Week 5 Storytelling: Kunti Says Goodbye

There was a new king in town, and he was a mighty powerful warrior with two beautiful wives, Madri and Kunti.  As Pandu came to the throne, he made it clear that he valued one wife more than the other.  Madri was Pandu's pride and joy.  He showed her off like she was a trophy, and he was so in love with her he could hardly keep his hands off of her.  He could only pay attention to her, and he often forgot he even had another wife.  Kunti saw the way Pandu would look at Madri and longed for a husband that would cherish her that way.  Kunti felt trapped and hated her life, but she could never leave and betray the king.  Every single day Kunti would think of what her life would be like if she left and started a new life of her own, but she could never muster up the courage to walk away. She was a faithful woman with the most pious of hearts.  Even though Pandu loved Madri much more than Kunti, he would still be very angry if she left him.  Having two wives made him more powerful, and Kunti brought a lot to the table when it came to ruling the people.

One morning Kunti was feeling rather ill and realized she had become pregnant.  She went far into the forest where she would give birth to a celestial son.  His eyes were fiery and fierce like a wild lion, while his body resembled an angry bull.  Kunti looked at her son in dismay, for he reminded her of how unhappy she was in her marriage and she feared that Pandu would never love him or let him rule the kingdom one day.  Panicked, Kunti felt the only thing to do was do let another family love her son.  She swaddled him in blankets and gently packed him in a cozy wicker basket.  She kissed her son goodbye and prayed that whoever found him would love him unconditionally.  If she was not able to love her son, she just hoped that someone else would be able to do it for her.  She prayed for a woman who was ready to be a mother, and who had the most loving and supportive husband that would raise the child as their own.  After many tears she said her goodbyes and walked away hopeful she had done the right thing.  It was the most difficult decision she had ever made, and she knew she would think of her son each day for the rest of her life.

Kunti Saying Goodbye

The baby had been on a long journey, and had peacefully slept the whole time he drifted down many rivers.  He finally arrived in Anga, where he would soon drift towards a wonderful woman that would end up taking great care of him.  Radha was an unusually stunning woman.   Her eyes were piercing and her hair flowed like a mermaid's. She was extraordinarily beautiful.  She was married to a wonderful man named Adhiratha who absolutely adored her.  Radha was his everything, and he had loved her for years and years.  The couple had wanted to have children since they got married years ago, but Radha was not ever able to get pregnant.  She felt empty, and that some part of her life was missing.  There was a hole in her heart that only a child could fill.  Radha ventured out to the stream and saw a baby boy wrapped in a blanket.  She immediately began to cry and wondered if her prayers had finally been answered. She embraced the boy and instantly fell in love.  From that moment on they were connected forever.  The boy was now her son.  As the years went by the boy grew and still had his fiery eyes and broad, muscular body. And these attributes helped him to become a successful warrior in Anga. He was so loved by his new family, and their love for him helped him grow and succeed in his life. They did not know it yet, but their son would one day become an influential leader of their land.  Kunti often thought of the boy she had given up that difficult day.  She wondered if he would be okay, or if he would find a loving home.  She hoped and prayed that she had made the right decision, and dreamed of the man he would become every single day of her life.

Author's note: I chose to base my story off of the excerpt in the Mahabharata titled "Kunti and her Son."  I liked this story because it was the first one in the Mahabharata to me that felt really personal.  There had been a lot of information and introduction up until this point.  I wanted to twist the story a little bit, so I went into more detail about how Pandu preferred Madri to Kunti, and this left Kunti feeling sad and desperate.  I changed the story making Karna Pandu's son, and Kunti not wanting him because Pandu did not love her.  I wanted to make minor detail changes to the story to make it more personal and interesting, but I stuck with a very similar story line.  I think this story will go in my portfolio well because I want to stick with stories that have a lot of emotion in them.  I liked how dramatic this story was, and I like adding detail to the stories to make them a little more dramatic.

Mahabharata