Bhīshma was son of Shāntanu, the great Knight and guardian of the imperial house of Kurus. In the epic Mahabharata, Bhishma was the eighth son of Kuru King Shantanu, who was blessed with wish-long life and had sworn to serve the ruling Kuru king. and grand uncle of both the Pandavas and the Kauravas. An unparalleled archer and warrior, he once fought his own guru the mighty Parasurama and defeated him. He also handed down the Vishnu Sahasranama to Yudhisthira when he was on his death bed (of arrows) in the battlefield of Kurukshetra.