Karna’s wife – Kavita Kané 3

“Karna’s wife” by Kavita Kané is the story of Karna through the eyes of his wife, Princess Uruvi. Uruvi is a creation of the author and there is no such character in the Mahabharatha. I do wish Vyasa would include her in the original, though.

One of the few books that brought a lump in my throat, when Karna marched off to meet his glorious end in the battlefield of Kurukshetra.

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1. Though this is a story of Uruvi, Karna’s wife, I thought the main character was Karna, through the eyes of Uruvi. Uruvi comes across as an independent voice in the story.
2. Karna – evokes in my mind the word Sthitapragnya, who, according to Krishna, was the ultimate human being that the Gita was purported to create.  His evolution from a person who is angry with Draupadi for the insult during her Swayamvara to a person who says “I know I will be killed tomorrow, but I am willing to meet my fate” and goes smiling to the battlefield and fights hard even though he knows that he is doomed is to me what a Sthitapragnya is all about.
3. Karna comes across as a person with many shades of grey, nevertheless a true human – his childhood, his angst about being a Sutaputra (charioteer’s son), his passion for archery, his loyalty towards Dhuryodhana – a true human.
4. Karna does not give any excuse to his wife, when she chides him for his participation in disrobing Draupadi. He says clearly “I have no excuses. I should not have done it. I did and (now) I cannot undo it.”
5. Draupadi forgives him more readily than she does her husbands for this act. She equates it with the public humiliation that she had put Karna through during her Swayamvar.
6. Even Dhuryodhana got my sympathy when Karna tells Uruvi, how he was neglected by his parents as a child – a father could not see him and mother would not see him though she had a choice.

Thank you Kavita Kané for this beautiful book.

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