Kunti: Motherhood and Devotion

Originally a Yadu, Pritha was the daughter of Shoorsen and sister of Vasudev, the father of Lord Krishna. But she was gifted by her father to his close friend Kuntibhoj, as he did not have any children. Hence the name Kunti, instead of the original Pritha.

Like all characters, Kunti had a lot of fantastic happenings in her life, and the earliest was in her childhood.

It so happened that the sage Durvasa once visited Kuntibhoj. Durvasa Muni was known for his bad and unpredictable temper, and the resulting curses, especially the ones related to his getting upset due to food or service not being given as per his expectations. Kunti was given the unenviable task of serving the sage during his visit. It turned out that she did a splendid job out of this assignment. So much so, that the sage was ecstatic and in that mood, blessed her with a set of mantras. The mantras were so powerful that they could invoke any of the Devatas in front of Kunti for the august purpose of giving her a child with them as the father. In those times, boys were blessed with weapons and wealth, and girls with husbands and children. But Kunti was blessed with motherhood from the Gods if she so wished.

The teenage girl that she was then, Kunti was filled with curiosity on getting these mantras. So one fine day, she decided to test if they actually worked. She prayed to the Sun God and invoked him through a mantra, and, lo and behold, the Sun God himself stood in front of her. She felt sheepish at this apparently happy event, and told him that she was just testing things. This wasn’t meant to be a call for a child from the Sun God, so could he just neglect it? But the Sun God insisted that the purpose of the mantra was to give her a child and he can’t nullify it now. She begged to him that she is unmarried and it would lead to problems. But nothing doing, said the Sun God. A mantra is a mantra, and there’s no going back on it. Kunti had no choice and, as a result, her first child was born out of wedlock by accident, like so many other births in the epic. This child was Karna, named so due to the inbuilt earrings that he was born with, along with an inbuilt shining armour. He was a glorious child, but due to the fear of social dishonour, Kunti had no choice but to keep the child secret and sacrifice the child by giving it away. She prayed to the Lord to take care of her child and put him in a basket that she placed in the river behind her palace.

With this, she felt that the misadventure of her youth was over and forgotten. But that was not to be. Unwittingly, she had given birth to a son who would be one half of the biggest rivalry that the epic had seen. She felt she wouldn’t use those mantras again, as she had seen their power to her own detriment.

But at that time she didn’t know that those mantras were going to be needed, and needed badly. In fact, her motherhood was going to be glorious and fantastic, as well as tragic, at the same time.

Kunti was married to Pandu in a swayamvar arranged by Kuntibhoj, and an arrangement made by Bheeshma. Pandu was a good king and expanded the borders of Hastinapur but by mental disposition, he was a renunciate. Kunti joined him when he retired to the forests asking his brother Dhritarashtra to run the kingdom for him. For a long time, Kunti and Pandu didn’t have any children. On top of that, Pandu ended up being cursed by Kindam Rishi which made any further union with his wives a risky proposition. Kunti and her cowife Madri made all attempts to preserve Pandu’s life by being celibate themselves, but the question of heir to Hastinapur troubled Pandu. Moreover with the belief that dying childless closes doors to heaven, Pandu requested Kunti to beget children from the sages in the forest. But with her husband alive and fit, she refused any such arrangement. It was only after Pandu persisted that Kunti told him of the mantras and the blessing she had. Pandu was overjoyed and told her that nothing could be better than to have children from the Devatas as their sons and future heirs to Hastinapur.

In the choice of Devatas, Pandu insisted that a king should be wise and virtuous and hence, Kunti begot a child from Dharma, the God of Virtue and Justice. Then Pandu suggested that only virtue isn’t enough. A king needs to be powerful and strong, and hence, Kunti begot a child from Vayu, the God of Wind who is powerful. Further more, Pandu said that the king should also be heroic and hence, Kunti begot a child from Indra, the King of Gods and Heaven. Kunti stopped here saying that even in the practice of Niyoga, a woman is allowed to beget children only thrice from other men, and it won’t be appropriate for her to continue.

But later, Madri approached Pandu with a request for her to beget children. Pandu told Kunti if she can invoke the mantras once for Madri as well. Knowing fully well that she won’t get another chance, Madri requested Kunti to invoke the Ashwini Kumaras, and in one shot, both of them gave her sons, in the form of the handsome twins, Nakula and Sahadev. Therefore, the mantras of sage Durvasa finally found their purpose by begetting children for both the wives of Pandu, despite the curse he had been given. And while the fathers of these children were the Gods, as per the practice, they were all sons of Pandu, called the Pandavas, the main protagonists of the epic.

Life seemed to be going well with Pandu, his two wives and five children in the forests. But Kunti’s life has been a life of ups and downs. A sudden unexpected turn happened one day when Pandu and Madri had gone out for a walk and it rained drenching them. Looking at Madri, Pandu was not able to hold back his desire. Madri warned him and tried to hold him back by reminding him of his curse, but to no avail. And hence, in a moment of careless desire, Pandu met his end. Kunti rushed when called by Madri but Pandu had passed away. Enveloped by grief and a huge sense of guilt, Madri requested Kunti to let her sit on Pandu’s pyre as union with her was his last wish. Kunti has no choice but to accept, and after begging Kunti to take care of her children Nakula and Sahadev, Madri ends her life. With such a drastic turn of events, Kunti turns back for help to Hastinapur. Bheeshma wholeheartedly and Dhritarashtra half heartedly, welcome Kunti and the five pandavas back to Hastinapur. The mother gets a home for her children and feels that her life is back on track. But little does she realise that it would mark the beginning of another tumultuous phase in her life.

The forests seem to be safer to Kunti for her children than the palaces of Hastinapur. The animosity that the son of Dhritarashtra has towards her sons doesn’t escape the sharp eye of the mother. Bhima seems to be a target in particular when he is poisoned and is untraceable for a long time. Numerous such attempts only turn the traumatic childhood of her children into a living hell till it all culminates in Varnavat. An audacious attempt to take away all their lives fails in secret due to the wise diplomacy of Vidur. Kunti and her children escape to the forest and live undercover for many years not wanting to be recognised and returned to Hastinapur.

A lot of side stories during their stay in the forests, disguised as nomadic brahmins moving from one place to another, focus on Kunti. Prominent among them is the story of the village Ekachakra where a demon named Bakasura has troubled villagers. Kunti offers Bhima as the remedy for the villagers’ ills. The adventures of Bhima with food and his thrashing of the demon Bakasura is part of childhood folklore. Another story is the marriage of Bhima to the demon princess Hidimbi who falls for him after he defeats her brother Hidimba. She begs of Kunti to convince Bhima to not spurn her and quotes from her knowledge of the scriptures that impresses both Kunti and Yudhishthira. It results in Kunti getting Bhima married to Hidimbi and the birth of the first Pandava grandchild Ghatotkacha who plays a brave role in the final war along with Arjuna’s son Abhimanyu.

Another story is how the brothers, dressed as Brahmins, went out to collect alms everyday and one day ended up winning Draupadi and getting her home. Arjuna then says, look mother what I have got today. Kunti without turning to look says that whatever it is share equally among all five of you, hence leading to Draupadi being the shared wife of the Pandavas, despite social norms to the contrary at that time. In all these tales, Kunti plays a central role and while they appear to be minor events, they end up having a bearing on the epic in some way or the other.

On being discovered after Draupadi swayamvar, life takes Kunti and her sons back to Hastinapur only to be handed over another tract of forests as their kingdom. It is to the credit of the sons and their mother that, with the arrangement of Krishna, they convert that into Indraprastha. In some sense, the rajasooya sacrifice of Yudhishthira was the crowning glory of Kunti’s life as a mother. And the honour bestowed to Krishna at the sacrifice was the peak of her devotion. Her relation with Krishna was in some way mixed. Unlike his mother Yashoda, Kunti was aware of Krishna’s divinity due to the tales she had heard from her brother Vasudev. At the same time, she treated him like a special nephew in the role of an aunt too. She turned to him often when in help.

But the ups and downs of her life kept getting worse. The peak of Indraprastha for the mother turned quickly into the living hell of Draupadi’s insult for the mother-in-law. Her sons lost all that they had and had to go to exile. This time, Vidur requested that Kunti not accompany them as she was getting old and stay with him. Yudhishthira agreed and Kunti requested Draupadi to take care of her sons, especially of Nakula and Sahadev as per her promise to Madri.

It was a mother’s true turmoil to see this turn of events, and even more so, when she knew that part of the reason for it was her own eldest son Karna, who had been manipulated by Duryodhana into friendship, and a life spent in repaying that gratitude. She had recognised Karna even on the day when he had gate crashed into the graduation of her children with particular animosity towards Arjuna. It was a mother’s worst nightmare come true. Moreover, she couldn’t share it with anyone and only the all knowing Krishna by his arrangement reduced the mother’s turmoil, albeit a little, in the final stages of the war.

The climax of Kunti’s life of ups and downs was the fight for life between her two sons, Karna and Arjun.

Before the war started, it would be enlightening to see the role that Kunti played when Krishna came as the peace messenger. He chose to stay with Vidur where Kunti stayed too. It is instructive to see that Kunti spoke to Krishna both as the all knowing Lord and her nephew in the same conversation. She asked Him why He had come despite knowing that Duryodhana won’t agree for peace. She implied that Krishna already knew what the outcome would be. Krishna said he had come so that the world knows that the Pandavas tried everything to prevent war. After that, Kunti spoke to Krishna as a nephew. She said that when you go back, please tell Yudhishthira that despite his virtuous nature, he must fight. Tell your cousin that he must not refrain from war, Kunti told Krishna which he, as a nephew, dutifully obliged.

Kunti has an important role in the last few days of the war, especially on the morning of the fight between Arjuna and Karna. She was overcome with emotion and turmoil but couldn’t speak to anyone. She was sure to lose one of her sons, both of whom were dear to her, and parts of her heart. Krishna recognised her turmoil and as part of His plan to weaken Karna mentally, he told Kunti to make one last bid to avoid the fight by telling Karna that he was her son. He told her that Karna could have the kingdom if he switched sides. Kunti is torn between her sons and decides to approach Karna.

On the morning when Karna is offering his obeisance to the Sun God, she tells him that he is your father and I am your mother. Karna is shocked and dismayed that all his life he lived as a son of a charioteer and she didn’t come forward to own him up. He felt that it was only because she was worried for Arjuna’s life that she had come to him now. Kunti tried to convince him that both Arjuna and Karna were equal to her as sons. But Karna was not convinced. She finally told him that Yudhishthira would make him king if he switched sides. Karna professed his loyalty to Duryodhana.

In his mind, he perhaps thought that if he was offered the kingdom by Yudhishthira, due to his loyalties, he will have to offer it to Duryodhana. In his heart, he perhaps knew that wasn’t right. He said he had no option but to fight with Arjuna. Kunti embraced him and blessed him. That’s when Karna promised her that she has five sons today and she will have five sons tomorrow too. He promised that he will kill only Arjuna and none of her other sons. Either Arjuna or Karna will die in battle today, he said, and left Kunti in the same turmoil that she had when she came.

At the end of the war, when the time for funerals came, Kunti told Yudhishthira to offer obeisance to Karna’s mortal remains as he was your brother. Yudhishthira was devastated and shocked on hearing the entire details, and felt himself and Kunti to be responsible for the war. He got angry with Kunti for keeping this secret and causing the war. It was in this anger that he cursed that no woman in the future will be able to keep secrets.

In a sense, Kunti was the main mother and female character in the epic, along with Satyavati and Draupadi. Her life was full of suffering right from her childhood when in a prank, she became an unwed mother. Later, she suffered in the forests with her husband. Widowed early, she suffered with her sons and daughter in law in Varnavat and later suffered separation on their exile. Finally, her suffering reached the pinnacle in the war when she faced the turmoil of her two sons in direct battle with each other. Eventually at end of the war, she faced the wrath of her eldest living son. For a woman and mother, who didn’t have a central role in the epic, Kunti had a life of unsurpassed volatility and suffering.

Finally, before she joined Dhritarashtra, Gandhari and Vidur in retirement to the forests, she prayed to Krishna to stay with her sons in Hastinapur, and not return to the Yadus. Krishna smiled and said He is with her sons wherever He might be, but He has to go back. He said who better than her to understand what separation is. That’s when Kunti asked her nephew for a blessing to keep her mind directed towards Krishna wherever He might be. He said despite her suffering, her mind was always with Him and that’s why she overcame her suffering.

With that blessing, Kunti retired to the forests. She was truly a glorious symbol of motherhood and devotion.