Amba

  • Amba was the eldest daughter of the king of Kashi. She and her sisters Ambika and Ambalika were carried off by Bhishma to be the wives of Vichitravirya.
  • Amba, being secretly in love with Shalva, was sent back to him. But Shalva rejected her because she had been in another man's house.
  • Amba, then returned to Bhishma and urged him to accept her as his wife. Bhishma, bound by his vow of celibacy, could not do so.
  • Enraged, Amba vowed to avenge her insult. She carried out severe penances in the forest and finally received a boon from Shiv, to avenge her insult in her next birth.
  • She was reborn as Shikhandi, daughter of Drupad. She fought in the war of Mahabharat, under the name of Shikhandi, and was the cause of Bhishma's death.


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