The Mahabharata ([War of the] Great Bharatas) recounts the struggle between two powerful branches of a ruling family descended from the legendary King Bharata, the Pandavas and the Kauravas, for the control of the Kuru Kingdom in northwestern India. It is traditionally believed to have been composed by the revered sage Vyasa between the 3rd century BCE and the 3rd century CE. In Book 1 (Adi parva), the story of Shakuntala and Dushyanta is recounted. One day while hunting in the forest, King Dushyanta came upon the ashram of the great sage Kanva Kashyapa. Telling his armed retinue to wait for him, he entered the hermitage by himself. As the sage was away gathering fruit, the king was welcomed by his beautiful stepdaughter Shakuntala. They fell in love and married secretly through a form of common-law marriage called the gandharvas rite. Shakuntala became pregnant and gave birth to a large and radiant son, Bharata, who became the fabled King Bharata. When Bharata came of age, Shakuntala took him to meet his father. But Dushyanta, because of a curse by the ascetic Durvasa, did not recognize his son. Eventually, after being shown his signet ring that he had left with Shakuntala as a promise of his commitment, he was able to recall Shakuntala and acknowledged Bharata as his crown prince (Mahabharata 1:7:63-69). Here, Dushyanta is shown twice in continuous narration entering the hermitage. In the upper left corner, Shakuntala and her friend Anasuya sit outside of a thatch hut.