Surya Demands Union with Kunti After Invocation

Kunti was young, and she was curious. The sage Durvasa had given her a mantra — a gift for her service during his stay at her father Kuntibhoja's court. The mantra could summon any god she wished. She had never used it. She wanted to know if it worked. So she stood alone in her chambers, spoke the words, and called upon Surya, the sun god, the lord of light who sees everything. And he came. The room filled with a radiance that was not like daylight. Surya stood before her — blazing, immense, impossible to look at directly. Kunti understood immediately what she had done. She had summoned a god without intending to receive him. She asked him to leave. Surya did not leave. He told her: "Having invoked a god, it is not proper to send him away in vain." He knew what she wanted — a son. And he would give her one: a son unrivalled in valour, who would be born wearing divine armour and earrings. "Give yourself to me," he said. "I will beget a son, like the one that you desire." Kunti refused. She was a maiden. Her body belonged to her father, her mother, her elders — not to herself. She had only summoned him to test the mantra's strength, out of childish folly. She begged him to pardon her and leave. Surya's tone did not soften. If she sent him away without union, he told her, he would curse Durvasa — the sage who had given her the mantra without knowing her character. He would curse her father Kuntibhoja as well, for the offence she had committed. He would consume them both. And then he showed her something she had not known she could see. He gave her divine sight, and she looked up. The sky was filled with the thirty gods — Indra (Purandara) at their head — all watching. They had seen her summon Surya and try to dismiss him. They seemed to be smiling. Kunti was overcome with shame. She was terrified. She spoke again, more desperately this time. "O lord of the cows! Leave in your vimana (celestial chariot). I am a maiden and this conduct of yours is causing me unhappiness." She repeated that her elders alone had authority over her body. She told him that for a woman, preserving the body was the greatest dharma. Surya answered: "It is because you are a child that I am requesting you. Others do not obtain this from me." He told her plainly: he could not depart in vain. The world would laugh at him. The gods would mock him. She had invoked him, and he would not leave without union. If she gave herself to him, she would obtain peace. And she would bear a son who would be like him — special in all the worlds. The chapter ends there. Kunti stands before the sun god, trapped between her own curiosity and a force she cannot turn away.