Why was Madri superior in birth to Kunti?

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Janaki

@RamKiSeeta

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Posted: 11 years ago

Based on what Vyasa's Mahabharata says about Madri, and also what SP is showing, I was wondering why Madri considered herself superior in birth to Kunti.

Were the Yadavas supposed to be inferior in birth? 😕 Kunti was the biological daughter of King Shurasena of the Yadavas, and the adopted daughter of Kuntibhoja. Both her biological and foster fathers were Kings, so why was Madri superior in birth?

"Vaisampayana said, 'After the birth of Kunti's sons and also of the hundred sons of Dhritarashtra the daughter of the king of the Madras privately addressed Pandu, saying, 'O slayer of foes, I have no complaint even if thou beest unpropitious to me. I have, O sinless one, also no complaint that though by birth I am superior to Kunti yet I am inferior to her in station. I do not grieve, O thou of Kuru's race, that Gandhari hath obtained a hundred sons. This, however, is my great grief that while Kunti and I are equal, I should be childless, while it should so chance that thou shouldst have offspring by Kunti alone. If the daughter of Kuntibhoja should so provide that I should have offspring, she would then be really doing me a great favour and benefiting thee likewise. She being my rival, I feel a delicacy in soliciting any favour of her. If thou beest, O king, propitiously disposed to me, then ask her to grant my desire.'

http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m01/m01125.htm

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Sabhayata

@Sabhayata

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Posted: 11 years ago

Well there are two ways to look at this

like some one explained in one of the threads kunti belonged to yadav vansh who were never supposed to be kings they had a system of council who used to rule like greek system so there was no king as such hence kunti wanst daughter of a king

also if you consider shursen a king he wasn't a king for a long time as mathura was taken over by kansa's father or kansa himself i dont remember which one.Hence again kunti wanst daughter of king

also further in MB krishna ji gets insulted by a kshatriya for being a yadav just in the same way as Madri did today

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Janaki

@RamKiSeeta

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Posted: 11 years ago

Originally posted by: Sabhayata
Well there are two ways to look at this

like some one explained in one of the threads kunti belonged to yadav vansh who were never supposed to be kings they had a system of council who used to rule like greek system so there was no king as such hence kunti wanst daughter of a king

also if you consider shursen a king he wasn't a king for a long time as mathura was taken over by kansa's father or kansa himself i dont remember which one.Hence again kunti wanst daughter of king

also further in MB krishna ji gets insulted by a kshatriya for being a yadav just in the same way as Madri did today

I always thought Krishna was insulted by people for being raised as a "cowherd" in Gokul. The Yadavas themselves were very powerful and illustrious people. They descended from King Yadu, who was the eldest son of King Yayati of the Chandravansh. Yadu was exiled by his father for not exchanging his youth with him after Shukracharya had cursed him to lose his youth, so he set up his own kingdom and from then on, all the princes born in his family were called the Yadavas.

I know Shurasena lost his Kingdom after Kamsa had snatched it from him, but that doesn't quite change the fact that he was King, right? Or that he has royal blood? 😕

Madri claimed that her birth was superior to Kunti's, not necessarily the current situation of their respective fathers. I'm just wondering how the Kingdom of Madra was in any way superior to the Yadavas, who were far stronger than them.

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Sabhayata

@Sabhayata

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Posted: 11 years ago

Yayati curses yadu that he will never become a king hence in yadav clan no one is a king its more like Greek system of council.

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Janaki

@RamKiSeeta

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Posted: 11 years ago

Originally posted by: Sabhayata
Yayati curses yadu that he will never become a king hence in yadav clan no one is a king its more like Greek system of council.

Did he? I thought he cursed him that none of his descendants would become the King of his own kingdom. I am just surprised because the Yadava Dynasty is pretty huge and is renown for its strong Kings even before the birth of Krishna and Balarama.

Early History[edit]

India's famous name Bharat or Bharat-Varsh is actually named after a descendant of the Puru dynasty King Bharat . There were two main Vedic cultures in ancient India. The first was a northern kingdom centered on the Sarasvati-Drishadvati river region dominated by the Purus and the Ikshvakus. The second was a southern culture along the coast of the Arabian Sea and into the Vindhya Mountains, dominated by the Turvashas and Yadus and extending into groups yet further south. These northern and southern groups vied for supremacy and influenced each other in various ways as the Vedas and Puranas indicate. The northern or Bharata culture ultimately prevailed, making India the land of Bharata or Bharatavarsha and its main ancient literary record the Vedas, though militarily the Yadus remained strong throughout history.^[1]

Kuru Kings[edit]

Kuru was born after 25 generations of Puru's dynasty, and after 15 generations of Kuru, Kauravas and Pandavas were born. These were the same renowned Kaurav and Pandavs who fought the epic battle of Mahabharata. The dynasty of king Yadu - Andhak, Vrasni and Bhoj, under the leadership of Shree Krishna, helped the Pandavas win the battle. According to Puranic tradition, the war occurred 95 generations after Manu Vaivasvata.^[2] The Puranas state that there are 1,050 years between Parikshit of the Kurus and the last Kuru king at the time of Mahapadma Nanda.^[3]

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704537

Hibernated

Posted: 11 years ago

tfs dear

But i also had this doubt as to why was Madri being rude to Kunti 😕

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Bhaskari

@bhas1066

Navigator

Posted: 11 years ago

hello all,
this point was already raised in the EDT, but i hope these excerpts from original mahabharat ( in italics and blue) will clear up things a bit:

first thing is yadu was cursed that none of his descendants will be king, be it any kingdom:

"Yayati replied, 'Thou art sprung from my heart, O son, but thou givest me not thy youth. Therefore, thy children shall never be kings.' "

secondly all througout the mahabharata , yadavas are referred to as tribes. Tribals are lesser Kshatriyas.

And Halayudha (Valadeva) and Janardana (Krishna) and the chief of the Vrishni, Andhaka, and Yadava tribes who obeyed the leadership of Krishna were also there, viewing the scene.

An excerpt from Jaya by devdutt pattnaik:

An indignant Yadu left Yayati's kingdom and travelled south to Mathura, the kingdom of the Naga people. There his beauty and mannerisms impressed a Naga called Dhumravarna. Marry my daughters. Be my son-in-law. Make Mathura your home,' he said. Yadu agreed because the Nagas of Mathura had no king; they were ruled by a council of elders through the system of consensus. This suited him well. Cursed, he could not be king. Still, in Mathura, he could be ruler. Yadu married Dhumravarna's daughters and they bore him children from whom descended various tribes such as the Andhakas, the Bhojakas and the Vrishnis. Collectively, these descendants of Yadu were called the Yadavas.
Krishna would be born in the Yadava clan. Like other Yadavas, he would never be king, only a kingmaker.

Edited by bhas1066 - 11 years ago

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