Amba: Kashi princess turned Panchala warrior
Synopsis
Change is a constant that every entity on this planet goes through. Certain circumstances within us or around us lead to these changes. Changes are crucial for stories to evolve. A character arc is the evolution of a character that happens through the course of a story. It doesn’t have to be just physical, it can be an inner journey that makes a character grow, learn and change over the course of time as the story unfolds. Character arcs are the most powerful and subtle aspect of the plots and stories. They create a sense of journey and keep the plot tight and a three-act structure together.
Bhisma Kidnaps Princesses Of Kashi
A swayamvara was a kadence where a young woman was allowed to choose her own destiny. Two among the three Princesses of Kashi, Ambika, Ambalika were happy that a brave warrior and the old man, Bhisma himself abducted them from the Swayamvara on behalf of the king of Hastinapur, Vichitraveerya. While the third princess Amba’s eyes sunk in disappointment when Bhisma defeated everyone especially, her lover Selva who fought for her to whom she had decided to put the garland around in the Swayamvara.
When they reached Hastinapur, the helpless Amba expressed her love towards Selva and was turned down by the groom Vichitraverya. Bhisma apologized for his mistake and asked her to go to Selva and marry him. The young princess jumped in joy and went to Selva with great hope and dream in her eyes. To her surprise, the king of Shelva refused to marry her as he thought she is been given as a charity bride to him and deserted her.
Amba came back despondently to Bhisma. She said ‘You not only abducted me but my dreams, happiness and you ruined my life. Since Selva refused to marry me you must marry me. To which Bhisma replied, “The sun may lose his brightness and moon his charm but I won’t break my vow. I have taken a vow to never marry in life so I cannot marry at any cost”. This made the helpless Abma get furious as she took a vow to kill the immortal Bhishma and walked out of the palace with great determination in her heart.
Little did she know that her life is going to change forever from this moment. Imagine, a woman walking out alone 5000 years ago helplessly. Abma walked with a great disappointment and despondence in her heart.
The Emotional Character Arc
While she walked, her emotional arc raised up, Her Disappointment turned into despondence, despondence to rage, rage to revenge.
Like a ghost, she walked town by town, village by village to find the man who can help her to take revenge on Bhisma and reached Parashurama’s ashram. As she explained, Parashurama called his disciple and asked him to marry Amba to which Bhisma said, “Oh Gurudeva If you want I will cut my head as an offering but pardon me, I cannot break my vow and marry her”. Parashurama is not used to disobedience and called him for a duel. They fought for a long time and couldn’t defeat each other. Parashurama who had thought everything he knew to Bhisma got tired and gave up. He asked Amba to find someone else.
As she continued her journey she sat on Himalayan mountain and prayed for Kartikeya. Looking at her plight Karthikeya appeared and listened to her story and said “ I have shunned the violence. I have slaughtered everything I found was unjust. I washed my weapon drenched in blood for one last time and sat in Kumaraparvat. O Amba, Pardon me”. He understood what she was going through and gave her an ever-fresh lotus garland and said, “Whoever wears this garland will be able to kill Bhisma”.
Once again with great hope in her heart, she walks like a ghost with the garland in her hand. By now, Amba’s reputation had spread like a wildfire and nobody was ready to wear the garland and be on the other side of Bhishma. She reached the kingdom of Panchala to seek Drupada’s help who refused her. Amba, who has hopelessly hanged the garland in his palace and walked away. No one bothered to touch the garland while Amba may have killed herself.
Amba performed serious austerities in the snowclad peaks of Himalaya and prayed for Shiva. She gave up food, water and survived only on air for many months. Slowly, the beautiful princess lost her charm, her body slowly wilted away and she became bones. She pleased Shive after years of sadhana, the lord Shiva appeared to whom she expressed her ambition. Lord Shiva said, “Isn’t it the best if you get a chance to kill Bhisma”. Her eyes brightened up though her body was wilted away. She replied, “I am a woman, how can I kill him”. Shiva said, “Don’t you worry, I will take care of it”.Amba was pleased and left her body in great joy.
Wait, The Arc Isn’t reached its peak yet.
The peak of the arc: Drupada and his blood
Long story short, Arjuna, Bhima bundled up king Drupada and showed him at Dronacharya’s feet who had ordered them to do so as a guru Dakshina. Drona Humiliated Drupada took away half of his kingdom and spared his life. Drupada walked back to his kingdom in utter shame. Since that day, he lived with the single-minded purpose of destroying the Kuru clan, their pillar Bhishma and his enemy Drona.
Drupada performed great austerities to please Shiva to get a son who can take revenge. Shiva himself appeared gave him a daughter and said, “This girl is going to do what you have lived for”. Drupada got confused as to how can I the girl kill the clan. He did not disclose her true gender to her and anyone. He started dressing her up as a boy and she was brought up as a boy. She couldn’t hide it as she came off age and gets distressed and walks into the jungle to die. She gets saved by a Yaksha, Sthunakarna who grants her a boon. He says, “You will be a male to hide you from social situations while you will still be a female within yourself” and she walks out with great confidence. This was Drupada’s daughter, Shikandi. Once in Drupada’s court, Shikhandi wears the garland that was untouched and Drupada realizes that she will slay Bhishma.
“This was Abma reborn as Shikandi.”
In the Kurukshetra war, when Amba shot the arrow at Bhisma he knew it was her. Deep down in his heart, he loved her and was bound by his vows at the same time. Amba played a key role in bringing down Bhishma and Ashwatthma.
This Character arc of Amba is very close to me as it talks about both emotional and physical transformational Arcs. A lovely princess turned into a great warrior with a conflict that came across.
About me
I am Sameer Sarnad, I am wearing different hats in my life. I am a techno-functional IT professional, a budding singer and passionate about storytelling, films, and their making. I love to tell stories about Mahabharata and mythology. This is my humble effort in writing about Films, their making via Mahabharat stories. Watch out for this space for more stories.
