The part of Amba's story caught my attention. Because Shiva wanted a male child so badly he raised his girl Sikhandini to be a boy and even arrange marriage her to a girl. Poor Sikhandini all her life she was taught that being a boy was better and wasn't value for own identity. Why is that most women in indian epics have to go through so much? Well Sikhandini's wife found that she was a female and begged Sthuna to change gender with Sikhandini. Sthuna is such a nice person and he was punished for his good deed by Vaishravana who was outraged that they switched genders. So he cursed Sthuna that he would remain a female until Sikhandini die.
I thought it was very brave and nice of Sthuna to switch genders with Sikhandini. I don't think he should be punished. If Shiva would have accepted that his "son" was actually a female then none of this would have happened. A parent should always accept their child for who he/she is no matter what. But this is indian epics and stories are different. Sikahandini was taught to be a boy all her life and so she thought being a boy was the best thing for her.
I think that was the best part in this section of the book. I wasn't appealed to the battle scene as much I thought I would. The duel between Karna and Arjuna was pretty cool but I didn't find it to be entirely exciting.
Draupada begs for a boy: Sikhandini
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