According to the legend Gyanvanti was a shudra and her beloved Shanntanu, a vaishya.
They married to different partners and broke the varna- ashrama dharma. Adultery was a
crime in Manu Smriti and so King Aja of Raghuvanshi dynasty in Ayodhaya unctured
their vision and adjudicated them to exile. Gyanvanti and Shantanu submitted to the Gods
and within a few years were blessed with a boy who they named Shrava Kumar. Shravan
Kumar was a devoted son and expected the same from his wife. His consort was good to him
but not his parents and sohe abandoned her and set out to fulfil their last last wish. Gyanwanti
and Shantanu desired to go on a pilgrimage and Shravan Kumar carried both his parents on
his shoulders from one sacred place to another.
It was while they were resting in a forest and Shravan Kumar went in search of water for his
thirsty parents that Shravan King Dashrath while hunting mistook him for an animal and
darted his arrow. When he realised his folly, it was too late. Shravan Kumar requested King
Dashrath to carry water for his parents but when Gyanvanti learnt her son was no more, she
collapsed and died. Shantanu was devastated by the loss of his son and his wife and cursed
King Dashrath that he must pine for his son the same way he pines for his son
To be continued