{|VIJAYADHARI Karna: AHAM Sharma's AT#9|} - Page 7

Originally posted by: .Vrish.

True, but had Kunti revealed this to him b4 the tournament somehow, he'd not have made enemies of the Pandavas.  Maybe in that event, he may have chosen to be a charioteer, or move out of Hastinapur or wherever he lived to some place else.

"Kunti said, 'Thou art Kunti's son, and not Radha's. Nor is Adhiratha thy father. Thou, O Karna, art not born in the Suta order. Believe what I say. Thou wert brought forth by me while a maiden. I held thee first in my womb. O son, thou wert born in the palace of Kuntiraja. O Karna, that divine Surya who blazeth forth in light and maketh everything visible, O foremost of all wielders of weapons, begat thee upon me. O irresistible one, thou, O son, wert brought forth by me in my father's abode, decked with (natural) ear-rings and accoutred in a (natural) coat of mail, and blazing forth in beauty. That thou, without knowing thy brothers, shouldst, therefore, from ignorance, wait upon Dhritarashtra's son, is not proper. It is improper in thee especially, O son. The gratification of one's father and one's mother, who is the sole displayer of affection (for her child), hath, O son, in the matter of ascertaining the duties of men, been declared to be the highest of all duties. Acquired formerly by Arjuna, the prosperity of Yudhishthira hath, from avarice, been wrested by wicked persons. Snatching it back from Dhritarashtra's sons, do thou enjoy that prosperity. Let the Kurus behold today the union of Karna and Arjuna. Beholding thee and thy brother united together in bonds of brotherly love, let those wicked persons bow down unto ye. Let Karna and Arjuna be named in the same breath as Rama and Janardana. If you two are united together, what cannot be accomplished in the world? O Karna, surrounded by thy brothers, thou wilt, without doubt, blaze forth like Brahma Himself, surrounded by the gods on the platform of a great sacrifice. Endued with every virtue, thou art the first of all my relations. Let not the epithet Suta's son attach to thee. Thou art a Partha, endued with great energy.'"

1. She certainly lacked faith in them.  Despite Bhima's victory over Karna, she still felt that Karna could kill all of them.  What sort of a mother doesn't have faith in the power of her own sons?
2. It was considered an honor for a kshatrani woman to have her sons die in battle.  From the Pandava side alone, Sudeshna, Draupadi, Subhadra, Hidimba, and several other women all lost all their sons.  Kunti goes crying to Karna that she doesn't want to lose any of hers.  What sort of a Kshatrani was she?  And what was so special about her that all her sons had to live, even while her grandsons died?
• On one hand, she asks Krishna to tell the Pandavas that the time for which a Kshatrani gives birth has arrived.  In which case, she should happily accept it if she loses her sons in battle.  How is it fine for her to lose grandsons, who are the long term future of her family, but not her sons?
3. Her living in Hastinapur despite the Pandava exile showed how shameless she was.  Had she any honor, she'd have gone back to Kuntibhoj.  Or Vasudeva.  Similarly, after the war, her retiring w/ D&G was a violation of Manu's laws, which required widows to live under the care of their sons, not BILs.
4. Her keeping Karna's identity a secret from the Pandavas, thereby causing them to do the adharm of killing him.  I thought moms were supposed to protect their sons from adharm.  Instead, by never speaking up despite several opportunities, Kunti made adharmis out of Arjun & Yudisthir.  If she was gonna open up to Karna, she should have done the same to her sons b4 that, and asked them to apologize to him.  B4 the exile or the game of dice or any of that.  She was Rajmata of Indraprastha for several years, and never thought of setting her sons on the right path?