Description

With a split destiny ruling her life, Kunti, given away at birth, leads a hard but

uneventful existence in her foster-father's home. At fourteen she is pressed

into the service of the temperamental sage Durvasa who grants her a boon. Its

first use, however, only brings her adversity and a shameful secret.

With her marriage to Pandu, Kunti dreams of a better future, but a

curse makes him leave the throne of Hastinapur to his sibling, the blind

Dhritarashtra, and retreat to the forest. When Pandu dies suddenly, Kunti

journeys back to the kingdom, no longer its queen but a widow; a dependant,

as are her five sons. She must now take up the task of guiding them through

the long struggle to get their inheritance, a struggle made harder by the

discovery that Karna, the illegitimate child she had abandoned long ago, is

alive and a sworn enemy of the Pandavas.

Recasting the Mahabharata from the viewpoint of Kunti, The Kaunteyas replaces

the idealized mother figure with a fully three-dimensional woman, providing

new insights into the epic.