordered him to marry Amba at once. But reminding Parshurama of his vow, Bheeshma politely refused to accept his order and said : " I have not violated my Dharma. As per her wishes, I had sent her to Shalva with honour. Now she can't be married to my brother Vichitravirya either." These words infuriated Parshurama and he dared Bheeshma to have a fight with him. Bheeshma prayed by every means to avert the fight but in vain. Ultimately they both began to fight. At last Parshurama had to face defeat.

Thereafter, Bheeshma saluted Parshurama and thus pleased him. In pleasant mood, Parshurama said : " Bheeshma, there is no warrior on earth who could match you. You have satisfied me in the fight." And to Amba , Parshurama said : " O princess, I tried my best but could not defeat Bheeshma. Now you tell me what to do. I am ready to do what you say." Amba replied : " You are right, O lord. Not even gods can defeat Bheeshma. Now I will perform penance and gain that power to kill Bheeshma." Uttering these words, Amba left the scene. Bheeshma and Parshurama too returned to their respective places.

On the other hand in Hastinapur, in the company of 2 pretty women, Vichitravirya forgot his own life and goal. But death does not forget anyone. Vichitravirya contracted tuberculosis and soon died of it. He could not produce even a single child. Seeing their lineage going to end, Satyavati insisted Bheeshma to get married but failed to move him. Ultimately, Satyavati called VedaVyasa whom she had produced in her spinsterhood. Vyasaji came and enquired about the purpose of calling him. Satyavati insisted him to save Bharat Vansha from ending abruptly. Vyasaji told her that if her daughter-in-law appeared naked before him, he could impregnate them by his sight only.

Satyavati convinced her daughters-in-law to appear naked before Vyasaji. First Ambika came before Vyasaji but out of shame she closed her eyes. Hence she got a blind son, Dhritarashtra. Ambalika did not close her eyes though but she grew pale with fear. So she got a son Pandu who had congenital jaundice . Satyavati was not satisfied by the outcome, so she called Vyasaji once more and asked Ambika to appear naked before him. But Ambika sent a beautiful maid instead of going herself naked before Vyasaji. The maid appeared naked fearlessly before Vyasaji, as a result she got Vidur as her son.

Both the young princed were given proper education. Pandu got expertise in archery, while Dhritarahstra became physically strong and Vidur gained proficiency in politics. At proper time they were married. Dhritarashtra got married to Gandhari and Pandu was married to Kunti, the aunt of Lord Krishna and Madri, the daughter of Madra king and sister of king of Shalya. Vidur was married to Sulabha, the daughter of a maid. Pandu was crowned as the king. With time, Dhritarashtra got hundred sons but king Pandu could not produce a child. But by the virtue of the Mantra given by sage Durvasa, Kunti invoked the 3 Gods i.e. Dharma, Vaayu and Indra and begot 3 sons Yudhishtir, Bheema and Arjuna while Madri got 2 sons Nakula and Sahadev from Ashwinikumars. Kunti before her marriage had once used the mantra to invoke the God Surya(SUN) through which she got a son named Karna whom she had deserted. Pandu had been cursed by a sage that if he would ever try to copulate, he would die during the process. But one day seeing Madri taking a bath under a waterfall, Pandu got libidious and tried to copulate her and died on the spot. After him, Dhritarashtra was crowned as the king.

With a suggestion of Vyasaji, Satyavati, Ambika and Ambalika went to the hermitage and met the Pandavas there. Pandavas were proving to be far more intelligent and brave. Bheema alone used to defeat the 100 Kauravas alone. Because of that, Kauravas began to cultivate ill feelings for the Pandavas. With time the Kauravas jealousy for Pandavas grew stronger.

Bheeshma Pitamaha was the first to lead the Kauravas armies during the Mahabharata. He fought with valour and led the forces successfully for the first ten days of the war. Then at the request of the Pandavas, he revealed the secret of how to kill him. He even instigated Krishna to break his oath of not lifting a weapon during the war. Bheeshma told the Pandavas that Shikhandi was Amba in his previous birth. Arjuna shot an arrow on Bheeshma standing behind Shikhandi and pierced him with arrows. Bheeshma fell, but his body could not touch the ground for the arrows supported it. After the fall of Bheeshma , the war continued for 8 more days and ended with the Kauravs defeat.

Bheeshma had received a boon of death at will from his father. During the war, the sun was in the Southern Hemisphere, so he did not wish to die then. He therefore had to spend the winter on arrows. While Bheeshma Pitamaha was lying on the arrows and Yudhishtir received the knowledge of Dharma, Karma and Upasana from him. Draupadi broke in laughter. Bheeshma asked her : " My child, you cannot laugh without reason. Tell me what makes you laugh now." Feeling embarrassed Draupadi replied : " O grandfather, when I was being bared in the court and asking you if it was religiously and morally just for Yudhishtir who had lost himself also to put me on stake. You had said then that your mind was unable to decide over the matter. Whatever Yudhishtir says, you had said would be right. But now you are preaching today Yudhishtir about Dharma."

Bheeshma said : " O my daughter, at that time my intellect was polluted because of the Kauravas company and their polluted cereals. But now because my body has been pierced by the arrows and all the polluted blood has flown out so that my intellect has purified also. Hence I can clearly see the strength of Dharma." Thus lying on the arrows and preaching his near and dear ones, Bheeshma who had been a true celibate since childhood, left his ephimeral body on the 8th day of Magha Shukla Paksha. Thus his soul annihilated with that supreme soul which we call Parmatma.