Reading 23:-Mrityunjaya- where is real Kunti?

As a little girl, Kunti was known as Pritha in the canopy of Mathura nagri, the loving daughter of Raja Shurasena. An open hearted, joy loving girl!!

Suddenly, one day, her father took her to a journey to Bhojpura city and she became the daughter of Maharaja Kuntibhoj because of the promise made by Shurasena to Kuntibhoj to give his first born to him.

Prithe of Mathura became Kunti of Kuntibhoj and her life changed completely.

From a little girl to a responsible woman taking care of Bhojpura palace day and night.

Her life turned out to be upside down when out of boon given to her by rishi Durvasa, she became an unwed mother and ultimately had to part with her dearest son- Son of Sun God- Karna, who had to suffer all his life knowing his whereabouts.

Mother Kunti is a classic example of woman suffering in silence, even after marriage, she had to suffer the curve of her husband Maharaja Pandu and spent most of her days in forest and even after being mother of five Pandavas- she had to suffer all her life in exile.

Suffering in silence is Kunti. Well! that's how women have been, they suffer silently, they devote silently and ultimately die unknown.

Well! I have never been contented enough reading about the way women characters are portrayed. Same stands true here.

There is always a set pattern- there would be a girl who would be the apple of her father’s eyes, playing around garden fields fluttering with butterfly, one day she grows up takes responsibilities, suffer in silence, get married and be a mother. Motherhood is the supreme ornament of a woman.

And, I am fed up of women being portrayed and measured in the basket of virtues fixed by this so called dharma abiding society.

I wish women characters be painted with colors of their curiosity for knowledge, their strength against evil, their consistency, their silent sufferings and what not.

But no, the society is always there to blame Kunti for abandoning Karna as he is born to an unwed mother.

I often, wonder, when for the entire world- being a woman is all about attaining motherhood, then what’s wrong if she attains that before marriage? Motherhood after marriage is also an expression of body and motherhood before marriage is also an expression of body. What changes in between? Just morals written in some book to conduct a society in an orderly fashion? For a moment, I tried imagining about women who attain motherhood before marriage and I turned out to be speechless and powerless to bear that hardship in a society like ours who  considers woman a second class and a dependent citizen.

How unbearable it would be for Kunti to abandon his new born- Sun of God in the Ashva river, the one with flesh ear rings, who all his life, struggled for an answer for Who I am.

How difficult it would have been for Kunti to witness his first son for the first time in arena challenging his son Arjuna for duel- Victory or Death! Brother against brother, both unknown of their relationship to each other. Only Kunti is the one to understand the step of Duryodhan befriending Karna to satisfy his own greed for power and throne. And still, knowing all this she has to accept silence. Why? Because of the fear? Of acceptance? Of consequences, that speaking truth would snatch the designation of Queen Mother assigned to her? I wonder, what turn Mahabharata would have taken, had, Karna’s true identity would have been revealed in the very beginning.

In fact, there is Kunti in all of us. A girl brought up in the closed walls of one’s home, given utmost care and protection, driven by emotions that led her to believe that her father is the ultimate hero and she will die just to obey his words, without bothering to find out the roots of those words and how close they resemble the Truth and then suffer all her life in silence, behind the closed walls in fear of society, in fear of others and above all, in fear of oneself alone.

To myself and to all the Kunti out there- I want myself and everyone out there to be empowered. To come out of fantasies and imaginations and face reality, face the truth, no matter, how hard it is and take steps towards consciousness. Towards empowering oneself- because literally, Kunti’s father or Durvasa Muni or Lord Surya is not going to be responsible for anything at all, all fingers will be on Kunti always!! Your boon by Durvasa alone will become a curse for you trapping you in a life long guilt.

Anyways, I would like to explore books on Kunti and Draupadi, more that talks about their inner qualities and not just portray them as beauty queens or mother queens. This society feels so proud in portraying a woman as a bodily figure and I can’t accept that.

“ I can’t accept a woman as described in Kunti’s words as “sometimes someone’s daughter, someone’s wife, or someone’s mother- and sometimes someone’s daughter-in-law, or someone’s sister-in-law. She is never herself- never free. Or if she is, she dare not show it”

Kunti , who was Pritha once, no longer remained one, to fulfil his father’s promise; an unwed mother, due to Durvasa’s yajna had to abandon him out of her moralities of being a Kshatriya woman,  left Hastinapur during her young age to accompany her husband’s curse, lived in exile with her sons, and returned to Hastinapur as Queen mother to witness her sons fighting against her eldest and unknown son- Karna.

It was heart wrenching, how Kunti grieved the death of her son Karna in the arms of Krishna. Her silent suffering since the birth of Karna, could not actually be eased by her tears flowing continuously.

Where is real Kunti in all of this?

Source- university.docplexus.in