Karna

Her eyes. Draupadi's eyes haunt me. I should have stepped in. I should have said something. I could have saved her from her humiliation in the court today. I don't understand how the elders of the court  stood silent and upheld their textbook dharma when a woman's honour was at stake. Even her husbands did nothing to protect her! 

They say Draupadi was granted five husbands because in her past life she asked Lord Shiva for five qualities in her husband, and no one man possessed all five. I wonder what useless qualities she asked for. As apparently none of them were of any use to her today!

Read the rest of the post in its new home here: https://vijeya.wordpress.com/2014/05/29/karna/

Duryodhana

"Duryodhana, you are yet young and foolish. How could you stand aside and watch Draupadi be humiliated in front of the whole court? She is after all, your sister in law. Any disgrace that befalls her befalls the Kuru dynasty!"

"That arrogant woman deserved everything she got! She is no sister in law of mine, Godfather Bheeshma! Her husbands, all five of them, are illegitimate children of Kunti and the Gods. There is no Kuru Dynasty blood in their veins. Don't you ever address her as my sister in law ever again!"

"And yourself? The pure Kuru lineage was wiped out years ago, Duryodhana."

A husband like Bheema

She has a beautiful smile. When I first saw her I thought to myself,  "Oh, I would do anything to keep her smiling." But she wasn't smiling at me then. She was smiling at Arjuna. Besides, her swayamvaram had been structured such that only the greatest archer can win her hand. And I knew that it wasn't me.

When Arjuna lifted the bow, I secretly wished he would not hit the target. I prayed to the Gods to spare me the agony of having to live with her as my Sister-in-law. But Destiny had a different plan.