12. The Shattering of Satyavati’s Dreams

Amba was dead, to be born later as Shikhandi in the kingdom of Panchal.

Meanwhile, in Hastinapur, Vichitraveerya was married to Ambika and Ambalika. As was suspected, there was something lacking in Vichitraveerya that kept him from fulfilling the duties of a king in the court and a husband in the bedroom. But Satyavati was determined to see a great line of kings coming from him. She waited and waited. And waited.

One ‘unfine’ day, Vichitraveerya died of a strange disease, without leaving an heir behind. Satyavati’s dreams were in turmoil. The drastic measures that she and her father had taken to assure that her lineage ruled for generations had been rendered fruitless. Hastinapur did not have an heir; she did not have a grandson. Bheeshm, who had sacrificed all pleasures of the world to remove all conflicts in inheritance, was equally aghast.

Satyavati summoned Bheeshm one day. She told him that the need of the hour was that Bheeshm broke his oath of celibacy, got married and gave Hastinapur its heir. But Bheeshm could not make this deal for anything in the world. The oath, that was the basis of his father’s marriage with Satyavati was now an integral part of his life. He was not living a life of his own, he was living a life for Hastinapur. It was an oath he was living.

When nothing worked, Satyavati saw sense in only one solution. That was Niyog. (For more details on Niyog, click here). She summoned her pre-marital son, Ved Vyas, upon agreement with Bheeshm who saw sense in it as Hastinapur was left with no other option. She ordered Vyas to perform Niyog on both the queens to give them sons. Vyas agreed with it but requested for a period of one year, as his long years in forest had made  his body rough and hair matted. The queens could faint at the first sight of a dark ugly hermit. But Satyavati could not wait any longer. She ordered that the process be completed at the earliest.

So, on orders of his mother, Vyas went to Ambika to bear a son on her. She was so horrified at his first sight that she shut her eyes tightly. Now Vyas was a sage, and sages had a hit rate of 200! Of course a son was born, but it was born blind. He was named Dhritrashtra.

Dissatisfied with the first output of the Niyog, Satyavati sent Vyas to Ambalika. Since she knew what happened with Ambika, she did not close her eyes, but the sight of Vyas turned her pale. The son, thus born was pale in appearance. He was named Pandu.

Still dissatisfied that none of the sons were completely healthy, Satyavati sent Vyas again to Ambika. This time the room was kept dark so that Ambika would not have to see Vyas’ face. She would not have had to anyway, as she had sent her maid instead. But Vyas did what he was told to do, irrespective of who was on the receiving end. Contrary to how the two queens had reacted, the maid welcomed Vyas with open arms and without any fear. The son thus born was completely healthy. He was named Vidur. However, he could never become a king as he was born of a maid and not of a queen.

So you see how things are shaping. Satyavati’s dreams were shattered. The sons who could sit on the throne were not completely fit. The one who was born fit could not sit on the throne. Time and again, the throne was calling for its rightful owner, the one who truly deserved to be the king, the last of the Kuru blood, the mightiest of all, the most deserving one – Bheeshm. Satyavati regretted what had happened, but it was too late. Bheeshm would not go back on his oath and Hastinapur would not get a capable king. Poor Hastinapur!

10. The three princesses of Kashi – Amba, Ambika and Ambalika

Three has always been a very interesting number. Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh are three. Lakshmi, Saraswati and Durga are three. Three is more than two and less than four. It is just perfect. Even Abbas Mustan find it apt to keep three actors and three actresses in every Race movie. Three is just awesome!

So the king of Kashi too decided to have only three daughters. No one knows whether the three daughters were from the same queen or from different queens. Even I don’t. But yes, their names were extended repetitions of same consonants and that is why we are discussing them here. Maybe for a little bigger reason.

Amba, Ambika and Ambalika are the three daughters we are talking about. These princesses of Kashi were considered to be the most beautiful of women in the entire Indian mainland. So beautiful, that their father had to arrange a swayamvar where he invited the handsomest princes of India to participate. In today’s world, only Rakhi Sawant has this privilege. Credit goes to her unmatched beauty. Anyway, so the three princesses were supposed to select the prince of their choice and they were supposed to be married to them accordingly. At least, this is what was declared.

However, the king of Kashi made a terrible mistake. While he had extended an invitation to all the kingdoms of the Indian mainland, the invitation was not extended to the most prominent of all, Hastinapur. The king of Kashi thought that after Bheeshm taking the oath of celibacy, there was no worthy prince in Hastinapur left to deserve his daughters. Bheeshm could not bear this effrontery towards his kingdom and his king. He rode to Kashi and stormed into the hall uninvited. The princes gathered in the hall started mocking Bheeshm’s oath of celibacy claiming that the pulchritude of Kashi princesses had brought the downfall of the terrible oath. Bheeshm knew the art of zipping the lips with his arrows well. He displayed an example of it in the hall and that was enough for the remaining princes to shut up (to say the least). He declared that he was abducting the three princesses on behalf of Vichitraveerya and that the three princesses would be Vichitraveerya’s queens. Without delay, he left for Hastinapur with the three Kashi princesses in his chariot.

The eldest of the three sisters, Amba, was in love with the prince of Shalva kingdom and had decided to choose him as his husband at the swayamvar. But Bheeshm’s untimely arrival ruined her plans. She was too afraid to admit the truth in front of the gathered princes and the mighty Bheeshm but later on she regretted her decision. When the processions for Vichitraveerya’s wedding started in Hastinapur, she gathered courage and told Bheeshm and Satyavati the entire truth. Bheeshm, who was physically stronger than a rock was at the same time more compassionate than Mother Teresa. He told Amba that had she mentioned it in the swayamvar he would not have abducted her in the first place. He promised her that she would not be forced to marry Vichitraveerya and would be returned in Bheeshm’s chariot with due respect to the prince of Shalva.

In Hastinapur, the wedding of Vichitraveerya took place with both Ambika and Ambalika. With love for Shalva and respect for Bheeshm in her heart, Amba left in Bheeshm’s chariot for the kingdom of Shalva.

She wasn’t aware what was actually waiting for her!

9. Chitrangadha and Vichitraveerya – Undesired fruits of desire

Mahabharata constantly reminds us of one thing – we can wish for something, we can try for it and we can even take brutal steps to ensure that it happens. But what actually happens is never completely in our hands.

When the news reached Shantanu that his eldest son had taken a terrible oath, he was heartbroken. He wanted Bheeshm to take the oath back but it was no ordinary oath and Bheeshm was no ordinary man. Impressed with his son’s devotion towards his father, Shantanu gave Bheeshm the boon to decide the time of his death. Bheeshm promised that the oath was taken for the happiness of his father and the security of Hastinapur so he would not leave the world unless he saw Hastinapur in safe hands.

There was resentment in the people of Hastinapur that why a promise was made to make someone else the king when the most capable of all, Bheeshm was amidst. Bheeshm ensured that his oath would not prevent his service to the kingdom. He passionately argued and convinced the citizens of Hastinapur that he was not facing any injustice, it was his own will and that he would serve the king with utmost devotion and anybody sitting on the throne would be as respectable to him as his father.

Satyavati’s father had foreseen that his daughter would be a mother of kings but he probably didn’t see that how strong or how capable they would be. Had he seen that, probably the father and daughter would not have kept the condition in front of Shantanu that made Devavrata take that terrible oath.

The effects of the oath were terrible, both in the short and long term. As a result of this oath, Shantanu was able to marry Satyavati, but his guilt never stopped eating into his health. In due course, Shantanu and Satyavati were blessed with two sons. The elder one was named Chitrangadha (this has nothing to do with Chitrangadha Singh and I am glad about it.) and the younger one was named Vichitraveerya (this suggests strangely powerful. There are speculations that he was named so because of his doubted masculinity.) A few days later, consumed by guilt and grief for his eldest son, Shantanu breathed his last and left everything behind. Bheeshm was now an unmarried man handling the family of his father that included a mother and two sons. Bheeshm took the responsibility of educating and training Chitrangadha and Vichitraveerya.

Chitrangadha grew up to be a powerful but extremely arrogant man.  Of course, when you are told from your childhood that the throne belongs only to you and you see the most powerful of all warrior like Bheeshm serving as a regent, you are bound to have the illusion of superiority. He was challenged for a duel by a gandharva of the same name for sharing the name and was killed by him. The throne then ultimately went to Vichitraveerya. As his veerta was vichitra, everyone knew that the so-called king is not good for nothing.

Hastinapur’s throne now had a weakling as its king as a result of an oath which was in turn the result of a condition. And we know what happens to the kingdoms with weaklings as kings. Right? They are doomed. And so was Hastinapur supposed to be.