Śikhaṇḍī
Śikhaṇḍī was the son of King Drupada of Pāñcāla. He was the brother of Dhṛshṭadyumna and of Kṛshṇā (Draupadī). In an earlier life he was Ambā, the eldest princess of Kāśī. Bhīshma carried her off, and Śālva refused her, and her life was broken. From then on she lived for one purpose, the death of Bhīshma. That purpose carried over into her next life as Śikhaṇḍī.
Śikhaṇḍī was born female and raised as a son by Drupada’s queen. The yaksha Sthūṇakarṇa gave Śikhaṇḍī a male form, and the śāpa (curse) of Kubera made the change last. In his Rathātiratha-Saṃkhyāna, Bhīshma graded Śikhaṇḍī as a ratha (a full chariot-warrior). Bhīshma also declared that he would never fight Śikhaṇḍī, because his code barred him from raising weapons against one born female. On the tenth day of the war at Kurukshetra, Śikhaṇḍī stood before Bhīshma. Bhīshma lowered his bow, and Arjuna’s arrows brought the great commander down from his chariot.
Earlier life as Ambā
Śikhaṇḍī is Ambā born again. In her earlier life Ambā, the eldest princess of Kāśī, lost her whole life when Bhīshma carried her off at the svayaṃvara (the ceremony where a princess chooses her husband). Śālva then abandoned her, and Vicitravīrya turned her away.
She spent her life seeking Bhīshma’s destruction. She looked for champions and asked kings and ascetics for help. At last she came to Paraśurāma, who fought Bhīshma for twenty-three days and did not win. After twelve years of hard tapas (austerity) at the holy tīrthas of Bhāratavarsha, Bhagavān Mahādeva gave her a vara (boon). She would be born again in Drupada’s line as a male and would be the destroyer of Bhīshma. She burned herself at Yamunādvīpa and was born again as Śikhaṇḍī. This is told in the Udyoga Parva, in the Ambopākhyāna Parva, Chapters 173–196.
Family
Śikhaṇḍī belongs to the royal house of Pāñcāla. He is the son of Drupada and the brother of Dhṛshṭadyumna and Draupadī. He was born female but was raised wholly as a son. He received the saṃskāras (rites of passage) of a son, was trained in weapons and was prepared as a kshatriya warrior. Drupada’s queen had secretly declared the female child to be male at birth, in the hope that the divine word of a son who would destroy Bhīshma would come true. This is told in the Udyoga Parva.
Marriage and the crisis with Hiraṇyavarman
Drupada arranged Śikhaṇḍī’s marriage to the daughter of Hiraṇyavarman, the king of Daśārṇa. Hiraṇyavarman’s daughter found that her husband was born female, and she told her father. Hiraṇyavarman said he had been cheated and threatened war on Drupada. The crisis put Pāñcāla in danger of a terrible war. This is told in the Udyoga Parva.
Sthūṇakarṇa
Śikhaṇḍī was crushed by the disaster that this identity had brought on her parents. She left the palace and entered the forest of the yaksha Sthūṇakarṇa, a mighty servant of Kubera. Śikhaṇḍī fasted for many days in distress. Sthūṇakarṇa was moved with compassion. He offered to grant her wish and agreed to a change for a fixed time, with a promise that each would take back their own form. He would take Śikhaṇḍī’s female form, and Śikhaṇḍī would take his male form.
They made the exchange. Śikhaṇḍī, now fully male, went back to Drupada’s palace. Hiraṇyavarman’s women checked the truth. Hiraṇyavarman was satisfied, and the threat of war ended.
In the meantime Kubera came to Sthūṇa’s dwelling. He found that the yaksha did not come out to greet him as he always did, because he was in female form and too ashamed to appear. Kubera was furious and put a śāpa on Sthūṇakarṇa: the female form would stay until Śikhaṇḍī’s death. When Śikhaṇḍī later came back to keep the agreement, Sthūṇa told him that the exchange could no longer be undone. Śikhaṇḍī left, male for good, by the order of Kubera himself. This is told in the Udyoga Parva.
At Upaplavya
Śikhaṇḍī is named among the kings and warriors who came to Upaplavya in the Matsya country for the marriage of Abhimanyu and Uttarā. He came with his father Drupada and his brother Dhṛshṭadyumna, for the allied kingdom of Pāñcāla. This gathering became the council from which the Pāṇḍavas’ campaign began. This is told in the Virāṭa Parva, Chapter 72.
Warrior rank in the Udyoga Parva
In the Rathātiratha-Saṃkhyāna Parva, Bhīshma grades Śikhaṇḍī as a ratha, a full chariot-warrior, among the Pāṇḍava forces. He accepts that Śikhaṇḍī is truly skilled in war. But he then declares that he will never fight Śikhaṇḍī. His code completely bars him from raising weapons against a woman, a former woman, one born female, or one who bears a woman’s name. He knows the whole history of Śikhaṇḍī.
Dhṛshṭadyumna places Śikhaṇḍī opposite Bhīshma in the battle plan on purpose, knowing that Bhīshma’s code will keep him from striking back. On the tenth day Arjuna takes his place behind Śikhaṇḍī. Śikhaṇḍī’s presence is the shield that keeps Bhīshma’s bow lowered while Arjuna’s arrows do the work.
Śikhaṇḍī is also one of the seven army commanders appointed by Yudhishṭhira, in Chapter 157. He is named among those addressed in the taunts of Ulūka in the Ulūka-Dūtāgamana Parva, Chapters 160–163. This is told in the Udyoga Parva.
Death in the Sauptika Parva
Śikhaṇḍī brought about the fall of Bhīshma on the tenth day of the war. He met his own end on the night after Duryodhana fell, in Aśvatthāmā’s raid on the sleeping Pāñcāla camp. When the killing began, Śikhaṇḍī woke and took up his bow. He faced Aśvatthāmā and shot an arrow that struck him squarely between the eyebrows. Aśvatthāmā was filled with the āveśa (entering power) of Bhagavān Mahādeva and was beyond ordinary pain, so he was not shaken. He charged and, with one stroke of his sword, split Śikhaṇḍī from the crown of his head downward and killed him at once. This is told in the Mahābhārata, Sauptika Parva, Chapter 8.
Kṛshṇa’s words on whose arrows felled Bhīshma
After Bhīshma’s death and cremation at Kurukshetra, Gaṅgā Devī rose weeping from the river. She grieved that her son had died at Śikhaṇḍī’s hands. Bhagavān Kṛshṇa told her that in truth it was Arjuna (Dhanañjaya) whose arrows struck the deadly blows on the tenth day, and not Śikhaṇḍī. He said that not even Devendra could have struck Bhīshma down while Bhīshma stood in battle with his bow raised. Śikhaṇḍī’s part was to be the reason Bhīshma lowered that bow, because Bhīshma’s vow forbade him to raise weapons against one born female. The arrows that actually brought Bhīshma down were Arjuna’s own, shot from behind Śikhaṇḍī, who stood in front as a screen. This is told in the Anuśāsana Parva, Bhīshma Svargārohaṇa Parva, Chapter 168.
Revealed as a rākshasa in aṃśa
At the Gaṅgā, Vyāsa told that Śikhaṇḍī had been a rākshasa in aṃśa (part). This was in the same roll-call in which Dhṛshṭadyumna was shown to be an aṃśa of Agni. Śikhaṇḍī rose from the holy waters among the host of the fallen. He was young again and free of the enmity that had once tied him to the death of Bhīshma. He spent one night in reunion and then went back to his loka. This is told in the Āśramavāsika Parva, Chapter 31.
Sought by Yudhishṭhira in svarga
Across two lives Śikhaṇḍī carried out the purpose for which Bhagavān Mahādeva had ordained his birth. Through his kshatriya-dharma he reached the world of the devas. When Yudhishṭhira first entered svarga (heaven) and did not find his kinsmen and companions there, he named the son of the Pāñcāla king, Śikhaṇḍī, with the sons of Draupadī and the mighty Abhimanyu among those he longed to see. He said he would take no joy in svarga apart from them. When the false naraka (hell) faded away, Śikhaṇḍī was among the heroes shown in their divine places. He was restored and free of the enmity that had tied his former life to the death of Bhīshma. This is told in the Svargārohaṇa Parva, Chapter 1.
Sources
- Mahābhārata, Virāṭa Parva, Chapter 72
- Mahābhārata, Udyoga Parva, Ambopākhyāna Parva, Chapters 173–196
- Mahābhārata, Udyoga Parva, Chapters 157, 160–163 (Ulūka-Dūtāgamana Parva)
- Mahābhārata, Sauptika Parva, Chapter 8
- Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Bhīshma Svargārohaṇa Parva, Chapter 168
- Mahābhārata, Āśramavāsika Parva, Chapter 31
- Mahābhārata, Svargārohaṇa Parva, Chapter 1