|| Shrutakarma ||

● Author's Note ●

Hello readers! Welcome to my book!
Thank you for choosing this story to read! I hope you'll like the story and feel the emotions associated with our protagonist through this journey!

These are some points that I would like to state before we start with the main part of the book:

1. I have read quite a few stories on Shrutakarma but none of them have satisfied me so far. Portraying him as inferior to other characters and as someone who is poor and helpless, has become the trend of the day. That's one of the main reasons I've decided to write a book on him.

I do not believe that he needs sympathy. He deserves appreciation and glorification for who and what he is, for his role in Kurukshetra and his parents' lives. Shrutakarma has to be acknowledged for his irreplaceable part in the great epic of Bharata, not pitied upon for baseless reasons!

2. It is a series as I have mentioned in the blurb and has four more books dedicated to Karma's beloved brothers. The series of these five books is dedicated to the five sons of Draupadi, the five UpaPandavas, who are severely underrated.

3. I will be strictly sticking to the original Vyasa Mahabharata (KMG and BORI) for the main plotline. But I'll have to bring up a few creative themes as the authentic epic has scarce details about Shrutakarma. There will be fictional subplots, scenes and perhaps a couple of characters as well to build Karma's personal circle apart from his family. But there will be no major change!

4. Those who have read my other book ArjunaPriyaa, you all do know that Shrutakarma was shown as the youngest UpaPandava there. But this book is not from the same story universe. In this book and the series of 'Upa-Pandavas' books, Karma will be shown as the third UpaPandava.

In this version, Abhimanyu is elder to all the five UpaPandavas as the five UpaPandavas are born after Arjuna returned from his exile. There are conflicting views regarding the ages of Abhimanyu and the UpaPandavas, and this is a never ending debate. I'm aware of all the arguments on both sides (and not willing to continue it here). I'm just informing the readers what they can expect from the book beforehand. I have followed the more popular version in ArjunaPriyaa but I'll follow the other version here.

This is not to be confused with fiction because the epic has enough hints about this but it doesn't clearly state the ages which makes it ambiguous.

4. The roles of Draupadi and Arjuna as Shrutakarma's parents:

a. I respect and acknowledge the fact that there are many admirers of the bond between Abhimanyu-Draupadi, who believe that she loved him more than UpaPandavas. While the epic does say that she genuinely loved Abhimanyu as her son, it does not say that she loved him more than the UpaPandavas. That's explicitly given only for Kunti and Sahadeva where it's said that Kunti loved Sahadeva the most among all her sons.

So you won't find the theme of Draupadi loving Abhimanyu over Shrutakarma here. All the children have their own places and those who forcefully try to put Abhimanyu in Shrutakarma's place do not have my support. Some fictional books go to the extent of making Abhimanyu the son of ArDi - seriously? It's Karma and will always be Karma. And Abhimanyu is the son of Arjuna and Subhadra! Plain, simple facts! Why is it so difficult to accept the truth?

b. Many depict Arjuna as the villain of Shrutakarma's life. They show him partial to Abhimanyu, neglecting Shrutakarma, and guilt-tripping, gaslighting and yelling at Karma every time, or showing blatant bias to Abhimanyu before Shrutakarma carelessly. This is what so many people write. Ridiculous.

Just because their bond is not given in detail in the epic, no one gets the right to misrepresent it the way they like. Arjuna is a father for God's sake! What have these people made of him? Why would he do that to his own child? Karma was the only one whose first name was derived from his father's achievements! Why would Arjuna love him any less?

Shrutakarma was not a bad warrior, NOT AT ALL. He's said to be the equal of Arjuna on the battlefield! Arjuna had never differentiated amongst his sons! Loving Abhimanyu does not mean hating Shrutakarma! What kind of logic do these people have?

5. Dhrishtadyumna as the care-taker of Karma in his parents' absence:

Most people tend to forget that Dhrishtadyumna was the one who took care of Karma and his brothers during the thirteen years that their parents were away from them. The epic does say that Subhadra took care of the UpaPandavas when they visited Dvaraka but this thing is presented in a way as if UpaPandavas were staying all the time at Dvaraka and Subhadra was the one who actually looked after them and guided them. The UpaPandavas VISITED Dvaraka sometimes but most of the time they lived in Panchala and this is clearly given in the epic. When they were at Dvaraka, Subhadra took their care but MOSTLY it was Dhrishtadyumna to whom Draupadi had handed over the responsibility of her sons. And I'll be showing the same in my book! For me, it is an insult to Dhrishtadyumna to not give him the due credit!

6. The story will be narrated in first person from Shrutakarma's POV. As the narrative is in first person, it will begin in his teenage. His childhood will be depicted in flashbacks as and when required in the story!

Lastly, with the above points from my side cleared, I hope you have an idea how the book is going to be! If you like the chapters that you read, don't forget to support the story by pressing the vote button and please leave a few comments! They motivate me to update regularly!

Thanks again for visiting the book and I hope to retain your interest till the end of the book!

~ Shakrani ♡