Kunti - Koral Dasgupta

Kunti, The Sati Series ll - Koral Dasgupta 

I'll be honest, I didn't want the narration to just end there, at such a crucial point. The beginning was mind blowing to be honest, I loved it!

The author has come up with stories giving perks of the lives of the Panchkanyas, where she has portrayed these women in a quite different approach than the conservative narration which sidelines women from the mainstream and makes the entire history roll around men and their accomplishments. 

Koral's Kunti is ambitious, bold, authoritative, confident and moreover, 'intelligent'. Her birth, adoption into a different home, her adaptation into her new home, her interest in the story of Ahalya, and more of such events in the life of this royal young lady seem to be quite sophisticated, according to the author. 

Reading through the tale of Ahalya, Kunti finds herself getting infatuated towards Indra, the god of the five senses, which turns into a yearning, a longing, and later, a union!

Her interactions with her brother Vasudeva, Durvasa's visit and the boon granted to her in return of her great service towards the sage, her marriage to Pandu which occurred by chance according to Kunti, were all pavements to something bigger as seen by herself in Surya's abode which she visited years ago due to mysterious circumstances.

Throughout the story, we can imagine Kunti as a strategic royal women, close to a diplomat, who is willing to go up to any extent when it comes to securing the interests of hers and her dear ones, well described through the instances of her sacrificing Karna right after his birth and marrying Madri to Pandu, respectively.

The words used in the story did the magic, I must say, a great retelling!

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Read for life!