Bhishma on the Bed of Arrows

For nine days no one could stop Bhishma. One day Krishna grew so troubled that, forgetting his own promise not to take up arms, he grabbed a chariot wheel and ran at Bhishma. Bhishma put down his bow and folded his hands: 'Come, Lord. To die at your hands would be my good fortune.' Arjuna ran, caught Krishna's feet and brought him back.

On the ninth night the worried Pandavas went to Bhishma's tent and asked him plainly, 'Grandsire, how can you be defeated?' Bhishma told them the truth: 'I do not raise weapons against a woman, or one who was once a woman. Let Arjuna shoot at me with Shikhandi in front of him.'

On the tenth day it happened so. Shikhandi stood at the front of Arjuna's chariot. Bhishma would not strike him, and Arjuna's arrows pierced Bhishma's armour again and again. Before sunset Bhishma fell from his chariot, but his body never touched the ground. He lay held up on a bed of arrows.

Fighting stopped on both sides. Everyone gathered around the grandsire. Bhishma said, 'My head hangs down. Give me a pillow.' Kings brought soft pillows, but Bhishma looked at Arjuna. Arjuna understood and fixed three arrows in the ground so that his head rested on them. Bhishma was pleased: 'This is a warrior's pillow.'

Then Bhishma grew thirsty. Arjuna shot an arrow into the earth and a stream of cool water sprang up, which Bhishma drank. He had the boon of choosing his time of death, so he decided to stay alive until the sun turned north, in Uttarayana.