वैशंपायन उवाच
शूरो नाम यदुश्रेष्ठो वसुदेवपिताभवत् ॥
तस्य कन्या पृथा नाम रूपेणासदृशी भुवि ॥
पैतृष्वसेयाय स ताम् अनपत्याय वीर्यवान् ॥
अग्र्यम् अग्रे प्रतिज्ञाय स्वस्यापत्यस्य वीर्यवान् ॥
अग्रजातेति तां कन्याम् अग्र्यानुग्रहकाङ्क्षिणे ॥
प्रददौ कुन्तिभोजाय सखा सख्ये महात्मने ॥
vaiśaṃpāyana uvāca
śūro nāma yaduśreṣṭho vasudevapitābhavat ||
tasya kanyā pṛthā nāma rūpeṇāsadṛśī bhuvi ||
paitṛṣvaseyāya sa tām anapatyāya vīryavān ||
agryam agre pratijñāya svasyāpatyasya vīryavān ||
agrajāteti tāṃ kanyām agryānugrahakāṅkṣiṇe ||
pradadau kuntibhojāya sakhā sakhye mahātmane ||
Vaishampayana said: "[A certain] Shura, named so, best of the Yadavas, was the father of Vasudeva; his daughter, named Pritha, was incomparable in beauty on earth. By a long-standing vow to give away the firstborn of his own children, the mighty Shura gave that maiden as the 'firstborn' — to Kuntibhoja, who desired the boon of a first child, friend to friend, the great-souled one."
9299b1f87a96 · publicado 12 jul 2026, 16:30:26 UTC
Disponible enRUENPasa de verso en verso con
Here Pritha is introduced — the future Kunti, mother of the Pandavas and (secretly) of Karna. Her origin and destiny are telling: daughter of Shura, sister of Vasudeva (father of Krishna), she is the paternal aunt of the Lord Krishna Himself. Telling, too, is the manner of her giving: by a vow of generosity, to a childless friend, so that he too might know the joy of fatherhood. Here is the Vedic ideal of friendship and giving: to have a child is so great a good that it is shared with a childless friend as the highest gift. Through this giving Pritha becomes Kunti (after the name of her adoptive father, Kuntibhoja) — and in this change of name already lies a sign of her unusual destiny, interwoven with many lineages. Thus the scripture introduces one of the greatest women of the epic, whose life will bind together the houses of the Yadavas, the Kurus, and the gods.