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This topic started somewhere and, by divine intervention it would seem, went somewhere else entirely 😆 Millions of thanks Sema dear and Varaali for providing that divine intervention 🤗 I welcome whatever topics you guys initiate and use to enlighten us. On this particular topic, allow me to join the rant...
Anti-hero/Byronic hero worship is common in literature and pop culture, but the way it bleeds into discussions of our scriptures with contemporary readers/viewers nowadays makes having those discussions incredibly frustrating. As Sema said, it's one thing to sympathize with a character for the circumstances that led them down the wrong path, but it's entirely something else to put them on a pedestal and *ignore* the fact that their chosen path was wrong. Refuting that mindset with evidence from the actual epic is only possible for experts like you two, so I'm going to try and tackle it with some "modern thinking" of my own.
Even I feel bad when I think about Karna's abandonment, but playing devil's advocate on that point to start my rant. If he himself only laments it on account of the lower social status it led him into because of which he was discriminated against, not really the lack of a mother's love (which he didn't suffer from because of Radha), is that loss of status devastating enough to justify his descent into adharma? Who here doesn't wish they were born with a silver spoon, but do we all join gangs and become criminals to mourn the fact that we weren't 😕 To look at every crime he became a part of when he joined the side of adharma and give the excuse that he did it because he was abandoned at birth is as stupid as the umpteen court cases in which defense lawyers try to blame the actions of murderers and rapists on the fact that they were poor or watched violent video games or whatever. Nice try, but so do BILLIONS of other people who don't turn to a life of crime as a result, so why did you?
(The same is true for Duryodhan too btw - people who call him a "victim of circumstances" simply because they are used to making the bad guy their hero seem to forget how they would view the same archetype in the 21st century - does the fact that parents spoil over-privileged brats and fail to teach them the difference between right and wrong make them any less guilty when they drive drunk and kill people, bully their classmates, mistreat girls, etc?)
So that's my take on the initial snickering at the rangshaala that led him to accept Duryodhan's friendship. Then came the rejection at the swayamvar. A) People are making it out to be the biggest tragedy of the yuga, but really guys, a girl turning a guy down is THAT big a deal? One of the biggest talking points among young feminists is that the whole "Why doesn't the nice guy ever get the girl?" line of complaints is complete bullshit because people - guys included - should be nice in general, they don't deserve a cookie for doing what they should already be doing and girls certainly don't OWE them love and acceptance on account of that or any other reason. I've seen some of the same young feminists who say amen to that on other social networking sites turn around and curse Draupadi for rejecting Karna because "oh they would have been perfect together, he would have been so good to her, what was she thinking". That they don't extend the same rights to their Dwaapar counterpart as they do to themselves - solely because Karna has been built up into the stereotypical misunderstood hottie - is incomprehensible and undermines any other lip service they pay to true feminism. So yeah, Draupadi might want to thank these matchmaker aunties for taking the trouble to think about her, but she didn't owe Karna a yes because the think he was nice/hot/somehow "right" for her.
Also, the assumption that she would be "happier", that her life would have been entirely different with Karna than it was with the Pandavs, is another load of bullshit, especially as per his portrayal in the current serial that has them fawning over him. Yes, it's nice to see him really struggle to accept Duryodhan's sins e.g. the Varnavat plot, but he ends up accepting them any way. He literally sells his soul to please his friend - a friend who lusted over Draupadi - so if she was married to Karna, who's to say he wouldn't give in if Duryodhan coerced him to hand her over too?
Finally, his role in the vastraharan. Let's pretend for a minute that Draupadi's "insulting" rejection at the swayamvar, as well as misconceptions of her behavior towards Duryodhan in the maya mahal incident, were 100% accurate and just as brutal as this new breed of villain fangirls thinks they were. Even in that situation, the people who say that she deserved what they did to her during the dice match because of what she had done to them - I have one thing to say to you:
She could have been 10 times harsher to both of them than people like to think she was and even then, responding to verbal insults with that kind of torture is going way beyond an eye for an eye. It's like someone just steps on your foot, and you think it's ok for you to cut theirs off in retaliation. Spoiler alert: it's not, and a world that thinks it is will be a very, very scary world to live in if it doesn't change its thinking.
Disclaimer: As Sema said, I don't actually hate Karna and acknowledge that he had his share of good qualities. There are moments where my heart really goes out to him because it seems he's painfully aware of the fact that he's on the wrong side. When either the old or the new tv show gives him a scene portraying that internal struggle, I even find him endearing. But I just can't stand when people act like he was forced onto that side, as if he didn't make that choice and all subsequent reprehensible choices himself. Circumstances can render you more vulnerable to make bad choices, but they don't make you helpless. Regardless of how cute you are or how sad your life is, you should still be held accountable for your own decisions.
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