Shakuntala

A figure in Hindu mythology and the
protagonist in the drama Abhijnanashakuntala written by the poet
Kalidasa. Shakuntala is the daughter
of the apsara Menaka and the sage
Vishvamitra, conceived when Menaka
is sent to seduce Vishvamitra in an
attempt to reduce his spiritual powers.
Shakuntala is raised at the ashram of
the sage Kanva, where she grows into a
beautiful young woman. One day she
attracts the eye of King Dushyanta,
who has been hunting in the forest,
and they are married by the gandharva form of marriage (consensual sexual intercourse), conceiving their son
Bharata. Shakuntala’s happiness,
however, is short-lived. As she is thinking one day about Dushyanta, who has
traveled back to his capital without
her, she fails to notice the arrival of the
sage Durvasas. In his anger at being
ignored, Durvasas lays a curse that her
beloved will completely forget her.
Shakuntala, horrified, manages to
convince Durvasas to modify the
curse: Dushyanta will remember
everything, as soon as Shakuntala
shows him proof of their union.
Shakuntala has Dushyanta’s signet
ring as proof, but she loses it on her
way to see Dushyanta. Dushyanta (as
expected) denies that he has ever met
Shakuntala, and she eventually ends
up working as one of the palace cooks.
Her salvation comes unexpectedly,
when she finds the missing ring in the
belly of a fish she is preparing for the
king’s dinner. When she shows him the
ring, Dushyanta immediately recognizes Shakuntala and acknowledges
her as his wife, and the couple live
happily ever after.
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Shakuntala