The Conflict of Karna

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The battle of Kurukshetra was over. Millions lay dead on the field, many of them reduced to unrecognizable pieces. King Yudhishtir performed the last rites for his dead relatives. When he had finished, Mother Kunti announced that Karn was her firstborn son.

The Conflict of Karna explores the enigma of Karn-the mysterious warrior who appeared out of nowhere and held the outcome of the war in his strong hands. He defeated all the Pandavas except Arjun. He did not end the war by capturing Yudhishtir when he had the chance. But who was Karn?

Pradeep VM was born in Trivandrum, Kerala, on March 29, 1956. He joined medical studies in 1973 and is still practicing as a doctor.

His first novel, The Village of Shadows, was published in December 2019. The Conflict of Karna is his second novel.

He has written short stories and poems, which are yet to be published.

The Ithihas Mahabharath has stirred the imagination of everyone who has read the poem, in Sanskrit or translation, watched the TV serials, or the several movies made from this massive backbone, or even merely grew up in India. The sheer volume of the work is daunting, and if written today, it would probably have been dubbed too long for a regular reader. The number of characters who appear in this work is amazingly epic. All of them maintain their integrity until the end.

My fascination with the Mahabharath started very early as with most Indians. The stories told to juvenile admirers of the work are heavily toned down to make it acceptable to young minds and to stay within the norms of family etiquette. Indeed, when I used to ask for stories from the Mahabharath, I was told to read Ramayan instead. Later, much later, when I read the unabridged version, I was struck by the directness of the language and the blunt description of events by the Maharshi Ved Vyas. The chapter on the talk of Karn's charioteer Shalya and the replies by Karn is a case in point. I have used only a scaled-down version of the dialogs.

Of all the characters in Mahabharath, no one has captured popular and academic fancy as much as the mysterious warrior Karn. Arriving in a waterproof basket and rescued by a charioteer, he grows up as the son of Adhirath and his wife, Radha. As he grows older, he proves himself a master of all weapons, especially archery, and also a man of character unmoved toward dishonesty in his entire life, except when he lied to his guru Parasuram about his birth. And for this, he paid heavily; with his life. In this, his natural friend, Duryodhan, is an admirable companion, whose idea of Dharma and Neethi differ vastly from that of Dharmaputhr.

Many skilled and knowledgable authors have written fascinating stories about the life and death of this simple man, who was a genius with weapons, although not with 'The Art of War,' so to say, to quote Sun Tzu. Shri Shivaji Savant is still fascinating reading.

Book's Contents and Sample Pages