{"collection":"Hinduism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/hin/m06/index.htm","path":"hin/m06/index.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/hin/m06/index.htm","text":"This book of the Mahabharata is important for two reasons.\nFirst of all, it contains the Bhagavad Gita, the best-known\nHindu sacred text.\nSecondly, this book describes the start of the enormous battle which\nis the center-piece of the work, specifically the first ten days of\nconflict, up to the fate of the hero Bhishma.\nThe Bhishma Parva starts with an overture of apocalyptic and unnatural portents.\nIt then immediately digresses into a treatise on geography\nand natural history--one of several texts which the great epic\naccreted over time.\nAfter this comes the Bhagavad Gita, which unlike some of the other digressions,\nis a good thematic fit in the narrative.\nArjuna, facing a battle in which he will have to fight\nmany of his immediate relatives, is understandably hesitant to fight.\nThe Avatar Krishna then proceeds to explain to Arjuna why he must\nfulfill his duty as a warrior, and how he can emerge from this spiritual\ncrisis of conscience with a clean slate.\nThis text deals with the contradictions of living a devotional life\nin an imperfect world.\nEven non-Hindus have found the Gita meaningful for this reason.\nThen Krishna reveals to Arjuna his divine form; this section is one\nof the best attempts to describe the indescribable ever written.\nFinally we move on to the battle itself, which occupies two-thirds of Book 6,\na relentless and immersive description of the horror of war.\nThis is literally a blow-by-blow description of each incident of combat\nover a period of ten days.\nAnd this is no ordinary battle.\nThe combatants absorb incredible numbers of arrows and are still standing,\nready to fight the next day.\nThe field is stalked by vampires and cannibals.\nThere are rivers and oceans of blood and gore.\nThe heroes wield superweapons and magic spells,\nonly described elliptically,\nwith which they slay thousands of opponents at a time.\nAnd at the end we learn how Bhishma, the undefeatable leader of Duryodhana's\narmy, is finally brought down.","title":"The Mahabharata, Book 6: Bhishma Parva Index","type":"page"}