Untold Facts about Kunti Devi

Kunti, the mother of Pandavas is often looked at as a character which people do not like to follow. Reason being two fold, first, she had a son before she was married and second, she abandoned her son Karna who later faced many hardships in life.

But hold on, do you know, she is one of the Panchkanyas or five ladies, who are revered in Hindu religion. This means that remembering these five ladies in morning takes away all the sins. Also remember that Sita does not belong to Panchkanyas. There must be something about Kunti then. Let us know more about her.

Devi Kunti's Birth 

The entire life character of Goddess Kunti Kunti Devi from childhood till the last time is very guiding for everyone. These are great inspiration pillars for women.

Kunti was the daughter of Yaduvanshi Raj Shursena whose name was Pritha. She was the sister of Vasudeva and the aunt of Shri Krishna. Shurasen had given his all-qualified daughter to his cousin, Kuntibhoj, as an adopted daughter.

Thus Pritha came to be known as Kunti. Kunti used to take special care of following her father's words even after facing hardship. From his childhood, he had reverence and respect for sages, gurus and elders and there was a feeling of affection towards brothers and servants.

 Due to this, everyone in the palace was satisfied with him. Once, in order to fulfill the divine resolve near Kuntibhoja, a life-free great man Maharishi Durvasa came to get angry at the slightest thing.

 It was not an easy task to serve Durvasaji. But Kuntibhoja was familiar with all the virtues of Kunti. Therefore, without asking Kunti, he appointed her for the hospitality of Maharishi.

Kunti fulfilled this responsibility entrusted by her father and she lived up to the faith of her father. He served sage Durvasa with great care and patience for a year and made him happy. Durvasaji learned from his vision that Kunti would not have any children from her husband.

 That is why he gave Kunti a divine mantra to get a son. Kunti became the mother of the history-famous Danveer Karna and the incomparable powerful Pandavas under the influence of the power of the sage.

Marriage of Kunti and birth of sons

Kunti chose Pandu as her husband in her swayamvar. Pandu could not have sons because of a curse from Sage Kindam. To overcome this, she uses the Durvasa boon to have sons from various gods. Using this, she had three sons, one from Dharmraja called Yudhishthira, one from Vayu called Bhima and one from Indra called Arjuna. Kunti also shared the mantra to Madri who invoked the celestial physician brothers Ashwini Kumaras who blessed her with two sons Nakul and Sahdeva. As fate would have it, Pandu died under tragic circumstances and Madri chose to depart with him, Kunti bore the responsibility of raising sons of Pandu.

Virtuous kunti devi

 The observance of Pativratya Dharma is seen in the life of Kunti. Not only at the time of Rajsukh, but even when King Pandu was cursed by the sage and started going to the forest for penance, Kunti and Madri decided to stay in the forest with their husband, putting aside all their pleasures.

 She says when Pandu refuses. Both of us will renounce the pleasures of sex and take the goal of attainment of Patilok, only after keeping all our senses in restraint, we will do heavy penance. If you leave both of us, then today we will give up our lives, there is no doubt about it.

Kunti meeting Karna

This is an important event of Mahabharata when Kunti meets her first born, Karna. The love that Kunti had for her sons, the five Pandavas, probably made her realise the unfair treatment that she meted out to her first-born Karna. While one does understand her reasons for giving up a son born out of wedlock, given the social stigma it carried, it is difficult to understand or justify her meeting Karna, on the eve of the great war to divulge the secret of his birth and when he refused to move to the Pandava army, to extract the promise of not killing the Pandava brothers. Karna promised to do so with the exception of sparing the life of Arjuna and asked Kunti to keep the secret intact until the end of the war. This is a blemish which Kunti has to carry.

Kunti had asked Lord Krishna for the boon of suffering, this was the reason 

All the episodes related to Mahabharata are very famous. These are often shared among those who believe in Hinduism. Today we have also brought for you a very interesting incident related to Mahabharata. In this context, the incident has been mentioned when Kunti asks Lord Krishna for the boon of suffering. Yes, it is said that Krishna ji went to Kunti and said that you (aunt) should ask for a boon from her. On this Kunti had said that if you want to give me any boon, then give me the boon of suffering. It is said that Krishna ji was also very surprised by this answer of Kunti and he asked her the reason for this.

According to this incident, Kunti told Lord Krishna that I always want your company. I want your grace to always be with me. In such a situation, whenever I am sad, I will remember you only. It is said in the nature of human that whenever he is sad, he remembers God. On the other hand, when man is happy, he does not remember God at all.

It is said that Shri Krishna ji was very impressed after hearing these things from Kunti's mouth.  And he had come to know how much Kunti loves him.  It is said that Krishna had promised to protect Kunti forever.  It is taught from this incident that we should keep remembering God even in happiness.  It is said that those who remember God only in sorrow are of selfish nature.  It is believed that God is not greatly influenced by these people.

Kunti's death

 In the war of Mahabharata, the family of Kauravas and Pandavas had attained martyrdom in large numbers in the battle. After 15 years of Mahabharata, Gandhari, Dhritarashtra and Kunti go to the forest with Sanjay. They live in a hut for three years, it is a matter of a day.

 Dhritarashtra goes towards the river in the forest for water bath and the forest catches fire behind. In this way, Kunti, Sanjay and Gandhari also leave the hut and go towards Dhritarashtra to take care of them.

 After meeting Dhritarashtra, Sanjay tells everyone to leave the forest and walk, but Dhritarashtra says that the time has come for our salvation. Therefore, at his behest, all three stop in the forest and their knowledge ends by burning in the fire.

Sanjay leaves the forest and goes to the Himalayas and spends the rest of his life there as a sanyasi.  When Narada gets the news of the death of Kunti Devi, Dhritarashtra and Gandhari, he goes and tells Yudhishthira and Yudhishthira goes to the forest and performs the last rites of his family members.

                                                  Hare Krishna 🙏