Under tremendous attack from Arjuna, the Kaurava warriors of different nation ‘abandoned Bhishma’. So, at first, Shikhandi took the lead, but later it was Arjuna. That is what the phrase ‘ placing Sikhandin before him’ actually means! In the latter part of that day’s war, Arjuna ‘stationed at the head of his troops, broke the centre of the Kuru army’. That day, Sikhandin Division led the attack and Arjuna protected Sikhandi himself. On the tenth day Krishna planned an all-out attack on Bhisma under the Shikhandin Division, which had so long been storing energy. When Bhisma ‘fell down’ from his chariot - ‘There was not in Bhishma's body space of even two fingers' breadth that was not pierced with arrows.’ If Arjuna had really been doing any act of cowardice or unfair war, Duhshashana would have commented upon the matter at that very instance!
Duhshashana was protecting Bhisma that day. Bhisma addressed Duhshashana with a smile and said, ' these arrows coursing towards me in one continuous line, whose touch resembleth that of heaven's bolt, have been shot by Arjuna’. After that, Bhishma ‘ no longer desired to battle with Arjuna’. Arjuna gradually cut off all the bows of Bhishma. The description of war shows Bhisma showed no leniency to Arjuna that day! He was ‘ licking the corners of his mouth.’ Arjuna and Bhisma were fighting face to face. Again, we find in Dhritarashtra’s lament in the Adi Parva - ‘When I heard that Arjuna, having placed Sikhandin before himself in his chariot, had wounded Bhishma of infinite courage and invincible in battle, then, O Sanjaya, I had no hope of successes’.ĭoes the phrase ‘ placing Sikhandin before him’ mean Arjuna used Shikhandi as a shield? If so, then how could all the Pandavas place the same person before them? Why should we take the phrase literally in Arjuna’s case but rhetoricaly in the case of the other Pandavas? In a battlefield, was it really possible for Arjuna to use Shikhandi as a personal shield? With Drona, Kritavarman, Jayadratha, Bhurisravas, Sala, Salya, and Bhagadatta all nearby and attacking Arjuna, wouldn’t it have been ‘harikiri’ of honour for Arjuna? Could Arjuna put his own fame and honour at stake thus? In the ‘text’, Arjuna was fighting and piercing Bhisma (Section CXIX of Bhishma Parva), ‘placing Sikhandin before him.' In the very next Section (CXX of Bhishma Parva) Sanjaya reported -‘Thus all the Pandavas, placing Sikhandin before them pierced Bhishma in that battle repeatedly surrounding him on all sides’. He had ‘Ichhamrityu’, so lived another six months on his bed of arrows waiting for ‘Uttarayana’. Bhisma would not shoot at Shikhandi, because he had been a woman! He himself revealed to the Pandavas the way of killing him. On the tenth day of the war Arjuna killed grandpa Bhisma using Shikhandi as a shield, goes the story.
Traditionally accepted facts, nay ‘ interpretation of text’ hazes our judgement so much that we seldom feel the urge to take a firsthand plunge into the ‘text’ itself to see what is the ‘fact in the text’ if not the ‘fact of history’! However, a close reading of the ‘text’ relating to the death of Bhisma, Drona, Karna and Duryodhana reveals different shades of the accepted myths! The Pandavas and Krishna have earned much ill reputation for these killings. Abhimanyu was killed by seven maharatha’s in of one of the most cowardly acts! It is said the four pillars of the Kaurava side - Bhisma, Drona, Karna and Duryodhana were also killed unethically.
The Kuru-war, supposed to be a ‘ Dharma-Yuddha,’ gradually degenerated into one with ‘ Victory-at-any-cost’ becoming the chief protagonist, and ‘ Dharma’ the main victim! The rules of ' fair' warfare framed at the beginning of the war, were thrown to the winds as the war rolled on through its bloodiest phases.