Bhishma Parva

Structure and chapters

This Parva (book) has 4 sub-parvas (sub-books or little books) and 124 adhyayas (sections, chapters). The following are the sub-parvas:

1. Jamvu - khanda Vinirmana Parva (chapters 1 - 10)2. Bhumi Parva (chapters 11 - 12)3. Bhagavad Gita Parva (chapters 13 - 42)4. Bhishma-vadha Parva (chapters 43 - 124)

English translations

Bhishma Parva was composed in Sanskrit. Several translations of the book in English are available. Two translations from 19th century, now in public domain, are those by Kisari Mohan Ganguli and Manmatha Nath Dutt. The translations vary with each translator's interpretations.

Clay Sanskrit Library has published a 15 volume set of the Mahabharata which includes a translation of Bhishma Parva by Alex Cherniak. This translation is modern and uses an old manuscript of the Epic. The translation does not remove verses and chapters now widely believed to be spurious and smuggled into the Epic in 1st or 2nd millennium AD.

J. A. B. van Buitenen has published an annotated edition of Bhagvadgita from Bhishma Parva, based on critically edited and least corrupted version of Mahabharata known in 1980. Debroy, in 2011, notes that updated critical edition of Bhishma Parva, with so far known spurious and corrupted text removed, has 4 sub-books, 117 adhyayas (chapters) and 5,381 shlokas (verses). Debroy's translated version of the critical edition of Bhishma Parva appeared in Volume 5 of his series.

Salient features

The Bhishma parva has several treatises embedded in it, such as the just war theory and the Bhagavad Gita.

Just war theory

The Jamvukhanda Vinirmana sub-parva of Bhishma parva is one of the several instances in the Mahabharata that provides an outline of just war theory in ancient India. Book 12 (Shanti Parva) is another instance of a significant discussion of just war theory and principles of proportionate punishment.

Before the first day of war, the Kurus, the Pandavas and the Somakas meet and agree on rules of war. Some examples of the agreed rules were:

1. Fairness - Every battle must be fair. Only armed and fighting soldiers can be attacked.
2. Proportional and equitable response - those who fight with words, should be fought with words; chariot warriors should fight chariot warriors, horse man with horse man. Disproportionate weapons to cause suffering or slaughter shall not be used.
3. Enemy soldier that surrenders should not be treated with violence, but treated with kindness and respect.
4. Disarmed, injured enemy should be helped, not attacked nor killed.
5. Logistical staff such as those who play on drums or conch to announce the daily start or stop of war, or those that bring food or equipment, must not be attacked nor injured.

Bhagavad Gita

Chapters 25 through 40 of Bhishma parva present the dialogue between Arjuna and Krishna. Arjuna sees family, friends and good human beings on both sides of the war. He does not want to kill. Arjuna argues that gaining a kingdom with stain of blood is a tragedy. He asks Krishna, why fight? Krishna's answer are in several parts:

1. Krishna starts with a foundation of Samkhya philosophy - the mystery of knowing Self. He says, one must distinguish between the real and unreal, the Self that is permanent and universal from the body that is temporary and fleeting. One's action should serve the cause of the permanent Self, not the temporary body. In a war motivated by just cause, virtue and ideas, the permanent Self is at stake and what one fights for.
2. Krishna next presents a summary of Yoga philosophy - the mystery of living in Self, as a free and liberated person. One must be free, claims Krishna, from the pairs of opposite extremes (heat and cold, pain and pleasure, anxiety and craving). One must act for the goodness innate in that action, not because one craves for the fruit of the action, or is angry, or is fearful.
3. Krishna says there are three paths to liberation, moksha: Jnana yoga, Karma yoga and Dhyana yoga. Jnana, claims he, is knowledge. Karma is action. Dhyana is meditation. By fighting a just war, to the best of his abilities, without craving about the outcome, Arjuna would be performing Karma yoga.
4. In Chapter 29, Krishna claims pursuit of action is superior than renunciation of action, though both lead to knowledge and liberation. Chapters 31-34 discuss bhakti as the path for spiritual emancipation.

Quotations and teachings

Jamvukhanda Vinirmana Parva, Chapter 3:

Men lose good judgment in things which concern their interest.

Jamvukhanda Vinirmana Parva, Chapter 3:

Jamvukhanda Vinirmana Parva, Chapter 4:

Everything rises from the earth and when destroyed everything goes into her. The earth is the stay and the refuge of all creatures. The earth is eternal.

Jamvukhanda Vinirmana Parva, Chapter 9:

If the resources of the earth are properly developed, she is then like an all-yielding cow, from which the threefold objects of Dharma, Artha and Kama might be milked. With the desire of enjoying the earth, men have become like dogs that snatch meat from one another.

Bhagavat Gita Parva, Chapter 15:

The man who suffers evil for his own misconduct should not attribute it to others.

Bhagavat Gita Parva, Chapter 21:

They that are desirous of victory do not so much conquer by might and prowess, as by truth, compassion, piety and virtue. Fight without any arrogance, for victory is certain to be there where righteousness is.

Bhagavat Gita Parva, Chapter 26:

It is better for one to live on alms than to kill.

Bhagavat Gita Parva, Chapter 26:

One sees it as a wonder, another speaks of it as a wonder, others again hear of it as a wonder; but even hearing of it, no one understands it. This indestructible embodied Self, O Bharata, is in the bodies of everyone.

Bhagavat Gita Parva, Chapter 26:

Bhagavat Gita Parva, Chapter 40: