Week 6 Story: Losing Amba

**This story is now part my portfolio, Epics of India Portfolio.

It had been a few weeks since the capture of my love, Amba. I have taken the loss very hard. I feel betrayed and enraged that she was taken out of my grasp. I knew I would win the tournament, which would have allowed me to marry Amba, but Bhishma, captured Amba and her sisters for his brother to marry. I knew there was no getting her back. The whole thing seemed so suspicious. One day, Amba is telling me that she loves me and that we are secretly betrothed, then she almost smiled when Bhishma captured her.

As time went on, I began getting angry with Amba and the thought that she planned the whole thing began creeping into my mind. She helped me to train so I would win the competition, so who's to say she did not plan her capture with Bhishma. Why would she do this to me? Did I hurt her? Or was she just looking for a way out of our relationship? Did she just want to embarrass me?

 I became so enraged by Amba's capture that I lost my way. I found comfort with any women that I could get my hands on. Out of spite, one day, I decided to marry another women. I knew that is Amba was to ever hear of this, it would break her heart, and that is exactly what I wanted. I wanted Amba to feel the hurt and betrayal that I feel.

One day, as I was sitting on my throne, my guard approached me and said that I had a visitor. All of the sudden, Amba walks into my court. I was speechless, her beauty was still intoxicating to me, but her deed were unforgivable.

 I immediately said, "Woman, leave my court and never return."

Amba, looked shocked by my words, and replied, "Oh my love! I have returned to you so we can be married at once. I talked to Bhishma and told him of my love for you and how it would be unfair for me to marry his brother."

How was Amba saying this? She left me. Angrily I replied, "I am married to a woman who is much more worthy than you. Leave my court and never return. If you return you will be imprisoned and killed."

Drawing of Amba
Source: Wikimedia Commons

I could see the hurt on Amba's face and at last, I was at peace with losing the competition. Amba finally felt my pain and embarrassment.

Author's Note: In the original story, Amba was the main character. I wanted to change the story and put it in the King of Shalwa's perspective so we could get some insight on the way he treated Amba. In the original story, Amba really is captured by Bhishma, and no, she did not plan it. In this story, she approached Bhishma and tells him that she is in love with another and secretly betrothed. She then goes to tell him that it would not be fair if she married his brother while longing for another. Bhishma then lets her go. When she gets to the King's palace he immediately rejects her and tells her to go. We did not know why he did this. It was suggest that it was simply because the king was immoral and cruel all along. Amba was outraged and she went into the city. She had nowhere to go. She was too prideful to go back to Bhishma and too embarrassed to go home, so she took refuge in a hermitage. Overtime, Amba grew angry and began blaming all of this on Bhishma. She wished he would die. She began fasting and praying and eventually Shiva came and heard her prayers. Shiva then told her that she would kill Bhishma. Amba was confused because she was just a woman. Shiva told her that she would be reincarnated as a man, but not only a man, a fierce warrior. Amba then knew what she must do. She built a pyre, set it ablaze and got into it. The whole she was saying, "I do this for the destruction of Bhishma! To obtain a new body for the destruction of Bhishma do I enter this fire!" I wanted to put the story in the King of Shalwa's perspective so we could have an explanation for why he turned Amba.
Bibliography: "Amba" from Myths of Hindus and Buddhists by Sister Nivedita.