Karna- The Hero Chosen by the Gods

Karna left Duryadhana

After the Indraprastha incident, the atmosphere of Hastinapur was very tensed. The citizens of Hastinapur loved their Crown prince because of his equal treatment to all the citizens. So after that insult by Draupadi, everyone was angry at the Pandavas. Kuru elders also thought that Duryodhana had his fault for being rude and taking out his mace but they were also angry with Draupadi for her rude comment. Maharaj Dhritarashtra almost declared war but Bheesm and Dronacharya stopped him. As Pandavas had support from 100 kings and they have Arjuna a great fighter.

'But we have Karna...tatshree you know what he can do?' asked Dhritarashtra.

Bheesm, 'I know but Karna will never agree to this bloodshed just to avenge a stupid girl's taunting. We can ask for an apology from Yudhishtir and then will try to forget this.'

Duryodhana, 'No forgetting, I just want revenge. I will show everyone what will happen if anyone dares to humiliate the crown prince of Kurus.

Karna, 'Mitra I also agreed with mahamahim. The war will only bring pain and agony, nothing else. War is not the solution. Please let us try to handle this diplomatically first and if they did not agree then we will decide what to do.'

Duryodhana left the chamber in anger. Karna secretly asked Bheesm to send Shakuni to Gandhar and Aswatthama to Panchal for some time so that they could not poison Duryodhana anymore. Bheesm agreed with him. He sent Shakuni and Aswatthama away for some time.

Duryodhana was almost hysteric with anger. He tried to burn his room in anger, but it was Karna who jumped into the fire and dragged him outside. 

Karna shouted, 'What are you doing Mitra? You are trying to give up your life just for that stupid girl. Please think about mata Gandhari and Sister Bhanumati before doing anything foolish.'

Karna somehow consoled Duryodhana but he knew that this fire in Duryoadhana's heart was not going to extinguish so soon. He returned home with a heavy heart. He knew this time the entire thing was gone too far. Now only a miracle could stop the disaster.

On the other hand, Dusshasshan had an evil plan in mind. Princess of Magadha Charulata came to the Yagna and she was extremely beautiful and Dusshashan immediately lusted after her. But she was a close friend of Shubhadra and Magadha had an alliance with both Indraprashtha and Dwarka. So he planned to kidnap her secretly and marry her. After marriage, no one would do anything as in the society after marriage a girl was considered as husband's property. He was also very angry with Karna for not saving his friend, so he continuously poisoned Duryodhana against Karna. Duryodhana already was in a vulnerable condition started to doubt Karna's loyalty.

'If he loves you so much then why did he not do anything on Indraprastha? Why did he not attack Krishana or protect Shishupal? Brother, he is a friend of Krishna, maybe that trickster sent him to spy on us.' said Dusshasshan. Duryodhana was a man who did not understand politics or diplomacy much. It was very easy to manipulate him.  

Dusshashan came to know both Subhadra and Charulata were going to Ujjain to attend puja at Mahakal temple. So he went there with some of their men in disguise and waited in the nearby forest. Charulata and Shubhadra did not bring many guards with them. So when they were passing through the forest Dusshsshan attacked their chariot and kidnapped both of them. They brought them to Hastinapura thinking that if they kept Shubhadra hostage then both Krishna and Arjuna would not attack them. But little did he knew that his biggest threat was already present in the Palace. 

He brought two princesses into the palace and hid them in the basement dungeon so that the elders did not get any inkling of them. He planned to secretly marry Charulata and also tarnishing Shubhadra's purity so that Pandavas would be humiliated. He was also angry with Subhadra as she rejected him to marry Arjun. But Avantika already had a small spy network of her, working in the palace as maids. Avantika used them to know what Dusshasshan or other evil Kauravas were up to.