Amba- A woman wronged thrice over

For history, Amba is a bone of contention. A misfortune which no one wants to talk about. She was a woman who committed the mistake of trusting blindly on love and was overthrown by life, plunged into deepest despair a woman of her age could ever desire to be. Read the tragedy of this Mahabharata heroine, Amba, Princess of Kashi and the slayer of Bhisma.

Amba burned with rage and passion when she was rejected by three men, Source: Pinterest

The world most of the time has happened to be cruel to women, it’s a truth that doesn’t need to require any declaration, as history serves as the paramount evidence. Women have been wronged more than ever in the mythological history of almost every culture than in any other part of society. For a woman, her honor was considered her greatest boon, her most precious ornament, it was always men who developed and maintained this notion and philosophy through time.

Yet ironically it was the very men who didn’t leave any stone unturned to destroy and dis-power women, to keep them inferior always. For men, their pride was most important, rather than the notion of a woman’s honor. The titular saga of Princess Amba is based on the same conspiracy. Her fate was made and destroyed by not one but three men, who just played with her honor, refuting it to be maligned at the end.

For Amba, the eldest princess of Kashi, life was quite blissful during her younger years. She was beautiful and in love, the two must be prerequisites to weave a happy and secure future for women. Security in the form of her looks and security of marriage with her beloved King Salva. Amba had two other sisters, Ambika and Ambalika who were also of age and so the King of Kashi arranged for their Svayamvara to get all his daughters married into perspective and powerful kingdoms.

Amba had already cooked her little and serene dream of marrying Salva and for her, this event of Svyamvara was a mere play where performances had to be kept. She knew she will put the garland of choice around Salva’s neck and all will be fine and sealed. But the warmth of her secure blanket was swept by a cold curse when Bhisma, the son of Ganga and king Shantanu of Hastinapur darkened Amba’s doorstep.

Bhisma, born Devdutta was a man of staunch ideals who had the habit to stretch everyone’s limits along with his own. The reason why he was an uninvited guest at Amba’s funeral was that he was looking for prospective brides for his brother and King of Hastinapur, Vichitravirya. In an unexpected turn of events, Bhisma abducted all three princesses giving an open challenge that whichever king had the guts to enter into a faceoff with him they can do so. Only Salva, Amba’s lover came forward to claim the love of his life, but to no avail. Bhisma defeated him in minutes and off he went to Hastinapur, putting a fatal seal of doom on Amba’s faith.

Amba soon came out of the shock of it all and laid her heart bare in front of Bhisma, how ardently she loved Salva and must be spared from his plans because she won't be able to lead a content married life with anyone but Salva. Her honesty of emotions moved Bhisma and he let her go. But the ordeal of Amba’s life had started, never to end but in death. Her beloved rejected her when she reached him. Salva’s male hubris wouldn’t allow him to marry someone who has been won by another man. Salva advised a shocked and tearful Amba to either return to her father’s kingdom or marry Bhisma.

Amba chose the latter as to return to her kingdom as an unmarried but soiled princess would be a dishonor so great that the blow of it would kill her father. So Amba returned to Bhisma who, much to her shock and surprise rejected her. In all her hurried misfortune, Amba had never realized that Bhisma was a sworn celibate and can't marry anyone. Amba pleaded with Bhisma to consider her dishonored state and accept her, as he was the one who took her in the first place, only he had the power to make right the jeopardized turn of her life.

Amba and her sisters being abducted by Bhisma, Source: Wikipedia

By now Bhisma had softened towards Amba not because he pitied her but because he genuinely had fallen for her, but he was a slave to his duties and must reject Amba. The ruined princess then desperately suggested that perhaps Vichitravirya can still marry her and save her last shreds of honor. Bhisma considered this and put this proposition before the Samrata of Hastinapur. Bhisma’s stepbrother instantly rejected this proposition, stating the reason that a woman who has a love for another man in her heart can never be able to love him ever and cannot be his wife.

And so this was how the beautiful and accomplished Princess Amba was rejected by three men. Her lover, her abductor, and her prospective groom. Amba died gloomily after taking a vow to kill Bhisma inhumanely in her next life, as she always considered Bhisma as the root cause of all her sorrows. She cursed Bhisma that he will rot in hell while she suffered in life. Little did she know that the man she wished to kill so strongly was the only man from all her three rejecters who ever loved her from distance, always wishing good for her in his heart.

Nonetheless, Amba died, with a grudge and seething anger in her heart. Only her tears ever conveyed her sorrow, her disappointment at her own life. Her anger for loving a shallow man and not being beautiful and capable enough to melt the vow of celibacy of an accomplished man like Bhisma. Amba can be called ‘the jilted woman’ of Mahabharata. Her story is a perfect example of how destiny unfolds tragically if it was meant to be.