Story 15 - Story of Sakunthala and Dushyantha

What is the story about?

The story of Sakuntala and king Dushyantha 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. ¹

Background of the Story

Vysampayana was in the court of Janamejaya on the advice of sage Vedavyasa to narrate the story of Kuru and Pandu brothers. Out of curiosity Janamejaya wanted to know as to how his vamsa was called Bharata Vamsa. Vysampayana began to narrate the story of Sakunthala and Dushyantha.

Sakunthala has been the subject matter many stories and ballads in the Indian history.  Kalidasa, the famous dramatist of the 4th century AD had written a Sanskrit drama, Abhijñāna Sākuntalaṃ 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.

Story of Sakuntala & King Dushyanta

There lived an emperor named Dushyantha in the Puru dynasty ruling from Hastinapura. He was a popular king and 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 him². 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 said that she was born to sage Viswamitra and the celestial Menaka ³. Instantaneously he expressed his love and his intention to marry her. She agreed but asked him to wait till the sage came 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 गांधर्व विवाह - Gāndharva vivāha ⁴. Sankuthala was hesitating as she was in the care of sage Kanva and wanted to get his permission. But Dushyantha said,

आत्मनो बंधु रात्मैव गति रात्मैव चात्मनः |
आत्मनो मित्र मत्त्रैव तथा त्मा चात्मनः पिता ||
आत्मैनात्मनो दानं कर्तु मर्हसि धर्मतः ||  – Adi Parva 73.7

(‘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’ ⁵

Since Gandharva was an accepted form of marriage, he persuaded her further and requested as to what he could do for her. Sakuntala was convinced with the logical and dharmic arguments and she put a condition that Dushyantha should make her son 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 to take her in procession. Since he cannot stay there leaving the kingdom, he left for Hastinapura before the sage could arrive at the hermitage.

After a few minutes, the sage returned 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. क्षत्रियस्य हि गांधर्व: विवाहः श्रेष्ठ उच्यते |
स कामया: स कामेव निर्मन्त्रो रहसि स्मृतः || –  Adi Parva 73.27

(A Kshatriya lady meeting the willing person out of her own will in a secret place and getting Gāndharva vivāha without mantras is acceptable as per dharma ⁶

In due course of time Sakunthala gave birth to a resplendent boy who was named Bharata. The boy was so brave that at the age of six, he could 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 of 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 that enveloped her. She tried to invoke dharma by saying 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’ ⁷. 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 a hundred pieces’.

Since there was no response from Dushyantha, she started invoking a 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 jāya (जाय) ⁸.A son relieves the father and his forefathers from an exclusive ‘puth’ hell ⁹ as per sastras. That son has now reached your court and still you are neglecting him’.

भार्या मूलं त्रिवर्गस्य भार्या मूलं तरिष्यतः – Adi Parva 74.41
(‘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 ¹⁰). You cannot evade or disown your own wife.

आत्मा आत्मनैव जनितः पुत्र इत्युच्यते बुधै: | तस्माद् भार्याम् नरः पश्येत् मातृवत्पु त्रमातरम् II – Adi Parva 74.48 (‘Since the husband’s replica develops in the womb of the wife, the wife should be given the respect of mother by the husband’ ¹¹)

‘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 their 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 by the great sage, Kanva. You had entered 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 have been talking like a prostitute since you were born out of lust. I don’t even remember you’.

Sakuntala got enraged at the deceitful nature of her husband. ‘Afterall, why should he lie’? She said, वरं कूपशताद्वापी वरं वापीशताद्क्रतु: |
वरं क्रतुशतात्पुत्र: सत्यं पुत्रशताद्वरं || ¹² – Adi Parva 74.102

(One water well is greater than a hundred stepped wells. One yagna is greater than a hundred sons. One Truth is greater than hundred sons.)

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’ ¹³. As a king I am responsible to my people’. Turning towards Sakuntala, he said, ‘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 ¹⁴. But in the bargain, I have hurt your feelings. Please excuse me’.

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

Vysampayana concluded the story of Sakuntala, and Janamejaya was delighted.

Points to Ponder

1. The grand narrative of Mahabharata about women of ancient India is that women in general were quite educated and could argue with men invoking Dharma and Truth. They were adept in sastras by constantly listening to the dictums from their parents. Sakuntala is no exception to this rule. Women were allowed to choose their life-partners once they attain maturity. We have an ample number of examples in the characters of Sakuntala, the legendary Sāvitri, Draupadi, Ulūchi, Hidimba, Damayanthi etc. Sometimes, marriages were allowed even without Vedic chants (Gandharva marriage). The society was broadly liberal and allowed a decent, if not a free choice to ladies.
2. The story highlights the importance of adhering to Truth (Satyam). Sakuntala, being truthful, has no hesitation in scolding her own husband in an open court when he transgressed Truth and Dharma.
3. In one of the passages Sankuntala says, ‘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 a hundred pieces’. Here she is referring to the Pancha bhutas out of which our physical bodies are made of. Initially she talks of ‘atma’ at the Vedantic/ spiritual level, and when Dushyantha refused to listen, she talks at the mundane level to make her argument more pointed. After all, she is a celestial lady, and he is mortal human being.
4. The legendary Sanskrit dramatist, Kalidas has changed the story in Abhijñāna Sākuntalaṃ to depict the hero as ‘Dhirodatta’- the personification of all good qualities. The story of Sakuntala was sung by many poets, dramatists and in recent years the story was used by the filmmakers also. Mahabharata inspired generations of people and the roots of our culture are imbedded in Mahabharata.

Brain Teasers/ Questions

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?