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Ambika (Mahabharata)

Mother of Dhritarashtra in epic Mahabharata

Summary

Mother of Dhritarashtra in epic Mahabharata

Field	Value
name	Ambika
info-hdr	Information
family	Parents Sisters
spouse	Vichitravirya
gender	Female
home	Kashi
position	Kuru Queen
children	Dhritarashtra
series	Mahabharata

| info-hdr = Information Brother

Ambika () is the queen of Kuru kingdom in the Hindu epic Mahabharata. The second daughter of Kashya, the King of Kashi and Kausalya, she is abducted by Bhishma during her svayamvara, and becomes the wife of Vichitravirya, the King of Hastinapura. Ambika is the mother of Dhritarashtra and the grandmother of the Kauravas.

Legend

Along with her sisters, Amba and Ambalika, Ambika was taken by force by Bhishma from their svayamvara, the latter having challenged and defeated the assembled royalty. He presented them to his step-mother, Satyavati, for marriage to Vichitravirya. While Amba expressed her desire not to marry him as she was in love with a king named Salva, Ambika and Ambalika married Vichitravirya, and spent seven years in their husband's company. Vichitravirya was afflicted with tuberculosis, and subsequently died from the disease.

After Vichitravirya's death, he left behind no heirs. His mother Satyavati sent for her first born, the rishi Vyasa. She asked him to sire children with the widowed queens of Vichitravirya according to the prevalent custom of Niyoga. Vyasa had come from years of intense meditation, and as a result, looked tremendously unkempt. When he approached Ambika, she closed her eyes in fear. As a result, the blind Dhritrashtra was born from their union. When he approached Ambalika, she turned pale in fear. Her son Pandu, the result of their union, was born with a pale appearance.

After the death of Pandu, Ambika accompanied her mother-in-law Satyavati, and sister Ambalika to the forest, and spent the rest of her days in spiritual retreat.

In popular culture

In B. R. Chopra's 1988 series Mahabharat, Ambika was portrayed by Meena Chakrabarty.
In the 2013 Star Plus's series Mahabharat (2013), Ambika was portrayed by Aparna Dixit.

References

www.wisdomlib.org. (2012-02-28). "Ambika, Aṃbikā, Ambikā: 29 definitions".
"The Mahabharata, Book 1: Adi Parva: Sambhava Parva: Section CII". [[Sacred-texts.com]].
Bhanu, Sharada. (1997). "Myths and Legends from India - Great Women". Macmillan India Limited.
"The Mahabharata, Book 1: Adi Parva: Sambhava Parva: Section CV". Sacred-texts.com.
"The Mahabharata, Book 1: Adi Parva: Sambhava Parva: Section CVI". Sacred-texts.com.
"The Mahabharata, Book 1: Adi Parva: Sambhava Parva: Section CXXVIII". Sacred-texts.com.
(2019-10-02). "31 years of Mahabharat on Doordarshan: Interesting facts about one of most popular TV shows ever".
"An epic for an epic, on small screen - All-new Mahabharata".

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

characters-in-the-mahabharata queens-in-hindu-mythology princesses-in-hindu-mythology

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