Dushyanta

Dushyant or Dushyanta (दुष्‍यंत) was a great king in classical Indian literature and mythology. He is the husband of Shakuntala and the father of the Emperor Bharat. He appears in the Mahabarata and in Kalidasa's play The Recognition of Sakuntala (c. 300 CE).

Historical king

According to the Mahābhārata, Dushyant is said to have ruled, either directly or through his governors, from Gandhara (present day Kandahar in Afghanistan) to the Vindhyas and beyond, and from Sindhu, (present day Pakistan) to Vanga, (present day Bangladesh).

Love for Shakuntala

The story of Dushyant's encounter, marriage, separation and reunion with his queen, Shakuntala, has been immortalized in the Mahabrata and in The Recognition of Sakuntala by the great Sanskrit poet Kalidasa.

Dushyant meets Shakuntala, who is a daughter of Vishvamitra and Menaka, while on an excursion from his kingdom. Depending on the source, Dushyant is either the crown prince, or he is waiting to win back his kingdom from an enemy. Either way, he sees Shakuntala in an ashram (hermitage) of Rishi Kanva and falls in love. He and Shakuntala have a gandharva marriage there. Having to leave after some time, Dushyant gives Shakuntala a royal ring as a sign of their love, promising her that he will come to her.

But when Dushyant becomes king, he becomes too absorbed for many years in affairs of state. Shakuntala waits and despairs.

One day,sage Durvasa visits the hermitage, but Shakuntala, who is too absorbed in her love for Dushyant, forgets to serve him food. In a fit of anger, sage Durvasa curses her, saying that the person she is thinking about will forget her. A shocked Shakuntala begs for forgiveness and the sage, after recollecting his calm, assures her that the person will remember her again when she shows some proof of their acquaintance.

So, Shakuntala sets off to the capital, Hastinapur, to remind Dushyant of their past love. An accident occurs by which a fish consumes the royal ring, leaving Shakuntala with no formidable proof.

Dushyant does not recollect Shakuntala, but his memory and love are rekindled when a sage (not the same who cursed Shakuntala) recovers the ring and brings it to the court. Dushyant weds Shakuntala, who becomes his queen and mother of his son, Bharata.

A different version of the story involves Shakuntala's father, the great and legendary sage Vishwamithra, who is said to have bowed his head to none. Dushyant's forgetting of Shakuntala was a device invented by the other sages, including Vashishtar, to make Vishwamithra bow. For the sake of his daughter the great sage is said to have bowed before the great king Dushyant to persuade him to accept his daughter. The sages, delighted, immediately brought the memory of Shakuntala into the mind of Dushyant.

Bharata

According to most mythological sources, Dushyant was the father of Emperor Bharata, who is generally credited with uniting India under his rule (see origin of India's name). According to the Mahābhārata Adiparva, Bharata was born while Shakuntala awaited Dushyant at her hermitage. a fisher man catches the same fish who had consumed the ring.His wife wants to make curry out of it.while cutting the fish the wife of the fisherman finds the ring and takes it to the king.then the king remembers all his accuaintance with shakuntala and goes to search for her.

See also

• Emperor Bharata
• Mahābhārata