DIFFERENT SURYAPUTRA

Chapter 26

After whatever was discussed in the sabha, Karna returned to the chamber of Suyodhana along with him and Ashwathama. They sat on the chairs there, of course the atmosphere was not as joyful as the morning because there was war that was going to happen in few days,

Karna: Ashwathama, I apologise if my words hurt you.

Ashwathama: Well, it was certainly hard to hear but I can see why you did that. After thinking about it, I realised it's between Pitashree and you so I decided to not think about it.

Karna nodded, well he was expecting a lash out.

Karna: Suyodhana, what are you thinking about?

Suyodhana: I am thinking about the war that's going to happen, Bharata.

Well Karna had to admit it was a stupid question.

Karna: Are you nervous about it?

Suyodhana: Truthfully, yes. I am not really worried about victory or defeat as it is inevitable but I am worried about the safety of my brothers.

Karna: I can understand that. It's not wrong to be nervous about your first war. As for the safety of your brothers you have to trust in their valour. They all are good warriors.

“Karna” may have not faced any war yet but he has experience of someone who has and it's ingrained in him. Through his stay in Mahendra giri he has fully adapted to the experience and enhanced it further.

Karna: How do you plan to fight the war? Panchal is one of the prosperous empires of Aryavart and has a huge army. They have great warriors too like the children of Maharaj dupad and Maharaj Drupad himself is a Maharathi and student of sage Bhardwaj himself.

Ashwathama: Mitra, Vasusen is right.

Suyodhana was deep in his thoughts but realised he had nothing to get any reference. He was a formidable fighter himself and has confidence in his strength, skills etc but brute force is definitely not a way to win any war especially against someone who has the upper hand in experience.

Suyodhana: Bharata Vasusen, how do you suggest we fight this war?

Karna: It's your gurudakshina Suyodhana. It's a test that your guru chose for his students. I can't help much but I will say all 106 brothers should fight together.

Suyodhana smiled wryly, “I too want that Bharata but I think after what happened in sabha the chances of that happening is very slim.”

Not only him but the other two thought that.

Karna: Suyodhana, this war is for your gurudakshina so I don't think anything political should affect it as it will malign the sacredness of it. What others think or do we have no control over and neither we will ever know without talking about it with them.

Suyodhana nodded. He has to talk with Yudhishthir about it. He will do that later but for now he wants to relax and that's what he did. He knew his words in sabha will have consequences but he wasn't afraid of it. He spoke what he felt and he will not regret it.

In Yudhishthir's chamber,

Pandavas were there, after being thoroughly humiliated in sabha. They were very angry. If this was the room of Bheem then the condition of this room would not be like this but it would have felt like a hurricane had passed through it. They were sitting there and soon their dearest mother came there.

Kunti herself was a participant in court today, naturally she was disturbed when the right of her eldest was challenged but what scared her most was seeing her unknown eldest showing authority there. He alone has mocked and threatened the most formidable warrior there nonchalantly. He even insulted the pillar of the kuru kingdom, it is not that she was worried about him but she was scared of the consequences of his actions. Before today, She has done her part of a helpless widow in front of Bhishma who has given birth to Devputra for kuruvansh. Not only that she has Vidhur and others in her confidence too because she felt there is nothing Acting Maharaj or anyone could do against them especially the gransire but now there was someone who was not afraid of him and willing to break his invisible visage for everyone. The authority and closeness her unknown eldest shares with Kauravas has scared her. But now was not the time for thinking about him.