Udyoga Parva · Adhyaya 175

Shalva Rejects Amba

With the consent of Satyavati, the ministers and the priests, Bhishma lets Amba go, and she travels to the king of the Shalvas. Shalva refuses her, saying he cannot take as wife a woman Bhishma has already carried off; she pleads that she was taken by force and has never thought of another man, but he sends her away, afraid of Bhishma. Leaving the city in despair, she blames Bhishma, her father, Shalva and herself, resolves to be avenged on Bhishma by austerity or by battle, and takes refuge in a hermitage, where she asks the ascetics, led by the sage Shaikhavatya, to let her take up a life of penance.

Adhyaya 174 All adhyayas Adhyaya 176

भीष्म उवाच · Bhishma said

Verse 1 (5.175.1)

ततोऽहं समनुज्ञाप्य कालीं गन्धवतीं तदा । मन्त्रिणश्चर्त्विजश्चैव तथैव च पुरोहितान् । समनुज्ञासिषं कन्यामम्बां ज्येष्ठां नराधिप ॥

tato'haṃ samanujñāpya kālīṃ gandhavatīṃ tadā | mantriṇaścartvijaścaiva tathaiva ca purohitān | samanujñāsiṣaṃ kanyāmambāṃ jyeṣṭhāṃ narādhipa

Then, having obtained the consent of Kali Gandhavati (Satyavati), and of the ministers, the officiating priests and the household priests as well, I gave the eldest maiden, Amba, leave to go, O lord of men.

Note on the text: Corrected समनुज्ञामिषं → समनुज्ञासिषं (misprint in Wikisource; म for स in the aorist समनुज्ञासिषम्, "I gave leave", critical edition samanujñāsiṣaṃ).

Verse 2 (5.175.2)

अनुज्ञाता ययौ सा तु कन्या साल्वपतेः पुरम् । वृद्धैर्द्विजातिभिर्गुप्ता धात्र्या चानुगता तदा ॥

anujñātā yayau sā tu kanyā sālvapateḥ puram | vṛddhairdvijātibhirguptā dhātryā cānugatā tadā

Given leave, the maiden set out for the city of the lord of the Shalvas, guarded by aged Brahmins and accompanied by her nurse.

Note on the text: The critical edition's 5.172.2ab–cd; Wikisource divides CE 5.172.2–3 differently, so the automatic alignment found no match for its verses 2–5 (the page's own verse division is followed).

Verse 3 (5.175.3)

अतीत्य च तमध्वानमाससाद नराधिपम् । सा तमासाद्य राजानं साल्वं वचनमब्रवीत् ॥

atītya ca tamadhvānamāsasāda narādhipam | sā tamāsādya rājānaṃ sālvaṃ vacanamabravīt

Having covered that road, she came to the king; and when she had reached King Shalva she spoke these words:

Note on the text: Corrected आसमाद नराधिपम → आससाद नराधिपम् (misprint in Wikisource; म for स in the perfect आससाद, and the final virama of नराधिपम् was dropped; critical edition āsasāda narādhipam). Line 1 is the critical edition's 5.172.2ef; line 2 is 5.172.3ab.

अम्बोवाच · Amba said

Verse 4 (5.175.4)

आगताहं महाबाहो त्वामुद्दिश्य महामते । अभिनन्दस्व मां राजन्सदा प्रियहिते रताम् ॥

āgatāhaṃ mahābāho tvāmuddiśya mahāmate | abhinandasva māṃ rājansadā priyahite ratām

I have come, mighty-armed and wise one, for your sake. Welcome me, O king, for I am ever devoted to your pleasure and your good.

Note on the text: Speaker set to Amba: her words to Shalva (introduced by verse 3) fill the whole verse; Wikisource prints no heading. Line 1 is the critical edition's 5.172.3cd (reading mahādyute for महामते); line 2 is its star passage 5.172.3d*0572, line 1 (not in the constituted text; found in the vulgate recension). Removed a stray wiki mark (`) before अभिनन्दस्व, which the page uses to open the inserted passage.

Verse 5 (5.175.5)

प्रतिपादय मां राजन्धर्मादींश्चर धर्मतः । त्वं हि मे मनसा ध्यातस्त्वया चाप्युपमन्त्रिता ॥

pratipādaya māṃ rājandharmādīṃścara dharmataḥ | tvaṃ hi me manasā dhyātastvayā cāpyupamantritā

Accept me, O king, and practise dharma and the rest as dharma requires; for I have held you in my heart, and you too have courted me.

Note on the text: Speaker set to Amba: her words to Shalva (introduced by verse 3) fill the whole verse; Wikisource prints no heading. Not in the critical edition's constituted text (found in the vulgate recension); the critical edition records it in its apparatus as the star passage 5.172.3d*0572, lines 2–3 (reading pratipālaya, "protect", for प्रतिपादय).

भीष्म उवाच · Bhishma said

Verse 6 (5.175.6)

तामब्रवीत्साल्वपतिः स्मयन्निव विशांपते । त्वयाऽन्यपूर्वया नाहं भार्यार्थी वरवर्णिनि ॥

tāmabravītsālvapatiḥ smayanniva viśāṃpate | tvayā'nyapūrvayā nāhaṃ bhāryārthī varavarṇini

The lord of the Shalvas, as if smiling, said to her, O lord of the people: "Fair-complexioned one, I do not want as wife a woman who has belonged to another."

Note on the text: Removed the speaker heading भीष्म उवाच।' (with a stray quote mark that closes the page's inserted passage), which had slipped into the verse text; the verse is Bhishma's narration, and the speaker is kept as Bhishma.

साल्व उवाच · Shalva said

Verse 7 (5.175.7)

गच्छ भद्रे पुनस्तत्र सकाशं भीष्मकस्य वै । नाहमिच्छामि भीष्मेण गृहीतां त्वां प्रसह्य वै ॥

gaccha bhadre punastatra sakāśaṃ bhīṣmakasya vai | nāhamicchāmi bhīṣmeṇa gṛhītāṃ tvāṃ prasahya vai

Go back there, good lady, to Bhishma. I do not want you, whom Bhishma seized by force.

Note on the text: Speaker set to Shalva: his reply to Amba (introduced by verse 6) fills the whole verse; Wikisource prints no heading.

Verse 8 (5.175.8)

त्वं हि भीष्मेण निर्जित्य नीता प्रीतिमती तदा । परामृश्य महायुद्धे निर्जित्य पृथिवीपतीन् ॥

tvaṃ hi bhīṣmeṇa nirjitya nītā prītimatī tadā | parāmṛśya mahāyuddhe nirjitya pṛthivīpatīn

For Bhishma won you and carried you off, and you went gladly then, when he seized you in a great battle after defeating the kings of the earth.

Note on the text: Speaker set to Shalva: his reply to Amba (introduced by verse 6) fills the whole verse; Wikisource prints no heading. The critical edition's 5.172.6ab–cd; Wikisource divides CE 5.172.6–7 differently, so the automatic alignment found no match for its verses 8–10 (the page's own verse division is followed).

Verse 9 (5.175.9)

नाहं त्वय्यन्यपूर्वायां भार्यार्थी वरवर्णिनि । कथमस्मद्विधो राजा परपूर्वां प्रवेशयेत् ॥

nāhaṃ tvayyanyapūrvāyāṃ bhāryārthī varavarṇini | kathamasmadvidho rājā parapūrvāṃ praveśayet

I do not want you as wife, fair one, when you have belonged to another. How could a king like me bring into his house a woman who has belonged to someone else —

Note on the text: Speaker set to Shalva: his reply to Amba (introduced by verse 6) fills the whole verse; Wikisource prints no heading. Line 1 is the critical edition's 5.172.6ef; line 2 is 5.172.7ab.

Verse 10 (5.175.10)

नारीं विदितविज्ञानः परेषां धर्ममादिशन् । यथेष्टं गम्यतां भद्रे मा त्वां कालोऽत्यगादयम् ॥

nārīṃ viditavijñānaḥ pareṣāṃ dharmamādiśan | yatheṣṭaṃ gamyatāṃ bhadre mā tvāṃ kālo'tyagādayam

a man of knowledge, who teaches others their duty? Go wherever you please, good lady; do not let this time slip by for you.

Note on the text: Speaker set to Shalva: his reply to Amba (introduced by verse 6) fills the whole verse; Wikisource prints no heading. The critical edition's 5.172.7cd–ef (reading mā te for मा त्वां).

भीष्म उवाच · Bhishma said

Verse 11 (5.175.11)

अम्बा तमब्रवीद्राजन्ननङ्गशरपीडिता । नैवं वद महीपाल नैतदेवं कथंचन ॥

ambā tamabravīdrājannanaṅgaśarapīḍitā | naivaṃ vada mahīpāla naitadevaṃ kathaṃcana

Amba, tormented by the arrows of the bodiless god of love, said to him, O king: "Do not say so, lord of the earth; it is not so at all."

अम्बोवाच · Amba said

Verse 12 (5.175.12)

नास्मि प्रीतिमती नीता भीष्मेणामित्रकर्शन । बलान्नीतास्मि रुदती विद्राव्य पृथिवीपतीन् ॥

nāsmi prītimatī nītā bhīṣmeṇāmitrakarśana | balānnītāsmi rudatī vidrāvya pṛthivīpatīn

I did not go gladly with Bhishma, scourge of enemies. I was taken by force, weeping, after he had put the kings to flight.