Kunthi

The Princess Kunthi, Her Mantra, and All Her Godly Children

When Kunthi was just a young princess, a powerful sage named Dhurvasa was visiting her family and the kingdom of Kunthibhoja on an official visit. Kunthi was the only one in the entire palace who was able to entertain and please the quick-tempered sage with her devotion, comfort, and patience. As a gift for her attention, Dhurvasa awarded Kunthi the knowledge of a special mantra that would summon a god.

"You blessed in all qualities, may you be the mother of godly children," Dhurvasa said. "This mantra will let invoke any god of your choosing to enjoy their company. But beware, this mantra is not to be used lightly." Dhurvasa, in his sage wisdom, had the seer's power of vision, and he knew that Kunthi would need this ability when she was older.

Kunthi, however, was curious about this mantra almost as soon as she was taught it, and sought to use it when she returned back to her room. She thought for a moment about to which god she wanted to pray, and she decided to invoke Surya, the Sun God. Upon the completion of Kunthi's mantra, Suyra appeared to Kunthi, who asked her, "What is your desire?"

Kunthi, who was unprepared for receiving a god, stammered, "N-No nothing. I want for nothing." She then prostrated herself and began to beg, "Please forgive me, lord. Forgive me!"

But Surya gently shook his head and said, "Did you not know that a mantra of this power is not to be trifled with? Did you not understand its power?"

Kunthi, still bowing towards the god, responded, "Oh my lord, I mean no disrespect in any manner. I only wish to beg for your forgiveness in this moment of weakness."

Kunthi pleaded thus, and Surya took her in his arms, and said, "Do you not know that you should not play thus with a mantra of this power?"

With those words, he caressed her, showed her the love of a god, and then departed after a period of time. Kunthi, afterwards, knelt down and wept. A child was conceived of this union, but, as she was unmarried, a scandal of this caliber would bring dishonor to her and her family.

Because of this, Kunthi carried the baby in secret, not wanting to disappoint her parents or any of her responsibilities as a princess. She gave birth to this child surrounded by only her most trusted servants. After holding her unofficial first-born child for a few moments, she dictated that the child be floated down the river in a basket, to be left to the whims of the gods.

Radhe and her husband, a charioteer, had been trying for a child for many years, to no luck. On this particular day, Radhe was washing clothes and bathing in river when she saw a regal wicker basket floating gently in the current. As she moved closer to the basket, she was surprised to find a child inside! She brought the basket to the river bank, gently picked up the child, and hugged it close to her breast. After all this time, she finally had a child, and she thanked the gods for their generosity. Radhe and her husband would raise this child as their own, and, although he grew up poor, he would be content.

This child came to be known as Karna, and coincidentally trained under the teacher Drona with the other Pandava brothers that were conceived from Kunthi and various gods. However, these children of Kunthi were raised in the palace under their uncle, King Dhritarashtra. Despite coming from modest means, Karna continuously matched in skill Arjuna, one of the greatest marksmen ever seen. Because of this rivalry with Arjuna and the other Pandeva brothers, Karna always sided with Duryodhana, the son of Dhritarashtra.

Fast forward many years in the future, and the Pandavas brothers are exiled, Duryodhana is Karna's greatest ally, and Arjuna is his greatest rival, despite also being his mother's son. When the war between Duryodhana and the Pandeva brothers starts, Karna vows to attack Arjuna with his whole might. Kunthi approached Karna and pleaded with him to spare her children, revealing herself as her mother and the Pandavas as his half-brothers.

But Karna was unmoved and instead responded, "You are not my mother. Radhe and the charioteer nurtured and gave me sustenance. You abandoned me, and so are not my mother. I will fight Arjuna on the field and only one of us will return alive."

On the battlefield, Karna and Arjuna fought each other ferociously, and the battle seemed to be equally matched. In the end, Arjuna was victorious. Kunthi mourned the loss of her son.

Author's Note: Out of these four stories I gathered, I knew that I wanted one story to focus on karma, which in Hindu is the idea that actions and intent have consequences that persist throughout your life, and even into your next life. Specifically, a moral person will be rewarded with a more comfortable rebirth, but an immoral person will be punished in rebirth for their actions. In other places in the Mahabharata, Yudhisthira and Bhima, two of the other Pandava brothers, go into a deeper discussion on Karma, and the story told here acts as an example of this idea they explain. On a meta level, the Mahabharata is a sacred text of Hinduism, so its purpose as a book was to teach people about complex ideas like Karma and provide examples to illustrate the concept. The story of Kunthi and Karna is a good example of this because Kunthi, due to her carelessness earlier in her life, brought about the end of one of her sons.