Abstract
Ashok K. Banker (1964) is one of India's most influential modern retellers of epics and purāṇas, having written the Rāmāyaṇa series, the Krishna Coriolis series, and currently working on the Mahābhārata series with two volumes published so far (The Forest of Stories, The Seeds of War).
Apart from that he published five "Epic Love Stories" featuring the classical love couples such as Śakuntalā and Duṣyanta, or Gaṅgā and Śāṃtanu, but also Ambā and Bhīṣma, who had not been traditionally depicted as lovers. In the foreword to the first two volumes Banker claims to have referred to every single English translation and retelling available and to have reexamined the Sanskrit original, subsequently writing his own rendition.
He also states that his Mahābhārata adheres very closely to the Vyāsa's Sanskrit epic, for he endeavored to stay as faithful to the original as possible. It is true that unlike many other retellers, Banker preserved the structure, the narrators, and the order of parvas.
The narrative is, however, sometimes altered. As can be observed in the very title Amba and Bhishma: A love story that was never meant to be, there is a love story where we would least expect it.
The question is whether it is a valid and legitimate reading of the Mahābhārata story of Vicitravīrya's wedding, and whether it is possible to assume a love story, albeit a tragic one, between Bhīṣma and Ambā. We will address that drawing upon the Critical Edition and the Critical Edition with supplements.
As only two volumes of Banker's Mahābhārata series have been published so far, we will exclude the story of Śikhaṇḍī, which logically (but not textually) follows, and restrict ourselves to the Ādiparvan version.