Bhishma Parva starts with an overture of revelatory and unnatural omen. It is the sixth book of the chronology among the 18 Parvas of Mahabharat. It is also rightly termed as the Book of Bhishma. This book contains lucid presentation about Bhishma, the commander for the Kauravas and also regarding the first part of the great battle at Kurukshetra. The sixty to Sixty four subparvas of the Bhishma Parva, 18 Parvas of Mahabharat proceed with the introduction of Bhishma and the battle at Kurukshetra.
In the Bhishma Parva, it is being depicted that Sanjaya narrated the Great War in detail. The book recount Bhishma as the son of Shantanu and the river goddess Ganga. Bhishma remained celibate all through his life as a vow to his step mother Satyavati. He was a great Yogi. Bhishma had the deftness of martial art and war tricks. He was the most respected person in the kingdom of Hastinapur. Pandavas and Kauravas revered him a lot.
The book Bhishma Parva states further that Bhishma was aware of the weaknesses and ethical decline of his grandsons, moreover he could foresee the increasing tragedy which was sure to befall the kingdom of Hastinapur. Added to that Bhishma was well aware o about the jealousy of Duryodhana towards Pandavas.
As a silent and helpless witness Bhishma tolerated all this disloyalty. However, according to the Bhishma Parva, he never made any attempt to dislodge the weak and establish morally successor to the throne. The book also represented that though Bhishma along with, Dronacharya, Vidura, Kripacharya were righteous in their own way, were still at fault because, being helpless, they served and sided with the non-righteous Kauravas.
The description of the start of the enormous battle which is the center-piece of the great epic makes the book of Mahabharata an important one. Bhishma Parva depicts specifically the first ten days of conflict and continues up to the fate of the hero Bhishma. The battle itself occupies two-third of whole Bhishma Parva. Here, a relentless description of the horrifying war is provided too.
Bhishma Parva portrays the warriors who absorbed incredible numbers of arrows and were still ready to fight. In the battle at Kurukshetra, Bhishma served as the commander for the Kauravas. It had been shown in the book that the heroes wielded super weapons and magic spells with which they slayed thousands of opponents at a time. Finally the book Bhishma Parva ends with the collapse of the undefeatable leader Bhishma. This extensive Bhishma Parva has been composed with one hundred and seventeen sections. It contains five thousand, eight hundred and eighty-four slokas as told by Vyasa conversant with the Vedas.
