Pandu + Kunti

Has anyone been to the shops recently, what a pleasant experience. Take your time, no dodging elbows or being shoved from behind. Worth the queue.

Tomorrow I have a treat for you care of S. Big thanks for sneaking into the shala.  I’ll post it early morning for you all.😉

I know this is strange times for everyone. Some without work, some with too much, most of us stuck at home with family or alone (both have their challenges). This will pass and you know you just got to hold on. You have that in you, all those difficult asana when your mind is saying stop, don’t do it and you push your self. When the going gets tough ashtangis kick ass.

Getting back to my favourite story. So how was Pandu to have children, cursed to die if he had sex. And what is Kunti’s secret. Well when Kunti was a child a sage visited her village and she brought him food. The sage was Durvasa, and unusual for him he was kind to her in return, normally he was known for being irascible. He gave her a magical mantra that when ever she chanted it who ever she desired would come and make love with her. Useful if you’re in lock down on your own. Anyway when she got to eighteen she wondered if the mantra worked so road tested it on the God Surya. And pop just like that there he was standing beside her all gorgeous and glowing. Don’t need to go into the details but the blushing Kunti was left pregnant. Being unmarried in those days this was a slight problem. So when the baby was born he was put in a reed basket and floated down a river. Mmm, didn’t someone else suffer the same fate from some other holy book? And a reed basket? How does that float? Anyway the thing to remember is the baby. He is called Karna (ears) because he is born with beautiful earrings and shinning armour that protect him. Fortunately the reed basket caries Karna down stream and it is picked up by a childless couple called Radha and Nandana. They are from the chariot driver/poet profession. Yes it was a duel job, a rapping Uber driver. We will hear a lot about Karna later. If you look at the picture on the very first post of this blog you will see two warriors on chariots. Arjuna on the left and Karna on the right.

So that is Kunti’s secret that she has a child.  Obviously she doesn’t confess to Pandu she just tells him she has a secret mantra that will help her get pregnant. So three times she uses it with three different Gods, Yama, Vayu and Indra. God of death/dharma, wind/prana and heaven/thunder. She gives birth to three boys Yudhishthira, Bhima and Arjuna. Kunti shares her secret mantra with Madri, Pandu’s second wife but allows her to only use it once. Madri always ready to find an advantage, asks for the celestial twin horse Gods and there by gets two children Nakula and Sahadeva. So all though Pandu has five sons Nakula and Sahadeva seem to be supporting roles. They live happy lives until Pandu forgets his curse and starts making out with Madri, and before he can put a smile on Madri’s face he pops his clogs (English idiom for dies). Where does this leave our five boys commonly called the Pandavas…