How Did Bhishma Get His Name?

Bhishma is the grandfather of the Pandavas and Kauravas in the Mahabharata. For much of the story, he is known and called only by this name, so it is often overlooked that this is in fact not his birth name. It is a title given to him because of an act of will that he undertakes when he is a youth of sixteen.

So how did Bhishma get his name?

The word ‘Bhishma’ means ‘terrible’. When he is a young man, in order to facilitate the marriage of his father, King Shantanu, to a fisherman’s daught...