Shakuntala- Hindu FigureMortal"Mother of Bharata"
Also known as: Śakuntaālā and शकुन्तला
Titles & Epithets
Description
Surrounded by birds who sheltered her as an infant, she grew in a forest hermitage far from court and throne. When King Dushyanta encountered Shakuntala among the trees, their union would give India its name through their son Bharata.
Mythology & Lore
Birth and Upbringing
Shakuntala was born of an unlikely union between the sage Vishwamitra, engaged in fierce austerities, and the apsara Menaka, sent by Indra to break his meditation. Menaka succeeded in seducing the sage, but after Shakuntala's birth, both parents abandoned her. The infant was found in the forest surrounded by shakunta birds who sheltered and fed her, giving her the name Shakuntala, "bird-protected." The sage Kanva, head of a forest hermitage, discovered and adopted her, raising her as his own daughter amid the peaceful rituals and natural beauty of the ashram (Mahabharata, Adi Parva 71-72).
The Gandharva Marriage
King Dushyanta of the Puru dynasty encountered Shakuntala while hunting near Kanva's hermitage. Captivated by her beauty, he proposed a gandharva marriage, a union by mutual consent without formal ceremony. Shakuntala agreed on the condition that any son born of their union would be heir to the throne. Dushyanta gave her his royal signet ring as a token and departed, promising to send an escort to bring her to his court (Adi Parva 72-73).
In the Mahabharata version, Dushyanta simply fails to honor his promise. When Shakuntala arrives at court with their son, the king publicly denies recognizing her, until a divine voice from the sky confirms the boy as his legitimate heir. In Kalidasa's later dramatization, the Abhijnanasakuntalam, the king's forgetfulness is explained by the curse of the sage Durvasa: Shakuntala, lost in thoughts of Dushyanta, fails to notice the sage's arrival at the hermitage, and he curses Dushyanta to forget her entirely until he sees the ring she wears. The ring is lost in a river, swallowed by a fish, and eventually recovered by a fisherman, triggering the king's memory and reunion (Kalidasa, Abhijnanasakuntalam, Acts 4-7).
Mother of Bharata
The son born of Shakuntala and Dushyanta was named Sarvadamana, "he who subdues all," for even as a child he wrestled lion cubs and young elephants in the forest. Recognized by Dushyanta and enthroned as heir, he became Emperor Bharata, from whose name the land of India takes its ancient designation Bharatavarsha. Through Bharata, Shakuntala stands at the root of the great Kuru-Panchala dynasties that produced the heroes of the Mahabharata (Adi Parva 74).