Amba - A woman Scorned or A woman Wronged!! - Page 3

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Bhaskari

@bhas1066

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Posted: 11 years ago

#21

Originally posted by: peridot.
Another doubt... if amba did so much tapasya why did God make her born as Shikhandi an eunuch and not a proper male !?

if she was born as a proper male bhishma wouldnt have put down arms for a man no matter what his previous life. he saw her a woman because she was born a women shikhandin and exchanged her sex with a yaksha. so bhishma knew her to be originally a woman with borrowed masculinity.

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Vrish

@Vr15h

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Posted: 11 years ago

#22

Shikhandini was not an eunuch. She was born a woman, but since Mahadev had told Drupad that she was destined to be a he, she was brought up as a male, much like Chitrangada was. At some point, she had to get married, and since she was billed as male, her father got her married to a princess. Once she was discovered by her wife as being another woman, her wife complained, and it almost came to war. So Shikandini went to end her life, and then that sex exchange w/ the Yaksha took place, the Yaksha's curse and so on.

I don't think Bheeshma did any favors here. Since the Pandavas had no qualms about making Shikhandi the senapati of one of the akshaunis, and the Kaurava warriors like Ashwatthama or Kritavarma had no qualms about fighting him as per the rules, Bheeshma really did not have a good reason not to fight him. Maybe he decided to let Amba have her revenge, so that she wouldn't have to keep taking births just for that one goal.

In fact, Shikhandi and his wife even had a son, who fought in the war, and was killed by Duryodhan's son Lakshmana.

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Kankshita

@thegameison

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Posted: 11 years ago

#23

I had reserved on the last page to mark my presence. Also, to remind myself to get back here once I logged in. Now, what an insightful post this is. You're right, there's a certain amount of passion you can associate with Amba. But it's all there in the way she's depicted here, isn't she? I don't think she was an avenging devil. The portrayal of her character is so fierce and ruthless here that we are forced to think that way. Otherwise, she loved and she lost. She wanted justice and she fetched it through reincarnation. Yes, she made history by being the cause of a man like Bhishma's death. But ever since I heard Krishna's snippet in Thursday's episode, I cannot help but wonder if what she really did was pick an incident and build her life around it. End it, even. She was caustic and vindictive for good reason but she could have chosen to rise above it. I can't help but wonder. At the end of the day, I would call her a victim of a society that did not call abduction for marriage wrong. She was a victim of the entire system which allowed the kings to exert that power on em. She rightly said that in matrimony, it's actually she who has the choice. But did she have it? It was unfortunate so very highly, she was wronged. But she made a choice not to go further in life and instead dwell on the moments that devastated her life. She found herself again, anyway. And she did it by means of making her sole ambition to end Bhishma's life, come what may.

Epiphany.

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Bhaskari

@bhas1066

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Posted: 11 years ago

#24

Once i learned about yayati's daughter madhavi's story amba 's fate seemed much mellow. But still madhavi forgives her dad and helps him attain heaven!!

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413226

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Posted: 11 years ago

#25

Originally posted by: .Vrish.
Shikhandini was not an eunuch. She was born a woman, but since Mahadev had told Drupad that she was destined to be a he, she was brought up as a male, much like Chitrangada was. At some point, she had to get married, and since she was billed as male, her father got her married to a princess. Once she was discovered by her wife as being another woman, her wife complained, and it almost came to war. So Shikandini went to end her life, and then that sex exchange w/ the Yaksha took place, the Yaksha's curse and so on.

I don't think Bheeshma did any favors here. Since the Pandavas had no qualms about making Shikhandi the senapati of one of the akshaunis, and the Kaurava warriors like Ashwatthama or Kritavarma had no qualms about fighting him as per the rules, Bheeshma really did not have a good reason not to fight him. Maybe he decided to let Amba have her revenge, so that she wouldn't have to keep taking births just for that one goal.

In fact, Shikhandi and his wife even had a son, who fought in the war, and was killed by Duryodhan's son Lakshmana.

Thanks for sharing that. I did not know much about Shikandi. It looks like amba had no qualms about cheating another woman by not disclosing her real sex in that birth 😆 It often happens that people are so focussed on the wrong that happened to them that they become blind to any wrong that they may themselves do.

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shruthi2010

@shruthi2010

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Posted: 11 years ago

#26

mahabharata is mother of all complicated story. 😉

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shruthi2010

@shruthi2010

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Posted: 11 years ago

#27

Originally posted by: peridot.

Thanks for sharing that. I did not know much about Shikandi. It looks like amba had no qualms about cheating another woman by not disclosing her real sex in that birth 😆 It often happens that people are so focussed on the wrong that happened to them that they become blind to any wrong that they may themselves do.

i dont think she cheated but was herself made to believe that she was a male. remember she is princess. so she is taken care off by someone. so she was dressed and given education like a male. only after marriage it was the wife who found out that it was not a he but a she. shikandi was heartbroken at this and tried to commit suicide. so there is nothing of him cheating

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Surya Sundarraj Sriram

@Surya_krsnbhakt

Dazzler

Posted: 11 years ago

#28

Srushtijeee... another fabulous post, which is why I am extending the Jeee😃

You brought out the versatility of Amba so beautifully! Well expressed!👏 And this isn't feminist at all.. BTW, feminist acc to my social textbook is "treating men and women as equals". So feminist or not, its really good!

Originally posted by: shruthi2010
mahabharata is mother of all complicated story. 😉

Yes, that is why it is said, "Yannehasti Na Tat Kvachit" - What is not here is not found anywhere. Applies to all situations, even this.

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Vrish

@Vr15h

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+ 6

Posted: 11 years ago

#29

Originally posted by: epiphany.
I had reserved on the last page to mark my presence. Also, to remind myself to get back here once I logged in. Now, what an insightful post this is. You're right, there's a certain amount of passion you can associate with Amba. But it's all there in the way she's depicted here, isn't she? I don't think she was an avenging devil. The portrayal of her character is so fierce and ruthless here that we are forced to think that way. Otherwise, she loved and she lost. She wanted justice and she fetched it through reincarnation. Yes, she made history by being the cause of a man like Bhishma's death. But ever since I heard Krishna's snippet in Thursday's episode, I cannot help but wonder if what she really did was pick an incident and build her life around it. End it, even. She was caustic and vindictive for good reason but she could have chosen to rise above it. I can't help but wonder. At the end of the day, I would call her a victim of a society that did not call abduction for marriage wrong. She was a victim of the entire system which allowed the kings to exert that power on em. She rightly said that in matrimony, it's actually she who has the choice. But did she have it? It was unfortunate so very highly, she was wronged. But she made a choice not to go further in life and instead dwell on the moments that devastated her life. She found herself again, anyway. And she did it by means of making her sole ambition to end Bhishma's life, come what may.

Epiphany.

At that time, rising above it was impossible: it was a patriarchal society, and the only role of women was to get married and give birth: if they couldn't, they were considered a burden on their family, and if they just left and went out on their own, they were 'fair game'. Hence the obsession in those times w/ marriage. If Amba wasn't gonna marry, what else was she gonna do? It's not like she could have been a Rani Durgavati, or a guru in an ashram, or anything like it.

Amba could have risen above it had there been a second chance - had she been capable of finding a man willing to marry her (like Krishna w/ Narakasura's 16,100 concubines): she'd have forgotten Shalva, forgiven Bheeshma and happily married him. But that was not an option - having been abducted once by Krishna, her status at the time was like that of a woman who's either already consummated or given birth. So the one acceptable thing in society that she could do was shut off for her forever. Her sisters took the easy option - just marry the loser king, and became widowed after 7 years w/o sons, and had to undergo niyoga births. I'd say Amba was the one better off, but that's not the way society was.

Or else, had society been such that women who did not marry weren't considered losers or burdens, Amba would probably have done fine - she certainly had grit & determination. It's also tragic that she couldn't marry - either as Shalva's or Bheeshma's wife, she'd probably have had powerful sons who would have held their own against all odds. Sorta like the Pandavas.

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Vrish

@Vr15h

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Posted: 11 years ago

#30

Originally posted by: shruthi2010

i dont think she cheated but was herself made to believe that she was a male. remember she is princess. so she is taken care off by someone. so she was dressed and given education like a male. only after marriage it was the wife who found out that it was not a he but a she. shikandi was heartbroken at this and tried to commit suicide. so there is nothing of him cheating

No question of cheating. Originally, Drupada thought that she was a girl, and would have proceeded that way, but if Mahadev comes to him and tells him that she's actually destined to become a man, what does he do? Plan accordingly. Shikandini too knew that she was there to cause Bheeshma's death, and so having heard that her father was told by Mahadev himself that she was destined to become a man, how can one blame her - she did everything based on that assumptions - attended Gurukul w/ her brothers, and married a woman instead of a man. And after she became a man and returned to Panchala and satisfied his father-in-law that she was a man, he was satisfied, and so was his daughter.

In sharp contrast to Amba, Shikandi's wife's life was not ruined - once Shikandi became a man, she enjoyed all the privileges of being a royal wife. She had a real husband, as well as a son. That's more than what Amba ever had.

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