Who is Kunti?

The gift and the secret

As a girl, Kunti served the short-tempered sage Durvasa so well that he gave her a mantra: with it she could call any god and have a child by him. Curious, and very young, she tried it. The sun god Surya appeared, and she had a son born with shining armour and earrings.

Afraid of the shame, she placed the baby in a basket and set him on the river. That child was Karna. She told no one.

The mother of the Pandavas

Kunti married King Pandu. When a curse meant he could not father children, she used the mantra again, with his blessing, and had Yudhishthira, Bhima and Arjuna. She raised them along with Madri’s twin sons as her own, and after Pandu’s death she brought all five back to Hastinapura.

Kunti is the steady centre of the Pandavas. She escaped the burning house with them, wandered the forests with them, and her words carry the weight of law for her sons, sometimes with surprising results, as when she told them to share what they had brought home, not knowing it was Draupadi.

How Kunti’s story ends (spoilers)

Just before the war she finally went to Karna and told him the truth. He would not change sides, but he promised her she would still have five sons when it was over: he would spare all of his brothers except Arjuna. After the war she told the Pandavas who Karna had been. Then she left the palace with Dhritarashtra and Gandhari, and died with them in the forest.