As soon as he entered the Aashram, he couldn't believe his eyes. He saw a young beautiful lass, she had eyes like Lotus petals, tresses of hair like a wasp, thin waist and she was filled with beauty. Dushyanta was attracted to her beauty at his first look. He was very excited and happy looking at her. She realized that he was the King as soon as she saw him, she got up suddenly. She treated him with respect and gave him honours. She questioned his well being and made sure he got comfortable in the new place. Dushyanta said " I came here for hunting, after seeing the Aashram I wanted to meet sage Kanva, Is he not around?".
She said " He has gone to the forest to fetch some fruits, he will be coming back soon. Please wait for some time". After seeing her Dushyanta figured out that she was unmarried, he could not take his eyes off her beauty. He asked " So, Whose daughter are you? How did you come here?". She said " Oh! me? I am the daughter of sage Kanva, my name is Shakuntala" Dushyanta started to think " How can this be possible? Why am I getting attracted to the daughter of a sage? I can't believe it, Sage Kanva is Jitendriya ( One who has conquered his senses), then how come he has a daughter?" He questioned her again " But Sage Kanva is observing Naishtika Aashram(which refers to a brahmachari who is celibate throughout his whole life), and also he is Jitendriya. How can he have children? I am not able to understand".
Shakuntala said " Then, Listen, One day a sage came to our house, he started asking who I was and my father told him this. Rajarishi Vishwamitra, after he became a Brahmarshi with his penance was one day indulged in deep penance. Indra was terrified by this penance and he wanted to disturb Vishwamitra and distract him. He called Menaka, the most beautiful of the apsaras and asked her to seduce Vishwamitra and save his Throne. Menaka was alarmed on listening to his words and she bowed to him and said " The great Vasishtha, who has the grace and power equal to Lord Brahma couldn't escape from the anger of Vishwamitra and underwent the agony of the loss of his sons. Even you and all the other gods fear just by listening to his name. Just by mere redness in his eyes all the entire world becomes shaky, the oceans get dried up and the volcano's erupt, even the wind stops to blow in fear. How can you send me to such a furious person. I cannot say no, its the order of the Gods, I will try to seduce him, I leave the rest to destiny." She then left with her family.
Vishwamitra was performing penance in Himalayas. Menaka reached the place with her friends. The fragrances that she applied and the flowers in her hair made the entire place scent beautifully. These fragrances were carried by the winds blowing south and they reached Vishwamitra. She started picking flowers and arranging them beautifully in her head and then swayed along and reached the vicinity of the sage. The sage was in deep penance and did not know what was happening in his surroundings. She bowed and offered honours to him and loitered the place in search of flowers. She then stood in front of him as if she was tired. A gust of wind blew and flew the wrap which she had on her body. Vishwamitra opened his eyes and found her standing in front of him with minimal clothing. Manmadha immediately released his arrows to provoke love and lust in the sage's heart. Vishwamitra was so much in to her beauty that he completely fell for her.
They both enjoyed each others company and their sexual life led to the birth of Shakuntala, whom Menaka left on the banks of Malini river and went back to Deva loka and Vishwamitra returned to his tapovana. The kid was crying bitterly on the banks and the birds saved her by covering her with their feathers. Kanva was searching for fruits in the forest along with his disciples and reached the place where the baby was lying. She was very beautiful. Since the Shakuntas( Birds) were guarding her, he called her Shakuntala. A person who gives birth, a person who feeds a girl, a person who rescues a girl when she is in trouble, such a person is considered as a father, hence I am the daughter of Sage Kanva" .
Dushyanta's hopes rose again, he was disappointed thinking that she is the daughter of a sage but now he was very happy. He saw Shakuntala also getting attracted to him, he then started conversing again and said " You are such a beautiful lass, you seem to be very sensible. A beauty like you should not be wearing deer skins and cottons clothes and this definitely is not a place of your abode. I will make you my queen. Please accept me with love, I will shower you with all luxuries in the entire world. In the eight types_of_marriages, (Brahma, Deva, Arsha, Prajapatya, Asura, Gandharva, Rakshasa and Pysacha), the best that suit kings are Gandharva and Rakshasa. Since both of us fell in love, ours would be Gandharva". Shakuntala blushed in happiness and said " Let my father come and we can...", Dushyanta immediately interrupted and said " We don't need any one's approval for Gandharva Marriage. No need to chant hymns. A Virgin girl herself approves for a Gandharva marriage". Shakuntala said " I would need a wish, I would like you to make my son the King, your descendant. Promise me you would do that". He agreed to it and then they got married and made love. He said " I will go to the kingdom and send my ministers to your father and will invite you with honours" and left for his Kingdom.
Shakuntala was worried about telling her father about her behaviour. Kanva reached the place after picking the fruits and flowers from the forest. He found hickeys and sexual marks on her. She was lying in fear, he realized what had happened. He always thought that the descendant of a King would always have Gandharva marriage and he was happy for her and said " you are very lucky, you have earned a right mate for yourself and you are pregnant now. I am very happy for you. Make a wish now".
" My son should be healthy,long lived, wise, wealthy and should be the root of the family" said Shakuntala. " So shall it be " said Kanva. He performed all the honours needed to be done to a pregnant woman. After three years of gestation she gave birth to Bharata (emperor). Kanva performed all the duties as a father to Shakuntala and a grand father to Bharata. He started growing at a great pace. The Chakra Rekha in his hand, his broad shoulders and long arms, his healthy and beautiful body parts were revealing themselves that he is going to be an emperor. He proved to be very brave than his father. He used to bring the fiercest of the wild animals and tie them to the trees in his Aashram. Everyone started calling him Sarvadamana (Surrounded only by wild animals). Kanva was very proud of his grandson.
Days passed by, Shakuntala never heard from Dushyanta. Bharata was in his teenage ready to become a prince. One day Kanva called Shakuntala and said " Dear, however good wife you maybe, but a woman should not live in her parents house for a long time. The husband is the one you should be with and lead your life, your in laws house should be your heaven. Hence go back to your husband along with your son" He sent some of his disciples with her to the King. She came to Dushyanta, he was with his ministers and subjects. Her son was accompanied by sages. Dushyanta did not recognize her, he had no expression on his face. He not not pleased to see her, she saw no excitement, love or affection for her. She thought " What is this? Doesn't he know me, or is he pretending? Has he forgotten me? No doubt its his pride of being a King. Maybe he wants to break the promise given to me. Else he wouldn't have acted his way. I should not have believe him. If he has forgotten I can remind him, If he does not know I can tell him, But he seems to act that he does not know. How can I tell him now? I better ask him now, I have come this far anyway. I will explain him everything and show him our son." " Oh King! this is your son, we had met years ago when you had come for hunting to our Aashram, I am reminiscing so you can recognize me". Dushyanta then said " What are you talking about? I don't even know you? Who are you? Now get out of my sight and go back from where you came".
Shakuntala was torn apart by his words. She was shocked, she started crying bitterly. She then told the King " You behave like you don't know me, But you know what is righteousness. You are lying because no one else here knows the truth, the god knows what happened between us. Your inner soul knows everything. You are deceiving yourself. Don't do that, please accept me. I am your wife, I also bore your son. A person who leaves his wife will not be honoured on earth or heaven. A person who has a good wife can enjoy life blissfully. He will be a Jitendriya and will bear sons. He will have a fruitful life. Degrading and insulting a wife is insulting oneself."
" He is your son, he is like a jewel to Puru dynasty. A man enters a woman's body and he himself is born as her son, hence "AngaDangatSambhavasi"(Born from the body) say Vedas. A man feels happy by seeing himself in his son. A Putra(son) is the one who saves a man from going to the hell called Putha. Please take him in to your arms, He is said to be having a great life ahead. He will rule the entire world. A lake is greater than having 100 wells, similarly a Yagna is greater than having a lake, A son is greater than performing 100 Yagnas, Similarly a word of Truth is greater than having 100 sons. Truth has a greater value than 100 Ashwamedhas. Please tell the truth, don't you remember the promise you made. Please pity your son. I am the daughter of Brahmarshi Vishvamitra and Menaka, I don't have the reason to lie to you".
Dushyanta was irritated by this talk and said " I don't know you and have never seen you. Women lie all the time and hence you are lying too. This boy is no where near my caliber. Everyone here is laughing at your words. I hate such conversations. Now get out of here". Shakuntala said " My parents strayed me when I was a baby and now my husband has strayed me too. Where can I go now? Who do I share this with?". She cried her heart out and held her son's hand and started to walk out of the room. She then heard a voice saying " Whatever Shakuntala said is true. Oh King! she is your wife and this boy is your son, accept them". Everyone was surprised. Dushyanta was very happy to hear that and slowly started to talk " Yes , I married her by Gandharva marriage. No one knew about this except us, I feared the world and hence I lied. But the divine voice spoke out the truth". He then hugged his son. He took his wife to his palace. He declared Bharata the Prince. He ruled over a period of time and handed over the responsibilities to his son and left to tapovana.
Bharata became the King. He performed many Yagnas on the banks of Rivers Ganga and Yamuna . He became the root person of Bharatha Dynasty. This is the story of Bharata. He married the daughter of Kekaya King Sunanda. They had a son named Bhumanya. Bhumanya's wife was the daughter of Dasarha King Vijaya. Vijaya's son was Sahotra. Sahotra's wife was the daughter of Ikshvaka King Suvarna. Suvarna's son was Hasti.
Because of the name Hasti, the capital city was named as hasthinapur. King Hasti's wife was the daughter of Trigartha King Yashodhara. Her son was Vikunthana. Vikunthana's wife was the daughter of Dasarha King VasuDeva. Her son was Ajameedha. His wifes were Kaikeyi, Gandhari and Ruksha, they had one hundred and twenty four sons with him and they became the Kings of different Kingdoms. In all his sons Samvarana became the emperor. Samvarana's wife was Surya Kumari Tapati. Tapati's son was Kuru, the originator of Kuru dynasty. Hence Samanthaka Panchakam is called Kurukshetra. Kuru's wife was the daughter of Dasarha King Subhangi. Her son was Vidhooradha. His wife was Sampriya, her son was Anaswa. Anaswa's wife was the daughter of Magadha King Amrutha. Her son was Parikshitha. His wife was Suyasa. Suyasa's son was bhimasena. His wife was the daughter of Kaykeya King Kumari.Her son was Pratisravasana. Pratisravasana's son was Prateepa. His wife was sibhi. He had a daughter Sunanda. She had Devapi, Shantanu and Bahlika. Devapi left to the forest for penance at a young age and Shantanu became the King. He had Bhishma from Ganga and Chitrāngada and Vichitravirya from Satyavati. Chitrāngada was slain by Gandharva king of the same name and hence Vichitravirya then ascended the throne. Vichitravirya had wives Ambika and Ambalika . He died of tuberculosis, thats when the dynasty was left with no descendants. Satyavati ordered her son Vyasa to give Ambika and Ambalika sons so that the kingdom does not become heirless. Ambika had Dhritarashtra and Ambalika had Pandu and Ambika's servent had Vidura. Dhritarashtra had 100 sons and a daughter.Pandu had three sons with Kunti, Yudhishtira (by Lord Yama), Bhima (by Lord Vayu), and Arjuna (by Lord Indra), Madri, who bore Nakula and Sahadeva. They all had on wife Draupadi . Yudhishtira had Prathivindhya, Bhima had Sruthasoma, Arjuna had SruthaKirthi, Nakula had Sathanika and Sahadeva had Sruthasena. These sons are called UpaPandavas. Yudhishtira got Devika in his swayamvara, her son Oudheya. Bhima had another wife Jalandhara, her son was Sarvagha. Arjuna had another wife Subhadrā, her son was Abhimanyu. Nakula had a wife Renumati, her son was Niramitra. Sahadeva had another wife Vijaya, her son was Sahotra. Apart from these 10 sons, Bhima had Ghatotkacha with Hidimbi. Arjuna had Iravan with Ulupi, Babruvāhana with Chitrāngadā. Among these 13 sons Abhimanyu became the root of the family. His wife was Uttara.
Uttara gave birth to your father Parikshita. You are born to him and your mother Madravathi as Janamejaya. You have Sathanika, Sankha and Karna from Vapushta. Sathanika had Ashwamedha datta from Videha King's daughter. This is the story of your dynasty. Hence you all became Pouravas, Pandavas, Kauravas and Bharathas. Let me explain how Ganga married Shantanu and gave birth to Bhishma. Hence vaisampayana continued the story of Ganga.
1 comments:
Nice work..
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