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STORIES · THE MAHĀBHĀRATA · Vana

Kunti's mantra and Karna's birth

In the text — not yet checked

The mantra Pandu could not use himself.

This is the story of how the greatest warrior of the Kuru war was born to a girl who was not yet married, and how the secret of his birth followed him through life.

The girl is Kunti, also called Pritha, who is being raised by King Kuntibhoja. Her father has a guest, the Brahmana Durvasa, and she is given charge of looking after him. For a full year she serves him with great attention, giving him food, seats and a bed at all hours. She does not complain when he scolds her or turns up late. Every morning and evening her father asks if the Brahmana is satisfied, and she tells him he is.

At the end of the year, Durvasa finds nothing to criticise. He says he is pleased and offers her a boon. Kunti says she already feels she has received her boons, since both he and her father are pleased with her. So Durvasa gives her a mantra instead. With it, she can call any god, and the god will appear and come under her power. She is afraid that refusing might bring on a curse, so she accepts it. Durvasa also teaches her the mantras that open the Atharvan Veda. He then tells Kuntibhoja that he is leaving, and disappears. The king is amazed and treats Kunti with new respect.

The next section I read turns to the god Surya, who approaches Kunti wanting a child with her. She is afraid of what will happen if she obeys and also of what will happen if she refuses, and she worries about her family's name. She tries gentle words to dissuade him but cannot turn the god of a thousand rays. In the end she agrees. Surya promises that she will remain a virgin after the birth, and that the son will be mighty, strong and virtuous, with a coat of mail and earrings made of amrita. Surya enters her by his yoga power and leaves her stupefied. Then he goes, and Kunti, coming to herself, waits for the birth.

The son is born on the first day of the bright fortnight, in the tenth month. Kunti has hidden her pregnancy from her companions. Only her nurse knows. The baby is born with golden mail and shining earrings. She places him in a wicker box lined with soft sheets and a pillow, seals it with wax and sets it afloat on the river Ashva at night, in tears. She names the sun as the child's father and prays that he be protected.

The box floats from the Ashva to the Charmanvati, the Yamuna and the Ganga, and the Ganga brings it to Champa, a city ruled by a man of the Suta tribe. The text says the mail, the earrings and fate itself kept the child alive.

There, Adhiratha, a Suta and a friend of Dhritarashtra, has come to the river with his wife Radha. Radha has no son. She sees the box floating and has it brought in. They open it and find the baby with his golden armour and earrings. Adhiratha decides he must be of divine birth. Radha takes him as her own. He is named Vasusena, and is also called Vrisha.

Kunti, through spies, learns that her son is growing up among the Angas as a charioteer's son. He goes to Hastinapura, studies arms under Drona, and gets weapons from Drona, Kripa and Rama. He becomes Duryodhana's friend. The text adds that the secret known to the Sun is that Karna was fathered by Surya on Kunti and raised among the Sutas. It also says Yudhishthira thought of Karna as impossible to kill in battle and was pained by this. Karna worships Surya at midday and gives freely to Brahmanas, and when Indra, disguised as a Brahmana, asks him for a gift, Karna grants it.

Who: Kunti, Durvasa, Surya, Karna

Bound to

Kindama's Curse boon→payoff

Karna's curses: the beetle, the cow, and the sinking wheel causes

Yudhishthira's curse: women can no longer keep secrets curse→payoff

The divine births of the Pāṇḍavas boon

Karṇa enters the arena and is crowned king of Aṅga birth

Kuntī's careless command and the five-fold marriage mirror

Durvāsas' Untimely Visit and Kṛṣṇa's Morsel origin

Kṛṣṇa and Karṇa: the offer of the throne birth

Kuntī and Karṇa: the promise of five sons birth

Karṇa meets the fallen Bhīṣma; Droṇa made commander and the promise to seize Yudhiṣṭhira birth

Arjuna's Gāṇḍīva Vow and the Near-Killing of Yudhishthira mirror

Kuntī Reveals Karṇa's Birth at the Water-Offering birth

Places: Kuntibhoja's kingdom

Where this comes from

See it on the tree · All stories

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