Karna, My Son: Chapter 16

I sat with my eyes half closed, my lips spread a little in a half smile. Arjuna noticed me.

“Why mother! You seem quite lost!”

I was. But my ruminations didn’t leave me depressed. By now, my weary feet and my weary mind felt rested. The birth of Ghatotkacha had renewed my hopes. The venerable Vyasa’s benedictions, prophecies and guidance filled me with a sense of awe and purpose traversing Fate’s roadways, where the final destination was known, but the path leading to it was always a revelation of God’s invisible hands.

I was wondering how long it was since we left Hastinapur, and how far we had traveled since then. Varanavata was a town on the peripheries of the sprawling Kuru Kingdom and we had stayed there for a year, traveled South, crossed Ganges and passed through dense jungles and even lived in a Rakshasa territory.

Ekachakra. That was our next sojourn in our long journey. It was a small hamlet in the Birbhum District of modern-day West Bengal.

At Ekachakra, we dressed ourselves as ascetics and lived in a kind Brahmin’s house. Every day, my sons would go begging and bring back alms. Whatever food was collected, I’d give half of it to Bheema and then share the rest amongst the others. Even then, the food was woefully inadequate for the voracious Bheema, and it pained me immensely.

One day, just as my sons set out on their morning bhiksha, there arose a loud wailing from the inner rooms of the house.

“I knew this day would come eventually. You didn’t want to leave this wretched place, saying this was where you were born. I’m not worried about dying at the hands of the evil asura; but what would happen to you and our dear children? ” The Brahmin was lamenting loudly to his wife.

The wife stopped her husband, “No, my lord, it’s going to be me. How can I leave you to die? A widowed woman dependent on others is as good as dead. Please take care of our children after I’m gone.”

Their teenaged daughter hugged them. “Is there a doubt who should be spared for this? Who better than me? A girl without the protective arms of her parents is constantly living a life of peril. Both of you should live long and take care of my little brother who is sorely in need of protection.” Hearing this, the Brahmin cried some more. “What’s life without the loved ones?” Hearing everybody cry, the Brahmin’s little son picked up a little stone and said bravely, “Don’t cry father, and don’t cry mother. I will slay the asura with this stone,” and made a mock show of hurling it at an imaginary object. Every body broke into laughter, temporarily forgetting their distress.