Birth of Bhishma Pitamah

• Deva vrata or pishma


  Son of the Kuru king Shantanu and goddess Ganga
• How Shantanu and Ganga met

  1. Shantanu saw a beautiful lady on the banks of river Ganga

  2. Shantanu asked the lady to marry him

  3. Lady agreed but laid down conditions

  4. Shantanu agreed to the conditions
• Conditions laid down by the lady

  • Shantanu should not ask about her identity
  • She must not be stopped from doing whatever she wishes to do
• Shantanu and the lady


  Lived happily for many years
• What the lady did with her children

  1. She would take each child and flow it into the Ganga

  2. She killed seven children in this way
• Shantanu's promise to his wife

  Restrained him from stopping her from killing the children
• When the eighth child was born, Shantanu decided to put an end to the killings
• The lady's reply to Shantanu

  • She revealed that she was the goddess Ganga, not a human
  • She had to accept this apparently cruel mission on compassionate grounds
• How the eight Vasus came to be cursed by Sage Vasishta


  1. Vasus stole Nandini the cow and her calf from Vasishta's ashrama

  2. Vasishta cursed the Vasus to be born as mortals on earth

  3. The Vasus requested pardon, and Vasishta modified the curse
• The eighth child


  He was the incarnation of Vasuprabhas, one of the Vasus, destined for great glory
• The child was named Devavrata, later called Bhishma, and he became the grandfather of the Kauravas and Pandavas