|
Hinduism
Panchkanya
Women of Substance – 10
 How pregnantly succinct is
Vyasa’s account of Kunti’s encounter with Dharma!
‘He
smiled.
“Kunti, what can I give you?”
She smiled,
“A son.”’ (123.4)
There
is no coy coquetry here, no bashfulness. A need is voiced to someone who
is known and is fulfilled. When Kunti summons Vayu (123.15), she is
described as smiling shyly, for he is a newcomer. Does this not remind us
of another woman whose smile was also so mature and meaningful, the
adolescent Kali smiling at the obsessed Parashara? Moreover, Kunti will
not be dictated to by Pandu in choosing the person who will impregnate
her. Her smile indicates precisely her assertion of freedom of choice,
selecting the father of her son four times over.
Thereafter, too, Kunti has the
last word where Pandu’s desires are concerned. Very much like his
grandmother, Pandu urges Kunti to give him more and more sons. Kunti
bluntly refuses, quoting the scriptures to him, just as he had quoted
Shvetaketu to her:
“The
wise do not sanction
a fourth conception, even in crisis.
The woman who has intercourse
with four men has loose morals;
the woman who has intercourse
with five is a prostitute.” (123.83)
Kunti shows remarkable control
over her libido here. It is not that she will go on indiscriminately
satisfying her sexual or maternal urges. However, while her mastery of
scripture is admirable, her words also give her away. Arjuna is her fourth
conception and she has had relations with four different men. If
she had summoned gods, this prohibition should not have been invoked by
her. For, Pandu would seize upon this flaw and command her to gratify his
hunger for sons. The fact that he accepts her argument shows that the
fathers of her three sons were not gods. Thus, out of her own mouth
Kunti appears to condemn herself unawares. It also explains why she did
not confess regarding Karna, for that would have put her into the “loose
morals” category. Her last words bristle with tragic irony: this is
precisely the fate into which she thrusts her daughter-in-law. In the
dice-game it is Karna, her first-born, who, on the basis of this very
pronouncement, declares Draupadi a whore.
Kunti’s determination to
protect her interests, Satyavati-like, is brought to the fore when she
flatly refuses Pandu’s request to help Madri have more children. Despite
the bravado he displays before Madri (“I know that if I ask Kunti/she
will not refuse me”), Pandu slinks away before Kunti’s fury:
“She
deceived me”, said Kunti.
“With
one mantra I gave her,
she
managed to get two sons.
I
am afraid she will get
more
sons than I. Scheming woman!
What
a fool I was!
Had
I known, I too
would
have summoned the Ashvins,
and
obtained twins.
Don’t
come to me again, my lord,
saying,
‘Give her the mantra.’” (124.26-28)
There is also an element of
jealousy in this, because in one-upwomanship Madri has consistently
upstaged her.
– Continued
Panchkanya Pages : 1 |
2 | 3 | 4
| 5 | 6 | 7 |
8 | 9 | 10 |
11 | 12 | 13 |
14 | 15
16 | 17 | 18 |
19 | 20 | 21 |
22 | 23 | 24 |
25 | 26 | 27
Now also in Hindi at
http://www.hindinest.com/visheshank/01stri/panchkanya1.htm
Now also in French at http://www.neurom.ch/mbh/kanya.pdf
Top |
Hinduism
|
