In the previous episode, we had witnessed Shakuntala Devi giving back to King Dushyanta for his seemingly reckless answer. As Shakuntala Devi reminded King Dushyanta about his past relationship with her, he was not ready to accept her as well as Bharata. Even though the entire courtroom was convinced that Shakuntala Devi was talking the truth and Bharata looked exactly like him, King Dushyanta was not ready to accept. Finally as King Dushyanta was stubborn with his decision of not accepting both of them, Shakuntala Devi thunders aloud amidst the entire courtroom that she wants justice! In these lines she tries to educate King Dushyanta how he’s trying to escape from his wrongdoing just because nobody has witnessed it first hand. Just because no human being has seen what had happened, it doesn’t mean that Bhagawan hasn’t seen. He correctly makes note of all whatever we do knowingly, unknowingly, under somebody’s supervision or in private. As Shakuntala Devi explains to him clearly that he’s only going to accumulate his sins by not accepting her and Bharata, King Dushyanta stands still, without giving any sort of a response. He waits for Shakuntala to complete her accord.
Now the question here is whether King Dushyanta is going to accept Shakuntala Devi and Bharata or not. Even after so much of description and explanation from Shakuntala Devi, if King Dushyanta is not going to change his stance, he is going to land up in a huge problem. However, with Bhagawan’s divine “Anugraha”, a divine voice from above thundered thus, “Oh Dushyanta! Please understand that you do not remember your past because of fate. However, Shakuntala Devi who is standing in front of you now is your real wife and Bharata is your real son and successor of the kingdom of Hastinapura. Hence, you should accept both of them and do the needful to facilitate Bharata to become the “Yuvaraja” of the kingdom!”
As the divine voice thunders from above, King Dushyanta has no other option but to accept Shakuntala and Bharata. Moreover, King Dushyanta was also satisfied with the explanation and with all his heart, he accepts Shakuntala as his wife and Bharata as his own son. Subsequently, a grand “Yuvaraja-Pattabisheka” is performed and Bharata was coronated as the “Yuvaraja” or the next successor of King Dushyanta. As years passed by, Bharata was duly crowned as the king and with this, King Dushyanta and Shakuntala Devi descended to the forest for their last days of their lives.
This is one side of the story. As Bharata was ruling the kingdom effectively and righteously, this entire country came to be known as “Bhaarata-Varsha” or “Bharata-Kanda”. Even now we call our country India as “Bhaarata-Desha” or “Bhaarat” isn’t it? This name was derived from this king called Bharata who ruled the country for a hundred years with full focus on “Dharma”. This Bharata was in the “Dvaapara Yuga”. However, we’ve seen that during the “Krita Yuga”, there was someone called “Jada-Bharata”. This person was the son of Rishabha-Deva and came in the lineage of Svaayambhuva Manu, Priyavrata and Utthaanapaada. We had discussed this in our Shrimad Bhaagawatha Puraana project in detail. Readers can refer to that for more details on Sage Bharata, who was also referred to as “Jada-Bharata”. This Sage Bharata thus lived during the Krita Yuga. Subsequently, during the “Tretha Yuga”, we’ve witnessed Bhagawan Rama’s brother to be Bharata isn’t it? Bharata was Kaikeyi’s son and was one amongst the four sons of King Dasharata along with Bhagawan Rama.
Thus, we’ve seen three Bharatas in three different Yugas and this is the reason behind our country being worshipped as “Bhaarata-Desha” or “Bhaarata”. So for today, let us understand this important point and let us witness the continuation of this interesting discussion in the next episode! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 