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Hastinapur was the most powerful empire in the north of the Vindyas, in the subcontinent once ruled by King Bharata. When its long-reigning and prosperous king Shantanu passed away in old age, he left behind his ambitious wife Satyabati, her two sons, Chitrangad and Bichitravirjaya and his first surviving son from his first wife Ganga, Devabrata, who took the lifelong oath of not being king nor marrying or having any progeny and hence earned the name Bhishma. When Chitrangad was about to ascend the throne, he died in an unfortunate accident, leaving the minor Bichitravirjaya as the only contender on the throne. Bhishma almost outspokenly took over the role of guardian to the throne of Hastinapur upon this event. However, the rules suggested that the young prince must marry before he could be crowned. Upon hearing of this, Bhishma sent his spies around the subcontinent to find eligible princesses who would not only marry the heir apparent but also be the future queen and queen mother of Hastinapur. To his shock, he heard that the ruler of Kashi, whom he had once faced in a war, had arranged for the Swayamvar or choosing of the groom for the three princesses of Kashi and every king except that of Hastinapur was invited. Bhishma decided it was time to teach the king of Kashi a lesson. Raja Kashya of Kashi must have forgotten the importance Hastinapur held in the politics of the land, and if this was not answered with retaliation soon others would break alliances and raise their hoods like serpents, thinking a kingless state with a young, inexperienced heir apparent was weak. He could not let their misfortunes be the cause of weakening Hastinapur’s importance and power.
Raja Kashya and Rani Kausalya (note all princesses of Kosala were called by this name) had three daughters, Amba, the eldest, Ambika and Ambalika (who are in some texts referred to as twins), whose Swayamvar was to be held at the palace premises. Amba was secretly courting Raja Shalva of Saubala, who was invited to the Swayamvar. Her plan was simple. She would garland him, and her parents would not know of their affair. She could not wait to see him in the Swayamvar when he would see her in her bridal glory. Amba could observe her sisters’ nervous anticipation of the same, for unlike her, they had never known the feeling of a man’s love. The morning of the Swayamvar saw Kashi decked up in grandeur as the kings invited to the Swayamvar arrived one by one through the crowded streets, as the commoners witnessed the procession of potential suitors and allies of their kingdom. As everyone gathered in the venue and the king declared the princesses to arrive with the queen, a commotion alerted them. To their horror, the guards declared that Bhishma had arrived at the court uninvited. The fuming king of Kashi did not receive him with anything but anger, and Bhishma entered the wedding hall and declared his intentions. He was there to avenge the insults hurled at Hastinapur by the lack of an invite and hence wanted to take the princesses to Hastinapur, where he would marry them to his younger half-brother. The council of Kings and Princes present in the ceremony protested. Not only was it unroyal to arrive at such events uninvited, but when it came to Swayamvar, it was actually the choice of the king who would invite to marry his daughters. There was no way Bhishma could take the princesses without their consent, according to the law of the land. Moreover, even if he did take them, the rules dictated that the one who took a princess by force had to marry them. He could not hand them over to his brother. But everyone knew he was not going to marry because he vowed to his late father. But angry at the insult, Bhishma was in no mood to abide by the laws of Dharma. Instead, he challenged the council to fight him if they wanted to restrain his plans.
Upon hearing that, most of the kings and princes backed away. They would not jeopardise their kingdoms by making enemies with the greatest of warriors and strongest of empires because of a bleak hope that the princess of Kashi might choose them as husbands. As Bhishma defeated those who challenged him quite easily and started taking the resistant, scared princesses by force, it was Amba who did not want to obey his orders. Raja Shalva, to save her from her potential kidnapper, tried to resist Bhishma, which resulted in an insulting defeat for him before Bhishma took the princesses away. Hastinapur welcomed its potential queens in all grandeur, and to Ambika and Ambalika, it looked no less than a turn of fortunes. They were going to be queens in the most powerful empire, something that was potentially not in the future they foresaw. However, Amba was quite vocal about the atrocities of Bhishma. She confided in Satyabati that he was unethical and that she had already chosen her husband. Although Satyabati agreed that Amba should return to her potential suitor, Bhishma resisted the idea, pointing out that she was also not abiding by Dharma if she had chosen someone before the Swayamvar. It meant she was deceiving her parents and potential suitors. However, he agreed to his stepmother’s orders and decided to send a concierge to King Shalva with Princess Amba and an official apology.
Happy at the turn of events, Amba bid farewell to her sisters, thanked the Rajmata and was on her way to her lover. However, Shalva had been insulted greatly by how Bhishma not only defeated but also insulted him in front of the other kings and princes. Seeing Amba made him fume. He told her that there was no way he could accept her now that she was once taken away and now given to him as a consideration, and that possessing her or marrying her would make him a laughing stock to his people and other royals because everyone knew he lost the battle trying to resist Bhishma. He also stated she should go back to Hastinapur and marry its prince as her only option, since it was the norm that she could no longer return to Kashi unmarried. Shalva’s words made Amba realise that whether it was her father, Bhishma or Shalva, she did not matter to them more than their respect and power and the kingdoms they represented. Dejected and angry at the turn of events and hurt at Shalva’s words, the broken-hearted Amba decided to return to Hastinapur. Her anger soon turned to Bhishma, who had ruined her perfectly good future in a matter of moments, all because of his ego.
Upon reaching Hastinapur, she found out that her sisters were getting married to the prince. She approached Bhishma and asked him to marry her. Stunned at the voice of the princess in matters of her life, Bhishma gently reminded her that he was under oath to remain unmarried. Amba was furious at his rejection. She reminded him that if he did not take her, she would be left with nowhere to go and marked as one who was potentially “damaged goods”, and no other king would marry her. Bhishma still rejected her pleas because of his oath. Amba decided she had no other choice. She approached Bhishma’s Guru, Parashurama, with her woes. Angered at his favourite student’s behaviour towards the princess, Parashurama decided to fight Bhishma for justice. However, Bhishma did not want to raise his weapon at his Guru and even at the order of Parashurama to have a duel, the two reached a stalemate. Amba was at a loss for options when Parashurama suggested that she pray to his Deity, Lord Shiva, for justice. Amba was frustrated with her journey.
She cursed Bhishma that her life was over because of him, so she would make sure she was the cause of his death. Bhishma accepted her curse and promised that he would not resist her revenge when the time came. Bhishma was given the boon of “Iccha Mrityu”, so he could choose when he wanted to die, and he thought it would please Amba. She travelled far and wide to a secluded place where she began a tough penance to Lord Shiva. Unknown to her, not very far off in the land of Panchal, the Raja Drupad and his wife, the childless Rani Prishati (because she was the daughter-in-law of Raha Prishat), were praying to Lord Shiva in a grand altar of fire sacrifice for potential heirs. Lord Shiva arrived before Amba in her deep state of penance and reassured her that her wish would be granted. She would be reborn as the cause of Bhishma’s death. Amba felt relieved at the reassurance, but no longer had the will to continue in her life as the fallen princess. She felt that her sole purpose in life now was to avenge herself, and that was only possible if she was reborn. Amba, determined in her purpose or lack thereof in life, decided to end her life and suffering, waiting to be reborn for her purpose.
Soon, the queen was blessed with a girl, whom she lovingly named Shikhandini. However, Raja Drupad was not pleased. He wanted a son and potential heir to rule Panchal and was not affectionate to his firstborn daughter. To make matters worse, he started raising them as a son, teaching them warfare, administration and riding, in case they were left as his only heir to the throne of Panchal. Drupad, however, did not lose hope and continued his offerings to the Lord for a son. Shikhandini struggled with their identity from a very early stage of life. Not only were they a man trapped in a woman’s body being raised as a man, but their struggles included the constant ridicule of their father, who wanted a son, and they were never good enough. Shikhandini, in their growing realised, started searching for their purpose, knowing that there must have been a reason for their being born the way they were and the phenomenon of gender crisis being a potentially rare one among royals. They had nobody to turn to for an explanation of their identity. However, they were soon enlightened with an answer when Drupad, who was in a constant conflict with Dronacharya, the teacher of the Princes of Hastinapur as well as the husband of Hastinapur’s foster princess, Kripi, was engaged in a battle with the army of Hastinapur, who sought revenge for their Guru. Shikhandini soon remembered the past life and felt suffocated and trapped in the female body.
Meanwhile, Drupad, in what can only be explained as a desperate attempt at saving his kingdom, tried to pass Shikhandini off as his heir apparent, Shikhandi and his male child because of their demeanours and identity and fixed a potential alliance with the daughter of Hiranya Varman, the princess of Dasharna. Some versions of the epic suggest Hiranya Varman was related to Drupad or was potentially his brother or foster brother. On the wedding night, the princess of Dasharna realised that she had been duped by Drupad and that Shikhandini was a female (although in all probability and indication as per the epic, they identified as a male and were hence attracted to the opposite gender) and informed her father of the same. Hell broke loose when Hiranya Varman invaded Panchal to seek revenge from Drupad for this fraud. A helpless Shikhandini, in a desperate attempt to save their father and the kingdom, met with a Yaksha who was known for their special powers. They narrated the tale of Amba’s misfortune to the Yaksha, who was sympathetic to the situation. The Yaksha exchanged his gender with them, thus turning Shikhandini into a man. Some versions of the epic say they were turned into a man only for the wedding night, while others state that they had a permanent gender change and changed their name. The events helped Shikhandi stop the potential threat to the life of Drupad and that of Panchal, and the princess, who was his bride, soon gave birth to his son, Ksatradeva (who finds mention in the war and is killed by Lakshmana, the son of Duryodhana). Drupad, on the other hand, allied with the Pandavas through his second (yet unwanted) daughter Draupadi Krishna, who was born as a twin to his heir apparent Dristadyumna. Both of them rose from the fire and were blessed by Lord Shiva. Thus, when the battle of Kurukshetra began, Shikhandi was part of the Pandavas' troops waiting for the long-pending revenge on Bhishma, who was the commander of the Kauravas' side.
On the twelfth day of the war, it was Vasudeva Krishna who suggested that it was time for Shikhandi to enter the battlefield. But he was aware of a few things. Shikhandi did not possess the skills of war needed to defeat Bhishma, a great warrior. He needed Arjun’s help. Arjun, on the other hand, potentially was at risk of his life in the hands of Bhishma if he fought him alone for long because Bhishma was blessed with wilful death. So, he placed Shikhandi in front of Arjun in the chariot he drove to war. With Krishna’s plan in action, Bhishma faced Shikhandi for the first time on the battlefield. On setting eyes upon them, Bhishma oddly remembered Amba’s promise and knew in his heart who Shikhandi truly was. Also, since they were born a woman, Bhishma stood by his vow not to raise his weapon upon a woman. Although it was against the rules to attack someone who had lowered their weapon, Krishna reminded Shikhandi that it was time for revenge. They raised their bows and fired the first arrow at Bhishma before Arjun took over. However, upon being inflicted with a hundred arrows and lying down in a Swarasajya (bed of arrows), Bhishma wished that he would die only after he had witnessed the result of the war and known that Hastinapur was in safe hands.
Shikhandi continued to fight from the Pandavas' side and survived the end of the war. However, they and Dristadyumna were in charge of guarding the Upa Pandavas (sons of Pandavas from Draupadi) on the eighteenth night of war when Ashwatthama, Kripacharya and Kritavarma attacked the Pandavas' camps for revenge. Surprised by the sudden attack, Shikhandi engaged in a sword battle with Ashwatthama and was killed along with Dristadyumna and the Upa Pandavas.
Shikhandi or Shikhandini stands as one of the lesser characters of the epic Jaya, later expanded as the Mahabharata, which is claimed to have been written by Ved Vyas, who was the biological son of Satyabati and Sage Parashar. (He was also the biological father of the sons of Ambika and Ambalika, who were adopted into the royal family as per norms of ensuring heirs after Bichitravirjaya died on the wedding night, leaving the widowed princesses childless.) The character of Shikhandi serves as a significant example of gender inclusivity and fluidity in ancient sub-continental society. Not only did they fulfil the potential roles of chief of arms and prince of Panchal in several battles, but after the gender change, Shikhandi also had a normal personal life with a known wife and son. The complexities of the gender identity, the inner turmoil, and acceptance of their self and body as they were is however not detailed in the epic as Shikhandi is a part of a sub-plot. However, through the ages, several art forms, poems, dramas, dances and prose have been composed to represent the turmoil of the character of Shikhandi and their journey in the society of the times. As a parting word, I must emphasise the need to tell and retell stories that have been considered sins and taboos in the modern rigidity of religion, which were never so in the earliest texts and society. We need to know that Hinduism, as a religion and the ancient sub-continent as a society, neither rejected nor disrespected queer culture. Instances of homosexuality, gender fluidity, gender identity and cross-dressing have been normalised time and again in the Puranas as well as epics like Ramayana and Mahabharata. Shikhandi is probably the most well-known proof of that.
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| Shikhandi fighting Kripacharya. Source: WikiCommons |
