who was shekandi? answer brifely.
Answers
Answer:
Shikhandi (Sanskrit: शिखण्डी, Śikhaṇḍī, lit. ) is a character in the Hindu epic, the Mahabharata. He was born a baby girl, named Shikandini, to Drupada, the king of Panchala. Shikhandi fought in the Kurukshetra war for the Pandavas along with his father Drupada and brother Dhristadyumna.
Answer:
Shikhandi (Sanskrit: शिखण्डी, Śikhaṇḍī, lit. ) is a character in the Hindu epic, the Mahabharata. He was born a baby girl, named Shikandini, to Drupada, the king of Panchala. Shikhandi fought in the Kurukshetra war for the Pandavas along with his father Drupada and brother Dhristadyumna.
Explanation:
In the majority of the versions of the Mahabharata,[2] there is the story of Shikhandi being Amba in her previous birth.
Shikhandi had been born in a previous life as a woman named Amba. Amba was the eldest daughter of the King of Kashi. Along with her sisters Ambika and Ambalika, she was taken from their Swayamvara by force by Bhishma, as punishment to the Kingdom of Kashi for not inviting Hastinapur nobility to the event. After defeating several kings, including Salwa, the King of Saubala, Bhishma absconded with the princesses and presented them for marriage to Vichitravirya, the crown prince of Hastinapur.[3]
Vichitravirya married only two sisters because Amba told Bhishma that she had fallen in love with the king of Salwa, and was not ready to marry anyone else. Hearing this from her, Bhishma sent Amba with grandeur to Saubala. But Salwa rejected her as well, in shame of losing the combat against Bhishma. Amba then returned to Bhishma and demanded that he marry her according to Kshatriya dharma, but Bhishma declined due to his vow of celibacy. Enraged at her humiliation, she tried to persuade other kings to wage a war with Bhishma and compel him to wed her. None agreed for they were afraid of incurring the wrath of the great warrior. Amba got Parashurama, Bhishma's guru, to champion her cause. However, not even Parashurama could defeat Bhishma.[3]
According to the summary by C. Rajagopalachari, she resorted to penance and received a garland of blue lotuses from Lord Kartikeya and it was foretold that anyone wearing the garland would become the cause of Bhishma's death. She went to the Panchal, as they were a mighty empire known for its military prowess. However, no one was willing to champion her cause, fearful of antagonizing Bhishma. Amba, in anger, hung the garland on the gates of King Drupada and left in agony.[4]
Amba did severe penance to Lord Shiva for a boon to cause Bhishma's death. Eventually, her prayers were answered. But, being a woman with no military training, she asked Shiva how she would accomplish her task, and he responded that her future incarnation would be the one to actually bring about Bhishma's demise. Eager to bring this about, Amba killed herself; in some versions of the story to explain the time gap between the abduction at Kashi and the Kurukshetra war, Amba keeps on killing herself until she is incarnated into a satisfactory situation.[5] Amba was reborn as Shikhandini, the daughter of Drupada.