Much-loved ancient tales from the Indian sacred text the Mahabharata demonstrate some important motifs found within Christianity as well. As part of this discussion of comparative religion and mythology, it has often been argued that the Indian god Krishna’s mother was not a virgin but only a “chaste” maiden who had previously given birth to seven others. In this regard, I have discussed the general subject of a pre-Christian and non-Christian virgin mother in depth in my books, especially Suns of God and Christ in Egypt, and I have also published an article and lengthy forum post specifically about whether or not Krishna’s mother, Devaki, could be considered a “virgin.” Included in the counter-argument on this subject is the impression that it is absurd to even consider the concept of a virgin birth and virgin mother in any other religion or mythology than Christianity.
As it turns out – and as can be seen from numerous links in the forum post “Was Krishna’s Mother a Virgin?” – Indian religion and mythology very much possess the notions of a virgin-born hero and virgin mother, found in the very texts in which Krishna is made famous. Indeed, the writer of the Mahabharata, himself named Krishna, was said to have been virgin born! In consideration of the fact that the Mahabharata (c. 400 BCE to c. 4th cent. AD/CE) was begun several centuries before the Christian era, if the oldest strata included this tale of their purported author being named Krishna and being virgin born, then we have in this legend a Krishna with a virgin mother centuries before Christ allegedly existed.
Moreover, the subject of the story discussed below, the virgin Kunti – whose sacred name is passed down to us in the ancient and venerable word “cunt” – is the aunt of Krishna’s mother. Furthermore, Devaki herself is depicted as having been impregnated as an unwed – and therefore presumably virginal – teenager after eating a piece of fruit. In consideration of these factors – including the others highlighted in my writings, such as that Devaki is clearly not a real person but a mythical figure with the attributes of a dawn goddess – it is not unreasonable or unscientific to label Krishna’s mother a “virgin” as well, as many have done.
This Kunti-Surya-Karna story from the Mahabharata is recounted in the article Kunti and the Birth of the Sun God’s Child, which includes some gems such as:
One morning, finding that their stock of water is over, Kunti takes a pot and goes to fetch water. There she bathes in the lake, removing her outer clothes and wearing just her undergarments and after her bath bows to the sun covering herself in a thin shawl. The sun [Surya] is enamored by her beauty and she is struck by his arrows of rays. The rays enter her belly and Kunti conceives. The pregnancy grows instantly and soon the child comes out breaking open her skull. Kunti takes the baby and kissing him, tells him that she had no right to give birth to him since she is a virgin and now she can’’ take him to the dhooni for that will taint the holy place….
…It is the blood of such mighty emperors that runs through Kunti’s veins. And as Shoorasena’s daughter, she is Vasudeva’s sister and Krishna’s maternal aunt….
…The Bharata empire, at the end of the Mahabharata, through Kunti, goes to the Yadava blood [so named from the ancestor Yadu]….
…soon after her marriage, she discovered that her young husband, the handsome scion of the Bharatas, was impotent in bed. As she would admit later when he lay dead before her, he could never make love to her….
The Mahabharata itself, in what definitely a much later interpolation, says in a chapter…that Kunti is an incarnation of the goddess Siddhi….
…A kaneena son is the one born to one’s wife when she was a kanya, that is, before her marriage. This is exactly what had happened to Kunti – Karna was her kaneena son….
In Vyasa’s epic, Karna’s birth and the incidents leading to it are narrated twice….
…The Mahabharata here mentions clearly that Soorya [Surya] did not have sex with her, but impregnated her through his yogic power so that her maidenhood remained undamaged….
Thus in the first narration of the story Karna is the result of actual sex between Kunti and Soorya, in the second Kunti and Soorya do not have sex and the consummation of the invocation is through a yogic process, leaving Kunti’s virginity intact, making Karna’s birth an ‘immaculate’ one and Kunti a virgin mother in the most inclusive meaning of the term.
In addition to the virgin-born hero theme, this Kunti-Karna story from the Mahabharata also contains the motif of the newborn baby being placed in a box or boat and set adrift on a river, much the same as in the story of Moses:
Vyasa’s Mahabharata gives us an unforgettably touching picture of how the young woman takes her newborn child to the Ashwa river and floats him in it. As soon as he is born, Kunti talks to her dhatri and gets a box. She spreads soft clothes inside it, and then covers all the joints with wax so that no water enters it. After this is done, she places the sleeping child in it and taking it to the river Ashwa near midnight, floats him in it….
And then Kunti wails again, bemoaning her lot, saying that his father the sun god is blessed indeed since he can watch with his divine eyes his son as he is carried forward by the river, and that blessed is the woman who would bring him up as her son, suckling him when he cries for milk….
As we can see, there is good reason to be skeptical of supernatural stories in the Bible, as these turn out to be patently mythical motifs found in the religion and mythology of other cultures as well. More about these fascinating aspects of comparative religion and mythology can be found in my books, ebooks and articles at StellarHousePublishing.com and TruthBeKnown.com.
(Note I did not write the caption on the image here.)
Further Reading
Was Krishna Born of a Virgin? (article)
Krishna Born of a Virgin? (book chapter)
Was Krishna’s Mother a Virgin? (forum thread)
Krishna’s mother’s status ultimately irrelevant to subject of parthenogenesis
