Bhagavad Gita · Mahabharata Codex

Ambika

अम्बिका · ambikā

Princess of Kashi; queen of Vichitravirya; mother of Dhritarashtra

She closed her eyes for a moment, and her son never saw.

Ambika was the second of the three Kashi princesses and the elder queen of Vichitravirya. Widowed and childless, she was asked by Satyavati to bear an heir by the sage Vyasa. He came straight from his austerities, unkempt and fierce, and she shut her eyes in fright. Her son Dhritarashtra was born blind. In old age she left for the forest with Satyavati.