Sura of the Yadava race was a famous king. He had a daughter known as Pritha and a son named Vasudeva. This Vasudeva was the father of Krishna. Pritha was made the adopted daughter of Sura’s cousin called Kuntibhoja. For this reason the girl was called Kinti. As a girl she had an opportunity to do personal service to the sage Durvasa for full one year.
Being pleased with her flawless service the Rishi taught her a sacred formula by uttering which she could invoke any God upon herself. One day Kunti uttered the sacred formula for fun thinking of the sun god. The deity appeared and offered to embrace her for progeny. But the sun god put it that his invocation would not go fruitless that she would get a son full of sun’s splendor and that she would again become a virgin.
Kunti begot a son in secret and put him in a casket together with some gems and floated him down the river abandoning him to fate. That baby was to be the future Karna of the Mahabharata fame. In a swayamvara Kunti chose Pandu as her husband for the satisfaction of Bheeshma. But later Pandu married a second queen Madri who was the sister of Salya, the King of Madra. Kunti told the sacred formula and invited Dharmadeva and she obtained a child who was named as Yudhishthira, which means firm in war and virtue.
Kunti invoked the wind god and got Bheema the second son which means terribly strong. Kunti begot Arjuna the third son from Indra, the King of gods. Then Kunti taught the sacred formula to Madri and she chanted the mantra and invited twin Aswins who gave her Nakula and Sahadeva. The Pandava brothers became five in this manner.
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