Duhshanta Reconciles with Shakuntala and Instates Bharata
With the divine mandate secured, Duhshanta finally shows his affection. He embraces his son, formally accepts Shakuntala as his queen, and explains his harsh public denial was a strategic move to protect their legitimacy. He then instates the boy as heir apparent, founding the legendary Bharata lineage.
The divine command had been issued. The court’s doubts were silenced. Now, Duhshanta acted.
He drew his son close, smelt his head, and embraced him with open affection. The Brahmanas pronounced their blessings; the bards sang his praises. The king felt the great, simple happiness that comes from touching one’s own child.
He then paid homage to Shakuntala and accepted her as his wife according to the rites of dharma. He pacified her, explaining his earlier cruelty. “O lady! My union with you was not known to the people. That is the reason I argued with you.” He had calculated the public perception: if people thought their union was merely an affair, and if he had then instated her son, the boy would have been considered impure. “Therefore, I thought about how best to clear you.” He asked forgiveness for the harsh words she had spoken in anger, and told her plainly: “I love you.”
Having spoken to his beloved queen, rajarshi Duhshanta honoured her with garments, food, and drink. Then he turned to the matter of the kingdom. King Duhshanta formally instated Shakuntala’s son as the heir apparent. The name prophesied by the voice from the sky was conferred: Bharata.
From that day, the glorious wheel of the great-souled Bharata began to turn. It traversed the worlds with a great thunder — radiant, divine, and invincible. He conquered all the kings of the earth and brought them under his sway, always treading the path of dharma. That powerful king became known as Chakravarti (universal monarch) and Sarvabhouma (lord of all the earth).
Like Indra, he performed many sacrifices. He made the sage Kanva — the man who had raised Shakuntala — the officiating priest at a great sacrifice and gave abundant alms. He performed a horse sacrifice famous for the immense number of cows offered, and at it, he gave Kanva one thousand padmas as the sacrificial fee.
From Bharata springs the fame of the Bharata lineage. All kings who followed him were known as those of the Bharata lineage. In this line were born many greatly energetic and divine kings, supreme like Brahma himself.