THROUGHOUT HIS STAY IN HASTINAVATI, SRI KRISHNA the envoy of the Pandavas, resolutely spurns the hospitality of the Kauravas. Vidura’s humble abode is his favoured Xanadu. His residence there is also a powerful reminder to the Kauravas: Vidura is the unfading flower of Dharma in your empire of Adharmic sludge. He is the only fearless truth-teller and is therefore the genuine well-wisher of the Kaurava clan.
When we study Sri Krishna’s diplomacy in the Udyoga Parva and contrast it with the generational record of our IFS officers, we get a depressing picture. For a seat for their spawns in an elite US or British university, for business prospects, for post-retirement sinecures, three generations of our IFS officers have sold the Indian national interest without batting an eyelid. It is unsurprising that the adult brats of such IFS officers are some of the most virulent India-haters. Among them, a majority have Hindu names.
And here was Madhava who refused to touch Duryodhana’s tainted food.
Matching this Madhavan spirit was Kunti Devi. Her extensive conversations with Sri Krishna in the Udyoga Parva is unalloyed gold. Here, we see Kunti commanding the summit of courage, maturity and wisdom.
Her exposition of Kshatra Dharma is stinging, critical and rooted in truth, experience and fundamental human impulses. She asks a pointed question: “O Destroyer of Foes, Krishna! The gambling matches and the animal-hunting expeditions that kings of the past used to perform — did these really give happiness to them?” Clearly, this is not real Kshatra Dharma but a cynical interpretation of Dharma in order to justify vices.
It is also here that Kunti reflects upon her long and tragic life — of all the characters in the Mahabharata, Kunti’s is the most tragic. She has never known happiness. Her indomitable inner strength is also the source of her lifelong tragedy. And there is no better person than Sri Krishna with whom she can confide it so candidly. A range of emotions hits us like a slap when we hear her say this: “I do not blame myself or Duryodhana for my plight. I blame my father. Just like how wealth is given to scoundrels, he gave me away to Kuntibhoja.”
And yet, after her outpouring, she re-emerges as the ideal heroic, Kshatriya mother. Her Dhīrata triumphs over her Duḥkha. She sends an unambiguous message for her sons through Sri Krishna:
“Madhava! I am a widow. I have lost wealth but not enemies. I am living my life depending on the largesse of others. However, it is slightly more respectable to be dependent on others than live the life of a beggar. Fie upon me! Tell Yudhishtira to stop his drama of peace negotiations. Else, his Dharma will become sullied!”
Here we see Kunti as the ideal mother who urges her sons to be heroic. Her voice spits fire. Her charter for them is clear: fight like real warriors and liberate me. And then she gives a steely piece of advice that had always been the ideal of Hindu mothers throughout our history:
“The time for which a Kṣātrīṇi gives birth to sons has arrived. Warlike bulls like you don’t become cowards while faced with indomitable foes. This is your time. If you allow it to slip away without doing anything, then, although you are respected by the whole world, you will only be inflicting harm upon it. You will be indulging in contemptible behaviour. And if contempt touches you, I will abandon you for ever!”
In Kunti’s fiery call to heroic action, we notice how unerringly she has grasped the true character, temperament and prowess of each of her sons. But she reserves her highest love, respect and adoration for Draupadi. She tells Krishna:
“If my sons are truly warriors, let them first avenge Panchali. Let them slaughter the Kauravas and then free me from my wretched state of having to depend on others. Let Arjuna walk on the path directed by Draupadi!”
Kunti’s confidence in her sons’ gallantry is unwavering. She knows that, led by Arjuna, they will smash all the Kauravas and conquer the whole earth. Arjuna’s fame will reach the heavens. And then, she utters these immortal words, which have since become one of the definitions of Dharma: “if there is Dharma, what I have said will happen. Namō dharmāya mahatē dharmō dhārayati prajāḥ — I bow down to Dharma. Dharma is what governs the citizens.”
She has this message for Bhima:
“Duryodhana humiliated the guileless Bhimasena in full view of the elders of the Kuru clan. He will soon eat the fruit of his sins. Vrukodara (Bhima) will not rest until his vengeance is quenched.”
Indeed, Bhima and Draupadi were the only two Pandavas who kept the flame of revenge alive in their hearts. Nothing could douse it — neither the twelve long years of arduous forest life nor the life of quasi servitude in Virata’s palace.
Likewise, to Nakula and Sahadeva, Kunti’s message is clear: “More than life itself, strive to win objects of enjoyment, procurable by prowess.”
Kunti’s message to her sons through Sri Krishna can be likened to a Kunti-Gita. Its practical demonstration is most noticeable in the glorious annals of Rajput history — the centuries of the ferrous resistance that they offered against Muslim oppression can be captured in three words: Vijaya, vīrasvarga and Vīrāgni (jauhar). Bharatavarsha is still a Hindu majority nation not because of wooly pacifism but because of the death-daring patriotism that was inspired by undaunted Hindu mothers like Kunti.
At her old age, Kunti spoke of and lived by the uncompromising code of valour and heroism. Urban Hindu mothers of our time who share Kunti’s vintage are busy visiting beauty parlours and spas and colouring their hair with hideous hues and grotesquely piercing their various body parts. What they have taught their sons is a question whose answer is evident and disturbing.
Series concluded
The Dharma Dispatch is now available on Telegram! For original and insightful narratives on Indian Culture and History, subscribe to us on Telegram.
