Even the forest, with what
unerring instinct Kunti rallies their drooping spirits:
“Hai! I am Kunti,
mother
of five sons, and I thirst
for water sitting in their midst!” (153.13)
Where Yudhishthira stops short
with preventing Bhima from killing the infatuated Hidimba, Kunti, with
remarkable foresight, seizes upon this fortuitous occurrence to cement an
alliance for the friendless five:
“I can see no way
of taking fit revenge
for the terrible injustices
that Duryodhana has done us.
A grave problem faces us.
You know Hidimba loves you…
Have a son by her.
I wish it. He will work
for our welfare. My son,
I do not want a ‘no’
from you. I want your promise
now, in front of both of us.” (157.47-49)
We know how useful the fruit
of this union, Ghatotkacha, is for them in exile and as Arjuna’s saviour
from Karna’s infallible weapon at the cost of his own life. It is again
Kunti who instructs her first grandchild in order to ensure his loyalty:
“You are one of the Kurus.
To me you are like Bhima himself.
You are the eldest son of the Pandavas,
Therefore, you should help them.” (157.74)
Thus, the Pandava dynasty is
slowly but surely structured into an entity with multiracial affinities.
Earlier, because of Kunti, Bhima was befriended by the naga Aryaka,
her father’s maternal grandfather. Now an alliance with the
forest-dwelling rakshasas is established. Later Arjuna will forge
alliances with the Nagas and others.
Kunti teaches her children a
lesson in attending to the welfare of the common man even at the risk of
their lives. In Ekachakra she overrules Yudhishthira’s frantic
remonstrance and deputes Bhima to meet the ogre Baka as the substitute for
the impoverished Brahmin who has given them shelter. In this exchange
between mother and son, Kunti, as earlier with Pandu, emerges totally
triumphant. Yudhishthira exclaims,
“Mother, what right had you
to expose him like this?
have you lost your reason?
have our sufferings unbalanced you?” (164.11)
Never again will he upbraid
his mother in such strong terms, except once after the war when she
reveals that Karna was his elder brother.
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