DOTW: Do you think that Pandu would have...

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... accepted Karna as his son had Kunti fessed up to him?

Vrish

@Vr15h

Stunner

+ 6

Posted: 12 years ago

Okay, given the current track of Kunti being tortured by the memory of what she did to Karna, it brought up an interesting question - stated above.

By itself, given the traditions then, I do think that there was a good likelihood that Pandu would have balked @ accepting Kunti had it been known before hand that she had a baby b4 marriage. However, my question here is about what he might have done after the curse.

As is known, Pandu was cursed by Rishi Kindam for shooting him & his wife while they were in the form of deer consummating (really strange form to take while consummating, but I digress). The curse was that if Pandu tried consummating any woman, he'd die instantly. That's what forced the Niyoga process for Kunti & Madri.

However, at this point, when Pandu explained his issue (in a manner of speaking) to Kunti, was this a missed opportunity for her? What if she had told him about Karna? As a king (even though he had by then abdicated, but he could still have gathered support from Bheeshma & others), he could have launched a search for Karna, especially a baby w/ such a unique possession as a kavach & kundala, and then adopted him back from Adiratha & Radha.

Or do you think Pandu would have been enraged & disowned her as a result? Remember that Bheeshma knew about Karna, and it's been theorized that he approached Shalya for Madri's hand precisely due to this - or else, why would he have wanted a second wife for Pandu, which he didn't for Dhritarashtra?

Of course, Karna would still have been a kanina son, or he would have become a sahoda son (see a description of the customs in this post) and would not have had any legitimate claim on the throne itself - that would still have been Yudhisthir's. However, Karna would not have had any other handicaps - he could have learnt his stuff along w/ his brothers, he could have married Draupadi or any other princess, w/o it being a pratiloma marriage & so on.

So once he had Karna, Pandu could have then decided whether he was happy w/ this son alone, or wanted 5 more. Chances are that he'd still have wanted 5. However, w/ Karna now established as a Pandava, Duryodhan would have been facing formidable opposition and would have been less adventurous than he was had Karna from day one started squarely as a Pandava, if not a claimant to the throne.

Anyway, back to Pandu - how do you think he'd have reacted had Kunti told him the truth?

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Shobha

@ssroomani

Rocker

+ 5

Posted: 12 years ago

Good question. My feeling is that Pandu would disown Kunti and not accept Karna if he came to know she had had a child before marriage.

It is interesting what you say about Bheeshma knowing about Karna...did he know this when he arranged Pandu and Kunti's marriage? Can you give me the reference to this...I thought he came to know later on...not that early in the story!

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GOLDIEE ABROL

@Gold.Abrol

Stunner

+ 12

Posted: 12 years ago

yes very nice question I think Pandu would have accepted kunti n karna as his wife n son as karna was born as a boon from GOD SUN n moreover as pandu character is shown in the epic he would have if kunti had told her on the right time 😊

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Surya Sundarraj Sriram

@Surya_krsnbhakt

Dazzler

Posted: 12 years ago

I chose option one, because I don't think Pandu would be so heartless. Even if he was heartless, acc to your question, he qouldn't be able to have children so kicking Kunti out of the picture would be a pretty dim-witted thing to do.

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S.n.e.h

@S.n.e.h

Voyager

Posted: 12 years ago

I think Pandu would have accepted Kunti...not because he was not able to become a father due to curse...but because their grandmother was also having a similar fate..and Hastinapur and Bheeshma had accepted Satyavati...who also had a child pre-marriage and not only satyawati but Hastinapur and Bheeshma even accepted Vyas and took his help in continuing Kuru vansh ...

may be then other Pandava's would have never existed...and today we would have been talking about the war between Karna and Duryodhan may be...

but Shakuni and Dhritrashtra ...and Satyawati might also ...would have forced Pandu and rest of the people to punish and reject her...

this option is not there in your choices...so i chose nothing there

Edited by snehalS - 12 years ago

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TINA

@...Tina...

Inactive

+ 3

Posted: 12 years ago

nice question, yes pandu would have accepted..!!😊

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JustMySelf

@JustMySelf

Rocker

Posted: 12 years ago

as a person pandu wd hv accepted kunti..bt as d king of hastinapur he wdnt hv bin able to accept kunti or karna as then dhriti wd hv used it against him to ridicule n pt out that he ws as much imperfect as a ruler due to his wife hving a child much b4 marriage as ws he being blind..

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rasyafan

@rasyafan

Dazzler

Posted: 12 years ago

Yes Pandu would have accepted Kunti if Kunti had given her reasoning why she had karn he was a very wise king and compassionate too

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Manoj

@Manojie

Voyager

Posted: 12 years ago

I think the fact that Pandu accepted the rest of them as his sons would suggest he would have accepted Karan as well.

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Vrish

@Vr15h

Stunner

+ 6

Posted: 12 years ago

#10

Originally posted by: snehalS
I think Pandu would have accepted Kunti...not because he was not able to become a father due to curse...but because their grandmother was also having a similar fate..and Hastinapur and Bheeshma had accepted Satyavati...who also had a child pre-marriage and not only satyawati but Hastinapur and Bheeshma even accepted Vyas and took his help in continuing Kuru vansh ...
may be then other Pandava's would have never existed...and today we would have been talking about the war between Karna and Duryodhan may be...

but Shakuni and Dhritrashtra ...and Satyawati might also ...would have forced Pandu and rest of the people to punish and reject her...

this option is not there in your choices...so i chose nothing there

I didn't put the option there in my choices, b'cos at the point of time that I'm asking about, Pandu had already abdicated. Remember, in the Rama-Sita case, Rama exiled Sita b'cos he was still the king, but he never disowned her as a wife. But in this case, Pandu was no longer the king, so had he disowned Kunti, it could only have been in terms of terminating the marriage.

I happen to think that Pandu would have accepted Karna had Kunti fessed up to him after Rishi Kindam's curse. However, I think it's an open question had Kunti fessed up any earlier - had she told him after her wedding about this, he may have considered her impure and abandoned her for Madri. I think the latter is a tough call, and in this case, Satyavati, Bheeshma or the subjects may have been in a position to force him to disown Kunti. But I don't agree that either Dhritarashtra nor Shakuni could have done that (Shakuni was actually not in the picture, contrary to the serials) Given that Bheeshma may have approached Shalya b'cos of his knowledge of Kunti/Karna's secret, it may not have been such a smooth sailing for Kunti had her secret come out that early.

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