The story thus far.
Bhishma (OAK Sundar - how wonderful to see him in a role like this; gambiram, well-built and well-costumed) goes to the swayamvara held at the Kashi palace and grabs the three daughters of the Kashi King - Amba, Ambiga and Ambalika for his sickly brother, Vichitravirya who has tuberculosis. (Bhishma is a confirmed bachelor)
Amba (Pooja/Prema) of Mundanai Mudichu) objects as she is already in love with another King. Bheeshma lets her go and takes her sisters to Hastinaputra and presents them to Satyavati (Sneha from Chellameh). They get married - Vichit and the two As.
Meanwhile Amba goes to her beau who rejects her because he was embarrassed that Bhishma defeated him and also he was scared that Bhishma would attack him. Rejected and spurned, Amba goes to her father, who also kicks her out. She is angry at Bhishma for her fate - which I think is stupid, as her anger should be at her boyfriend - and tries to get kings to attack Bhishma but no one dares. Finally she goes to Parasurama. The great sage, who is also Bhishma's guru, calls Bhishma to fight. They do, but Bhishma surrenders, saying that it is a heinous thing to fight his own guru. Seeing that, P refuses to fight B any more and informs Amba so. That woman is still furious and decides to meditate before Lord Shiva...
Vich dies but Satyavati does not want to make it public as she needs heirs to the kingdom. (Vich had died before he could do anything) She asks Bhishma to be intimate with both Ambiga and Ambalika ( 😲, wow what a MIL) so that she can get heirs, but B refuses saying that he has taken a vow of celibacy and if Satya insists, he has no choice but kill himself. Satyavati remembers that she has an older son, Sage Vyasa (Poovilangu Mohan) and she begs him to do the dastardly deed with the two As. V obliges.
Ambiga, seeing the unkempt sight of Vyasa, closes her eyes in fear and because of that the prince born to her Dhritarashtra, the father of the Kauravas, was born blind. Ambalika turned pale at the sight of Vyasa, and hence her son, Pandu, the father of Pandavas was born as pale as an albino. Satya, when was told of the condition of her grandsons, begged V to do it again for the third time, but Ambiga, already scared witless by Vyasa (who could have done with a wash, a pair of scissors and a brush) sends a servant in her place. Vyasa does his duty, and Vidura is the son of the maid. He becomes clever, knowledgeable, cultured and acts as advisor to his brothers, but could never be the king because of his low birth.
Episode ends with Lord Shiva appearing before Amba...
I think this is a great serial. They have done justice to the epic and the costumes, the sets are all magnificent. I know there are quite a number of serial actors but I could recognise only a few. Best of all, it is not dubbed!!
