Bhishma said to Then all the ascetics (living in Vatsabhumi), perceiving her firmly resolved on practicing austerities, dissuaded her, and they said "O child, what do you mean to do?"

Then those Rishis hoary with asceticism, spoke the maiden : “I have been undone by Bhishma, and despoiled of those virtues that would have been mine by living with my husband.

My observance of vows is for his destruction, and not for the sake of the worlds of happiness, O you that have asceticism for your wealth. Having slain Bhishma I shall attain peace (of mind); this is my resolve.

Him by whom this existence has become one of continuous misery, by whom I have been deprived of the region where my husband is, for whom I am neither a woman nor a man in this life,

Without slaying in battle that son of Ganga, I will not desist, O you whose wealth is asceticism. That which I have here spoken in wards, even that is the resolve in my heart within.

I am disgusted with remaining in this state of mine as a woman, and I am firmly resolved upon attaining the state of a man. I will be revenged upon Bhishma. I should not be dissuaded any more.

To that ascetic lady, the god who holds the trident in his hand, and who is the husband of Uma, showed himself in his own form in the midst of those Maharshis.

Being asked to solicit her wished for boon, she prayed of the god my defeat. “You will slay him”, thus that god answered that lady of firm resolution.

“Thereupon again she said to Rudra, How can it happen, that mine shall be the victory in battle, O god, as I am, a woman?

O lord of Uma, my mind is perfectly calm, so far as regards a woman. And you have also promised, O lord of all creatures, the defeat of Bhishma.

Act in such a way that this (promise) may be true, O god who has the bull for the mark, and so that on encountering Bhishma, the son of Shantanu in battle, I may slay him.”

To that maiden Mahadeva (the great god) having the bull for his carrier thus spoke truly, “My words can not be false. They shall turn out true, O blessed one.

You will slay Bhishma in battle, for you will attain the state of a man. And you will recollect all this, when you go to another body.

Borne in the race of Drupada, you shall be a Maharatha, quick in the use of weapons, skilled in fighting in various ways, and a fierce warrior.

As I have spoken, O blessed one, so shall it all be. You will be a man after some time has elapsed."

So saying, Mahadeva, otherwise, known as Kapardin, and having the bull for his carrier, vanished even then and there while the Brahmanas were looking on.

Thereupon that faultless damsel of fairest complexion, in the very sight of those great Rishis, having gathered fuel from that wood,

And making a large funeral pyre and having set fire (to it), O monarch, with a mind burning with wrath, even in that flaming fire,

That eldest daughter of the king of Kashi, O king, entered the fire on the banks of the river Yamuna, saying (as she did so) “For the destruction of Bhimasena.