Kunti

Mother of the first three pandavas — Yudhishthira, Bhima, and Arjuna. Also known as Pritha; Partha and Kaunteya are her son.

Overview

Kunti is the biological mother of Yudhishthira, Bhima, and Arjuna, and the adoptive mother of Nakula and Sahadeva. Her personal name is Pritha; Kunti is the name she took from her foster-father Kuntibhoja. That dual name is why Arjuna is addressed in the Gita by two distinct matronymics: Partha (son of Pritha) and Kaunteya (son of Kunti). Swami Sarvapriyananda notes that Kaunteya appears roughly 24 times in the Gita — every occurrence a reminder to Arjuna of who his mother is and what she expects of him.

That matters because before the battle, Kunti sent a message through Krishna to her sons: do not back down; fight. The mother of the Pandavas — who endured years of humiliation and exile — is not asking for peace. So each time Krishna calls Arjuna Kaunteya, he is invoking her charge.

Related

• arjuna — her son; Partha and Kaunteya trace back to her
• pandavas — her sons
• krishna — messenger between Kunti and her sons before the battle
• mahabharata — the epic that carries her story

Lecture evidence

• Ep. 2 [~15:00]: Kaunteya appears about 24 times in the Gita; Krishna invokes Arjuna’s mother deliberately.
• Ep. 2 [~17:00]: Kunti sent a message to her sons through Krishna — fight, do not waver.