Shantanu had two children with Satyavati. The first one was known as Chitrangada, the second was known as Vichitraveerya. Chitrangada, an arrogant young man, went out one day into the forest. He encountered a gandharva – a being with extraordinary skills who came from elsewhere – who was also named Chitrangada. When this gandharva asked the boy “Who are you?”, he proudly said, “I am Chitrangada.” The gandharva laughed and said, “How dare you call yourself Chitrangada? I am Chitrangada. You better change your name. This is my name. You are unfit to carry my name.” The young prince stood up and said, “How dare you say that! It looks like you’ve lived too long. Come, let us fight because my father has named me Chitrangada and this is my name.” They fought, and in a moment the boy was dead.

The Strange Man

Now there was only one son left – Vichitraveerya. “Vichitra” means strange or distorted, “veerya” means masculinity. He was a strange or distorted masculinity. We don’t know exactly what that means. He was either unwilling to get a wife or incapable of getting a wife. Getting a wife or getting a child isn’t something we should look at in today’s context. It was the most important thing at that time because being a king, the first concern is that they must have sons. Otherwise, who would be next in the lineage? Every day, they were going into battle. Whoever you may be, you may get killed. If you get killed, did you have a son or not was a very important aspect. That was why they were always thinking about taking a wife and having a son because if you didn’t have a son, your whole empire would go somewhere else.

Vichitraveerya was unwilling to take a wife. Bhishma was unwilling to take a wife. Chitrangada was dead. So the Kuru dynasty was at a standstill.
In this situation the king of Kashi announced the swayamvara of his three daughters – and they did not send an invitation to the Kuru house. The Kuru dynasty was the biggest and most respected in the region but they did not get an invitation because the king of Kashi did not want his girls to be married to Vichitraveerya, about whose masculinity there were rumors. Bhishma could not take this affront because he is committed to the Kuru dynasty above his own wellbeing – above anyone’s wellbeing. So he decided to attend the swayamvara.

Bhishma Kidnaps Amba

A swayamvara meant a young woman was allowed to choose her own destiny. When a princess had to marry, they would set up a kind of an event where anyone in the Kshatriya clan who thinks they are eligible could attend, and the woman could choose her husband. It was her choice. No one could intervene.

All three daughters of the king of Kashi – Amba, Ambika and Ambalika – had come to the swayamvara at once. Amba was already in love with the king of Shalva whose name was Salva, and she was to choose him. The simple way of indicating her choice was that the woman would be given a garland, and she would look around at all the men and when she chose one man, she garlanded him and that man became her husband. Amba went to Salva and garlanded him.

Just then, Bhishma walked in. The other warriors sitting there feared him because he was a great warrior. At the same time they knew he had castrated himself and he would never marry. So they taunted him, “Why has the old man come here now? Is he looking for a bride? Or does the Kuru clan not have a warrior who can come and take a bride? Is that the reason he has come?” Bhishma flew into a rage that his nation and clan were being ridiculed. So he kidnapped all the three girls and took them with him. The other warriors gave battle but he defeated all of them. Salva himself fought because his bride was being abducted, but Bhishma defeated and humiliated him and took all three girls away.

This is a change that has happened from previous generations, where a woman could set conditions. Now a woman was being grabbed and taken. Amba was all teary-eyed. As they were journeying towards Hastinapur, the capital city of the Kurus, Amba said, “What have you done? I was in love with this man and I had already put my garland on him. He is my husband. You can’t take me like this.”

Bhishma replied, “I have taken you. What I take belongs to the Kurus.” So she asked him, “Will you marry me?” Bhishma said, “No, you will marry Vichitraveerya.” But Vichitraveerya married only Ambika and Ambalika. He refused Amba saying, “She placed the garland on someone else. She has given her heart to someone. I will not marry this woman.”

Amba’s Plight

Amba was completely confused, “What am I supposed to do now?” Bhishma apologized to her and said, “I will arrange for you to be sent back to Salva.” Amba was quite happy with this and went back to Salva – but she was in for a shock. Salva refused her saying, “I am not here to take charity from somebody. I lost the battle. The old beast defeated me and now he is trying to give me a charity bride. I will not take you. Go back.”

Amba had now been refused in both places. She returned to Hastinapur and insisted that Bhishma marry her, “You’ve destroyed my life. You took away the man I love, you brought me here forcefully and the person I am supposed to marry will not marry me. You must marry me.” But Bhishma just refused. “My allegiance is to my nation. I have given my word that I will not marry and that’s all.”

In total desolation, Amba walked out. I want you to imagine, it’s 5000 years ago, a princess rejected from everywhere, she cannot go back to her father, she has no husband. Her man is not taking her back. She just went out not knowing where she is going, in absolute desolation.

Amba moved from despair to desperation, from desperation to anger, from anger to rage, from rage to a thirst for revenge. She went from place to place seeking someone who could kill Bhishma. But no one was willing to have a fight with Bhishma because of his prowess. Another aspect is, when Bhishma took the vow to never marry and castrated himself, Shantanu had said, “For what you have done for me today, I will give you a blessing. These 18 years I have been a brahmachari and I have done tapasya. All the merit that I have earned within myself, all the energy that I have picked within myself, I will make it into a blessing and offer it to you, that in your life you can choose your death. You can choose when you will die.” With this blessing on his side and the kind of warrior that he was, no one was willing to take him on.

Bhishma Fights Parashurama

Then Amba went in search of Parashurama. Parashurama was Bhishma’s teacher for arms training, especially archery. When she went and prostrated herself before Parashurama and expressed her plight, Parashurama said, “Don’t worry, I will fix this for you.” He called Bhishma. Bhishma came and prostrated himself. Parashurama said, “Enough! Enough of your vow. Just marry this woman.” For the first time Bhishma said, “You are my guru. If you ask me to take away my own head, I will do it but do not ask me to break my vow. I have taken a vow that I cannot break.”

You will see throughout the story, there are men who will take a vow, and no matter what – life or death, it doesn’t matter what it causes – they want to keep that word. Why this is so is, these are times when people are striving to bring civilization from a totally uncivilized existence. In this effort, a man’s word is the most important thing. There are no constitutions or penal codes written down. In such a condition a man’s word is the most important thing. If I say something, I do it and do it at any cost. When there is no law, a man’s word is the only law.

But Parashurama is not used to disobedience. When his father asked him to take away the heads of all his brothers and his mother, without a thought he lopped off all four heads. His father was pleased with his obedience and said, “Ask for a boon. What do you want?” Parashurama said, “I want my mother and my brothers to come back to life.” So his father gave them back their lives.

Disobedience is one thing that Parashurama cannot take because that is how he has grown up. When he saw Bhishma is unwilling to obey, he went into a rage and the two of them had a duel – an extra-ordinary duel. But Parashurama had taught Bhishma everything he knew and found that he could not beat him. Both of them fought bitterly for days on end and when they found that no one could be the winner, Parashurama threw up his hands and told Amba, “You have to find somebody else.”

Karthikeya Intervenes

Amba moved into the Himalayan region and went into deep austerities. She sat upon the snow-clad peaks and went into a deep state of sadhana, calling for Karthikeya, the son of Shiva, who is a great warrior. In her mind, she thought Karthikeya would be the one person who would be able to kill Bhishma. Karthikeya, pleased with her austerity appeared and when she said, “You must kill Bhishma” he replied, “My time of killing is over.”

Once again she took a garland – a lotus flower garland – and walked from town to town, village to village, “Is there anybody who is willing to wear this garland and kill Bhishma?”
If you do not know this, Karthikeya came down south and in his quest for justice went about slaughtering everything that he saw as injustice. He came to the place which is now known as Subramanya in Karnataka. For the last time he washed his sword and said, “Never again this sword will see blood”. He gave up violence and went up the mountain, which is today known as Kumara Parvata, and left his body there. In his disembodied state, when Amba called him, he said, “I cannot kill Bhishma but looking at your plight and your devotion, I will give you a blessing.” He gave her a garland of lotuses and said, “Take this garland. Whoever wears this garland will kill Bhishma.”

Now, with great hope in her heart, once again Amba went with this garland in her hands – these garlands have always been a disaster for her. The first time she took a garland, something else happened. Once again she took a garland – a lotus flower garland – and walked from town to town, village to village, “Is there anybody who is willing to wear this garland and kill Bhishma?” But no man was willing to touch it.

Her journey with the garland continued and she came to the court of King Drupada, the king of Panchala which was the second largest empire in Bharatvarsh. But Drupada did not even want to come anywhere near Amba because by now Amba’s reputation had spread everywhere. Like a ghost she was walking from village to village, town to town, thirsting for Bhishma’s blood. When Drupada refused to see her, out of total frustration, she hung these lotus flowers on one of the columns in Drupada’s palace and once again desolate and depressed, went straight up to Himalayas. These lotus flowers continued to remain fresh and Drupada was so afraid of this garland, he did not let anybody touch it. Every day they lit lamps and worshipped the garland but nobody touched it, nobody wanted to have anything to do with it.

Shiva’s Boon

Amba continued her journey to the Himalayas. She sat there in great austerity. Slowly, the young woman’s beautiful body wilted down to just bones. She sat there, mere bones and skin and called for Shiva. Shiva himself appeared. She said, “You must kill Bhishma.” Shiva replied, “Is it not best that you get to kill Bhishma? Then you will enjoy the revenge more than me killing him” Suddenly her eyes brightened up and she said, “How is it possible? I am a woman and he is a great warrior, how can I kill him?” Shiva replied, “I will bless you, in your next life you will kill him.” Then Amba said, “But in my next life I will not remember all this. So I will not know the sweetness of revenge.” Shiva said, “Don’t worry. I will make sure that you remember. When the time comes you will remember. You will know the sweetness of revenge. For all that you have suffered, you will have it.” So she sat there and left her body, to come back later.