aMbA [ aMb-GaY ] ( Voc. aMbe Ved. ; aMba in later Sanskrit) 1 A mother; also used as an affectionate or respectful mode of address; ‘good woman’, ‘good mother’; kimaMbABiH prezitaH; aMbAnAM kAryaM nirvartaya Ś. 2 ; kftAMjalistatra yadaMba satyAt R. 14. 16. 2 N. of a plant ( aMbazWA d .). 3 N. of Durgā, wife of Śiva. 4 N. of an Apsaras; of a sister of Pāṇḍu's mother, a daughter of Kāśīrāja. [She and her two sisters were carried off by Bhīṣma to be the wives of VichitraVīrya who had no issue. Ambā, however, had been previously betrothed to a king of Śāla and Bhīṣma sent her to him; but the latter rejected her because she had been in another man's house. So she came back to Bhīṣma and prayed him to accept her; but he could not break his vow of life-long celibacy, and being enraged she returned to the forest and practised austere penance to revenge herself on Bhīṣma. Śiva favoured her and promised her the desired vengeance in another birth. Afterwards she was born as Śikhaṇḍinī, daughter of Drupada, who came to be called Śikhaṇḍin and became the cause of Bhīṣma's death.] 5 A term in astrology to denote the fourth condition. [ cf. Dravid Amma ; Germ. amme ; old Germ. Amma ].