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W E L C O M E
"After praying to Naaraayana, Nara, Sarasvathi and Vyaasa, then one should read the Jayam."
AMBA, AMBIKA AND AMBAALIKA
Amba, ambika and Ambaalika were the three daughters of the ruler of Kaashi . ( An apsaras was also named Ambika. Do not get confused.)
AMBA
She was the eldest of the three sisters. She loved king Saalva (also spelt 'shaalva' sometimes). When her father invited all the princes and kings for his daughters to select from, Bheeshma entered the scene and declaring that he was there to take the brides away for his brother Vichithraveerya and challenged the gathering to a fight to decide the winner. All including Saalva were defeated. After bringing the girls home, he learnt from Amba about her love affair. He promptly sent her to Saalva who rejected her saying that he was a loser and could not take her. She returned to Bheeshma and asked him to marry her himself since he was responsible to the destruction of her marriage. Bheeshma refused outright quoting his vow of bachelorhood. She then went to forests for undertaking penance with a view to revenging uon Bheeshma. There she met her grandfather Hothravaahana who entruster her case to Bheeshma's teacher Parashuraamato prevail upon his disciple. Persuasion turned into fight and the teacher was defeated. Then Amba went to the forests to oberve penance on god Shiva. She obtained a boon from him that she would kill Bheeshma in the next birth. She died a spinster and was born as a daughter to king Drupada. Her father had no sons then and he purposely declared her a son to the public and named her Shikhandi. But that covering troubled her after her marriage with a princess, daughter of king of Dashaarna state. As the Dashaarna king grew angry with Drupada and came to punish him for the mischief, Amba went to a forest nearby to commit suicide but fortunately became a man for the rest of her life with the gift of a demi-god Yaksha named Sthoonakarna or Sthoona. This woman-turned man Shikhandi stood as guard to Arjuna to enable him to shoot at Bheeshma and caused his fall. Bheeshma had set a rule for himself that he would not hit at women or woman-turned man.
Amba's character shows how desperate a woman could become and how men's egoism hurt women's feelings those days.
AMBIKA
She was the second of the three sisters. She was given in marriage to Vichithraveerya alongwith her younger sister Ambaalika. Her husband died of a desease without children. Then sage Vyaasa was asked to get sons from her, as was the custom those days ie Devara custom. (Devara means 'husband's brother' ie brother-in-law of a woman. The custom was that a widower could get sons from her deceased husband's brothers with the permission of the family elders. Vyaasa was son of Sathyavathi, thus elder brother of Vichithraveerya). But she could not look straight at his appearance and closed her eyes. That made the child born blind. That son was Dhritharaashtra. Sathyavathi hoped to get a proper son and ordered Ambaalika this time to invite Vyaasa. She too got frightened at the sage's beary appearance and turned pale. That made the second son pale-skinned . Dissatisfied with the results, Sathyavathi prevailed upon Ambika to get ready once again. The young queen agreed unwillingly but she kept her servant ready in her attire to invite the sage . The servant-woman respectfully gave herself to the sage.
A son was born but he was not fit to the throne as he was born to a Shoodra woman. That son was the learned Vidura. She left for the forests alongwith Sathyavathi and Ambaalika. She died there eventually.
The episode tells us how grave the results of silly errors could be and also shows the effects of psychological condition of mother on the child to take birth.
AMBALIKA
She was the youngest of the three sisters. She was given in marriage to Vichithraveerya alongwith her elder sister Ambika. After her husband's death, she was asked to get a son from the sage Vyaasa after similar effort with her sister yielded unpleasant result. Unfortunately, she too gave birth to a pale-skinned son, Paandu. He became the ruler afterwards in stead of his elder brother Dhritharaashtra.
She followed her mother-in-law Sathyavathi and sister Ambika to the forests and died there.
"After praying to Naaraayana, Nara, Sarasvathi and Vyaasa, then one should read the Jayam."