Yamunādvīpa, the island of the Yamunā, is the sacred spot on the bank of the Yamunā where Ambā ended her life in fire after twelve years of intense tapas (austerity). The Mahābhārata names it as the last tīrtha on Ambā’s long wandering. From this island her life passed on, and she was reborn as Śikhaṇḍī in the house of Drupada.

The last tīrtha of Ambā’s journey

The Ambopākhyāna in the Udyoga Parva of the Mahābhārata tells of Ambā’s wandering. She was refused by Śālva. Kings and ascetics who could not oppose Bhīshma turned her away. She also sought to have Paraśurāma defeat Bhīshma by force, but that battle ended in a standstill, with the divine weapons on both sides neutralising each other.

After this Ambā completed twelve years of tapas at various tīrthas on the Yamunā and on the rivers that flow into it. Then she arrived at Yamunādvīpa. By then she had become the Ambā nadī (the river Ambā), a river of crooked course that flows through Vatsa-deśa, as Gaṅgā had foretold. Even so, her mind stayed fixed on her one resolve.

Ambā enters the fire

On Yamunādvīpa, Ambā gathered firewood and kindled a blazing fire. Crying out the purpose that drove her, “for the death of Bhīshma”, she leapt into the flames.

Rebirth as Śikhaṇḍī

Ambā was reborn as the daughter of Drupada, who later became Śikhaṇḍī. Śikhaṇḍī was the one through whom Bhīshma fell on the tenth day of the war at Kurukshetra.

Sources

Mahābhārata, Udyoga Parva, Ambopākhyāna Parva