@leader_san My favourite character is Kuntī - she comes across as a real person consistently protecting her social position. When Pāṇḍu asks her to invoke a fourth God to father a child, Kuntī says no, then people would call her cāriṇī, and with the fifth, bandhakī. Then she resents Mādrī for getting twins and doesn't give her a chance to have more sons. Even when Pāṇḍu lies dead, Kuntī feels jealous that Mādrī saw his aroused face, and asserts her right as his senior wife to follow him in death. Later, Kuntī exhorts her sons to war because Kṛṣṇā Draupadī's humiliation shouldn't go unpunished. And Kuntī tells Karṇa that he's her son, hoping that he'll support Yudhiṣṭhira, but she makes a conscious choice not to tell Yudhiṣṭhira about Karṇa until after the war is over.
Kuntī tells Kṛṣṇa, "I have never made a distinction between Dhṛtarāṣṭra's children and Pāṇḍu's - by that truth, may I see you and Pāṇḍu's sons emerge from this war, having killed your enemies and chosen by prosperity." (na me viśeṣo jātv āsīd Dhārtarāṣṭreṣu Pāṇḍavaiḥ, tena satyena Kṛṣṇa tvāṃ hat'āmitraṃ śriyā vṛtam asmād vimuktaṃ saṃgrāmāt paśyeyaṃ Pāṇḍavaiḥ saha) Kuntī who didn't go to forest exile with her own sons left royal comfort in her old age for the forest with Gāndhārī and Dhṛtarāṣṭra.
I am curious about why Kuntī says: "I blame not myself, nor Suyodhana, but my father who entrusted me to Kunti Bhoja like property to cheats. I was a child playing with a ball in my hand when your Grandfather gave me to Kunti Bhoja as a friend to his eminent friend. So I was cheated by my father, then by my in-laws (Dhṛtarāṣṭra), scorcher of your opponent! Kṛṣṇa, I am extremely aggrieved. What have I accomplished in life?" (pitaraṃ tv eva garheyaṃ n'ātmānaṃ na Suyodhanam yen'āhaṃ Kunti-Bhojāya dhanaṃ dhūrtair iv'ārpitā. bālāṃ mām Āryakas tubhyaṃ krīḍantīṃ kandu-hastakām adadāt Kunti-Bhojāya sakhā sakhye mah'ātmane. sā'haṃ pitrā ca nikṛtā śvaśuraiś ca paraṃtapa atyanta-duḥkhitā Kṛṣṇa. kiṃ jīvita-phalaṃ mama?)
