Mrityunjay: the Story of Karna by Shivaji Sawant

Dear Dreamers,

It was early last year that I came upon The Palace of Illusions by Chitra Divakaruni Banerjee. The surprising and succinct account of the Mahabharat from Draupadi’s perspective brought a new light to the told and retold story of the Pandavas and the Kauravas. Mahabharata for us was always at the crux of it that fight of good vs evil. The story of the 5 brothers who were born to Kunti as a boon and who claimed to be heirs of the prestigious Hastinapur.

Mrityunjay is the Story of Karna. Karna, the illegimaite son of Kunti, an Archer equivalent to Arjun, The King of Anga, World Conqueror and  the unparalleled Hero of Charity ,.

This story is of a sixth son, born to Kunti before the 5 Pandavas, when she decided to try to test the strength of her boon from Rishi Durvasa as a young princess. The son of the Sun God and born to an unwed princess, Karna is abandoned and found and raised by charioteers. Born with an impenetrable skin and flesh earrings and destined for greatness, Karna’s life is a constant battle of trying to achieve everything he is capable of while shackled by the bonds of his low caste birth.

The classic is divided into 9 books detailing the different phases of his life.  The first book from Karna describes his constant curiosity at being different than everyone around him. Born with glowing golden skin and flesh earrings from birth, he knows he is different than his brother Shon, but how? And why? The next couple of books describe Kunti’s , Duryodhana’s and Vrishali’s POV as Karna reached his pinnacle of glory.

To tell you the truth it was the Palace of Illusions that for the first time brought the Karna and Draupadi interactions into play- are downplayed here, but still exist. To tell you the truth, it was that interest in Karna, that made me want to read this book in the first place J I mean seriously who can resist a dark brooding hero and an enigmatic love story?

Mrityunjay shows Karna to be a dedicated husband, but his bitter with the inkling of sweet relationship  ( lack of one)  with Draupadi still maintains the level of complexity that is reminiscent of the Mahabharat. Nothing here is black and white, ever.

The book describes his constant identity crisis as he tries to reconcile his ambition and merit with his birth. His internal struggle as he deals with the deep anger as Bhima brings up his inheritance during his coronation as the King of Anga, his hurt when Draupadi hurls insults during her swayamwar,  his anguish during Draupadi’s vastraharan as he tries to fight his past with her and try to protect her, and his lowest moment as he supports Duryodhana during it.

This book also point out some obvious character flaws in the lead characters of the epic- be it Bhishma Pitamah and his inability to protect Draupadi during vastraharan, Arjun and his arrogance, Bheema and his anger and Yudhistir and his obvious inability to protect his wife over a given word. That’s why nothing is black and white.

The best part about this book is you get to delve into the psyche of a great man and his interesting relationships with equally great characters of the Mahabharata- whether its his Guru- shishya relationship with the Sun, his curious kinship with Ashvathamma or his curiosity of Krishna, Shivaji Sawant builds a three dimensional character that at times you feel in awe off and at times feel protective of. While Sawant brings to life one of the most tragic , heart rendering and capable characters every created in our history, he also delves into a very relevant aspect of our traditions and society. The fact that we still as a culture fixate on the caste systems over the merit of a human being rings true to Indians even today.