Kuntī, mother of the Pāṇḍavas and Karṇa

Kuntī was born as Pṛthā and took the name Kuntī after Kuntibhoja, the king who adopted her. She was the wife of King Pāṇḍu of Hastināpura. Through a mantra given to her by the ṛshi Durvāsa, she became the mother of Yudhishṭhira, Bhīma and Arjuna, born of the devas Dharma, Vāyu and Indra. Before her marriage she was also the mother of Karṇa, whose father was Sūrya. She stood by the Pāṇḍavas through exile, forest life and war. She was known for her steady devotion to Bhagavān Kṛshṇa. The Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa keeps her stotra (hymn of praise) to Kṛshṇa as he was about to go back to Dvārakā after the war. In it she asks for calamities again and again, so that she may always have a reason to see him. She reached jīvanmukti (liberation while still living) when she heard of Kṛshṇa’s departure from the world.

Birth and adoption

Kuntī was born as Pṛthā, the daughter of Śūra (also named Śūrasena) of the Yādava clan. Śūra had promised his firstborn child to his cousin Kuntibhoja, who had no children. When Pṛthā was born, Śūra gave her in adoption. Kuntibhoja raised her with great love as his own daughter, and she took the name Kuntī after him.

In her youth Kuntibhoja made Kuntī the servant of the visiting ṛshi Durvāsa, who was known to be hard to please. Kuntī served him perfectly through his whole stay. Durvāsa was pleased with her care. He gave her a mantra, a formula by which she could call any deva she chose and have a divine son by him. (Mahābhārata, Ādi Parva, Sambhava Parva)

The birth of Karṇa

Kuntī was still unmarried. Curious, she tested the mantra and called Sūrya, the deva of the sun. Sūrya appeared. He said that the mantra could not be taken back once it was spoken, and that it had to bear fruit. He promised to give back her virginity afterwards. From this union Karṇa was born. He came with natural golden armour (kavaca) and earrings (kuṇḍala), signs of his divine birth. Kuntī could not keep the child as an unmarried girl. She placed him in a sealed basket and set it afloat on the river. Adhiratha and Rādhā found him and raised him as their son. (Mahābhārata, Ādi Parva, Sambhava Parva)

The account in the Vana Parva

The Kuṇḍalahāra Parva of the Vana Parva (Chapters 303–310) tells the story more fully. While Kuntī was a girl at the court of Kuntibhoja, a great brāhmaṇa came as a guest and stayed a full year. Her father appointed her to attend to him in person. She served him with complete devotion for the whole year, looking after his food, his comfort and all his needs, without a single lapse. Pleased with her service, the brāhmaṇa gave her a mantra from the Atharva tradition as his gift. With it she could call any deva she chose and have a son by him. Then he left. The Ādi Parva names this ṛshi as Durvāsa. The Vana Parva account does not name him.

Kuntī was not yet married. She turned the mantra over in her mind with wonder and curiosity. One morning she watched the rising sun and wished to test whether the mantra worked. She called Sūrya. He came before her in his full divine form, blazing and overwhelming. The power she had set in motion startled her, and she asked him to go back. Sūrya said this was not possible. The mantra had been spoken with full intent and could not be recalled. It must bear its fruit. He promised her that her kanyātva (maidenhood) would be kept after the birth and that no dishonour would come to her.

Kuntī set a condition. The son born of this union should have a natural kavaca joined to his body and kuṇḍalas in his ears, the marks of divine invulnerability. Sūrya agreed and went away. Karṇa was born, armoured from birth, wearing the divine earrings and shining with the tejas (radiance) of his father.

Kuntī could not keep the child as an unmarried girl without bringing shame on herself and her family. She laid the infant in a sealed wooden chest lined with cloth and set it afloat on the Aśvanadi. The chest went from the Aśvanadi into the Carmaṇvatī, then into the Yamunā, and at last onto the Gaṅgā. It carried the child south to Campāpura in Aṅgadeśa. There Adhiratha, a charioteer in the service of the Kuru household, and his wife Rādhā had no children. They found the basket on the river bank. They took the golden-armoured child as their own son with great joy and named him Vāsusheṇa, “the one born with wealth”. He grew up knowing only them as his parents, the son of a charioteer, with the secret of his divine birth in his body. (Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapters 303–310)

Marriage to Pāṇḍu and life in the forest

Kuntī was given in marriage to Pāṇḍu, king of Hastināpura. Pāṇḍu received the śāpa (curse) of Kiṃdama: he would die if he came near any woman with desire. So he went to live in the forest. Kuntī went with him, together with his second wife Mādrī. She chose forest life over the comfort of the palace.

In the forest Pāṇḍu asked Kuntī to call the devas with Durvāsa’s mantra, so that he could keep the duty of leaving a line of children. Kuntī called three devas:

Dharma, from whom came Yudhishṭhira, born on Jyeshṭhā nakshatra (lunar star).
Vāyu, from whom came Bhīmasena, born on the same day as Duryodhana.
Indra, from whom came Arjuna, born amid rejoicing of the devas.

She then gave the mantra to Mādrī. Through it Nakula and Sahadeva were born of the Aśvins. (Mahābhārata, Ādi Parva, Sambhava Parva)

Sabhā Parva: farewell and staying at Hastināpura

After the second dice game, the Pāṇḍavas got ready to leave for thirteen years of exile. In the Anudyūta Parva, Draupadī came to Kuntī for a formal farewell before leaving Hastināpura. Their talk in Chapter 79 is one of the most moving passages of the Sabhā Parva. Kuntī had borne every danger the Pāṇḍavas had met, including poison, the lac-house fire and years in the forest. Now her sons were leaving for exile from a court that had shamed them.

Kuntī stayed at Hastināpura. She did not go with the Pāṇḍavas into the forest. Vidura gave her shelter in his own house, so that she would not be left without protection in the court of Dhṛtarāshṭra after all that had happened. She sent her sons and her daughter-in-law into the forest with her blessing and her grief. (Mahābhārata, Sabhā Parva, Anudyūta Parva, Chapter 79)

Kuntī and Kṛshṇa at Hastināpura: Udyoga Parva

Kṛshṇa came to Hastināpura as the Pāṇḍavas’ envoy. Before the formal assembly he visited Kuntī privately. This meeting is one of the most moving scenes of the Udyoga Parva. Kuntī spoke of all that her sons had borne: the years of exile, the shame of the dice game, the vastraharaṇa (the pulling at the clothes) of Draupadī, and the long weight of injustice on good men. She spoke as a mother who had watched her sons suffer without being able to step in, or even to name all her children openly.

Most painfully, she spoke of Karṇa. He was her firstborn, born before her marriage to Pāṇḍu, given away as an infant and raised by others. Karṇa now stood on the opposite side of the coming war. She could not name him in public as her son, and he did not know her as his mother. Her grief over this divided family, with sons set against her son, was spoken to Kṛshṇa with great restraint and great pain.

She did not ask Kṛshṇa to bring peace at any price. She asked that her sons get back their rightful inheritance with their honour whole. She gave Kṛshṇa a message to carry back to Yudhishṭhira, Bhīma, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva, a mother’s message of love and strength. (Mahābhārata, Udyoga Parva, Chapter 90)

Kuntī’s plea through Akrūra: Bhāgavata, 10th Skanda

Akrūra came to Hastināpura as Kṛshṇa’s messenger to learn how the Pāṇḍavas were. Kuntī came to him privately with tears in her eyes. She asked whether Kṛshṇa remembered her and her sons. Then her grief broke out. She called herself a doe surrounded by wolves, with sons who had lost their father and were in danger. She made a prayer to Kṛshṇa through Akrūra.

She called him the Mahāyogin, the ātmā (self) of all creation, and Govinda. She said: “O Govinda, I am sinking in this ocean of sorrow with my children. I see no other refuge than your lotus feet. Protect us.” She named him the master of the māyā-śakti (power of illusion) and the all-knowing ruler who governs the worlds.

Akrūra and Vidura comforted her. They spoke of the strength of the Pāṇḍava line and told her that Bhagavān Kṛshṇa’s plan is never without purpose. On his return to Mathurā, Akrūra told Kṛshṇa the whole situation, including Kuntī’s prayer. (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 10th Skanda, Chapter 49)

On the battlefield after the war: Strī Parva

In the Strī Parva, Kuntī went with Yudhishṭhira and the Pāṇḍavas to the battlefield of Kurukshetra, where the women of the Kuru line had gathered to mourn their dead. She walked among the fallen, among countless other widows and mothers. The text records her grief as a mother looking over a field where her sons had won. The cost was the lives of men she had known, men who had grown up around her, and, most painfully, the life of the one son she had given away.

The bodies were searched, and Karṇa’s body was found. It could not be mistaken, because of the golden armour fixed to his body. Kuntī came to him. Before Yudhishṭhira and the others she told the secret she had carried through the whole war and all the years before it. Karṇa was her firstborn, the son of Sūrya, born before her marriage to Pāṇḍu and given away as an infant on the river. As her firstborn, Karṇa was the eldest of the brothers, and he had died on the other side of the war. Yudhishṭhira was filled with grief and anger, because he had been kept from knowing his eldest brother all his life. This became one of his deepest wounds. He gave a śāpa (curse) on all women: from then on no woman would be able to keep a secret. The text records it as a reply born of grief and anger.

Kuntī made the jalapradāna (the offering of water) for Karṇa, naming him her son before the Gaṅgā. (Mahābhārata, Strī Parva, Chapters 1–15)

At the death of Bhīshma

Bhīshma lay on the śaraśayyā (bed of arrows) for fifty-eight nights, until Uttarāyaṇa came. Kuntī went with Yudhishṭhira and the Kuru household from Hastināpura to Kurukshetra. She was present for his last teachings and his departure by yoga, before the funeral rites at the Gaṅgā. (Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Bhīshma Svargārohaṇa Parva, Chapter 167)

Karṇa’s śrāddha: Āśramavāsika Parva

Dhṛtarāshṭra asked to perform śrāddha for Bhīshma, Droṇa, Somadatta and Bāhlīka before going to the forest. Bhīma then told Arjuna that Karṇa’s śrāddha would be Kuntī’s own to perform. His words were: “Kuntī will do it for Karṇa; this Kaurava king need not give.” In this parva it is plain that the rites for her firstborn belonged to her and not to Dhṛtarāshṭra. (Mahābhārata, Āśramavāsika Parva, Chapter 11)

Consoling Subhadrā and the plea for Parīkshit: Aśvamedhika Parva

Subhadrā heard of Abhimanyu’s death when she overheard Kṛshṇa’s report to Vāsudeva at Dvārakā. She fell down in grief. Kuntī comforted her: “O Yadunandinī! The boy loved by Vāsudeva, Sātyaki and his father has fallen in battle by the decree of time. Do not grieve. Your son has reached the highest state. Take good care of Uttarā. She is with child, and she of good nature will soon bear him a son.” Kuntī then arranged Abhimanyu’s śrāddha and, together with Subhadrā, gave many gifts to brāhmaṇas (Chapter 61).

Later Uttarā’s child was born lifeless, struck by the brahmāstra of Aśvatthāmā. Kuntī ran to Kṛshṇa, weeping, and appealed to him directly. She reminded him of his own vow, made when the weapon was loosed: “Vāsudeva! Mahābāhu! … Your nephew’s son has been born dead, struck by the weapon of Aśvatthāmā. Revive him! … Here he lies, dead. Look at him. Uttarā, Subhadrā, Draupadī and I all look to you. The lives of Yudhishṭhira, Bhīma, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva now rest on you” (Chapter 66). Uttarā fell down with the dead infant in her arms, and Kuntī cried out again. All the Bhārata women wept together (Chapter 69). Then Kṛshṇa’s satyakriyā (act of truth) revived the child, who was named Parīkshit. (Mahābhārata, Aśvamedhika Parva, Chapters 61, 66, 69)

The Kuntī Stotra

Kṛshṇa was about to return to Dvārakā after finishing his work for the Pāṇḍavas. He had comforted the bereaved on the Gaṅgā after the war, overseen three aśvamedha yajñas for Yudhishṭhira, and protected the unborn child of Uttarā. Kuntī came to say farewell. In front of him she offered a stotra that the Bhāgavata has kept as one of its deepest and most personal prayers.

She called him:

Ādi-Nārāyaṇa, the first Nārāyaṇa.
The ruler of all the worlds.
The one who is beyond māyā and so cannot be seen by ordinary senses. She said: “Just as a covered fire is not seen directly, you who are covered by māyā cannot be known through the senses, though you are within and outside all beings.”
The one who is seen only in the heart by the pure of mind. She said: “Great ṛshis who have mastered samyag-darśana (right vision) see you only through bhaktiyoga. How then can we women know your true nature?”

She spoke of the times Kṛshṇa had kept them safe:

The poison fed to Bhīma.
The fire of the lac house at Vāraṇāvata.
The meetings with Hiḍimba and other rākshasas.
The assembly in the court of Dhṛtarāshṭra, with the vastraharaṇa of Draupadī.
The hardships of the twelve years of forest exile.
Safety from Karṇa and other great warriors in the war.
The brahmāstra of Aśvatthāmā.

Her best-known verse is: “O Govinda! May calamities come to us again and again! For when calamities come, we see your face, and one who has seen your face does not need to see this saṃsāra any longer.”

She bowed to him as the one who is rich in love for the poor (daridrānāṃ tvaṃ hi sampat), who is untouched by any guṇa of prakṛti, who delights only in his own svarūpa (true nature), and who gives moksha (muktida). (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 1st Skanda, Chapter 8)

Attaining moksha

Arjuna came back from Dvārakā with the sad news of the destruction of the Yādavas and Kṛshṇa’s departure from the world. Kuntī heard it. She then fixed her mind wholly on Bhagavān Kṛshṇa in ananyabhakti (devotion to him alone), reached jīvanmukti and dropped her body. The Bhāgavata says: “Kuntī, hearing from Arjuna of Kṛshṇa’s return to his dhāma (abode), merged her mind in Bhagavān Kṛshṇa with ananyabhakti and became jīvanmuktā.” (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 1st Skanda, Chapter 15)

Reunited with Pāṇḍu: Svargārohaṇa Parva

Yudhishṭhira saw the blessed in their divine stations. Indra showed him Pāṇḍu living with both his wives, Kuntī and Mādrī. They were travelling by vimāna (a flying chariot) to wait upon Indra. The grief Yudhishṭhira still carried for Karṇa is recalled in the same parva. It was kindled by the words his mother had spoken at the time of the tarpaṇa (water offering). In the final account of the fates of the heroes, told by Sauti (Ugraśravā), Kuntī, together with Pāṇḍu and Mādrī, reached the bhavana (mansion) of Mahendra when her puṇya was used up. (Mahābhārata, Svargārohaṇa Parva, Chapters 2, 4–5)

Sources

Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 1st Skanda, Chapters 8, 15
Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 10th Skanda, Chapter 49
Mahābhārata, Ādi Parva, Sambhava Parva, Chapters 111–125
Mahābhārata, Ādi Parva, Chapters 141–221
Mahābhārata, Sabhā Parva, Anudyūta Parva, Chapter 79
Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapters 303–310
Mahābhārata, Udyoga Parva, Chapter 90
Mahābhārata, Strī Parva, Chapters 1–15
Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Bhīshma Svargārohaṇa Parva, Chapter 167
Mahābhārata, Aśvamedhika Parva, Chapters 61, 66, 69
Mahābhārata, Āśramavāsika Parva, Chapter 11
Mahābhārata, Āśramavāsika Parva, Chapters 15–20, 24
Mahābhārata, Āśramavāsika Parva, Chapters 29–30, 37–39
Mahābhārata, Svargārohaṇa Parva, Chapters 2, 4–5