“Karna’s Wife”: The Outcast’s Wife, written by Kavita Kane is
told from the point of view of Karna’s second wife ‘Uruvi’. Uruvi the bubbly
princess of Pukeya, the only child born to King Vahusha and Queen Shubhra. She
was the world to her father. She was a Kshatriya princess and as a young gal
she used to ride her horse with the Panadavas- Yudhishthira, Bhima, Arjuna,
Nakula and Sahdeva. She was the favorite of her self-elected foster mother
Kunti (also the mother of the Panadavas). Even though, she was handed
everything on a silver platter and could have chosen any groom for herself; she
dared to love Karna. Karna aka Radheya (the son of Radha), a sutaputra as he
was adopted by Adhiratha, the charioteer. When she chose Karna over Arjuna at
her swayamvar, havoc broke down. Arjuna had to go through the same humiliation
Karna went through in Draupadi’s swayamvar.
While reading the Mahabharata, everybody overlooks the character
of Uruvi. This book describes her emotions and her point of view about the
events taking place. We get to know the relation between Karna and Uruvi. This
book describes how Uruvi went against all odds to marry Karna, breaking all the
social norms to do so.
It shows the life story of Uruvi. She dared to love and marry
Karna. Then she had to strive for acceptance by his family while, the Panadavas
broke all relations with her. Her foster mother Kunti was more than happy to
know that she was still marrying his son. Karna was baffled about the ongoing events
was eventually love-stricken by Uruvi’s kind eyes, round face and her tendency
to lighten up the room with her bubbly personality. Shona (Karna’s younger
brother who considered him god which he was) was not ready to accept her and
felt it was unfair to Karna's first wife Vrushali; who he loved. She eventually
found a place in Radha and Adhiratha’s heart.
She constantly tried to fulfill everyone’s wish (also her own)
by advising Karna to break all relations with Duryodhana (the eldest Kaurava).
But he always disagreed as he was indebted to Duryodhana as he was the only
living soul who helped Karna when he needed it, when he was getting publicly
shamed at the archery contest at Hastinapur several years ago and declared him
king of Anga.
Now the story of Mahabharata continued the treacherous game of
dice played by Duryodhana and Shakuni against Yudhishthira where he lost his
brothers, his kingdom and his wife. Where Draupadi was ordered to be dragged by
hair to the royal court that too unfortunately during her menstruation. Karna
then encouraged Dushasasna to disrobe Draupadi. But due to lord Krishna’s
blessing her sari never seemed to end, meters and meters of sari (lord Krishna
was just repaying Draupadi of when Krishna hurt his finger and Draupadi tore of
her sari to help him). Due to losing their kingdom they had to go for a 14 year
exile.
Hearing this Uruvi was disturbed inside and out and left Karna
and went back to Pukeya (Uruvi was pregnant at this time). Uruvi before going
to Pukeya stopped at Indraprastha and apologized to the Panadavas and Draupadi
who admitted that she had loved Karna but only rejected him as she did not have
the courage to go against the society.
After the exile the preparation for the Mahabharata began. Lord
Krishna also revealed to Karna that he was the eldest Pandava and the son of
Kunti. He also suggested that he could end the war by revealing to Pandavas
that he was their brother and also informing Duryodhana which would cause them
both to step down from the throne and offer it to him. He refused. Same was
done by Kunti but Karna refused. She then asked him to promise her that he
would kill no Pandava and use the divine weapon only once.
Duryodhana made Bhishma Pitahmah his commander but he refused to
fight with Karna in his army as he already knew Karna's true identity and
didn’t want to lose him. So Karna couldn’t fight till the 16th day
when Bhishma Pitahmah was stabbed completely by arrows. On the day of his death
his chariot’s wheel was submerged in the ground and was not permitted to remove
it. That is when he was killed by Arjuna.
After the end of the war the Pandavas apologized to Uruvi and
accepted Karna as their brother. He was then cremated by lord Krishna as per
Karna's wishes. Duryodhana apologized to Uruvi too and was disappointed that
Karna thought that he was so selfish that he wouldn’t give up the throne for
the only person he truly loved.
At the end Krishna took Karna's last son Vrishaketu under his
wing who was the last person to know how to use the divine weapons. As promised
to his mother, he never became king of Hastinapur.
Although, this story is about Uruvi; Karna's wife, I was deeply
influenced by the life story of Karna. Abandoned at birth; he earned his own
name. Always reminded of his low birth; he earned his own valor. His true and
utter devotion to his friend, Duryodhana was something nobody expected to see.
He was not perfect. He made good and bad decisions. Karna was the only one in
Mahabharata’s warriors, who always had to fight to earn what he wanted to have,
despite having born to a princess. He neither had the royal life like Pandavas,
Kauravas nor was destined to lead the life of a common man. He is an
inspiration for everyone out there, who wants to tell the society/people around
him that he decides to be what he wants to be and not what others
think/perceive him to be. Of course he had to pay a price for it, but his life
was a proof to everyone that life is not fair.
