Bhishma taken by his mother Ganges Source: Wikipedia
I haven't completely finished reading all of the stories, but the first few stories seem quite different from Ramayana. This story is filled with more contradictory things. For example, princess Amba choose to leave Bhishma to stay truthful to her first marriage. However, she is cast away by her first marriage and as she lives as an ascetic, she eventually decides to take revenge on Bhishma for her situation. I found this weird, because it is a fact that Bhishma took her away but it was also her husband that cast her away. This also reaffirmed the inequalities in the expectations between man and woman. King Shantanu can have several wive and go for a young wife that is beautiful at his old age which is a bit perverse. However, Amba who was trying her best to be faithful is cast away from even the tiniest of doubt. Bhishma who is supposed to be the righteous son of Shantanu, goes on to steal women from a kingdom through battle. These stories kind of showed me once again how lightly the women are treated in Indian Epics.
Bibliography
Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie (1913).
The Mahabharata, A Summary by John Mandeville Macfie (1921).
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