In the
Mahabharata, Kunti is the mother of the
Pandavas. In her girlhood, she was so devoted to sage
Durvasas, that he gave her a boon by which she could have a child by any god she wished to evoke. To experiment the boon, Kunti called upon
Surya and by him she had a son named
Karna. Subsequently she married King
Pandu of Hastinapur. Using the boon she was gifted three sons,
Yudishtira from
Yama, Bhima from
Vayu, and Arjuna from
Indra. Later the boon was favored to Madri, Pandu's second wife, who got the twin sons Nakula and Sahadeva from the twin gods, the Asvins. The five sons were together called the
Pandavas. After the end of the great Kurukshetra war Kunti along with
Dhritarashtra and
Gandhari went to the forest to meditate where they perished in forest fire.