After the death of Vichitravirya, Pandu, born to Ambalika, ascended the throne of Hastinapur, as Dhritarashtra, Ambika’s son and Pandu’s elder brother, was born blind. Pandu was universally popular for his valour and righteousness. He married Kunti for her beauty, after winning her at a svayamvara held by her adoptive father, Kuntibhoja. She had been born to Sura, Krishna’s grandfather, as Pritha. But since Kuntibhoja had no issue, his cousin Sura offered Pritha for adoption to him and she came to be known as Kunti.
In her youth, Kunti had an opportunity to serve sage Durvasa at her father’s palace. So pleased was the sage with her that he gave her a divine mantra – if she chanted it three times as prayer to any god, she would be blessed with a son from him.
Quite playfully, one day Kunti chanted the mantra to Surya, the sun-god, who immediately appeared before her. Surprised, she asked him who he was.
‘I am Surya, O maiden, and I have come here in response to your prayer. I will forthwith grant you your heart’s desire.’
Kunti stood petrified for a while, veiling her face with the hem of her saree. ‘I apologize, O Lord, for my waywardness. I simply wanted to try the mantra, not realizing the consequences.’ Then, after a pause, she said, ‘I am a virgin, brought up by my father with all his love and care. Please leave me alone – I don’t want to be exposed to the ignominy of being an unwed mother.’
Surya, however, did not depart. Smiling, he said, ‘No harm will come to you, O maiden, as I will restore your virginity immediately after the birth of the child – which will be instantaneous, not after the normal course of nine months.’
Then he raised his right hand and gazed intently into her eyes for a short while. Immediately, Kunti felt stirrings in her womb and a little before dawn, she delivered a male child.
She wrapped her newborn babe in a silken cloth, with a kavacha on his chest and a pair of gold earrings, and placed him in a wicker basket. She then carried the baby to the bank of the Ganga. As the dawn had just broken, she saw the rising sun emerge from behind a cluster of dark clouds. Then rumbled a voice in the air: ‘O Kunti, don’t feel scared about this child. He will survive and grow into one of the mightiest archers of his time. Go back to your chamber and rest in peace.’
Kunti saw the sun’s reflection in the river as if it were a bowl of gold. Then, with a pang in her heart, she gently floated the basket in the swirling waters and stood there for a while with tears in her eyes. She waited until the basket floated away. Like a cradle, it lurched sideways in the turbulent waters as the river raced on its voyage to the unknown.
After a couple of hours, as the river took a sharp turn, the basket got entangled in weeds.
Just then Atiratha, a charioteer, and his wife Radha, happened to pass by. It was Radha who caught sight of the basket.
‘Look, dear, what is that out there?’ she cried out in great excitement.
Atiratha disentangled the basket from the weeds and held it out to his wife. Both of them were thrilled to see a newborn babe whose face had the glow of the sun. When they looked at the kavacha on his chest and the gold earrings, they guessed that the child, presumably born out of wedlock, might have been abandoned by some princess.
‘Now we are no longer childless,’ said Radha. ‘I will bring him up as my own child and protect him from wind and rain.’
Overwhelmed with joy, Atiratha also said, ‘I will bring him up not as a charioteer but as an archer. Of course, everything is in the hands of God.’
Kunti kept the mantra and the birth of the child secret. So it was as a virgin that she was won by Pandu at her svayamvara. Later, like most kings of that time, Pandu took a second wife to ensure that he would not die without an heir. He married Madri, the sister of King Salya. Both Kunti and Madri shared the joy and glory of being the wives of a king who was loved and admired by his subjects.
Then a quirk of destiny turned Pandu’s life upside down.
One day, as he was hunting in a forest, he shot an arrow at a sage, mistaking him for a deer. At that moment, the sage was making love to his wife under a tree. As Pandu’s arrow pierced him through his chest, he let out an agonized cry. Pandu at once rushed to the spot, only to find the sage gasping for his last breath. Stunned by his mistake, he fell at the sage’s feet to seek his forgiveness. But the sage was relentless.
‘You too will meet a similar death, O King,’ said the sage. ‘The moment you try to make love to your wife, Yama will strike you dead. My curse will remain on you throughout your life.’
With these words, the sage breathed his last, leaving Pandu repentant and shattered. He renounced the throne in favour of his brother Dhritarashtra and retreated to the forest with his two wives Kunti and Madri.
One day, during springtide, when the flowers were in full bloom and the birds warbled as they mated, Pandu felt aroused. Blinded by passion, he took Madri into his arms. But just as he was about to make love to her, he collapsed in the agony of death. He turned to his wives and said, ‘How unfortunate I am that I’d be leaving my kingdom heirless.’
But Kunti consoled him saying that he need not leave the world with this dark thought weighing on his mind. She then told him how she had been granted a boon by sage Durvasa, whom she had served with great devotion. She also explained how the sage’s mantra worked.
That was how Karna was born to Kunti, as the child of Surya, the sun-god. Similarly, Kunti gave birth to three other sons, gifts from the gods – Yudhishthira, the son of Lord Dharma; Bheema, sired by Lord Vayu; and Arjuna, the child of Lord Indra, the ruler of the gods. Madri, who also used the mantra, gave birth to the Asvini twins Nakula and Sahadeva.
Although both Kunti and Madri kept grieving over Pandu’s death, it was Madri who always felt guilty for arousing her husband to make love to her. So, one day, she decided to immolate herself. She collected a pile of dry wood, torched it and jumped into it. In just a few moments, she was reduced to ashes.
Dhritarashtra, born to Ambika, married Gandhari, the princess of Gandhara. But she blindfolded herself to share her husband’s fate of living in a world of darkness.
After Pandu’s death, Dhritarashtra became the king of Hastinapur, which he ruled with the help of his two prime counsellors, Bheeshma and Vidura. He was blessed with a hundred sons, the eldest of whom was Duryodhana.