Kunti Reveals Her Mantra Boon from Durvasa
Pandu, cursed and desperate for an heir, begs his wife Kunti to conceive sons through Brahmanas. Kunti reveals a secret from her girlhood: the sage Durvasa, pleased with her service, gave her a mantra to summon any god to father a child. She offers to use it immediately, asking Pandu which god to call.
Pandu finished his plea. He joined his hands and begged Kunti, his wife with the beautiful hips, to bear sons through Brahmanas. He was a king cursed, unable to touch his wives without dying, and the future of the Kuru lineage hung on this moment.
Kunti, who loved to please her husband, listened. Then she told him a story she had kept to herself.
When she was a child in her father’s house, she had been appointed to look after the guests. Among them came a fearsome Brahmana, rigid in his vows, with his senses under control, learned in the secret nuances of dharma. His name was Durvasa. Kunti satisfied him with all attentiveness. Pleased with her service, the illustrious sage gave her a boon. He taught her a mantra.
“Any god that I summon through this mantra,” Kunti explained, “will come to me and be subservient to me, whether he desires it or not. O descendant of the Bharata lineage! This is what he told me in my father’s house.” She looked at Pandu. “O king! The words uttered by a Brahmana are never false and the time has come. If you permit, I can summon a god. O rajarshi! Through that mantra, we can have offspring.”
She was not suggesting the ancient practice of niyoga, where a wife lies with another man appointed by her husband. She was offering something else entirely: a divine conception, a child fathered by a god himself, summoned by a word of power.
“O supreme among those who know the truth!” she said. “Which god shall I summon? Know that I am waiting for your command, so as to act.”
Pandu did not hesitate. “O beautiful one! O one with the beautiful hips! You must act today itself, in the proper way. Summon Dharma, because he is the one who partakes of what is sacred.” His reasoning was precise. “That which is not dharma is never united with that which is dharma. O one with the beautiful hips! The worlds will now think that what we have done is dharma. There is no doubt that one who is devoted to dharma will be born into the Kuru lineage. Since he will be given by Dharma, there will never be anything that is not dharma in his mind.”
He gave his final instruction. “O sweet-smiling one! Therefore, always set dharma before you and summon him. Worship Dharma through your offerings and rituals.”
At these words of her husband, the most beautiful of women agreed. With his permission, she circumambulated him — a ritual act of respect and preparation — and turned to invoke the god of righteousness himself.