A Potpourri of Vestiges Feature
By Murtaza Ali Khan
By Murtaza Ali Khan
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| [Pic courtesy: http://rahulsketchbook.deviantart.com/art/Amba-587664299] |
Women, in their different
roles as teachers, mothers, sisters, wives, daughters, and friends, fill each of our
lives with vibrant colors of selfless love. They only give without seeking
anything in return. God made women to guard and protect men from the endless
perils of the vicious world we inhabit.
Happy Women's Day!
On the occasion of International
Women’s Day 2020, I would like to share a very important episode of Mahabharata
revolving around Amba, the eldest daughter of the King of Kashi, who was
abducted by Bhishma against her will. Now, Amba had two younger sisters Ambika
and Ambalika. The King of Kashi arranges for the swayamvara of his three
daughters (an ancient Indian practice wherein a girl chooses her husband from a
group of suitors present in the ceremony with the hope of marrying her) but he doesn’t invite Kuru Prince Vichitravirya as he finds him unworthy of his
daughters. Now, for centuries the Kashi princesses were getting married to the
Kuru princes and the Kashi king would have happily continued with the tradition
had Bhishma not taken the oath of celibacy and abdicated the crown for his step
brother Chitrangada, and subsequently Vichitravirya, following Chitrangada’s
death in the battlefield. But, Bhishma gets enraged on learning that the King of
Kashi hasn’t even sent an invitation for the swayamvara of his three daughters.
So he comes there unannounced and declares that he is taking Amba, Ambika and
Ambalika with himself to be married to Vichitravirya.
Salva, the king of Salwa,
who was secretly in love with Amba, challenges Bhishma’s chauvinistic behavior
for not letting the princesses choosing their husbands as per the tradition.
But Bhishma retorts disdainfully, “These princesses have no right to choose and
even if they did have that choice only I am capable of sitting in this swayamvara.”
Deeply hurt by Bhishma’s hubris, Salva
challenges Bhisma for a duel. But he is easily overpowered by Bhishma who
spares his life before taking the three princesses with him to Hastinapur. Now,
Amba too loved Salva and had already made up her mind to choose him as her
husband by placing the garland on his neck. Fearful of Bhishma but unable to forgive
herself, Amba finally reveals her love for Salva to Bhishma. He decides to sent
Amba to Salva with due respect and marries Vichitravirya to Ambika and
Ambalika.
When Amba safely reaches Salwa
she narrates the entire story to her lover. But Salva refuses to take her back
having lost her fair and square to another man in front of everyone present in
the swayamvara. Amba is heartbroken by Salva’s rejection. She decides to
approach Bhishma as she has nowhere else to return. But Bhishma refuses to
marry her to Vichitravirya now as that would bring bad name to the king. So
Amba begs Bhishma to marry her instead. But he tells her that he can’t marry
her due to his oath of celibacy and shuns her away. This completely breaks her
down. Rejection by not one but three men is too much to take for a young and
beautiful princess. She then appeals to
various kings for justice but no shows the courage to challenge Bhishma. At
last she retires to the forest and decides to take the advice of the sages so
that she can have her revenge.
She then meets many sages
and finally learns that only the sage Parashurama can help her. She narrates him her story and he too agrees
that Bhishma is the root cause of her plight. Parashurama promises to teach
Bhishma, who was his pupil, a lesson for ruining her life. At first Parashurama
asks Bhisma to accept Amba as his wife. But Bhisma refuses owing to his oath of
celibacy. So he challenges him for a battle. It is said that their battle
lasted for 23 days. On the 24th day Bhishma was about to use a
deadly weapon which would have undoubtedly defeated Parashurama who had not
counter to that weapon but he was stopped by the gods as that would have
brought humiliation to his own teacher. So the battle was considered to be a stalemate.
On learning about Parashurama’s helplessness against Bhishma she decides to please
the gods as she is hellbent on taking her revenge against Bhisma—the one man
she holds responsible for ruining her life.
Amba gives up food and sleep
and does severe penance for 12 years before finally she is granted what she
desires the most by Lord Shiva. She is blessed by Shiva that she would be born
as a man in her next birth and would become the reason for Bhishma’s
destruction. That she would be born to the king Drupada of Panchala and become
a great warrior and would remember her previous birth and the humiliation she
suffered at the hands of Bhishma. Pleased with the boon, Amba decides to end
her life. She creates a funeral pyre on the banks of the Yamuna and jumps in
the fire pledging to destroy Bhishma in her next birth. Years later, Amba is
reborn as Shikhandini.
On the 10th day
of the great war of Kurukshetra, Shikhandi accompanies Arjuna on his chariot.
On seeing Shikhandi, the hitherto unstoppable Bhishma lowers his weapons as he instantly
identifies him as Amba’s reincarnation. The weaponless Bhishma is felled by
Arjuna, pierced by innumerable arrows, which form his bed for the next several
days, before Bhisma finally decides to leave his body on the holy day of
Uttarayana. Thus, Amba's vengeance is finally fulfilled as Shikhandi becomes
the cause of Bhishma's death. Here is is important to understand that the
unbearable pain that Bhishma would have faced while lying on the arrow bed for
days just cannot be described in words. It’s a great lesson for the whole of
mankind to never treat a woman unjustly. Mahabharata teaches us time and again
to treat women with utmost respect and dignity. Whether Bhishma, Duryodhana or Dushasana
or anyone else, whosoever dares to treat women with disrespect actually ends up
paying a heavy price. It’s a lesson that mustn’t be forgotten.
Readers, please feel free to share your opinion by leaving your comments. As always your valuable thoughts are highly appreciated!
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