Editing Ambika (Mahabharata) (section)

==Legend==
[[File:Mahabharata_Partial_Family_Tree.png|thumb|''Mahabharata'' Partial Family Tree]]
Along with her sisters, [[Amba (Mahabharata)|Amba]] and [[Ambalika]], Ambika was taken by force by [[Bhishma]] from their [[swayamvara|svayamvara]], the latter having challenged and defeated the assembled royalty. He presented them to his step-mother, [[Satyavati]], for marriage to Vichitravirya. While Amba expressed her desire not to marry him as she was in love with a king named Salva, Ambika and Ambalika married Vichitravirya, and spent seven years in their husband's company. Vichitravirya was afflicted with [[tuberculosis]], and subsequently died from the disease.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m01/m01103.htm |title=The Mahabharata, Book 1: Adi Parva: Sambhava Parva: Section CII |publisher=[[Sacred-texts.com]] |access-date=2012-08-15}}</ref><ref name=B>{{cite book|title=Myths and Legends from India - Great Women|last=Bhanu|first=Sharada|publisher=Macmillan India Limited|year=1997|location=Chennai|isbn=0-333-93076-2|pages=35–6}}</ref>

After Vichitravirya's death, he left behind no heirs. His mother Satyavati sent for her first born, the [[rishi]] [[Vyasa]]. She asked him to sire children with the widowed queens of Vichitravirya according to the prevalent custom of [[Niyoga]]. Vyasa had come from years of intense meditation, and as a result, looked tremendously unkempt. When he approached Ambika, she closed her eyes in fear. As a result, the blind [[Dhritrashtra]] was born from their union. When he approached Ambalika, she turned pale in fear. Her son [[Pandu]], the result of their union, was born with a pale appearance.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m01/m01106.htm |title=The Mahabharata, Book 1: Adi Parva: Sambhava Parva: Section CV |publisher=Sacred-texts.com |access-date=2012-08-15}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m01/m01107.htm |title=The Mahabharata, Book 1: Adi Parva: Sambhava Parva: Section CVI |publisher=Sacred-texts.com |access-date=2012-08-15}}</ref>

After the death of Pandu, Ambika accompanied her mother-in-law Satyavati, and sister Ambalika to the forest, and spent the rest of her days in spiritual retreat.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m01/m01129.htm |title=The Mahabharata, Book 1: Adi Parva: Sambhava Parva: Section CXXVIII |publisher=Sacred-texts.com |access-date=2012-08-15}}</ref>