Week 9 Story: Before the Rivalry Began

I am born to be something more. 

When I was little, I would love to go with my father when he would visit King Draupad. My father was a great charioteer, and King Draupad would only go into battle with my father as his driver. Even though my father was not born of noble birth, King Draupad always treated him and my family as equals. I would watch them leave for battle and could not hold back my excitement. One day I would leave for battle and return victorious just like them.

We were allowed to visit the capitol anytime. But when my father was away in battles with King Draupad, my mother and me stayed at the capitol. During our time at the capitol, I would play with the prince and princess. It was a simple time. As children, we did not know about birth rights and ranking. But as I got older, I learned that even though the prince and princess treated me like a friend, I was still beneath. I was still a servant.

When the prince began to train in weaponry to become a skillful warrior, I would watch from a distance envious. My parents had already told me that I would be trained to be a skillful charioteer. It would be my honor to be the charioteer for the prince who would one day be king. But in my soul, I could feel that I was meant for more than being a charioteer to a king. I was meant to be a warrior.

My charioteer training began. But I would keep a watchful eye on the prince's training. That way whenever I got the chance, I could practice weaponry to become a skillful warrior. The prince would even come over and spar with me. Even though we both knew what place we had to take when we were old enough the prince knew I wanted more. The years passed and my training continued until today.

Today I heard that King Dhrita-rashtra plans to have a tournament so that his sons and nephews can showcase their warrior skills. There is a warrior that everyone marvels at his ability, Prince Arjun.  I know that if I can show that I am a greater warrior than he is, I will have to be accepted as a warrior. All I have to do is beat Arjun in front of everyone, and everyone will know that I am more than a charioteer.  

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Author's Notes: This story is meant to be a prequel to Karna's life before he goes off to challenge Arjun in the tournament in the Mahabharata by R.K. Narayan and The Five Tall Sons of Pandu by Richard Wilson. Even though Karan is actually of royal birth, he does not know that he is related to the Pandu brothers until the end of the story. In both of the stories, we learn that Karna is raised by a charioteer, but we do not learn any more about his childhood. I pictured that even though Karna respected and honored his adopted father profession, it was not the life he wanted. He felt like he was born to be more. (Which he actually was but did not know it.) So, I combined the childhood of Karna with the childhood of a prince and princess. This way he could see how a prince lived and started becoming envious of being a warrior from a young age. I wanted to show that he was determined to become the best. So that when he learned about Arjun being the greatest warrior he felt that the only way he could feel better about himself was to defeat Arjun. I hope you have enjoyed my story and would love to hear feedback!

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Image: The coronation of Karna to be a king. Source: Wikipedia 

Reading Notes: Reading B: The Five Tall Sons of Pandu p. 98 - 118

War Never has a Winner

For the second part of the reading, I finished up the shortened version of the Mahabharata by Richard Wilson called, The Five Tall Sons of Panda. The endings are the same with the Pandu brothers winning the war but pointing out that no one really won because of all of the lives that had to be lost. Again, I am focusing my reading notes on Karna. I think in the second part of the reading you can still tell that he is angry with the Pandu brothers for how they have treated him. Like someone beneath them. Even when Karna finds out that he is really the oldest Pandu brother, he does not tell anyone and sets out to kill Arjun to prove he is the most skilled warrior. It seems that Karna's anger and jealousy of wanting to be something he does not think he is entailed to fuels his death. It is sad but can also be added to my story. Karna will not feel worthy until he proves himself as a warrior and defeats Arjun. He thinks that all of his troubles will go away and have self-acceptance if he proves that he is the best warrior. I think a story could be created about what lead Karna up to the point that he is at. Something must have happened when he was younger to have made him want to defeat the Pandu brothers. I felt that in this story, unlike the Mahabharata, Duryodhan side was winning most of the war. It seemed that even though they would lose the head of the army the rest did fine and in the overall picture the Pandu brothers side suffered more. I also was surprised that Krishna seemed more like a warrior in this version than the original Mahabharata. In the original story, Krishina was just there for support and to give advice but would not fight. But in this version, he fought alongside the Pandu brothers. He is not considered a reincarnation of Vishnu and therefore does not seem to have a higher power above. He seems more human in this story.

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Image: Arjun kills Karna in thier final battle. Source: Wikipedia 

Reading Notes: Reading A: The Five Tall Sons of Pandu p. 69 - 98

Wanting to be more. 

For this week’s reading, I chose to read Richard Wilson version of the Mahabharata called, The Five Tall Sons of Pandu. There was an explanation before the reading guide that informed me that Wilson took out the gods and the supernatural elements from the book version of the Mahabharata I had read. Because of this shift in the story, the Pandu brothers are not born from different gods with supernatural abilities, but they are still considered great warrior and honorable princes. Arjun is also still considered the greatest bowman and is challenged by his half-brother Karna (they do not know this yet). In this version, it seems that it mentions a lot more that Karna is from a lower birth the princes. They even have a scene where Karna bows to a charioteer and one of the Pandu brothers makes fun of him and remarks that he is from inferior birth. It made me feel sorry for his character. But it also made me angry towards the Pandu brothers who are thought to be grand examples of how royalty should act. Draupadi also thought Karna of a lower status than her, even though he had been crowned king by Duryodhan, she would not let him even attempt to win her in the archery contest. I think a story could be created from Karna point of view of him not feeling like he is enough when he is around anyone other than servants. Even though he is a mighty warrior, he still feels out of place being a king. Also, he could have always loved and wanted to be with Draupadi but knew because of his birth he would not want her. So, from a young age, he aspired to be the greatest bowman so he could one day impress Draupadi. One particular part that was the same in both stories is Arjun wins Draupadi in the same contest concealed as a hermit. However, instead of Draupadi being shared amongst the brothers as all of their wives, the gift of Draupadi is bestowed upon the oldest brother Yudhishthir. Even though I enjoyed a woman getting to have multiple husbands in the other story, this seemed to be a more "normal" storyline. However, Draupadi’s feelings are not taken into account. How does she feel about going to the eldest son? Maybe, even though she marries Yudhishthir, Draupadi also harbors feelings for Arjun the great bowman who won her from the start.

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Image: Marine Corps practicing. Source:  U.S Department of Defense