Family Secrets

महाभरत

Mahābharata

As retold by

Michael Dolan, B.V. Mahāyogi

Bhishma continued: Gandhari bore one hundred sons to Dhritarasthra.

Dhritarasthra and Gandhari

“When the envious Duryodhana was born he began to cry and bray like an ass. Hearing this sound, wild asses, wolves, vultures, jackals, and crows began to fill the sky with their shrieks and cries. Violent winds blew and fires burned in the forests. 

Duryodhana instructing Bhishma

Earthquakes and lightning storms announced the birth of one who would destroy the world. Jackals and tigers howled. Prophets announced the end of the world. 


Within a month the rest of the hundred sons of Dhritarashtra and one daughter, Dushala, were born. In secret, Dhritarashtra begot with a Vaishya woman another son who was Yuyutsa the Bastard.”

Bhishma impaled

Bhiṣma paused and took a sip of water.

King Yudhisthira approached. "You have spoken,  O grandsire of the Kurus,  of the mysterious origin of my father Paṇḍu. Tell us of his deeds. How did the kingdom pass from his hands? And what of our own origin. How did we Paṇḍavas come to Hastinapura?"

The old man smiled, though pierced with thousands of arrows, his royal blood leaking onto the ravaged earth. Thunder pierced the heavens and a light shower fell, cooling to all.

"My dear Yudhisthira," said Bhiṣma. "Some of the stories pertaining to your own birth and that of your brothers are clad in mysteries unbeknownst even to me. But there walks the fair Kuntī, daughter of Kuntībhoja, king of Panchala. She has suffered much to see you king. You and your brothers owe her everything. She alone holds the key to the riddle of your birth. It has often been said that the five of you are godly, more than mortals. If you would know your origin, question her closely. But now the storm is gaining and I must rest my powers. Another day. Another day, I shall tell you all."
And Bhiṣma fell silent.

Ancient Half Karshapana Coin Panchala Dynasty with Indra

Indeed the storm was thickening,  and, with the telling of the birth of Duryodhana, Bhiṣma ended his narrative.  The sun was low in the sky again. The Five Pandavas made for their camp and sat quietly around the fire. 

as the first stars came out, Kunti appeared.  When the fires had burned low and a thousand constellations appeared in the sky, the other men of the camp grew weary and went to rest. 

The time had come to ask about the riddle that Bhiṣma had mentioned. And so Yudhiṣthira and his brothers, asked her to continue the narration of the origin of the Kurus.

Kunti Devi from Artist's Conception

Kunti and Durvasa Muni   कुन्ती

Yudhisthira asked her,  “You have told us how Shakuntala married Dushyant, of the line of Bharata, and his successors and how India was ruled in peace and war. And this morning we heard from Bhishma of the mystery of Duryodhana’s birth and of the birth of his hundred brothers. 

When he recounted the story, he told us that Gandhari, being envious that you had conceived a son effulgent as the sun, struck her belly and so came forth a ball of flesh, hard as leather or iron, and from this ball was produced the hundred sons of Dhritarashtra and the envious Duryodhana. Is this all true?”

“Yes, my son. It is just as you said. The dying Bhishma so revealed the story of the hundred sons of Dhritarashtra and their birth and the birth of the jealous Duryodhana.”

Yudhisthira, surveying the empty battlefield at night, asked his mother, “But what of us? Some say we Paṇḍavas were born of gods. Who was our father? Tell us of his deeds. We have heard many mysterious things spoken of by different sages. No one will tell the story of the Paṇḍavas. We asked our grandsire, the great Bhiṣma, but he referred us to you.

Kunti Devi, Artist's Conception

"O mother, O wise one, was it true that you gave birth to another son, one whose golden effulgence lit up the night sky like a second sun, before we Pandavas were born in the forest? How were this possible if at this time you had not yet married our father, the great king Paṇḍu?”

Kunti replied, “O my son, O great King. You must not trouble your poor mother with so many idle questions.  You must know that even in the greatest families there are secrets which must never be told, and mysteries which will never see the light of day.”

Yudhiṣthira  said, “O mother, help me understand the causes of this Great War, that I shall never repeat the errors of my forebears. Reveal this secret to me and I shall honor and keep it. I promise never to reveal your secret, not even to my brothers.”

Pandavas with Draupadi, right

Kunti Devi, that most chaste of all the queens in the history of India, revealed the following secret to the young king, that he should know the true story of the Paṇḍus and their rivalry with the Kurus. And so she told her story, saying:

“I will tell you everything, my child. But you must not judge me too harshly for the silly things I did when a child. When I was a fresh girl, barely 14, I lived in the palace of my father Kuntibhoja by the banks of the river Ganges where the elephants played. My birth father was Surasena, but Kuntibhoja was his relative, his cousin. As Kuntibhoja had no children and was loved me, he raised me. He gave me the best of educations in the sixty four arts, my father Surasena gave me to him to do so. Kuntibhoja loved me as his own daughter. I had my own living quarters and serving-maids and a beautiful garden with a great banyan tree. Kokil birds would sing in the banyan tree as the sun rose over the Ganges bringing each new day."

Banyan Trees