The daughter of the king of Kashi. Amba had two sisters  – Ambika and Ambalika.

Shantanu, the Chandravanshi king had two wives – Satyavati and Ganga. With Ganga, he had a son called Bhishma, and with Satyavati, two sons called Vichitravirya and Chitrangada. Ganga disappeared after Bhishma’s birth. Shantanu died years later, survived by Satyavati and the three children. As per his promise, Bhishma gave the throne to Chitrangada. Chitrangada once went for a hunt and met a gandharva by the same name. The gandharva didn’t like another person living with the same name and killed the king. Vichitravirya became king and the responsibility of getting him married fell on Bhishma.

That was when Bhishma heard that the king of Kashi was holding a swayamvar for his three daughters. Bhishma reached the swayamvar and brought all three of them to Hastinapura for Vichitravirya. The preparations for the wedding began, but Amba informed Bhishma that she was already married to Salvala in spirit, and they both loved each other, and questioned whether Bhishma getting her married to Vichitravirya was fair. Bhishma said she was free to go. She immediately went to Salvala and requested him to marry her. But Salvala declined stating that it was not right for him to accept a woman who had been touched by another man. He asked her to approach Bhishma, but she went away to the forest to meditate.

Then, a desire to take revenge against Bhishma started growing in her mind, according to Mahabharata Udyogaparva Chapter 17. She approached the hermitage of Shaikhavatya and asked for permission to meditate there. The next day, Amba’s maternal relative Hotravahana (Srinjaya) heard of her woes and asked her to approach Parashurama. At that moment, Parashurama’s disciple Akritavarna reached there and Hotravahana introduced Amba to him. Akritavarna and Hotravahana convinced Parashurama to help Amba, and force Bhishma to marry her. But Bhishma refused to heed Parashurama. They fought a fierce battle in Kurukshetra, and finally Narada and the devas made Bhishma retire from the battle. When Amba realised that Parashurama couldn’t help her, she undertook a severe penance – giving up food and water, on the banks of the Yamuna for six years, according to Mahabharata Udyogaparva Chapter 188. She followed it up with a year of penance under water. Then, for a year, she ate only dry leaves and meditated standing on her toe. She continued her penance for 12 years and her energy started affecting the worlds. Ganga got to know about this and told her that it was impossible to kill Bhishma. Amba was distressed and roamed the lands. Ganga cursed that she’d become a river in  the kingdom of Vatsa, because of which a portion of Amba became that.

But the rest of her continued the penance, until Shiva appeared before her. He blessed that, in her next birth, she would be born as a man in King Drupada’s family, named Chitrayodhi, and would kill Bhishma. Amba was elated on hearing this, and immediately killed herself by jumping into a fire.

Drupada and his wife were childless. Drupada prayed to Shiva, and Shiva blessed that a girl would be born to him,a nd she would later be transformed into a man. The queen delivered a baby girl, but she proclaimed that it was a boy. The girl grew up dressed as a boy, and was called Shikhandi. When Shikhandi grew older, the king wanted to get him married to a princess, but was reluctant, since Shikhandi was in reality a girl. But the queen reminded him of Shiva’s blessing that Shikhandi would be transformed into a man. Thus Drupada considered an alliance with the daughter of the king of Dasharna for Shikhandi. Hiranyavarna, the king of Dasharna gave away his daughter to Shikhandi, but she soon realised that Shikhandi was a woman. She confessed this to her maids, who conveyed this to Hiranyavarna. Hiranyavarna was angry and sent a messenger to Drupada to confirm this, and simultaneously prepared his army for a battle with Drupada. While Drupada and his wife were wondering what could be done, Shikhandi decided to commit suicide and entered the forest. This was where a yaksha named Sthunakarna lived and people feared him enough to stay away. Shikhandi had a change of heart and started praying to the yaksha. He soon appeared and they made a pact, and exchanged their gender. As per the pact, it would go back to the previous state after the death of Hiranyavarna. Thus Shikhandi came back as a man, and Drupada repeated his earlier stand on Shikhandi’s gender. Hiranyavarna did a detailed check and was convinced too.

During that time, Kuber, while traveling the world, reached Sthunakarna’s abode. Sthunakarna, who was in a female form did not come out. Kuber got to know the facts and cursed that the current forms of both Shikhandi and Sthunakarna would remain thus forever. The yaksha begged for forgiveness and Kuber said that he would regain his gender when Shikhandi died. Later, after Hiranyavarna’s death Shikhandi approached Sthunakarna but left after hearing what had transpired. Thus Shikhandi lived the rest of his life as a man. He learned weaponry from Drona and took part in the Kurukshetra war.

As per Mahabharata Bhishmaparva Chapter 108, Shikhandi faced Bhishma in the Kurukshetra war. The Pandavas began the day’s battle with Shikhandi in the front. He was supported by Bhima, Arjuna and Abhimanyu. Arrows flew from either side. Shikhandi fired three arrows at Bhishma’s chest. Bhishma laughed and told him that since Brahma had created Shikhandi as a woman, Bhishma would let it pass. Shikhandi became angry on hearing this. Arjuna encouraged him further and began attacking Bhishma keeping Shikhandi in front of him. Ten of Shikhandi’s arrows struck Bhishma on the chest. He ignored those too, and said that Shikhandi’s femininity and Pandavas’ being in the right prevented him from killing any of them. He also said that thanks to a boon from his father, he could decide the time of his death, and he decided that it would happen soon. Arjuna and Shikhandi continued firing arrows and Bhishma fell, according to Mahabharata Udyogaparva Chapter 173.