Anga Rajya- the kingdom in middle India of which Karna was made ruler.
Pandava- sons of King Pandu, brother of King Dhritarashtra, rival of the Kauravas.
Arye- address for a noble Aryan lady.
Dharma- the Hindu concept of the righteous principles guiding all actions.
Maya- Hindu concept of creation being an illusion, a play.
Devi- a form of address regarding a lady as a Goddess.
Arjuna- third of the Pandava brothers, considered by far the best archer.
Commentary:
Rabindranath Tagore,
though often viewed as a mystical poet, was minimally interested in religion,
especially anything fundamentally dogmatic, fundamentalist or
proselytizing. Therefore, even though he
wrote extensively on "inner" matters pertinent to subtle experiences of the
human spirit, and strove to find harmony between the external dimensions of
existence and their echoes within the human mind in the most tactile manner, he
rarely wrote, if at all, about religious subjects. Granted, he wrote famous poems about Christ,
Sikh heroes such as Banda Singh Bahadur, or even about the eternal creation of
the Mughal Emperor, Shah Jahan- in every case his presentation was on the
purely human and ethical level, outlining the noblest characteristics of his
principals without mysticism or religious zeal.
Much as he viewed
religion itself as an essential reflective inner dimension of Man (exemplified
by his lectures compiled in The Religion of Man) which is guided by ethics and
responses to moral issues within life- Tagore did on occasion delve into the
stories of the Indian epics- the Ramayana and the Mahabharata to draw from them
ethical dilemmas and interchanges on the plane of human interests and
concerns.
One such epic story relates to the life and tribulations of the abandoned Kuru progeny, the
valiant warrior Karna. Karna's story is
one of the most tragic within the vast Mahabharata, it is also one rife with
heartbreaking injustice, given the castaway life he faced virtually as an
infant. It turns out that upon Karna's mythical birth (apparently through his
mother, Kunti (later the Pandava Queen married to the King Pandu)'s ear- hence
the name Karna, following her union with Surya, the sun-god), Kunti placed him
in a basket and cast him away in the river Ganga. This story echoes to some extent the story of
Remulus and Remus in the Italian folklore, except this one pre-dates the story
of Rome.
The Mahabharatan story
continues on to the extent that the abandoned Karna, brought up by poet and
charioteer parents Radha and Adhiratha (beneath the status of Kshatriya or Brahmin on the caste
hierarchy)- becomes a proficient archer and warrior, much favored by the Kurus,
and highly competitive with the most accomplished of them all- Arjuna. Yet- much like the gravely abused Ekalavya
(who was refused training by the Kuru trainer, Dronacharya, and eventually
asked to offer his potent archery thumb as payment to his symbolic Guru in
order to prevent his surpassing Arjuna in archery)- Karna, whose kindness was
also legendary, suffered untold neglect his entire life.
Rabindranath picks up
on this severe estrangement between the abandoned and neglected Karna and his
mother Kunti, the Pandava Queen, who
cast him away at birth for shame of his virgin, pre-marital birth. In this conversation, a repentant Kunti
embarks upon a clandestine meeting with Karna literally on the eve of the
momentous Kurukshetra war- crossing over from the Pandava encampment across the
Jamuna river to meet with Karna near the Kaurava camp. She attempts to express her personal grief
and remorse at her treatment of her first-born, and promises him that in her
heart he rises higher than all her sons brought up as royals. Even more- she promises that if he returns
with her to join the Pandavas, his half-brothers, they would gladly crown him
their sovereign, by-passing even the vaunted Arjuna and his older brothers. In the ultimate irony, and perhaps the
greatest test of character, Karna with due reverence turns down his
birth-mother's earnest pleas, stating his preference for loyalty, the value of his
pledge and commitment and his wish to be identified with the losing side. This last identification is in complete
resonance with Karna's lifelong assessment of his place among the vanquished
and humiliated across the expanse of life.
(Article changed on November 18, 2019 at 04:37)
(Article changed on November 18, 2019 at 04:56)
(Article changed on November 18, 2019 at 16:24)
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(Article changed on November 18, 2019 at 21:37)
(Article changed on November 21, 2019 at 06:30)
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