Week 7 Storyplanning: Bhishma's Invisibility Cloak

Since Bhishma was granted by the Gods the power to choose the day of his death, it reminded me a lot of "The Tale of the Three Brothers" in Harry Potter. One of the brothers was given an invisibility cloak made from the clothing of Death. It granted the person wearing it everlasting protection from Death and made him invisible from the eyes of all.

I want to write a story where Bhishma was given this cloak by the gods somehow and how Death was about to take his life but failed due to the magic of the cloak. Then when he chose to die, he would take it off and tell Death what had happened. Death would then express regret for ever making it in the first place.

The brother taking off his invisibility cloak and being taken away by Death. 

Source: Tumblr.

More information on Bhishma: 

• also known as Devavrata
• the 8th son of Ganga and Shantanu
• made a pledge of celibacy for his father's happiness
• Bhishma = "One who incites fear"
• He rejected Amba, who then swore to kill him for rejecting her
• I think it would be interesting to write a backstory on Amba, who purposely came back to life (as a man since she exchanged her sex with a demon) to get Bhishma back and fulfill her vow
• He died during the war
• "The next day, confronted by Sikhandi, Bhishma refuses to fight a woman, and he abandons his weapons. Against the rules of war, the Pandavas strike the unarmed warrior with thousands of arrows. There is no space on his body thicker than two fingers that is not pierced. He falls from his chariot, and lies fully supported by the arrows, with no part of his body touching the earth. Bhishma does not actually die until much later, at his choosing. He remains lying on a bed of arrows until the end of the battle.

Sources: 

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling. 

The Mahabharata Synopsis by Larry A. Brown

Reading Notes: Epified Mahabharata Part B

• Dhritrashtra marries Gandhari and blindfolds herself for life to share her husband's condition
• Kunti was adopted by the king and he loved her as his own daughter 
• Kunti was unafraid of the sage and spoke her mind around him, which delighted him because people were usually afraid of him 
• He gave her a mantra that allowed her to summon a God, and she summoned the Sun god 
• He embraced her and when he left, she found a child in her arms
• The child, she knew, was destined for greatness
• However, she had to abandon him because she was unmarried 

• Pandu accidentally shot an arrow at a hermit couple 
• the hermit died but before he died, he cursed Pandu 
• He cursed him so that when Pandu becomes intimate with a woman, he would die 
• Pandu decided to take up sannyas 
• Kunti decided to tell Pandu about the fact that she can call a God and have his child 
• Since Pandu would no longer be able to have children 

• She calls on Yama, the god of truth and death 
• he gave her a son that was the embodiment of virtue and patience 
• named Yudhishthir 
• she then called on Vayu, the wind God 
• he gave her a son that was strong as fast as the wind 
• named Bheem
• she then called on Indra, the king of Devas
• he gave her a son that was to be the greatest warrior in the world
• named Arjun
• Ghandari then gives birth to 100 sons (which would be interesting to write about)
• Duryodhan became jealous of bheem and tried to kill him 

Screenshot of Ghandari and her children.

Reading Notes: Epified Mahabharata Part A

Mahabharata: 

• I learned that the Mahabharata is pronounced exactly as it is spelled through these videos haha 
• The Mahabharata is an account of how karma happens 
• The king fell in love with the river goddess
• the Ganga said yes
• she wanted him to never question her decision and he agreed
• queen ganga drowned their first child--he asked no questions 
• she continued to kill their next 6 children 
• the children had been killed to free the celestial spirits 
• The king found himself back on the banks after she left him 
• he found his son and wife again 
• the king lost his heart to a fisherman's daughter and asked her to marry him 
• she refused 
• his son went to sooth the pain in his father's heart
• he went to beg the fisherman
• he swore an oath: he would never marry nor father any children 
• he became known as "he of the terrible oath"
• the king eventually found himself guilty 
• he granted his son a boon--death would never touch him unless he requested so 
• I'd like to write about his journey with death (something like HP when the man with the invisible cloak escaped death always)

Screenshot by me of Devavrat's Oath.