Queen Kunti
Encyclopedia
Pandava
In the Hindu epic Mahābhārata, the Pandava are the five acknowledged sons of Pandu , by his two wives Kunti and Madri. Their names are Yudhisthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva. Although, Karna is told by Lord Krishna that according to the laws and ethics he is the first son of Kunti making...
brothers from the Indian epic
Epic poetry
An epic is a lengthy narrative poem, ordinarily concerning a serious subject containing details of heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation. Oral poetry may qualify as an epic, and Albert Lord and Milman Parry have argued that classical epics were fundamentally an oral poetic form...
Mahābhārata
Mahabharata
The Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India and Nepal, the other being the Ramayana. The epic is part of itihasa....
. Her story is also told within the Bhagavata Purana
Bhagavata purana
The Bhāgavata Purāṇa is one of the "Maha" Puranic texts of Hindu literature, with its primary focus on bhakti to the incarnations of Vishnu, particularly Krishna...
, wherein she speaks on the philosophy of devotion of Krishna
Krishna
Krishna is a central figure of Hinduism and is traditionally attributed the authorship of the Bhagavad Gita. He is the supreme Being and considered in some monotheistic traditions as an Avatar of Vishnu...
, known as Bhakti yoga
Bhakti yoga
Bhakti yoga is one of the types of yoga mentioned in Hindu philosophies which denotes the spiritual practice of fostering loving devotion to a personal form of God....
. Kunti is thus held as a figure of great importance within many Hindu
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
traditions and especially with worshippers of Krishna (Vaishnavas).
Parentage and upbringing
Her father was Shoorsen (Śũrasena) of the VrishniVrishni
The Vrishnis were an ancient Indian clan who were believed as the descendants of Vrishni, a descendent of Yadu. It is believed that Vrishni was son of Satvata, a descendant of Yadu, the son of Yayati. He had two wives, Gandhari and Madri. He has a son named Devamidhusha by his wife Madri....
clan, and she was named Pritha (Pṛthā). She was thus the sister of Vasudeva
Vasudeva
In Hindu itihasa , Vasudeva is the father of Krishna, the son of Shoorsen, of the Yadu and Vrishni dynasties. His sister Kunti was married to Pandu. He was a partial incarnation of Rishi Kashyap....
, father of Krishna
Krishna
Krishna is a central figure of Hinduism and is traditionally attributed the authorship of the Bhagavad Gita. He is the supreme Being and considered in some monotheistic traditions as an Avatar of Vishnu...
. She was given in adoption to the childless King Kuntibhoja, after which she became known as Kunti. After her arrival, King Kuntibhoja was blessed with children. He considered her his lucky charm and took care of her until her marriage.
Children
When she was young, the rishiRishi
Rishi denotes the composers of Vedic hymns. However, according to post-Vedic tradition, the rishi is a "seer" to whom the Vedas were "originally revealed" through states of higher consciousness. The rishis were prominent when Vedic Hinduism took shape, as far back as some three thousand years...
Durvasa
Durvasa
In Hindu mythology, Durvasa , or Durvasas, was an ancient sage, the son of Atri and Anasuya. He is supposed to be an incarnation of Shiva. He is known for his short temper. Maledictions or curses he gave in his rage ruined many lives. Hence, wherever he went, he was received with great reverence ...
told her a mantra
Mantra
A mantra is a sound, syllable, word, or group of words that is considered capable of "creating transformation"...
with which Kunti could summon any deva
Deva (Hinduism)
' is the Sanskrit word for god or deity, its related feminine term is devi. In modern Hinduism, it can be loosely interpreted as any benevolent supernatural beings. The devs in Hinduism, also called Suras, are often juxtaposed to the Asuras, their half brothers. Devs are also the maintainers of...
and have a child by him. When Kunti asked why he gave her this mantra, he told her that it would be useful to her later in life.
Kunti could not believe the mantra, so she tried to use it. The god Surya
Surya
Surya Suraya or Phra Athit is the chief solar deity in Hinduism, one of the Adityas, son of Kasyapa and one of his wives, Aditi; of Indra; or of Dyaus Pitar . The term Surya also refers to the Sun, in general. Surya has hair and arms of gold...
, appeared. She asked him to go back, but Surya said he was compelled to fulfill the mantra before returning. After birth of the child, Kunti abandoned him in a basket in a river. This child was later found and adopted by a chariot driver and his wife, and was named Karna
Karna
Karna or Radheya is one of the central characters in the epic Mahābhārata, from ancient India. He was the King of Anga...
. He went on to become a central character in the Mahābhārata
Mahabharata
The Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India and Nepal, the other being the Ramayana. The epic is part of itihasa....
. The ambiguous emotions Karna felt about his birth mother play an important role in the Mahābhārata.
Later life
Later on, Kunti married Prince PanduPandu
In the Mahābhārata epic, King Pandu is the son of Ambalika and Rishi Ved Vyasa. He is more popularly known as the father of the Pandavas and ruled Hastinapur.-Birth:...
of Hastinapura
Hastinapura
Hastinapur is a town and a nagar panchayat in Meerut district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.-History:Hastinapur was the capital of the kingdom of the Kauravas, belonging to the Kuru dynasty of kings. The throne of this city was the prize over which the Kurukshetra War of the epic...
. He took a second wife Madri
Madri
In the Mahābhārata epic, Madri was a princess of the Madra kingdom and the second wife of Pandu.On his way to Hastinapur, King Pandu encountered the army of Shalya, King of Madra. Very soon, Pandu and Shalya became friends and Shalya gave his only sister, Madri to Pandu, as a gift of their...
, but was unable to father children due to a Rishi's curse. Once, when Pandu was on a hunting excursion, he shot an arrow at a deer-couple, which to his misfortune turned out to be sage Kindama and his wife. The dying sage cursed Pandu that as he had killed them in their moment of union, the moment he unites with a woman will be his last. Grief-stricken, he decided to abandon palace life for doing penance and proceeds to the forest with his wives, to live in self-imposed exile. Then, when the erstwhile king expresses concerns about dying childless, Kunti revealed her secret mantra. She used it three times, first receiving a son, Yudishtira, from the god Dharma
Yama (Hinduism)
Yama is the lord of death in Hinduism, first recorded in the Vedas. Yama belongs to an early stratum of Indo-Iranian theology. In Vedic tradition Yama was considered to have been the first mortal who died and espied the way to the celestial abodes, thus in virtue of precedence he became the ruler...
, then Bhima
Bhima
In the Mahābhārata, Bhima is one of the central characters of Mahabharata and the second of the Pandava brothers...
from the god Vayu
Vayu
Vāyu is a primary Hindu deity, the Lord of the winds, the father of Bhima and the spiritual father of Lord Hanuman...
, and thirdly Arjuna
Arjuna
Arjuna in Indian mythology is the greatest warrior on earth and is one of the Pandavas, the heroes of the Hindu epic Mahābhārata. Arjuna, whose name means 'bright', 'shining', 'white' or 'silver' Arjuna (Devanagari: अर्जुन, Thai: อรชุน, Orachun, Tamil: Arjunan, Indonesian and Javanese: Harjuna,...
, from the god Indra
Indra
' or is the King of the demi-gods or Devas and Lord of Heaven or Svargaloka in Hindu mythology. He is also the God of War, Storms, and Rainfall.Indra is one of the chief deities in the Rigveda...
. Kunti revealed the mantra to Madri
Madri
In the Mahābhārata epic, Madri was a princess of the Madra kingdom and the second wife of Pandu.On his way to Hastinapur, King Pandu encountered the army of Shalya, King of Madra. Very soon, Pandu and Shalya became friends and Shalya gave his only sister, Madri to Pandu, as a gift of their...
, who bore twin sons, Nakula
Nakula
Nakula, also spelt "Nakul" was one of the five Pandava brothers according to the epic Mahābhārata. Nakula and Sahadeva were fraternal twins born to Madri, who had invoked the Ashvins using a mantra for a son, the mantra shared by Kunti...
and Sahadeva
Sahadeva
Sahadeva was one of the five Pandava brothers according to the epic Mahābhārata. He was one of the twin sons of Madri, who invoked Ashvins using a mantra shared by Kunti for a son. His twin brother was named Nakula...
, from the twin gods the Asvins. The five together are known as the Pandavas.
After the death of Pandu and Madri, Kunti was left to tend for all five sons. After the great battle of Kurukshetra
Kurukshetra
Kurukshetra is a land of historical and religious importance. Historically the land belonged to Punjab now a district in Haryana state of India. It is a holy place and is also known as Dharmakshetra . According to the Puranas, Kurukshetra is named after King Kuru, the ancestor of Kauravas and...
and in her old age, she goes in exile to the forest, with her brothers-in-law Dhritarashtra
Dhritarashtra
In the Mahābhārata, Dhritarashtra was King of Hastinapur at the time of the Kurukshetra War, the epic's climactic event. He was born the son of Vichitravirya's first wife Ambika, and was fathered by Vyasa. He was blind from birth, and became father to a hundred children by his wife Gandhari...
and Vidura
Vidura
Vidura was an important figure in the Mahabharata, a major Hindu epic. He was half-brother to the kings Dhritarashtra and Pandu of Hastinapura, born the son of the sage Vyasa and a lady-in-waiting to the queens Ambika and Ambalika of the city...
, and Dhritarashtra's wife Gandhari
Gandhari (character)
Gāndhārī is a character in the Hindu epic, the Mahābhārata. In the epic, she was an incarnation of Mati, as the daughter of Subala, the king of Gandhara, or the modern Kandahar, a region spanning northwestern Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan, from which her name is derived...
where they die together in a forest fire.
Kunti's character
Kunti's character within the Mahābhārata is accorded much respect within the Hindu tradition. Her activities were that of a very pious and loyal wife and of a person with a great deal of self-control. Kunti was given a special boonGift
A gift or a present is the transfer of something without the expectation of receiving something in return. Although gift-giving might involve an expectation of reciprocity, a gift is meant to be free. In many human societies, the act of mutually exchanging money, goods, etc. may contribute to...
which enabled her to bear the sons of great celestial devas
Deva (Hinduism)
' is the Sanskrit word for god or deity, its related feminine term is devi. In modern Hinduism, it can be loosely interpreted as any benevolent supernatural beings. The devs in Hinduism, also called Suras, are often juxtaposed to the Asuras, their half brothers. Devs are also the maintainers of...
as many times as she wished. However Kunti did not misuse her boon, limiting herself to three sons only. In spite of Pandu's pleas for more sons, Kunti held onto the Shastras which state that one should not have more than 3 children when the children are not conceived in the usual manner.
And, when requested by Pandu, she shared this special mantra with Madri
Madri
In the Mahābhārata epic, Madri was a princess of the Madra kingdom and the second wife of Pandu.On his way to Hastinapur, King Pandu encountered the army of Shalya, King of Madra. Very soon, Pandu and Shalya became friends and Shalya gave his only sister, Madri to Pandu, as a gift of their...
, Pandu's other wife.
Further reading
A number of Kunti's prayers from the Puranas were published in the late 1970s as part of a book by A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami PrabhupadaA. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Abhay Charanaravinda Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada was a Gaudiya Vaishnava teacher and the founder-acharya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, commonly known as the "Hare Krishna Movement"...
, entitled 'Teachings of Queen Kuntī' which comprises verses 18-43 from the eighth chapter of the Bhagavata Purana
Bhagavata purana
The Bhāgavata Purāṇa is one of the "Maha" Puranic texts of Hindu literature, with its primary focus on bhakti to the incarnations of Vishnu, particularly Krishna...
.