Ambopākhyāna

The Ambopākhyāna (the account of Ambā) is the long story inside the Udyoga Parva of the Mahābhārata, in Chapters 173-196. Bhīshma tells it to Duryodhana. Duryodhana asks why Bhīshma rated Śikhaṇḍī as a ratha (a chariot-warrior) but says he will never fight him.

The account follows the whole life of Ambā. It tells of her abduction at the Kāśī svayaṃvara (a ceremony where a princess chooses her husband), Śālva’s refusal, her failed appeals to Bhīshma, her twelve years of hard tapas (austerity), her death in fire, and her rebirth as Śikhaṇḍī. It ends with the yaksha Sthūṇakarṇa, through whom Śikhaṇḍī received the male form that would let Ambā face Bhīshma at Kurukshetra.

Why Bhīshma tells the account

As the Kurukshetra war comes near, Duryodhana asks Bhīshma why he rated Śikhaṇḍī as a ratha but declared that he will never fight him. Bhīshma had just finished listing the Rathātiratha-Saṃkhyāna, the count of the warriors by rank. Bhīshma answers by telling the full history of Ambā. It explains who Śikhaṇḍī truly is, and why Bhīshma, who fears no warrior in the world, will lower his bow when Śikhaṇḍī stands before him.

Ambā’s abduction at the Kāśī svayaṃvara

Bhīshma wanted brides for his half-brother Vicitravīrya. He came uninvited to the svayaṃvara of the three daughters of the king of Kāśī: Ambā, Ambikā and Ambālikā. He challenged and defeated all the kings who were gathered there and carried the three princesses by force to Hastināpura.

After they arrived, Ambā told Bhīshma in private that she had already chosen Śālva, the king of Śālvadeśa, as her husband in her heart. She had been about to garland him when Bhīshma stepped in. Bhīshma accepted that her words were true. He let her go and sent her to Śālva with due honour.

Śālva’s refusal

Ambā reached Śālva’s kingdom and told him what had happened. Śālva refused to take her back. He had been at the svayaṃvara and had been defeated by Bhīshma, and Ambā had been taken from in front of him. He said that to accept her now, after she had been in another man’s hands, even without any union, would dishonour him. He sent her away.

Ambā went back to Hastināpura and appealed again to Bhīshma and to Vicitravīrya. Vicitravīrya also refused her, because a woman who had gone to another man and returned could not be his wife. Śālva did not want her, Vicitravīrya would not accept her, she had been dishonoured by the abduction, and she had nowhere to go. She laid the whole weight of her ruined life on Bhīshma.

Seeking Bhīshma’s defeat

Ambā decided that the only justice open to her was Bhīshma’s death. She went to many rājarshis (royal ṛshis) and ascetics and asked any who would listen to take up her cause. Most refused, because they were unable or unwilling to stand against Bhīshma. Among those she met were the rājarshi Hotravāhana, her mother’s father, and the ascetic Śaikhāvatya, who lived in an āśrama in a forest.

Hotravāhana’s advice

Hotravāhana saw how terrible his granddaughter’s situation was. He told her to go to Paraśurāma, the great Bhārgava warrior-ṛshi of Mahendra parvata. Paraśurāma loved Bhīshma as a disciple but was bound to dharma, and he might be moved to fight for Ambā. This advice set Ambā on the path that led to the great battle.

Paraśurāma’s help

Ambā reached Mahendra parvata and told Paraśurāma her case. He was moved by her suffering. Paraśurāma sent a message to Bhīshma asking him to do one of three things: marry Ambā himself, since he had caused her trouble; arrange her marriage; or fight. Bhīshma was bound by his great vow of lifelong celibacy, called devavrata, and refused to marry her. He also refused to give way, insisting that he had acted justly when he took the three princesses.

Because of this refusal, Paraśurāma declared that he would fight Bhīshma himself. Akṛtavraṇa, Paraśurāma’s devoted disciple, went with him and saw the whole battle.

The twenty-three day battle at Kurukshetra

Paraśurāma and Bhīshma met at Kurukshetra, the same field where the great war would later be fought. They fought a fierce battle that lasted twenty-three days. Both were supreme masters of archery and used divine weapons. Each day they hurled great weapons at each other, the ground was torn up, and the sky grew dark with arrows.

The battle was a duel between teacher and disciple. Paraśurāma used his Brahmāstra, and Bhīshma answered with his own Brahmāstra. The two great weapons met in the sky and threatened to destroy the world.

The Prasvāpana astra

On the night of the seventeenth day of the battle, the eight Vasus appeared to Bhīshma in a dream. They gave him the Prasvāpana astra, the weapon of divine sleep, which can put a whole enemy army into unconsciousness. They urged him to use it to end the battle. Bhīshma was ready to use this astra to end the fight.

The battle is stopped

As Bhīshma was about to use the Prasvāpana astra, Nārada Maharshi and a council of ṛshis, among them Ṛcīka, an ancestor of Paraśurāma, stepped in. Nārada stopped Bhīshma. He warned him that using this astra in a fight between a brāhmaṇa and a kshatriya would bring terrible results. Gaṅgā, Bhīshma’s divine mother, also appeared and asked her son to give way. The pitṛdevatās (the divine ancestors) of Paraśurāma’s line also appeared and urged Paraśurāma to withdraw.

Paraśurāma met these appeals from the highest authorities and accepted that Bhīshma could not be defeated by any means known to him. He withdrew from the battle. Before he left, he praised Bhīshma’s unmatched courage and declared him unconquerable.

The answer for Ambā

Paraśurāma went back to Ambā and told her the hard truth. He had fought with all his power and had not been able to defeat Bhīshma. She would have to find another way. Ambā left in deep grief, with a burning resolve.

Twelve years of tapas

Ambā took up the hardest course open to her: twelve years of severe tapas at the tīrthas (holy places) of Bhāratavarsha. She visited and practised austerities at these places in turn: Nandāśrama, Ulūkāśrama, Cyavanāśrama, the Brahmasthāna, Prayāga, Devayajana, Devāraṇya, Bhogavatī, Kauśikāśrama, Māṇḍavyāśrama, Dilīpāśrama, Rāmahrada and the Pailagarga āśrama. Through all twelve years her one aim stayed the same: to find the way to destroy Bhīshma.

The warning about the Ambā river

While Ambā was practising tapas near the river Yamunā, Gaṅgā appeared to her. She warned Ambā that if she held on to this all-consuming hatred, she would become a river with a crooked course, a stream that bends back on itself and never reaches the sea. This warning came partly true: Ambā did become a river. The Ambā river, which flows through Vatsa-deśa, is known in the tradition as the river form Ambā took during this time of tapas.

Mahādeva’s vara

After twelve years of tapas, Mahādeva (Bhagavān Śiva) appeared to Ambā and gave her a vara (a boon). She asked for one thing: the power to kill Bhīshma. Mahādeva gave her this vara: she would be reborn as a male in Drupada’s family, and in that male form she would bring about Bhīshma’s death in battle. The decree was set.

Death in fire and rebirth

At Yamunādvīpa, an island in the Yamunā, Ambā built a pyre and burned herself. She died with one thought burning in her mind: Bhīshma’s destruction and Mahādeva’s vara. She was born in Drupada’s house as a daughter. She kept the divine memory of her former life, her purpose and Mahādeva’s promise. Drupada and his queen raised the child, though she was born female, as a son. The child was named Śikhaṇḍī.

Śikhaṇḍī’s childhood and marriage

Śikhaṇḍī was raised wholly as a male. The child received the saṃskāras (the sacred rites) of a son, was taught the use of weapons, and was trained as a warrior. When the time came, Drupada arranged Śikhaṇḍī’s marriage to the daughter of Hiraṇyavarman, king of Daśārṇa. The marriage went ahead.

Hiraṇyavarman’s daughter found out that her husband was born female and told her father. The king of Daśārṇa was furious at the deception. He threatened war on Drupada and said he would destroy Pāñcāla for this insult.

Sthūṇakarṇa and the exchange of form

Śikhaṇḍī was in despair at seeing her parents threatened because of her. She left the palace and went into a forest. In that forest lived the yaksha Sthūṇakarṇa, a devotee of Kubera, who guarded that woodland. Ordinary people did not enter his forest, out of fear of him.

Śikhaṇḍī went into the yaksha’s dwelling and fasted for many days, growing weak in her distress. The yaksha Sthūṇa saw her state, came to her with compassion, and offered to grant whatever she wanted. Śikhaṇḍī told him the whole matter: the marriage, the discovery and the threat to Drupada.

Sthūṇakarṇa agreed to exchange forms for a time. He would take Śikhaṇḍī’s female form for a period, and Śikhaṇḍī would take Sthūṇa’s male form. The condition was that Śikhaṇḍī must give the male form back to the yaksha when the crisis was over. They made the exchange.

Śikhaṇḍī, now male in form, went back to the palace. Drupada was overjoyed. He told Hiraṇyavarman that his child was indeed male. The king of Daśārṇa sent women to check, and they confirmed that Śikhaṇḍī was male. Hiraṇyavarman was satisfied. The threat of war ended, and he went home with gifts and good will.

Kubera’s śāpa on Sthūṇakarṇa

While this was going on, Kubera, the ruler of the yakshas, made his rounds and came to Sthūṇa’s dwelling. He found that Sthūṇa did not come out to greet him as was the custom. The other yakshas told him what had happened. Sthūṇa had given his male form to a human female and now had a female form himself, and he was too ashamed to appear before Kubera.

Kubera was furious at this breach of yaksha custom and at the reversal of the natural order. He laid a śāpa (a curse) on Sthūṇakarṇa: the yaksha would stay female for good, and the female form he took from Śikhaṇḍī would be his forever. The other yakshas begged for a limit to the śāpa, and Kubera softened it. Sthūṇakarṇa would get his male form back after Śikhaṇḍī died. Until that day, the exchange was permanent.

Later Śikhaṇḍī came back to keep the agreement and return Sthūṇa’s male form. The yaksha told her what had happened. Because of Kubera’s śāpa, the exchange could not be undone in Śikhaṇḍī’s lifetime. Śikhaṇḍī went away, male for good, on Kubera’s divine word.

Bhīshma’s vow about Śikhaṇḍī

This is the account that Bhīshma gives to Duryodhana. He ends with the reason for his vow. Śikhaṇḍī was born a woman, and the change from female to male, even by a yaksha’s grace, does not change the fact of that birth. Bhīshma’s rule is firm: he will not raise a weapon against a woman, against one who was once a woman, against one who bears a woman’s name, or against one whose form looks like a woman’s. He knows Śikhaṇḍī’s nature and birth, so he will lower his bow if Śikhaṇḍī stands before him. For Bhīshma this is dharma.

Return to the present: the armies march (Chapters 193-196)

After the Ambopākhyāna, the account returns to the present. In Chapter 193, Duryodhana asks each of his commanders how long it would take to destroy the Pāṇḍava army. Bhīshma says one month. Droṇa says one month. Kṛpa says two months. Aśvatthāman says ten days. Karṇa boldly says five days. Bhīshma laughs at Karṇa’s claim and says that Karṇa has never faced Arjuna with Kṛshṇa as his charioteer.

In Chapter 194, Yudhishṭhira’s spies report this talk to the Pāṇḍava camp. Yudhishṭhira asks Arjuna the same question. Arjuna answers that with Vāsudeva beside him he could destroy the three worlds in a moment. He adds that the Pāśupatāstra alone, which none of the Kaurava warriors have, is enough for any need.

In Chapter 195 the Kaurava army marches to Kurukshetra with great ceremony, with forces from every part of the realm. In Chapter 196 the Pāṇḍava army marches under Yudhishṭhira’s command, fully drawn up. The Udyoga Parva closes with both armies in place for the first day of the war.

Samāptam Udyoga Parva: the Udyoga Parva is complete.

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Udyoga Parva, Chapters 173-196 (the Ambopākhyāna and the return to the present)
• Mahābhārata, Udyoga Parva, Chapters 193-196 (the commanders’ claims, Arjuna’s reply, and the march of the two armies)