Out of curiosity, she used the mantra to invoke Surya, and was blessed with a son named Karna. During her teenage years, she impressed sage Durvasa and was blessed with the knowledge of a divine mantra. She is also mentioned in second canto of the Devi-Bhagavata Purana.īorn to the Yadava chief Shurasena, Pritha was adopted by her childless uncle, Kuntibhoja, and was renamed as Kunti. She is described to be beautiful, intelligent, and shrewd. She is also mentioned in the Bhagavata Purana because of her connection with Krishna, the main figure of the text. She is best known as the mother of the Pandavas and Karna, the main protagonists of the epic. The first discussion topic elicited an excellent response on Facebook and hopefully this one is worth a good discussion as well.Kunti ( Sanskrit: कुन्ती, IAST: Kuntī), named at birth as Pritha ( Sanskrit: पृथा, IAST: Pṛthā), is one of the principal female protagonists of the epic Mahabharata. Of course, I have the luxury of hindsight which the Pandavas didn’t have at that time.Īs always, do share your thoughts on the topic. Isn’t that worth disobeying one’s mother?. We are all told that disobeying elders is a sin and comes in the way of Moksha (if you believe that line of thinking). How do we tell them its OK for Kunti to ask Draupadi to marry five men while we strongly teach them values of having one partner in real life. Would the war have been averted if she had just married Arjuna?Īs a parent, this episode is very interesting to explain to kids. Draupadi is at the crux of the whole epic. Would the Pandavas have achieved immortality?. Would the Mahabharata turned out the way it did?. If we take the episode in its entirety and examine its consequences, what would have happened if the Pandavas had rebelled against their mother (something unheard of in those days). Should she have put her foot down and rebelled?Īs I was pondering this topic and shared my views with a friend, he added a completely different angle to this conversation, one worth bringing up here. But Draupadi was a strong woman as evidenced in the later parts of the story. Agreed that in those days, the brides had no voice of their own. The third piece, albeit the most important one is Draupadi herself. Surely, the wise words of Yudhisthtira might have made her reconsider? Shouldnt they have registered their discomfort with the idea of sharing Draupadi and thus convince their mother to change her mind. The second element of this episode are the Pandavas, primarily Yudhishtira, the eldest and most virtuous and Arjuna, the rightful winner of Draupadi’s hand. How could she expect the young Draupadi to share 5 husbands? Why didnt she change her mind and fix the problem then and there?. Kunti had problems sharing her husband Pandu with Madri. The first question that pops on one’s mind is as a woman, shouldn’t Kunti have known better?. She asked Draupadi to marry all the Pandavas. Once Kunti found out that the “entity to be shared equally among the brothers” was Draupadi, she did not change her mind. And here is where things get interesting and discussion worthy. Arjuna decides to surprise his mother by saying, “Mother, look what we have brought home.” Kunti, assuming that it was their daily bhiksha (alms) said, “Whatever it is, do share equally with all your brothers.” At that point, Kunti realises that it was Draupadi. The excited Pandavas bring Draupadi home where Kunti is sitting unaware of the events of the day. Arjuna, always on the lookout for a warrior’s challenge, participates in the event and wins the hand of Draupadi. They hear about the swayamvar of Draupadi, daughter of King Drupada of Panchala and sister of Drishtadyumna. They roam the lands disguised as brahmans. The Pandavas are assumed to be dead in the fire at Varnavata. In this post, we will talk about Kunti’s decision to ask Draupadi to take all the Pandavas as her husbands.īefore we delve into the discussion itself, let me outline the plot points leading to the event. The first topic was “ The game of dice” and how Yudhishtira shaped the events that were to follow. It helps to understand your perspective and how you think that this topic can be best explained to a young reader. Do share your thoughts in the comments section of this post. This is the second topic of discussion in the Parents Corner initiative.
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