Reading Notes Mahabharata: Part D

Bhishma Laying on a Pillow of Arrows

As I was reading the Mahabharata, I was wondering when Amba's reincarnation would show up. We saw her a bit at the end of part C. Bhishma's death was sad in the sense that he literally died because Shikhandin was born a women and he refused to fight him and Arjuna arrows pierced him. Again, for people that are all about honor, I feel that that death and fight was dishonorable. I know that Bhishma is super old so it is surprising that he is able to such a great warrior and a formidable opponent for Arjuna. I also think that it is weird that Bhishma wants to stay alive until the solstice. Why would he want to experience the pain of his wounds or prolong the inevitable? He was just left there in the battlefield and no one thought to take him someplace else?
The ending of the epic made me panic a little bit. I was upset that the all the brothers and their wife fell except for Yudhishthira didn't get into heaven. Not only that but that the Kauravas were in heaven and Duryodhana was sitting on the throne. I was glad to see that it was just an illusion. It was a good twist ending to a great epic.

 Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie (1913).