Early Life

Kunala was born in 263 BC[1] as Dharmavivardhana to Mauryan Emperor Ashoka and his third wife Padmavati.  It is said that his eyes were as beautiful as those of Kunala bird that lives in the Himalayas and in order to make comparison a Kunala bird was brought from the Himalaya to Emperor Ashoka’s court.  After finding that his son’s eyes were exact match of those of the bird, Ashoka named his son Kunala.[2] While growing up the prince attained proficiency in many arts especially music. On the attainment of youth, Kunala was married to a princess named Kanchanamala.

Blinding

Both Mahavamsa and Divyavadana agree that after the death of his faithful consort Ashandhimitra, Emperor Ashoka late in his life married a young woman named Tishyarakshita, his last chief Queen.[3] Tishyarakshita was attracted to Prince Kunala and began to cast amorous glances on her stepson.[4] When she approached Kunala, the prince cried and exclaimed: “Mother! Pray stop the sinful speech! Forget not that I am your son!”[5]

After Prince Kunala repulsed her advances, Tishyarakshita passion for Kunala changed into bitter hate and she resolved to take revenge. Meanwhile in 235 BC Kunala, then 28 years old was sent as a Viceroy to Taxila to suppress the revolt. On his departure, Emperor Ashoka warned his son to verify orders received which would be sealed with an impression of King’s teeth. Since then months passed, Tishyarakshita ever growing hatred led her to devise a plot against the prince. Tishyarakshita wrote a dispatch, addressed to Kunala’s ministers in Taxila in which she ordered to put out the eyes of Prince Kunala and to send prince and his wife into the mountains to perish. When Emperor was asleep, Tishyarakshita cunningly sealed the dispatch with the impression of his teeth.

The ministers were not ready to carry out the orders, but Prince Kunala said that his father’s order must be obeyed. Afterwards, the prince’s eyes were plucked out, and Kunala accompanied by his wife wandered throughout as a blind beggar, making living by singing and playing the veena.[6] In the course of their wandering, they reached Patliputra. The prince managed to enter the inner court of the palace where he played his veena and sang a song full of sadness. Ashoka heard the song and immediately recognized the voice of his son. On seeing his sightless son, Ashoka’s heart was overwhelmed with grief. Ashoka came to know that it was Tishyarakshita who brought all the misery on his son. The Emperor ordered to put Tishyarakshita to death, but the prince consoled his father and asked to forgive Tishyarakshita, for she was his mother.

It is said that with the blessings of a sage, Kunala regained his eyes.

Historicity of Kunala’s Legend

In the seventh century, Hiuen Tsiang in his Si-yu-ki wrote that outside the city, a 100 feet long stupa was standing which was made by the Emperor Ashoka on the site where the eyes of his beloved son Kunala were torn out. He also added that blind came here to pray, and many of them recovered their sight. [7] Kunala Stupa possibly reconstructed during Kushan-era was also identified by archaeologists in present day Pakistan.[8]

References

[1]  Mookerji, radhakumud (1962). Asoka. Delhi-Varansi-Patna: Motilal Banarsidass.p. 124. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.400114/page/n25/mode/1up?q=kunala

[2]  Mukhopadhyaya, Sujit Kumar (1960). The Ashokavadana: Sanskrit text compared with Chinese versions.  P. xli. Sahitya Akademi: New Delhi. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/dli.bengal.10689.13021/page/n6/mode/1up?q=kunala&view=theater

[3] Mookerji, radhakumud (1962). Asoka. Delhi-Varansi-Patna: Motilal Banarsidass. p. 8. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.400114/page/n25/mode/1up?q=kunala

[4]  Smith, Vincent Arthur (1901). Asoka: The Buddhist Emperor of India:  Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. 188. Retrieved from https://www.google.co.in/books/edition/Asoka_the_Buddhist_Emperor_of_India/Q6dOAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover

[5]  Mukhopadhyaya, Sujit Kumar (1960). The Ashokavadana: Sanskrit text compared with Chinese versions. Sahitya Akademi: New Delhi. p. xli. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/dli.bengal.10689.13021/page/n6/mode/1up?q=kunala&view=theater

[6]  Strong, John (1989).  The legend of King Asoka: A study and translation of the Asokavadana. Princeton: Princeton University Press. p. 18. Retrieved from https://zenodo.org>record>filesPDF

[7]  Xuanzang, Beal, Samuel (1884). Si-yu-ki: Buddhist records of the western world, vol.1. London: Trubner & Co., Ludgate Hill. p. 139. Retrieved from https://books.google.co.in/books?id=tpbIjgEACAAJ&printsec=copyright&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=kunala&f=false

[8] Marshall, John (1975, Indian reprint). Taxila: An illustrated account of archaeological excavations.  Varansi: Bhartiya publishing house. p.351. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/dli.ministry.27295/page/n3/mode/1up?q=kunala&view=theater