Episode 11

Story of Sakunthala[i]

(The story of Sakuntala is a very popular story of Maha Bharata. The intellectual genius of women in ancient India, the brilliance of argumentative power, the superb negotiating skills are at once displayed for readers to understand many sociological and psychological issues of Indian society. You may read and enjoy and share it to like minded audience)

Sakunthala has been the subject matter many stories and ballads in the Indian history.  Kalidasa, the famous dramatist of the 4^th century AD had written a Sanskrit drama, Abhijnana Sakunthalam wherein he had introduced a variety of twists and turns to the theme to make it more attractive. But the current episode is based on Veda Vyasa’s depiction from Adi Parva of Maha Bharata.

There lived an emperor by name Dushyantha in the Puru dynasty ruling from Hastinapura. He was a popular king and on one day he went out to the forest for hunting. In the forest he saw the hermitage of sage Kanva Maharshi. He was quite thirsty and he entered the hermitage to quench his thirst.

To his surprise he saw a beautiful young lady receiving him with all grace. She  invited the guest with all honor and respect and with a shy in her face asked as to what she can do for him[ii]. He was enchanted by her looks and appearance. He revealed his identity as the emperor of the earth and inquisitive to know her lineage. Sakunthala told that she was born to sage Viswamitra and the celestial Menaka[iii]. Instantaneously he expressed his love and his intention to marry her. She agreed but asked him to wait till the sage comes back from his penance. But Dushyantha was eager to marry her. Since a marriage is permitted if both the bride and the groom are in consonance, he offered to take her as his wife by Gandharva marriage[iv]. Sankuthala was hesitating as she was in the care of sage Kanva and wanted to take his permission. But Dushyantha told, ‘You are your own relation. You are under your care. You are your own friend. You are your own father. As per dharma you can give away yourself to charity’ [v]. Since Gandharva was an accepted form of marriage he persuaded her further and requested as to what he can do for her. Sakuntala was convinced with the logical and dharmic arguments and she put a condition that Dushyantha should make her son as the heir apparent to the throne. Dushyantha agreed and in no time the marriage was solemnized. He promised that he would send a royal entourage to the hermitage for taking her in procession. Since he cannot stay there leaving the kingdom, he left for Hastinapura before the sage could arrive to the hermitage.

After a few minutes, the sage returned back to his Ashram and came to know about the marriage. Sakuntala was afraid of meeting the sage as she had transgressed swadharma (स्वधर्मात् स्खलिता भीता). Since both Dushyantha and Sakunthala happened to be Kshatriyas and Gandharva was permitted by Sastras, he blessed Sakunthala without any hesitation. A Kshatriya lady meeting the willing person out of her own will in a secret place and getting Gandharva marriage without mantras is acceptable as per dharma[vi]

In due course of time Sakunthala gave birth to a resplendent boy who was named as Bharata. The boy was so brave that at the age of six, he could able to fight with lions, tigers and elephants and tame them with his might. Sakunthala was waiting for her husband to come and take her to the kingdom. But Dushyantha never turned up.  Sage Kanva thought it fit to send Sakunthala to her husband’s house. He sent a few maids along with Sakunthala and she reached the palace of Dushyantha.

She introduced the boy to the emperor as his son and requested him to make him ‘Yuvraj’ (the heir apparent to the throne). Dushyantha pretended as if he had never seen her and refused to accept her as his queen. For a moment Sakunthala was shocked at the odd behavior of her husband and reminded many sweet moments that they had in the hermitage and about their marriage. Still Dushyantha was reluctant to accept her.

On one side there was miserable distress and on the other side there was uncontrollable anger enveloped her. She tried to invoke dharma by telling that there is an Atma inside as a witness for all human activities. ‘you are thinking that you are alone. In you there is an Antaratma which is witnessing your sins[vii]. The sun, the moon, the wind, the water, the dharma – all are witness to a person’s merits and demerits. ‘Why are you behaving like an uncultured person? If you don’t take me back, your head will break into hundred pieces’.

Since there was no response from Dushyantha, she started invoking few more dharmic points of argument. ‘A son is a disguised father. The husband enters into wife and born out of wife as a son. Hence wife is also known as जाय [viii]. A son relieves the father and his fore fathers from an exclusive ‘puth’ hell[ix] as per sastras. That son has now reached your court and still you are neglecting him’.

‘As per sastras, a wife is the queen of the house and without her no man in the stage of grihasta attains dharma, artha and kama[x]. You cannot evade or disown your own wife. ‘Since the husband’s replica develops in the womb of the wife, the wife should be given the respect of mother by the husband’[xi]

‘A wife is regarded as half part of the man. Since rati (sensual pleasure), preeti (love & affection), and dharma are in the custody of a woman, no man should insult a woman even in anger’.

Then Sakuntala started appealing to the emotional feeling of a man as a father. ‘In this world even the ants want to preserve its progeny. The crows preserve the eggs of cuckoos with all care thinking that they are their eggs. The touch of the son gives such a pleasure to the father that no other touch including the touch of women can match it. While this is the fact you have now refused to take your son who has come to your place’.

‘Hi, Maharaj! I belong to a great lineage. My father is a great sage Viswa Mitra and my mother, Menaka is an Apsarasa. I was born on the peaks of Himalayas and I was nurtured initially by the birds and later on by the great sage, Kanva. You had entered into the hermitage where dharma, artha, and kama are in unison and married me as per dharma. You are the protector of the universe and you cannot disown your own promises’.

Dushyanta was adamant and was not willing to accept Sakuntala. ‘You are talking like a prostitute since you were born out of the lust. I don’t even remember you’.

Sakuntala was not willing to accept the insult. ‘My birth is greater than your birth. I can freely move in the celestial worlds but you can move only upon the earth. You are not a truthful person. My son can become the emperor of this universe even without you’, telling like this Sankuntala set out from the place.

Then a voice from the sky pronounced the truth and asked Dushyanta to accept Sakuntala as she was a legally a wedded wife as per dharma. Everyone in the court felt very happy and Dushyanta came forward to take the hands of Sakuntala. ‘I also remember the whole truth and I know this boy as my son. But if I accept, the people at large may question my integrity and treat me an impure person’[xii]. As a king I am responsible to my people’. Turning towards Sakuntala, he told, ‘I deliberately refused to accept you for people will treat you in bad light. If I accept the son and agree to make him heir apparent, the people at large think that I have agreed to your request out of lust[xiii]. But in the bargain I have hurt your feelings. Please excuse me’.

Dushyanta embraced his son, Bharata who later on became the emperor and performed innumerable yagnas and yagas. Our country got the name Bharata desa in memory of this Bharata.

Points to ponder

1.    Do you think that women in ancient India were not intellectual enough to argue their point of view invoking dharma?

2.   Can we learn negotiating skills from the character of Sakuntala? What type of skills she has exhibited in this story?

3.   ‘Ancient Hindu society was quite liberal in the matters of marriage and other issues of civil code’ – justify.

4.   Sakuntala was hesitant to talk to Kanva about her marriage with Dushyantha fearing that she had transgressed Svadharma. What Swadharma she transgressed?

5.   Is a king (ruler of a State) responsible to his people in the matters of his personal life? Why?

6.   Does the psychology of men in dominating and disowning women changed over a period of seven thousand years? What is the cultural lineage of our society at large?

7.   What is the ethical dilemma of Dushyanta in accepting his legally wedded wife?

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[i]  This Story is taken from Adi Parva of Veda Vyasa.

[ii]  उवाच स्मयमानेव किं कार्यं क्रियतामिति (Adi Parva 71.6)

uvāca smayamāneva kiṃ kāryaṃ kriyatāmiti

[iii]  Menaka was one of the Apsara ladies in the court of Lord Indra. The literal meaning is one who dwells in water/ clouds (अप्सु सरति इति अप्सरसा - apsu sarati iti apsarasā). Rambha, Tilottama, Urvasi etc are other Apsarasas.

[iv] Gandharva Marriage- गन्धर्व विवाह (In ancient Indian society we find eight methods of marriage, one of them being Gandharva marriage. The other seven are: Brahma, Daiva, Arya, Prajapatya, Asura, Raksasa and Paisacha)

[v] आत्मनो बंधु रात्मैव गति रात्मैव चात्मनः

आत्मनो मित्र मत्त्रैव तथा त्मा चात्मनः पिता

आत्मैनात्मनो दानं कर्तु मर्हसि धर्मतः  - Adi Parva 73.7

ātmano baṃdhu rātmaiva gati rātmaiva cātmanaḥ

ātmano mitra mattraiva tathā tmā cātmanaḥ pitā

ātmainātmano dānaṃ kartu marhasi dharmataḥ

[vi] क्षत्रियस्य हि गांधर्व:  विवाहः श्रेष्ठ उच्यते

स कामया: स कामेव निर्मन्त्रो रहसि स्मृतः  -  Adi Parva 73.27

kṣatriyasya hi gāṃdharva:  vivāhaḥ śreṣṭha ucyate

sa kāmayā: sa kāmeva nirmantro rahasi smṛtaḥ

[vii] एकोहामस्मीति च मन्यसे त्वं

न हृच्चयंवेत्सि मुनिं पुराणम्

यो वेदिता कर्मणः पापकस्य

तस्यांतिके त्वं वृजिनं करोषि   - Adi Parva 74.28

ekohāmasmīti ca manyase tvaṃ

na hṛccayaṃvetsi muniṃ purāṇam

yo veditā karmaṇaḥ pāpakasya

tasyāṃtike tvaṃ vṛjinaṃ karoṣi

[viii] भार्याम् पतिः संप्रविश्य स यस्माज्जायते पुनः

जायायास्तद्दि जायात्वं पौराणाः कवयो विदु: - Adi Parva 74.37.

bhāryām patiḥ saṃpraviśya sa yasmājjāyate punaḥ

jāyāyāstaddi jāyātvaṃ paurāṇāḥ kavayo vidu:

[ix] Puth hell also known as Punnaama naraka.( पुन्नाम नरकः) – According to Hindu tradition, the three generations of forefathers cannot cross a hell by name ‘Punnama naraka’ if their lineage is broken at any stage for want of progeny. A son is called Putra because he saves the three generations from this hell (पुन्नाम नरकात् त्रायते इति पुत्र: -punnāma narakāt trāyate iti putra:). This concept of Punnama Naraka has no place in Vedanta literature. Like many traditions, this is an accidental accretion to Hindu society.

[x] भार्या मूलं त्रिवर्गस्य भार्या मूलं तरिष्यतः - Adi Parva 74.41

bhāryā mūlaṃ trivargasya bhāryā mūlaṃ tariṣyataḥ

[xi] आत्मा s sआत्मनैव जनितः पुत्र इत्युच्यते बुधै:

तस्माद् भार्याम् नरः पश्येत् मातृवत् पुत्रमातरम् - Adi Parva 74.48.

ātmā s sātmanaiva janitaḥ putra ityucyate budhai:

tasmād bhāryām naraḥ paśyet mātṛvat putramātaram

[xii] अहं चाप्येवमेवैनं जानामि स्वयमात्मजम् |

यद्यहं वचनादस्या: गृह्णीयामि ममात्मजम् 

भवेद्धि शंक्यो लोकस्य नैव शुद्धो भवेदयं - Adi parva 74.117

ahaṃ cāpyevamevainaṃ jānāmi svayamātmajam |

yadyahaṃ vacanādasyā: gṛhṇīyāmi mamātmajam 

bhaveddhi śaṃkyo lokasya naiva śuddho bhavedayaṃ

[xiii] मन्यते चैव लोकस्ते स्त्री भावान्मयि संगतम्

पुत्रश्चायं वृतोराज्ये मया तस्माद् विचारितम्  -  Adi Parva 74.123

manyate caiva lokaste strī bhāvānmayi saṃgatam

putraścāyaṃ vṛtorājye mayā tasmād vicāritam 

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