Menaka

Mahabharata Janani Janmabhoomi

Episode#3

Menaka

Menaka was one of most beautiful and the oft-appreciated apasara or celestial maiden of the heavens! Indra had assigned her a job to break the severe penance undertaken by the most revered sage of ancient India - Vishwamitra!

Menaka was successful in surfacing Vishwamitra lust and passion with her stunning beauty and by her graceful dances breaking the sage's meditation, but unfortunately, she could not help herself falling in love with Vishwamitra.

First she thought it was infatuation, it turned out into pure love, though the sage loved her equally, when he realized that he was tricked by Indra and thinking Menaka was not party to it, he decided to abandon her even after knowing that she was already pregnant.

She left him and wandered in wilderness and gave birth to beautiful daughter! She abandon her baby girl at the hermit of sage Kanva who later bought her up till she grew into a beautiful - Shakuntala.

Dushayant the king of Hastinapur and ancestor of Kuru dynasty chanced to set his eyes on this beautiful maiden on his excursion away from the kingdom! He was strongly drawn to her despite the realisation that he was falling in love with her.

Rishi Kanva was away for some time and not knowing about exact time of return, they married with the trees, flowers and birds as their witnesses and spend time making love. He waited for Rishi Kanva to return so that he can take her officially to his kingdom and hence with heavy heart he decided to part and promise to return soon and take her, he offered a Royal ring as a sign of their love and left for Hastinapur.

King Dushayant, after going back became too busy with the various affairs of his kingdom, while Shakuntala gave a birth to his son who came to be called as Bharat. When he grew up he enquired about his father, at this point sage Kanva's insistence she went to meet King Dushayant with his son.

When Shakuntala with his son stood before King Dushayant he failed to recognize her and asked for some evidence or eyewitnesses, she was too innocent, she had lost Dushayant ring in the lake, which was the only evidence to win him back and so to avoid further embarrassment before her son, she said "I came here not to find my husband but to show my son his father, which is have done so" saying this she started walking back.

Suddenly, a fisherwoman came and gave a ring - she found the ring inside the fish while cutting, Dushayant recognized the ring and while heartedly accepted Shakuntala and his son Bharata.

Bharata,the son of king Dushayant and Shakuntala was thus descendant of the lunar dynasty of Kshatriya varna. He rules victoriously and earned great fame and gave his name to the dynasty of which he was the founder - which came to be known as "Bharat Harsh"