Dushyanta

Dushyanta was a king of the Lunar dynasty, in the Paurava line. He came down from Pūru through a long line of kings. He was the father of the great Emperor Bharata.

His meeting with Śakuntalā at the āśrama (hermitage) of Kaṇva Maharshi, their Gāndharva marriage, and his first refusal to accept her and their son are well known. A voice from the sky, an ākāśavāṇī, set the matter right.

Lineage

The Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa gives Dushyanta’s line from Pūru as follows: Pūru, Janamejaya, Prachinvān, Pravīra, Namasyū, Cārupada, Sudyū, Bahugava, Saṃyāti, Ahaṃyāti, Raudrāśva, Ṛteyū, Rantibhāra, Sumati, Raibhya, Dushyanta.

Meeting with Śakuntalā

One day Dushyanta went hunting with only a small escort. He followed the land and came to the āśrama of Kaṇva Maharshi. There he saw a young woman sitting in the āśrama. She shone like Lakshmī Devī, and she made the hermitage beautiful by her presence. He was drawn to her at once.

He went to her and asked who she was. She said she was the daughter of Viśvāmitra, a kshatriya ṛshi (seer), and of the apsaras (heavenly dancer) Menakā. She had been left in the forest after her birth, and Kaṇva Maharshi had raised her. She welcomed Dushyanta with the usual offerings of the hermitage and asked him to rest.

Dushyanta said that princesses of the kshatriya families choose their own husbands, and he asked her to marry him. Śakuntalā felt the same pull toward him and agreed.

They were married there and then by the Gāndharva rite. This is the svayaṃvara (self-chosen marriage) of kshatriya families, made by the free consent and vow of both. At dawn Dushyanta left for his capital.

Recognition of Bharata

In time Śakuntalā gave birth to a son of great power. He was an aṃśa (part) of the aṃśa of Śrī Hari. Even as a child he played by tying up lions. Kaṇva Maharshi performed all the saṃskāras (rites of passage) for the boy in the forest. Then Śakuntalā took the child and came to Dushyanta’s court.

Dushyanta did not accept her or the child. Then, in front of the whole court, an ākāśavāṇī spoke. This is a voice with no body, heard by all. It said:

“The son truly belongs to the father; the mother is only the field. O Dushyanta, accept this son, and do not dishonour Śakuntalā. This son will save the father from falling into naraka (hell).”

The same voice gave the child his name. It said bharasva, which means “sustain him”. So the boy became known as Bharata.

Dushyanta accepted them both. After his death, Bharata became a cakravartī (emperor over all the land) and reached the height of imperial glory.

Sources

• Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 9th Skanda, Chapter 20
• Mahābhārata, Ādi Parva, Sambhava Parva, Chapters 62–74