Dream - A Karna SI

43. INTERLUDE - WISTFUL

Karn - 43 years

Yudhisthir - 40 years

Bheema & Duryodhan - 39 years

Arjun - 38 years

Nakul & Sahadev - 36 years

Abhimanyu - 16 years

(Kurukshetra, Day 3 end)

(Karn's POV)

The battlefield had transformed into a surreal scene. The fighting had ceased, and warriors from all corners-of various regions, states, castes, creeds, and allegiances-were making their way towards the resting place of Bhishma. The area had become almost sacred, a pilgrimage ground where warriors came to pay homage, to see for themselves the man who had loomed large over the history of Hastinapur. In the air hung an unspoken truce, born not of strategy but respect, a recognition of Bhishma's monumental stature.

He was like a towering pipal tree, his roots reaching deep into the soil of Kuru history, his shadow cast over the imagination of generations. Bhishma had been more than just a warrior. He was the embodiment of a past era, a time when dharma ruled the courts, and the kings of Hastinapur bore a purity of character that seemed impossible now. In his eyes, you could see a man who had witnessed the gradual decay of Hastinapur's royal lineage, from noble kings to the increasingly corrupt and power-hungry rulers of the present.

Bhishm had seen the descent of Hastinapur's kings-from noble rulers to self-serving men. He had taken his vow of celibacy, renounced the throne, and yet remained more entangled in the affairs of the kingdom than anyone. His was a dual legacy: revered for his discipline, yet feared for his rigidity. His strength of character was as formidable as his skill with arms, bending the rules of society with impunity. Yet, Bhishm had also seen himself change-from doing what was right, to believing that what he did was right.

But what was he truly standing for? His decisions, once rooted in dharma, had become a tangled web of contradictions. How many atrocities had he justified in the name of duty? How often had his rigid adherence to his vow cost the lives and happiness of those around him?

I stood apart from the others, watching them kneel and offer respects at Bhishm's feet. My temper flared at the sight. This was exactly why I had never wanted him or Dron to become martyrs. In the original timeline, Bhishm, Dron and original Karn himself, were killed by trickery, making them symbols of unjust death. Their demises had rendered them saints in death, martyrs to a cause they had failed to uphold in life. Bhishm, Dron-they had allowed atrocities to happen under their watch, yet they were, glorified in death.

Bhishm had enforced his will on other kingdoms and its people with an iron fist. He had committed countless wrongs in his life-wrongs that had destroyed lives, families, and kingdoms. He had bargained young Satyavati into marriage with his aging father, without asking for her consent. He had abducted the princesses of Kashi without a word to the assembly, forcing them into marriages they did not choose, leaving Amba to a fate of despair. He had forced Gandhara to marry her beautiful daughter to a blind prince when Pandu was available. His legacy, filled with forced unions and broken promises, was hardly the stuff of saints. His vow to remain celibate had somehow exalted him while he played matchmaker for his kingdom, oblivious to the personal destruction he caused in his wake.

Dron was no better. Who demands fulfilment of a promise made in childhood as if it were a binding law? He had humiliated Drupad for a slight that should have been forgiven and lived in Hastinapur, inside the safety net of kurus, instead of ruling the kingdom he had forcibly taken. What was his dharma? His so-called loyalty? Hollow.

Bhishm and Dron had both legitimized Duryodhan's rule with their presence. And, in death, they had been canonized, washed clean of their faults.

These men had been fortunate. Their deaths had become symbols of tragedy, overshadowing their actions in life. This time, they would die within the rules of their own so-called dharma yuddha. And they would be remembered for who they truly were, not legends crafted in the wake of their defeat.