DUSHYANTA SHAKUNTALA VRUTAANTA

The legend of the exquisitely beautiful Shakuntala and the mighty king Dushyanta is a thrilling love story from the epic Mahabharata, which the great ancient poet Kalidasa retold in his immortal play Abhijnanashakuntalam.

Shakuntala was born of the sage Vishwamitra and the Apsara Menaka. Menaka had come at the behest of the King of the Heaven, Indra, to distract the sage Vishwamitra from his deep meditations. She succeeded, and bore a child by him. Vishwamitra, angered by the loss of the virtue gained through his many hard years of strict ascetic habit, distanced himself from the child and mother to return to his work. Realizing that she could not leave the child with him, and having to return to the heavenly realms, Menaka left the newborn Shakuntala in the forest. It was here that the new born child was found by Kanva Rishi surrounded by Shakunta birds. He thus named her Shakuntala. Kanva Rishi took the child to his ashram, on the banks of the Mālini River which rises in the Shivālik hills of Himālayas and lies about 10 km from the town of Kotdwāra in the state of Uttarākhand, India. Dushyanta is the son of Ilina and Rathantara and is a descendant of the Puru dynasty, a great warrior and a just ruler.

Once, while out on a hunt with his army, Dushyanta passed through a forest full of bilv, ark, khadir, kapith, and dahv etc. trees. The forest undulated with interspersed rocky hillocks and extended over several yojanas and there was no trace of any man. It was full of wildlife. Dushyanta, along with his powerful army, happened to pass through extensive desert after which he reached a good forest. This forest was full of ashrams (hermitages) and there were fruit-bearing trees but no xerophytes. Here Dushyanta came across the ashrama of Rishi Kanva, the son of Kashyapa Rishi. It was surrounded by the Malini River. All the animals were at peace in this garden and there was an atmosphere of great tranquility. The air was full of an intoxicating fragrance. Upon seeing this garden, the king was struck with wonder, and became curious as to who owned this garden. He gained that this was Sage Kanva's garden and decided to pay him a visit and get the great Saints blessings. As he wandered about this heavenly garden, he came across a maiden. This maiden, whose beauty rivalled of that of the Apsaras(divine nymphs), was the adopted daughter of the sage Kanva, Shakuntala.

She had inherited the intelligence of her father and the beauty of her divine mother. It was no wonder that Dushyanta fell in love with her instantly upon beholding her. Once Dushyanta came to know who she was, he began addressing her thus, "O Maiden. Your beauty shines like that of the mood.. If it is even possible, you are even more beautiful than your mother. Your radiance is something that does not dim others around you but radiant enough to beautify everything you see, I have fallen desperately in love with you. Please consent to be my wife."

Shakuntala was filled with admiration for this King, for it is to be remembered that Dushyanta was a handsome warrior. However, she would not consent to be his wife immediately. She told the king that at this moment her father Kanva is away from this hermitage and that he will not return for many months. Before proposing marriage to a girl, the consent of her guardian is essential. Therefore, she begged him not to pester her to return an answer to his proposal right then but instead come back later, and ask her father's consent to marry her.

Dushyanta could not bear the thought of waiting for so long before marrying her. He had never been accustomed to wait for anything in his life. He attempted to persuade her to an instant marriage. He told her that it is true that the common practice is to seek the consent of guardians before marriage, however, under extraordinary circumstances the scriptures allow a Gandharva Vivaha (marriage incognito), wherein two people in love marry with only each other as witnesses. Such a practice has been often resorted to in cases where the guardians cannot be reached immediately to ascertain their opinion. He pleaded her not to torment him any longer, and just let us marry him immediately, for he cannot think of a life without her.

So Shakuntala allowed herself to be persuaded to marry the king immediately, very much against her better judgment. Ardent love must be her only excuse, as nothing much would have been lost by waiting for a few months for her father to return and the marriage to take place according to the common mode. They married each other, with only the woodland creatures as witnesses. The King and Shakuntala spent a very pleasant month there in the hermitage. It was high time Dushyanta returned to his kingdom, as he had not left any word as to where he could be found. He wanted to take his wife along with him to the Kingdom.

However, Shakuntala could not consent to this. She told the king that her father would be returning very soon. If she isn’t at the hermitage to welcome him, he will be very worried. Since their marriage was very simply performed, it is but proper that the king arrive in form, accompanied by his retinue, to take his bride to his kingdom. Therefore Shakuntala asked the king to return to his kingdom now, but come back soon, and take me to her home.

Dushyanta agreed that this was a good plan and he went back to his country. Before going, Dushyanta gave Shakuntala a royal ring as a sign of their love, promising her that he would return for her.

Shakuntala spent much time dreaming of her new husband and was often distracted by her daydreams. One day, a powerful rishi, Durvasa, came to the ashram but, lost in her thoughts about Dushyanta, Shakuntala failed to greet him properly. Incensed by this slight, the rishi cursed Shakuntala, saying that the person she was dreaming of would forget about her altogether. His booming voice as he uttered the curse that shook Shakuntala out of her abstraction. She humbly begged his pardon, and requested him to rescind the curse. She pleaded tearfully that she had not noticed his arrival as she had been thinking about her husband. At last the sage relented. He could not completely annul the curse, and amended it so that Dushyanta would not permanently forget her, but only temporarily. After this, the sage took his leave. Sometime after this, sage Kanva returned to his hermitage. Shakuntala related to him the all the incidents that had happened during his absence, including her marriage to Dushyanta and Durvasa’s curse. Kanva was concerned about the curse, but consoled himself with the reflection that it was only temporary.

A few months passed, and Shakuntala discovered that she was pregnant. Kanva decided that it was time for her to go to her husband's kingdom, as the heir to the throne should be born in his father's country. He found a group of Brahmanas who were planning to visit Dushyanta’ s kingdom. He asked them to escort his adopted daughter to her husband. The whole party set forth on their journey. Shakuntala always wore the signet ring given to her by Dushyanta on her ring finger. On the way, they had to cross a river by a canoe ferry and, seduced by the deep blue waters of the river, Shakuntala ran her fingers through the water. Her ring slipped off her finger without her realizing it.

The Brahmanas escorted her to the court of Dushyanta. Of course, the curse of Durvasa had taken effect by then and he did not recognize her at all. He said to her "O Fair maiden, who are you? What is that you seek from me? Have you suffered any injustice in my realm? If so, I shall see to it that justice shall be served."

Shakuntala was very much surprised. "O King, Do you not recognize me? I have not changed all that much in these six months that we have been apart. Seven months ago, you met me in the forest, near the hermitage of Sage Kanva. You spoke words of endearment to me and asked me to be your wife. In spite of me asking you to wait till my father returned, you persuaded me to marry you immediately. We were married according to the rights of the Gandharva Vivaha. You went back to your kingdom, promising to return soon and take me to my rightful place as your queen. Now you don't even recognize me? Is this the practice of Kings? Accept me as your wife, your queen."

Of course, Dushyanta did not remember any of this. He thought she was an imposter, and he became very angry. "O Maiden. Your fair form does not match the cunning of your mind. I have never even met you before today. Your audacity in claiming that I married you is unparalleled. Your ploy will not succeed. I can see that you are with child. You are trying to impose on me, after having lost your virtue to someone else. Be gone from my presence, before I change my mind to execute you for your unfounded allegations!"

Hearing the harsh words spoken by the King, Shakuntala fainted. When she awoke from her swoon, burning with righteous anger, she said. "O King, You thought that when you made your promise, there were no witnesses other than our two selves. You forget that Mitra and Varuna and other Gods are always witnesses to a promise. For some reason best known to them the Devas are not coming to my rescue. You ought to have been struck down with their wrath, when you spoke those harsh words and broke your promise. The Gods shall always punish the breaker of oaths. I will not stay one instant in this place where I have been insulted thus."

Hearing her words of wrath, Dushyanta was filled with wonder, however, he did not remember her at all, and was steadfast in his refusal. Humiliated, Shakuntala returned to the forests and, collecting her son, settled in a wild part of the forest by herself.

In due course of time, a male child was born to Shakuntala. He had inherited the beauty of his mother and his valor from his father. He was named Bharata. Ten years went by, during which time the child grew into a boy. The boy was taught the scriptures and Dharma (the path of truth). In addition to this, as befitting a prince, he was taught the use of weapons, and he particularly excelled with the bow.

Meanwhile, a fisherman was surprised to find a royal ring in the belly of a fish he had caught. Recognizing the royal seal, he took the ring to the palace and, upon seeing his ring; Dushyanta's memories of his lovely bride came rushing back to him. He was very much grieved, for she had come to meet him, only to be insulted in his court. He resolved to seek her out and apologize for his conduct, and ask her to be his queen but in vain.

One day when the king was passing by in the forest he saw a fat wild boar in the forest. He gave it a chase and finally managed to shoot it down with his arrows. At the same time, another hunter had also fired his arrows at the same boar. Both of them reached the boar at the same time. The King was very much surprised that the other hunter was a mere ten year old boy. Of course, this was none other than his son, but naturally the king did not recognize him. They both started arguing, claiming the boar as their kill. The argument became violent and the boy challenged the king to combat. The king hesitated, as it was not proper for such a renowned warrior to fight a mere child. However, when Bharata accused him of cowardice, he became very angry and accepted the challenge. Very quickly, once the battle commenced, Dushyanta became aware that although only ten years old, his opponent was a very accomplished warrior. The king was very hard pressed to counter the assault of the boy. The battle raged for hours, but in the end, the King was defeated and made prisoner. As per the rules of single combat of those times, he became a slave of the victor. The boy took him to his home. There, the King met Shakuntala and was made aware that his conqueror was none other than his son. There was a very happy reunion, with the King begging the sage's and his wife's pardon for the events that had taken place in his court. They both forgave him immediately, as he was blameless in this matter, Durvasa'scurse being the cause of his behavior.

Dushyanta returned to his kingdom, accompanied by his wife and heir. In due course of time, he abdicated the throne in favor of his son. Bharata ruled for a long time. He conquered all the kings in the world and brought them all under his control. Unfortunately, although he had many sons, he did not find any of them worthy of ruling the kingdom after him. He performed a magnificent Yagna (sacrifice), and as a result of it an illustrious son named Bhumanyu was born to him. Once Bhumanyu came of age, Bharata crowned him king and retired to the forest to spend the rest of his days in performing penances and even till today India still carries this great warrior’s name, Bharata.