http://www.geeta-kavita.com/article.asp?article=rashmirathi
http://www.geeta-kavita.com/article.asp?article=rashmirathi2
http://www.geeta-kavita.com/article.asp?article=rashmirathi3
great poem.. but i tended to dislike the message in it.. friendship is posed as a dharma here.. and karna is not only emberacing death knowingly, he is also fighting the right in favour of wrong...
was it his dharma?? or was it a weak emotional decision??
But i failed to recoganise the fact that Karna was a member of the court of kouravas.. and was so bound to fight with them.. just as Bheeshma was.. by his Raj Dharma.
U dont mess with Sri krishna's logic.. do u..?? I learnt not to...!! :)
Sunday, 12 August 2007
at 16:35
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
8 comments:
VIV, before you comment on a great and mighty hero like Karna, you ought to read him thoroughly in context to his given circumstances.
From his birth to his death,he was wronged,wronged and wronged by the ones who should have embraced him to their so called sanctum folds.They shunned their duties towards him.He was abandoned,he was ridiculed,he was scorned at,and I can go on and on.
What Right or ethical was ever done to him? To him the Right was everything Wrong done to him.He was already dead,wasn't he?So where's the question of embracing death knowingly comes?Duryodhan was the only man who hailed him as a true genius and a true friend and Karna lived upto that beautiful equation called friendship which surpassed all politics, all guises of love and all stnadards of right and wrong.
His was not a weak emotional decision but it required tremendous amount of strength to give up all his new found relations(another political overture and negotiation) during the kurukshetra war,which he desired since his childhood,but gave up all coz'his Dharma told him to stay beside the one man,who always gave him support at the time of his turmoil and crises.
"Fighting the right in favour of wrong"?
But Viv, where is the right and the wrong in a tale like Mahabharat which has the colour code Grey? I dare to say (actually did dare, in the Mahabharat community and it caused some furore..lolz) that even Sri Krishna is a motley of right and wrong in here...Mahabharat is a dharmayuddha, but not one in which dharam is one side and adharam on the other - it is a war in which every individual fights a battle of dharma vs adharma within himself..in this battle Karna's dharma is indeed his friendship, affection and loyalty to Duryodhan..June's already been nicely eloquent about it and I shan't add to it!
and I wonder what you mean by "embracing death knowingly"? He died a warrior's death in an armed combat...even if he had been on SriKrishna's side there was no gurantee his life would have been saved!
I recommend you to read Shivaji Sawant's Mritunjay - it's available in both Hindi and English translations (original is Marathi) and in it you will observe how close the character of Karna comes to being a true Objective.
@Deepti,
Excellent comments on Karna.
I thought I'll be cornered for siding with Karna.Thanks for giving the reference of Sawant's Mrityunjay.I'll definitely collect it and read it.
@Viv,
Karna is probably the most mightiest,bravest and unappreciated character in the world of literature.I implore you to read the Mahabharat once more to know that hapless warrior.
How is it that i am always on the other side.. fate..?!?! :D
June- Look I guess Surya putra was higher than that..avenging the wrongs would not be the reason.He was able enough to understand the meaning of being an illegitimate child. There is some more deep reason for his being at duryodhana's side.
He was well aware as he was favouring the kouravas, who will be defeated eventually. He knew the lust for power will lead duryodhana to death. He knew he will die, along with others. But there was something that made it all look worthless.. and that was his MAITRI-DHARMA.
It is not to say karna was a lesser man.. But to question whether he was right in choosing Maitri over raj dharma.
U r very right when u say it was a mahayudh of dharma and adharma in oneself.
And Sri Krishna did play his cunning side. True.
But is ones love for one dear ones bigger than ones love for his dharma?
Like karna, duryodhna's dad was also favouring him, out of his love for his son, and that lead to the inevitable yudh. Was that right?
Bhishma loved pandavas, was fond of Sri Krishna, but he stuck to his Raj Dharma, stood besides kouravas.
Would'nt karna be greater if he was able to decide on basis of niti rather than moh..??
Sri Krishna left no one guessing with the result of the war. The death was sure.
VIV,
You're forgetting Karna was infact fulfilling his Rajdharma by siding with Kauravs because he was included in their confederates(Mantri parishad) as well as he was made the king of Anga Rajya by Duryodhan himself.So as a king of Anga Rajya,he supported the Kauravas.The Maitri dharma succeeded his Raj dharma.
Beats me... yeah u are right.. he was a member of the court, and was a king who worked towards strenthening the empire.. He indeed was following his Rajdharma..
he was no independent.. He actually had no choice.. Agreed.
hope someone noticed the change in the post..
Post a Comment