Satyavati, we know was a matsyagandha, daughter of Dusaraj. King Shantanu fell head over heels for Satyavati and approached her father for marriage. Satyavati being the ambitious lady that she was, wanted to become the queen of India and at the same time wanted her sons to rule the country after their father. Now we know that King Bharat, son of Shakuntala and Dushyant; took it on himself to guide the precedence of throne based on merits and not on genes (DNA) only. Satyavati's ambition took this rule to task, when Devavrat was forced to take an oath for her sons to succeed Shantanu to the throne of Hastinapur. These chaps were not born yet, and hence there was no question for them to prove their worth.As if this was not enough, they fail to bag a bride and hence are not able to give any heirs to the throne. Which then becomes sage Vyas's job to fulfill. That's a story for another time. However, Satyavati is seen lamenting that her ambition led to fall of Hastinapur. But Satyavati is among the most powerful female characters in Mahabharata; she wielded power and influence. She took the onus of this decision and directed the course of events and fate of men and their generations to follow. This was the first stone for Mahabharata or Kurukshetra which was laid by Satyavati many years ago.
The next in row is Kunti, or Pritha; daughter of King Sura and adopted by king Kuntibhoja. A young girl; devoted to the service of gods, sages, and guests, Kunti so pleased the sage Durvasa that he taught her a mantra that enabled her to invoke any god of her choice and have a son born out of him.Out of curiosity, she thinks of Surya dev and calls him using the matra and is blessed with a son, who will grow up to become Karna. She later uses this boon to procreate with 5 different gods to give birth to Pandavas, in assistance with Madri, as Pandu is rendered incapable due to a curse. The eldest son is floated away in Ganga as she couldn't raise him as an unmarried woman. Karna, is raised by a charioteer who is childless. He faces ridicule all his life and later befriends Duryodhana, who treasures Karna as a own for all his worth.
Duryodhana is confident about wining the Kurukshetra because of his reliance on Karna. If and only if the alliance of Karna was to his own brothers, the pandavas; there was a chance that war could be averted. Much later, after the 18 day war is over, it is revealed that Karna was actually the eldest Pandava and the actual heir to the throne of Hastinapur. Yudhister hold Kunti responsible for the war and curses her and women all across the world and generations to come, that will never be able to hold any secrets ever.
The third in row is none other then Panchali aka Draupadi. She is born out of a yagya kund to king Drupad, who was actually doing this yagna in order to get a son who can kill Drona for the insult he threw at Drupad ,when he asked Pandavas to capture him. Now this is common knowledge, that when Draupadi made fun of Duryodhan calling him blind like his father, he felt insulted and later this led to Draupadi's cheerharan, which culminated into Mahabharata war.What is descreeting hidden is that molestation/ sexual assault of Draupadi was tried by not just the Kaurava clan but in two other instances by Jaidrat and while Pandavas were on exile- agyatvas by Keechak, brother-in-law and the commander-in-chief of Matsya, the country ruled by King Virata. Both of these were killed/ punished by Pandavas then and there to avoid any war like situation. Such was the might of these women.
While we can say that there were multiple ego clashes between the princes of Kuru clan, there were conspiracies planned and executed and largely it was also a question of striking that balance which Shri Krishna spoke of in Geetasar. But despite all this there was an important and unflaggering role played by each of these women who contributed to happening of the Kurukshetra war.
Stay tuned for more.
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