Most of the legends associated with Makar Sankranti centres around the movement of the sun from the southern to the northern hemisphere into the house of Makar or Capricorn. It is said that the great patriarch of Mahabharata fame, Bhishma, chose to die during this period. Bhishma fell to the arrows of Arjuna on the battleground of Kurukshetra. With a boon to choose the time of his death, Bhishma waited on a bed of arrows until the day of Makar Sankranti. It is believed that those who die in this period have no rebirth.