This poem is dedicated to the hero hidden beneath a villain's tag. Wind back your clocks to a few milennia, and you can picturize this scene.
The sun is setting, and two great armies have gathered at a chosen ground, alongside their allies and minions alike. The warriors they say their prayers, write letters to their loved ones, sharpen their weapons, or perhaps just stay put waiting for the day to get over. But deep beneath all of them beats the same feeling as does their heart, the day that'll dawn tomorrow. The first day of the Mahabharat...
The philosopher, preceptor, and ally of the Pandav clan, Krishna walks out from his quarters in the camp, and is seen crossing over to the other side, none other than the cousins of the Pandavas, the Kauravas...
It's too late now for peace talks and cessation of hostilities, the weapons have now been drawn. All that could be done is last through the fray!
Among the Kauravas is a Pandava, a son of Kunti. He did not stray from the Pandavas, indeed he never knew his Pandav origins until recently. He is Kunti's first born, born to an unwed Kunti sired by the Sun God himself. He's known as Karna, the son of Radha, born to a humble charioteer...
The Kaurav clan too is just as anxious as the Pandav clan, waiting for the long night to end, and begin the fray!
Yet, Karna stands perplexed. The word we'd now use would be a conundrum. Karna's is to fight his own blood brothers, whose cause he knows to be righteous and just.
His true brothers never treated him as one of their own, that because they never knew him to be their brother. Jeering and sneering at every opportunity, and Arjun, the third son of Pandu vowed to meet Karna in a duel in the field of battle.
On the other hand, Karna now fought for a man who was a tyrant to the Pandav clan. A man who's 99 brothers never lost an opportunity to belittle the Pandavas, and seized the kingdom of the Pandavas by unfair means. But, this man who was called Suyodhan, and history would call Duryodhan was a kind hearted and generous soul who went out of his way to help the poor, and was the greatest supporter to Karna. Crowning him the King of Anga, Suyodhan ensured Karna was respected and treated as an equal amongst his adversaries.
Well, a lot of things happened that should not have happened, and here we are, on the plains of Kurukshetra, where this dialogue took place. Krishna had crossed over to meet Karna, to try and convince him to join the path of the goodness, justice and what was rightful.
Said the Omniscient Krishna to the valiant Pandava,
"O Kaunteya, thou art not Radha's sire
O eldest Pandav, must you not wage this war for your brethren, for their rightful empire?
Whomsoever's cause it may be, if it may be good
It is for them that i have as a rock always stood"
"Leave behind your worry, leave behind your care
For you leave not a good man, but a one who giveth not what's fair
Aye, this is the path of good, and many a heartache must you bear
But this is the path of victory, march along if you dare"
"Your friend, your benefactor has been greedy, and has been bold
Is this something that needs to be to you told?
His ambition is to claim all of Hastinapur as his prize
And not offer his cousins a yard's length of land in size"
"Call upon him as a friend, call if you must
But can you not heed, the call of the just?
Treason to a traitor, that's no treason at all
To stand strong with good, than with evil fall..."
"Your virtues, for themselves they speak
You have never been the one who's oppressed the weak
I call upon you to join those who're right,
For their cause i call upon you to join the fight..."
Smiling bravely, for Karna knew deep within his mind, victory was certain for those who had Krishna for support. And alongwith this certain victory, was Karna's certain death...
"Born weren't we to the same mother?
Yet why's it that You pit us against each other?"
"Born was i not by the grace of the Sun,
But received i nothing beyond hatred and scorn
Known am i not as the charioteer's son?
An equal amongst the lowest born!"
"Received i aplenty many a curse and woe
I shalt die at the mercy of my foe
Werest i to leave behind those who did kindness show?
Afore them my proud head would but hang low!"
"Sins and crimes aplenty i've sowed, and there'll more be to sow
An evil man pitted against justice's how my name shalt go
Of these things i care not a jot,
As long as gratitude to a friend's well placed in my thought..."
"By the twang of my Vijaya, my bow
Loyalty's a virtue greater than good, i shalt show!
If righteousness told me against right must i go,
Then let it be my destiny, let it be so..."
Karna accepted his Fate bravely, and went down fighting the Pandavas. He met his end at the hands of his arch enemy and younger brother Arjun, who launched an arrow that severed his proud head from his body, just as he was struggling to extract his chariot...
Karna knew Suyodhan's cause to be evil, yet he chose to stay the course for he valued greater the good that Suyodhan had done for him more than the evils that he committed against the Pandavas.
The sun is setting, and two great armies have gathered at a chosen ground, alongside their allies and minions alike. The warriors they say their prayers, write letters to their loved ones, sharpen their weapons, or perhaps just stay put waiting for the day to get over. But deep beneath all of them beats the same feeling as does their heart, the day that'll dawn tomorrow. The first day of the Mahabharat...
The philosopher, preceptor, and ally of the Pandav clan, Krishna walks out from his quarters in the camp, and is seen crossing over to the other side, none other than the cousins of the Pandavas, the Kauravas...
It's too late now for peace talks and cessation of hostilities, the weapons have now been drawn. All that could be done is last through the fray!
Among the Kauravas is a Pandava, a son of Kunti. He did not stray from the Pandavas, indeed he never knew his Pandav origins until recently. He is Kunti's first born, born to an unwed Kunti sired by the Sun God himself. He's known as Karna, the son of Radha, born to a humble charioteer...
The Kaurav clan too is just as anxious as the Pandav clan, waiting for the long night to end, and begin the fray!
Yet, Karna stands perplexed. The word we'd now use would be a conundrum. Karna's is to fight his own blood brothers, whose cause he knows to be righteous and just.
His true brothers never treated him as one of their own, that because they never knew him to be their brother. Jeering and sneering at every opportunity, and Arjun, the third son of Pandu vowed to meet Karna in a duel in the field of battle.
On the other hand, Karna now fought for a man who was a tyrant to the Pandav clan. A man who's 99 brothers never lost an opportunity to belittle the Pandavas, and seized the kingdom of the Pandavas by unfair means. But, this man who was called Suyodhan, and history would call Duryodhan was a kind hearted and generous soul who went out of his way to help the poor, and was the greatest supporter to Karna. Crowning him the King of Anga, Suyodhan ensured Karna was respected and treated as an equal amongst his adversaries.
Well, a lot of things happened that should not have happened, and here we are, on the plains of Kurukshetra, where this dialogue took place. Krishna had crossed over to meet Karna, to try and convince him to join the path of the goodness, justice and what was rightful.
Said the Omniscient Krishna to the valiant Pandava,
"O Kaunteya, thou art not Radha's sire
O eldest Pandav, must you not wage this war for your brethren, for their rightful empire?
Whomsoever's cause it may be, if it may be good
It is for them that i have as a rock always stood"
"Leave behind your worry, leave behind your care
For you leave not a good man, but a one who giveth not what's fair
Aye, this is the path of good, and many a heartache must you bear
But this is the path of victory, march along if you dare"
"Your friend, your benefactor has been greedy, and has been bold
Is this something that needs to be to you told?
His ambition is to claim all of Hastinapur as his prize
And not offer his cousins a yard's length of land in size"
"Call upon him as a friend, call if you must
But can you not heed, the call of the just?
Treason to a traitor, that's no treason at all
To stand strong with good, than with evil fall..."
"Your virtues, for themselves they speak
You have never been the one who's oppressed the weak
I call upon you to join those who're right,
For their cause i call upon you to join the fight..."
Smiling bravely, for Karna knew deep within his mind, victory was certain for those who had Krishna for support. And alongwith this certain victory, was Karna's certain death...
"Born weren't we to the same mother?
Yet why's it that You pit us against each other?"
"Born was i not by the grace of the Sun,
But received i nothing beyond hatred and scorn
Known am i not as the charioteer's son?
An equal amongst the lowest born!"
"Received i aplenty many a curse and woe
I shalt die at the mercy of my foe
Werest i to leave behind those who did kindness show?
Afore them my proud head would but hang low!"
"Sins and crimes aplenty i've sowed, and there'll more be to sow
An evil man pitted against justice's how my name shalt go
Of these things i care not a jot,
As long as gratitude to a friend's well placed in my thought..."
"By the twang of my Vijaya, my bow
Loyalty's a virtue greater than good, i shalt show!
If righteousness told me against right must i go,
Then let it be my destiny, let it be so..."
Karna accepted his Fate bravely, and went down fighting the Pandavas. He met his end at the hands of his arch enemy and younger brother Arjun, who launched an arrow that severed his proud head from his body, just as he was struggling to extract his chariot...
Karna knew Suyodhan's cause to be evil, yet he chose to stay the course for he valued greater the good that Suyodhan had done for him more than the evils that he committed against the Pandavas.
