Kunti was the wife of King Pandu and mother of the Pandavas. Kunti is considered one of the most respected characters of Mahabharata. Till end of war the Pandavs did not know that Karna was their own brother. Kunti had hidden this truth from her sons. This lie made Kunti suffer tremendously. Along with Kunti, Karna also suffered. Because when he came to know that he was the son of a queen but was being brought up by a charioteer, he did not know what to do? Karna could not give up his friendship with Duryodhana because it was Duryodhana who had made Karna the king of Ang Desh during the competition. Those who have read Mahabharata must know about this competition.

The story is this. This competition was held to find out who was the best warrior amongst all the princes. Arjuna came out as the winner. At that time Karna who was unknown to others came forward and did all that Arjuna could do. But Karna was not accepted as a competitor because he was son of a charioteer. This was a great disrespect Karna suffered in front of the public. Kunti was one of those sitting in the audience. She saw her son being humiliated but did not dare to say that Karna was her son. She was a mute spectator of her son's state. At that time Duryodhana came forward and made Karna the king of Ang Desh. This made Karna a friend and follower of Duryodhana for life. He vowed never to leave Duryodhana. This was a turning point in the story because Karna was a great warrior.

If Kunti had got up and spoken the truth, Karna would have been saved from this humiliation. But she kept quite and lied. She had hidden the fact of Karna's birth right from the day he was born. That was a blunder and a sin because she hid this fact from her husband, her pother sons and Karna himself. A charioteer brought up a prince. Karna suffered agony all his life because of his mother's lie. Kunti herself had to suffer the pain of having lied to all and watch her son suffering. She wanted to look pious and she sacrificed her son for that lie.

This story teaches us that a lie spoken for whatever reason always brings nothing other than suffering.