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Ganges river - wider and slower than the Indus

Ganges river – wider and slower than the Indus

More about the Indian Cinderella

Well, King Dushyanta had forgotten all about his wife Shakuntala, because of the curse.

The beginning of this story
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Shakuntala goes to look for her husband

So he never sent for her, while she gave birth to their son Bharata. Finally Shakuntala decided to go the city and look for her husband. But on the way there, her ring fell off into a river, and Shakuntala didn’t even notice.

Dushyanta doesn’t recognize her!

When Shakuntala arrived at King Dushyanta’s palace, she was surprised and upset when her husband didn’t even recognize her. She didn’t know about the curse. Shakuntala went back to the forest and raised their son Bharata there, just the two of them all alone.

A gold coin with fish on it.

Fish were the symbol of the Pandya dynasty in the 1200s AD

A fisherman finds the magic ring

Meanwhile, a fisherman caught a fish and found the king’s ring in its stomach. He took the ring to the palace to give it back to the king.

Happily ever after

As soon as King Dushyanta saw the ring, the curse was broken and he suddenly remembered all about Shakuntala. Dushyanta set off immediately for the forest to find his wife and son, and they all lived happily ever after.

Learn by doing: make a chart comparing this story to the others
Beginning of the Cinderella story
A later version of Cinderella from ancient Egypt
An even later Cinderella story from ancient China

Compare this to the Iranian story of Sohrab and Rustem
Or the Greek story of Achilles and Penthesileia
Or the medieval story of Hildebrand

Bibliography and further reading about the Mahabharata:

More about the Mahabharata
And more Indian literature
More about Ancient India
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