KARNA: Son of the Charioteer

Chapter 13

A few years later, Drona held a celebration and a competition among the most prestigious princes throughout the Kingdom of Kuru.

He organized the race as a celebration of the completion of all the princes' learning from his military school. Also, to determine his best student, which he already knew for sure who would be the winner.

The race was attended by the princes from the Kauravas—descendants of King Dhritarashtra—numbering one hundred people, and the princes from the Pandavas—descendants of King Pandu—numbering five people.

In short, the Kingdom of Kuru originated from a king named Kuru. From the lineage of King Kuru, the eldest son was born, Dhritarashtra, and his younger brother, Pandu. Because Dhritarashtra was born blind, the royal rights that should have been his were transferred to Pandu, his younger brother.

One day, while hunting in the forest, King Pandu mistakenly shot a sage named Kindama, who was disguised as a deer with his wife and making love in the forest. By Kindama's curse, Pandu was doomed to die if he engaged in intercourse. At that time, Dhritarashtra had married Gandhari, and Pandu married Kunti and Madri.

King Pandu, who lost his worldly desire, chose to exile himself to the forest and transfer his royal rights back to Dhritarashtra, his eldest brother.

Pandu had no offspring, so Kunti told him that when she was young, an old sage named Durvasa had visited the kingdom of Surasena, her father's kingdom. Kunti served the old sage well, so Durvasa granted her a boon that she could summon any god she liked, and that god would give her a child. The old sage Durvasa granted this boon because he foresaw Kunti's future difficulty in having children.

Pandu was very happy and asked Kunti to have a child from the God Dharma, the god of truth, from whom Yudhishthira was born.

Then, from the God Vayu, the god of wind, Kunti gave birth to Bhima.

And from the God Indra, the king of the gods and the god of weather, Arjuna was born from Kunti's womb.

Pandu asked that the boon be shared with Madri, Pandu's second wife. By calling upon the Ashwini Kumaras, the twin gods, Madri gave birth to twins named Nakula and Sahadeva.

Pandu said, "The children of Kunti and Madri are also my children, who have rights like my own biological children."

At one point when Kunti was not present, Pandu couldn't restrain himself upon seeing Madri bathing, and they made love.

As a result, Pandu passed away, and Madri performed sati by leaping into the fire that burned Pandu's body. Kunti then returned to Hastinapur, the capital of the Kuru kingdom, with her five sons. They, being Pandu's descendants, were called the Pandavas.

Meanwhile, Gandhari, the wife of King Dhritarashtra, had been pregnant for a long time, even years before Yudhishthira's birth. However, her child did not come out.

Upon hearing that Kunti had given birth to Yudhishthira, Gandhari was filled with jealousy and struck her abdomen to hasten the birth. From her womb came out a lump of flesh that terrified King Dhritarashtra and Gandhari.

They sought out a sage named Vyasa who had promised to give them a hundred sons. Sage Vyasa then divided the lump of flesh into 100 equal parts.

King Dhritarashtra asked, "If all hundred are born together, who among them is the eldest?"

Therefore, Vyasa placed one piece of flesh in a vessel filled with Ghee and the other 99 pieces of flesh in another vessel also filled with Ghee. Both vessels were buried in the earth for a year, symbolizing the earth nurturing them in the womb of Mother Earth.

When the vessels were dug up again, there was a baby named Duryodhana from one vessel, and from the other vessel, 99 sons were born to King Dhritarashtra and Gandhari.

Just as Gandhari was always jealous of Kunti for marrying the famously handsome Pandu, Gandhari had instilled seeds of jealousy since her pregnancy, so Duryodhana, born from her, also harbored the same jealousy towards Kunti's sons, the Pandavas.

Duryodhana was raised with various painful experiences.

His father, the weak-hearted King Dhritarashtra, chose to pass on his inheritance to Yudhishthira instead of him, his own biological son, claiming it was because Yudhishthira was older. Duryodhana felt that his own father did not trust him.

His teacher, Drona, favored Arjuna and the Pandavas over him and his brothers.

Drona only taught divine weapons to Arjuna and not to him, another prince. He was always compared to them. The extraordinary birth of the Pandavas, rumored to be direct descendants of worshipped gods, often made him feel inferior.

He was born from the earth after Gandhari attempted to abort him. This pain only amplified his jealousy and dislike for the Pandavas.

Indeed, Duryodhana did not like the events organized by Drona. It seemed all aimed at showcasing the Pandavas to the people of the Kuru Kingdom. He wasn't foolish to not know who the eventual winner would be even before the event began, as Drona only imparted all his knowledge to Arjuna.

However, the event had to proceed as Drona had obtained permission from his father, King Dhritarashtra, and his grandfather, Bhisma. He could not stop the event.

In the royal palace courtyard where the warriors usually gathered, a high arena was built that could be seen by many people.

On the day of the competition, the place was quickly filled with many people, including those from outside the city of Hastinapur. Radheya had just finished escorting some of his clients to the palace courtyard.

By parking his chariot outside the palace courtyard, he joined in watching the competition that had already begun. He was somewhat hopeful that there would be an entertainment competition for the common folk after the prince's competition ended.

The competition, held only for the princes, was intense. In the spear-fighting competition, Yudhisthira easily defeated the princes of the Kauravas and emerged as the winner of the spear competition.

In the mace-fighting competition, Bhima and Duryodhana fought fiercely and evenly matched until Drona had to stop them because they were about to engage in a bloody fight if not stopped. Duryodhana indeed disliked the Pandavas, and Bhima, who was more aggressive, also disliked Duryodhana, who could fight him evenly.

In the sword-fighting competition, Nakula and Sahadeva emerged victorious over all the princes of the Kauravas.

In the archery competition, Arjuna excelled. He hit various types of targets accurately, leaving a sense of shame on the dozens of princes from the Kauravas.

Radheya, observing the competition, felt heartache and jealousy. But he remained aware that they were all princes born with all perfections. He had no right to compete against them. In the end, he could only restrain himself from watching the competition.