In the Yadu dynasty, King Shura of the Vrishni dynasty had a daughter named Pritha. Shura had promised his cousin Kuntibhoj that he would give his first-born child to him. That was why Pritha became the adopted daughter of Kuntibhoj, and came to be known as ‘Kunti’. Once, there arrived sage Durvasa in Kingdom. Kunti served him with her whole heart. Being pleased by her devotion, the great sage gave her a mantra by which she could invoke any god to give her child. Being very young and curious the unmarried Kunti thought of the Sun-god and chanted the mantra. The Sun-god at once appeared before her and told that he could give her a son. Kunti felt terrified but there was no way to nullify the effect of the mantra.
As a result, a radiant son named Karna with a divine armour and ear-rings was born to her. Unable to keep the child, she put him in a box and sailed it down river Ganga. The box was picked up by Bhishma’s charioteer Adhiratha and his wife Radha. They gladly brought the child home.
After a few days, Kunti was married to King Pandu. As a result, she reached Hastinapur. Later on, King Pandu married Madri as well, sister of King Shalya of Madra kingdom.
Once King Pandu went hunting. There, a sage cursed him that he would always be deprived of the love of his wives and he would die because of his wives’ love. Saddened by this curse, Pandu handed over the kingdom to Bhishma and Vidura and went to the forest with his two wives.
One day, Pandu observed, “Dear! I am extremely happy to have you and Madri as my wives. But being bereft of a child due to the sage’s curse, I am always distraught.” Thereafter Kunti used the mantra given to her by sage Durvasa. Kunti was blessed with the three sons—Yudhishthira from Dhramraja, Bhimsena from the Wind-god and Arjuna from Indra.
Madri too used the mantra and was blessed with two sons—Nakul and Sahadev from Ashwini Kumar. All of them led a pleasurable life in the forest but Pandu died due to the curse of the sage. Kunti had to bear with the loss but Madri could not tolerate separation and became Sati with Pandu. Kunti took care of all the children.
