Karna's Wife (42 page)

Duryodhana had come to see off his friend. He hugged Karna close and told him that he wished to see him come home victorious by sunset.

‘It will be either Arjuna or me who dies in the battlefield today,’ Karna had said solemnly. ‘If he dies, I win; if I die, he wins.’

It was as if Uruvi could almost hear Karna’s voice, as Ashwatthama went on with his narration. Karna knew the outcome; he knew that Arjuna would kill him and that Bhima would vanquish Duryodhana. Karna was certain that he was walking towards his own death and she had known it in her heart when she saw Karna refrain from picking up his celestial bow, Vijay, even for a single battle during the eighteen-day-long Kurukshetra war. Karna never used his bow because he had accepted the fact that he would not live by the end of the war.

‘You shall win, my friend! I shall await my hero’s return,’ said Duryodhana, and embraced Karna again.

Karna bowed respectfully to his friend and they walked together towards the chariot. He allowed King Salya to enter the chariot first and they headed towards the battlefield.

‘Karna had organized his army brilliantly that day. The fight started in all its fury. Karna had decided that it would be a fight unto death,’ said Ashwatthama. ‘Arjuna advanced alone. He saw that Karna’s sons Sushama, Satyasena and Vrishasena protectively stood around their father’s chariot. The warriors ranged against Karna were Satyaki, Dhristadhuymna, Shikhandi, the five sons of Draupadi, Bhima, Nakul and Sahadeva. But they could not check the might of Karna as the fierce battle began. Eventually, Bhima killed Satyasena and two more sons of Karna were wounded.’

Uruvi paled as she listened to him. Vrushali would have to be a very brave woman to bear the death of her sons. Witnessing the death of a child is probably the cruellest thing a parent has to endure, a tragedy too terrible even to contemplate.

‘The army of the Pandavas was no match for Karna,’ continued Ashwatthama. ‘He blew them away like flimsy clouds in a storm! As the head of the Pandava army, Yudhishthira faced Karna and fought belligerently. Karna was wounded right at the beginning of the battle, but he fought back, defeating Satyaki and others who came to help Yudhishthira. He smashed the chariot and the bow of Yudhishthira to pieces. Then, with an arrow, Karna pierced his armour too. When Yudhishthira stood helpless and at his mercy, Karna touched him with his bow and said, “O Yudhishthira, you are the noblest kshatriya but more a brahmin at heart. Do not challenge your superiors! You had once commented that as a sutaputra, I cannot fight a kshatriya. But, my lord, you have failed to act as a kshatriya as well. Go to Arjuna! You can never defeat me in a single battle!”’

‘Saying that, Karna turned his chariot to the other side of the field.’

Uruvi knew he did not mean those words for he was only trying to save his brother’s life, but she could not voice her thoughts to Ashwatthama or to anyone else. Karna was bound by the promise he had given his mother, Kunti.

‘Bhima was livid when he heard Karna’s words and suddenly charged at him,’ Ashwatthama continued. ‘Bhima injured Karna so grieviously that Karna almost fainted. I wanted to rush to him but Arjuna stopped me by locking swords with me in a duel. I was routed.’

‘And then I saw Arjuna veer towards Karna. King Salya saw the chariot of Arjuna hurtling towards Karna, who could barely stand. It was a different Salya—seeing the sheer bravery, heroism and generosity of Karna, King Salya was deeply impressed and realized his mistake in considering Karna a mere sutaputra. He bowed his head, folded his hands to Karna and said, “I can see now that there is no one in the battlefield that can equal your excellent qualities, my lord! Forgive me my arrogance! I am overcome by your devotion to duty, to your king and to your friend! Now the time has come to kill Arjuna. He is our biggest danger. He is wiping out our army single-handedly and he must be stopped. It is only by his death that the Pandavas will lose the war. And now I know only you can kill Arjuna, great warrior! I am no ordinary fighter myself and I know full well the greatness of Bhishma and Drona, but this I can say—no one can stand up to you!”’

‘Hearing these words, Karna’s eyes filled with gratitude and he replied, “O sir, you have made me the happiest person in the world today! I am determined to kill Arjuna today so, sir, kindly take me to him.”’

‘And King Salya led Karna towards Arjuna, his powerful horses fiercely galloping through the length of the battlefield. On the way, their chariot was stopped by Bhima and Satyaki. Sushama, Karna’s son, rushed to his father’s rescue but in one swoop, was killed by Satyaki.’

Sushama was dead too—how would Vrushali bear it, Uruvi wondered in despair.

‘Karna killed the son of Dhrishtadhyumna. But he was facing five great warriors—Shikhandi, Janmejaya, Yudhamanyu, Uttamaujas and Dhrishtadhyumna. Seeing Karna surrounded by yet more warriors, Duryodhana rushed to his friend’s help with his brother Dushasana. But Bhima interposed and attacked Dushasana. They fought a horrible duel. “By coming to fight with me, you have given me an opportunity to repay a debt to Draupadi. You had pulled Draupadi by her hair and dragged her to the Raj Sabha. Today I shall kill you for that deed!” So saying, Bhima smashed Dushasana’s chariot and his bow with a tremendous blow. He picked up the fallen Kuru prince and in one slicing sweep, cut off his hands and threw them on the ground. “I had promised Draupadi that these wicked hands which touched her would be torn from your body and flung to the ground!” he screamed in fury and ripped the chest of Dushasana mercilessly, making the blood spurt like a fountain. Then in a frenzied way, Bhima put his lips to it. It was the most horrendous sight! “I have fulfilled my oath, O Draupadi!” he shouted in devilish glee. “Your brother is dead, Duryodhana, and now it is your turn!”’

‘Karna was sickened by the ghastly way Bhima had killed Dushasana. His eldest son, Vrishasena, seeing his father in danger, distracted Arjuna by advancing towards the Pandavas’ army. But he did not stand a chance as the sharp arrows of Arjuna killed him while Karna looked on helplessly. “Now you know how I felt when you killed my Abhimanyu!” shouted Arjuna, and Karna, wild with fury and grief, charged at the Pandava prince.’

Uruvi clenched her fists, preparing herself for the worst.

‘The two greatest warriors were facing each other, with only Death separating them. Their duel began—first with ordinary arrows, and then with the divine weapons, the astras of Agni, Varuna, Indra—each neutralizing the astras of the other. When the duel reached a feverish pitch, Karna picked up the terrible Bhargavastra, a special gift of his guru, Parshurama. Seeing this, Krishna asked Arjuna to invoke the Brahmastra or it would not be easy to kill Karna. To protect Arjuna from Karna’s astras, Krishna leapt onto Karna’s chariot and pressed it down, making it sink six inches into the ground. Meanwhile, Karna had aimed at Arjuna’s neck, but his astra hit Arjuna’s crown, the famous Kiriti, which rolled down to the ground. Arjuna was unharmed yet again. Thrice Vasudev Krishna had saved Arjuna from Karna’s deadly arrows—the Shakti which Karna was forced to use on Ghatotkacha instead of Arjuna, the Bhargavastra and finally, the Nag astra. Karna could have used the Nag astra again but I wonder what came over him because he refused to pick it up again.’

Uruvi recalled the condition Kunti had forced on her helpless son—that he would not use any divine weapon more than once. It was not Karna’s righteousness which forbade him to use the divine astra the second time, but the unfair promise his mother had asked him to make, Uruvi thought bitterly.

‘Then Karna was left with no powerful astra to protect himself. He was completely vulnerable, but he continued fighting,’ continued Ashwatthama, the admiration for his brave friend evident in his voice.

Uruvi knew she was now listening to the story of the approaching death of her husband. Each word of Ashwatthama was like a vicious stab. She was shrivelling inside, dying slowly.

‘Fate suddenly started working against Karna. All at once everything seemed to go wrong for him! The earth under Karna’s chariot crumbled and the wheels stuck deep in the soil. He couldn’t move and Arjuna shot another astra—the Aindrastra—at him. Karna could have invoked the invincible Brahmastra to counter it but he suddenly froze. It was as if he had lost all his ability to think! I tried to distract Arjuna so that Karna could have time to retaliate, but it was futile. It was as if no one stood between them now—it was just Karna and Arjuna. It was their fight to death!’

‘Karna then asked Arjuna to give him time to set the wheels of his chariot right. “That is the rule of righteous war,” he reasoned. Krishna scoffed at this and said, “Talk of righteousness does not become you, Karna! You were part of all the evil designs of Duryodhana, including the disrobing of Draupadi in their court. You were part of the unrighteous killing of Abhimanyu. And you talk of righteousness!”’

Krishna’s words hurt Uruvi as deeply as it must have hurt Karna. And much more, for Uruvi knew that Karna must have realized what Krishna said was painfully true. At that time, Karna had the choice to make a decision between right and wrong, and he had chosen the wrong, not because he lacked in judgement but because of his blind loyalty to his friend—but he had stood by his choice, stubborn in his convictions to the bitter end. The thought nagged Uruvi’s troubled mind—did Karna really have to take the wrong path to help his friend? It had helped no one but had precipitated a dire chain of events, leading everyone to their doom.

‘Krishna taunted Karna about his righteousness, but how could he forget how often Karna had spared Arjuna’s life?’ cried Ashwatthama in anger. ‘Karna had defeated Arjuna earlier too, but saved him by pulling back his arrow so that it would strike Arjuna only after sunset, the official end of the day’s battle. Later, when Duryodhana questioned Karna about this gesture of generosity, Karna had replied that he would always adhere to the rules of war. Moreover, he did not want future generations to point a finger at him and say that the sutaputra Karna killed the kshatriya Arjuna by deceit. But, in turn, that is exactly what the kshatriya Arjuna did—he killed Karna through treachery!’

Ashwatthama paused, his voice faltering, ‘Karna continued struggling with the wheels of his chariot even as Arjuna’s arrows rained on him. Karna stood up again and resumed fighting. Swiftly, Arjuna set forth the Agni, Varuna and Vayu astras, but Karna, defenceless, stood tall, taking all the arrows while grasping at the wheels of his chariot.’

Uruvi shut her eyes; she could imagine the scene in vivid detail. O Krishna, could you not have helped him? But Krishna had helped him die instead, Uruvi reminded herself dully.

‘Krishna urged Arjuna to kill Karna quickly. And then, the great, noble Arjuna committed the most heinous act!’ Ashwatthama’s voice shook with pain, his face pale with fury. ‘While Karna was down on his knees, writhing in pain and struggling desperately with the stuck wheels, Arjuna, from behind, aimed the Vajra arrow, the weapon of Indra, at him. It struck Karna on his back, and it was then that Karna finally fell, unable to defend himself because he was attacked from behind. Uruvi, I must tell you that even in his last throes, he did not lose his splendour. He was staring at the distant sun, as if trying to absorb the last rays, his body glowing strangely. He died before my eyes! And then I saw it—a flash of bright light left Karna’s body at the moment of his death.’ Ashwatthama’s voice wavered and he broke down completely.

Uruvi stared at his weeping form and felt an unbearable pain blaze through her. She couldn’t breathe any more. She gasped, the pain choking her, and buried her face in her hands, her fists digging deep into her burning eyes. She could not cry any more; her screaming agony refused to spill over. Karna was dead. And now there was nothing left for her.

Everything stood ominously still. The sun sank, drowning in grief, folding the world in darkness. But the all-enveloping darkness could not blot out the agony that coursed through her.

Uruvi could barely register what was happening around her. All she could hear were Karna’s last words to her. That she had to be there for Radha. For her old, broken father-in-law. And, most importantly, for Vrushali. Would she have enough strength in her to face Vrushali to inform her of the death of her husband and all her seven sons in this war? And in that instant, it hit Uruvi that the agony stinging her was unparalleled to the torment Vrushali was going to suffer.

If Uruvi had never been convinced of Duryodhana’s sentiments for Karna, she was forced to retract her estimation in their shared hour of grief. Seeing Salya with Karna’s broken bow and the treacherous chariot, Duryodhana fell apart. To see the egotistic king fallen to his knees, weeping unreservedly, was a sight Uruvi had not been prepared for. The Kuru king could not reconcile himself to the fact that Karna was dead. Deep in despair, his tears flowing relentlessly, he was unable to speak. Where was that arrogance and his famous show of temper and wicked words? The anger, the pride, seemed to have seeped out of the king. He was a completely shattered man. And in that moment, all her resentment against this man she had disliked for so long, dissipated swiftly. In the pain and loss she shared with him, she found the will to forgive.