BIzma a. [ BI-Ric-suk-apAdAne mak ] Terrible, dreadful, frightful, fearful. — zmaH 1 The sentiment of terror (in rhetoric), see BayAnaka . 2 A demon, an imp, a fiend, goblin. 3 An epithet of Śiva. 4 N. of the son of Śantanu by Gaṅgā. [He was the youngest of the eight sons of Śantanu by Gaṅgā; but all the others having died, he remained the sole heir to the throne after his father. On one occasion while Śantanu was walking by the side of a river, he beheld a charming young damsel named Satyavatī, the daughter of a fisherman, and, though bowed down with age, conceived a passion for her, and sent his son to negotiate the marriage. But the parents of the girl said that if their daughter bore sons to the king, they would not succeed to the throne, for after his death Śantanava, being the rightful heir, would be the king. But Śāntanava, to please his father, made a vow to the parents that he would never accept the kingdom or marry a wife or become the father of children by any woman, so that if their daughter bore a son to Śantanu, he would be the king. This ‘dreadful’ vow soon became known abroad, and thenceforth he was called Bhīṣma . He remained single, and, after the death of his father, he installed Vicitravīrya, the son of Satyavatī, on ( pb ) the throne, got him married to the two daughters of king Kāśīrāja (see Ambikā), and became the guardian of his sons and grandsons, the Kauravas and Pāṇḍavas. In the great war he fought on the side of the Kauravas, but was wounded by Arjuna with the assistance of Śikhaṇḍin and was lodged in a ‘cage of darts’. But having got from his father the power of choosing his own time for death, he waited till the sun had crossed the vernal equinox, and then gave up his soul. He was remarkable for his continence, wisdom, firmness of resolve, and unflinching devotion to God]. — zmaM Horror, horribleness. Comp. — azwamI the eighth day in the light half of Māgha (when Bhīṣma died). — jananI an epithet of the Ganges. — paMcakaM N. of the five days from the eleventh to the fifteenth of the bright half of Kārtika (said to be sacred to Bhīṣma) — sUH f. an epithet of the river Ganges.