[1] Amba, along with her sisters, were abducted by Bhishma during their svayamvara ceremony, as brides to marry Vichitravirya, the King of Hastinapura.

Before the wedding ceremony, the princess approaches Bhishma, and informs him of her love for King Salva, upon which she is allowed to go to the latter and urge him to accept her as his wife.

Amba holds Bhishma responsible for her misfortune, undertaking a penance, and is granted a boon by Shiva.

Unaware of Amba's feelings, Bhishma proceeded to Hastinapura and presented them to Satyavati, who made arrangements for their marriage to Vichitravirya.

Amba approached Bhishma and the council of Brahmins and revealed that she and Salva were in love with each other and that she had been going to choose him as her husband in the svayamvara.

Bhishma conceded that she should make her own decision regarding the matter and sent her to Salva with honours, while Ambika and Ambalika were married to Vichitravirya.

[5][6] In the Ambopakhyanaparvan chapter of the book Udyoga Parva of the Mahabharata, the rest of Amba's tale is narrated by Bhishma when Duryodhana questions him as to why he did not kill Shikhandi, an ally of the Pandavas, the cousins and foes of the Kauravas.

The next day, the sage Hotravahana (of the Srinjaya race), a former king and Amba's maternal grandfather, passed by the place.

Parashurama gave his word to Amba that he would slay Bhishma, who was his disciple in the past, and destroy his pride.

Bhishma tried to calm the sage, but in vain, and he finally agreed to battle his guru to safeguard his Kshatriya duty.

On the 24th day when Bhishma chose to use a deadly weapon, at the behest of the divine sage Narada and the devas, Parashurama ended the conflict and the battle was declared a draw.

However, Amba refused to listen to Parashurama's advice and left angrily declaring that she would achieve her objective by asceticism.

[16] Amba gave up food and sleep, and practised asceticism standing still for six months in the Yamuna river valley, surviving only on air.

Then, she visited the ashrams of many sages like Narada, Uluka, Chyavana, Vishwamitra, Mandavya, and Garga, as well as sacred sites like Prayaga, Bhogavati, and holy groves.

Ganga declared that the bathing places along the river's course would be in difficult terrain, and it will be infested with crocodiles and other fierce creatures.

[9][16] The ascetics of Vatsa dissuaded her from the austerities, but Amba maintained her resolve and told them her desire was to be born a man and slay Bhishma to avenge her misery.

Pleased with the boon, Amba created a funeral pyre of wood on the banks of the Yamuna and jumped in the fire saying "for Bhishma's destruction!".

[9][17][18] Another variant narrates that Amba performed austerities and pleased Kartikeya, the god of war and Shiva's son.

[8][19][20] Drupada had no children, and so he engaged himself in austerities in the forest, seeking the blessings of Shiva for begetting a son.

Distressed by the turn of events, Shikhandi went into the forest to meet a yaksha (a nature spirit), Sthunakarna, who helped her by offering to exchange their sexes for a period of time.

[9][22] Shikhandi is killed in a sword fight with Ashwatthama when he, Kripacharya, and Kritavarma attacked the Pandava camp on the night of the final day of the war.