Reading Notes: PDE Mahabharata Part A (Amba)
Amba
Amba is the eldest of the three princesses that Bhishma captures for his younger brother to wed. However, she says to Bhishma that it would not be fair to his brother because her heart already belongs to someone else, so he lets her go and she leaves to be with the king of Shalwas. Once she gets there, he is cold and mean to her and tells her that he refuses to be with her because she was won by Bhishma, but one might think he was mean in nature. Amba is in despair, but then she realizes that this is all Bhishma's fault and decided to fast and pray to Shiva so she can kill Bhishma for causing all this trouble. Shiva tells her she cannot kill him because she is a woman, but she will die and will become a man in the future and then she will be able to kill him.
I want to recreate this story where Amba prays to Shiva for so long, and by the time he appears to her she is an old woman. She cannot kill Bhishma because she is too old and frail, so she decides to climb onto a funeral pyre and kill herself. She becomes reincarnated into a younger and stronger woman, and thus goes to kill Bhishma.
(Amba, Wikipedia Commons)
Bibliography: "Amba" originally from Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists by Sister Nivedita, via PDE Mahabharata
Amba is the eldest of the three princesses that Bhishma captures for his younger brother to wed. However, she says to Bhishma that it would not be fair to his brother because her heart already belongs to someone else, so he lets her go and she leaves to be with the king of Shalwas. Once she gets there, he is cold and mean to her and tells her that he refuses to be with her because she was won by Bhishma, but one might think he was mean in nature. Amba is in despair, but then she realizes that this is all Bhishma's fault and decided to fast and pray to Shiva so she can kill Bhishma for causing all this trouble. Shiva tells her she cannot kill him because she is a woman, but she will die and will become a man in the future and then she will be able to kill him.
I want to recreate this story where Amba prays to Shiva for so long, and by the time he appears to her she is an old woman. She cannot kill Bhishma because she is too old and frail, so she decides to climb onto a funeral pyre and kill herself. She becomes reincarnated into a younger and stronger woman, and thus goes to kill Bhishma.
(Amba, Wikipedia Commons)
Bibliography: "Amba" originally from Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists by Sister Nivedita, via PDE Mahabharata
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