Karna

Ramayana and Mahabharata are two stories, which are part of each and everyone's life in India. Children grow up listening to the stories of Rama, Krishna, Pandavas, Baratha.......... So many characters. What made these stories so popular? Think think..........................

These stories were available to common man. Even illiterates were aware of these stories. They were passed from one generation to another generation in the form of stories, folk songs etc. When I was child, my father used to tell the stories of Mahabharata to me and my brother. And I always considered Rama and Krishna as Gods. I never used to question things, as how come Rama sent Seetha to jungle, just because some dobi said rubbish things about her? How can Draupathi marry 5 men? Because they are gods. And common people must not question god.

It is a book called "Parva" written by S L Bairappa, which changes my whole picture of Rama and Krishna. Parva is the story of Mahabharata, but from completely different angle. Here no one is god. Krishna is a person with very high IQ and lots of patience. No magic, no extra-ordinary powers. Author has studied the culture and different tribes of North India, during the time of Mahabharata, and according to that he gives reason for everything. When I read that book, one character which stuck me was Karna.

I just fell in love with Karna. Arjuna becoming perfect with "Bilvidya" was not a extra-ordinary thing. He was having everything. He belonged to a royal family, good teacher was there, reputation, all the people in palace were trying to give them good education, no worry was there, people used to respect him. I mean he was having perfect life.

Now think about Karna. He was having tag "Sutaputra", low caste, to get education also he struggled a lot. But still he reached a height which was equal to Arjuna. Draupathi, during her swaymvara declared that the person who is going to win her challenge, will get her. Then she was not having any right to say that Karna is not allowed. Otherwise she would have told that she is waiting for Arjuna. But to show that she is very great, she declares that Karna is not kshatriya, that is why he is not allowed. Marrying five men was not allowed in Kshatriya dharma, then how come she did that? Just because all 5 of them were prince. They were having money, reputation.

Getting success is easy, when you are having reputation, parent's money and their name. Getting it all by yourself is what difficult. And Karna faced that difficulty but still won. I love the character of Karna for that. That was my first love.