I bumped into Karna’s Wife, post reading ‘The Palace if Illusions’, seeing as Karna was the most intriguing character for me (and many others who have read the book) in the latter one, the title was enough reason to mark it as my next read. Both are the retelling of the century old Mahabharata, from two different women’s perspective, both loved Karna, while one was able to marry him; the other forever loved him from distance. Karna, the unsung hero, the flawed good man is a vital character in the tale of Mahabharata, but not much has been written about him and his story or character in the original tale, and thus it has influenced many mythological authors or poets to write his story on varying degrees. Karna’s Wife is one such attempt. It is the debut book of the author, Kavita Kane, published in 2013, before which she was an assistant editor at Times of India.
Already having read one perspective of Mahabharata, I was highly influenced by my previous read, and kept comparing the two stories throughout, more in the first half of the book then the second. The comparison came in the sense of validating stories for fact, in my naivety. Though apart from comparison, the first quarter of the book reminded me aggressively of bored clichéd Indian daily soap story line, but the story picks up momentum as the pages turn over.
Some of the hiccups to story line that had me sighing were,
The conflicting relationship Uruvi shared with her mother and father, which blindly follows the ‘daddy’s lil girl’ pitch line, while the mother who reprimands her daughter’s liberal ideas. While King Vahusa, comes out as an ideal father, who encourages his daughters’ varied interests and licenses her choices; Queen Shubra, is presented to upheave the flags of patriarchy. It’s essential to draw the picture of mothers as the supporting, promoters of their daughter’s liberation, rather than the bearer of bad news in the fear of society.
Uruvi’s zero regard to Karna’s first marriage countering to her love for him during her conversation with Kunti, instantly threw me off the hook. Which is great picture to draw in presenting Uruvi’s character sketch, but in my general infuriation towards Patriarchal polyamory it validates the numerous misogynistic systems and behaviours of the society since and also provides us with the reasons for constant representation of female rivalry for the hero, which is also instantly presented to us, soon after Karna & Uruvi’s wedding.
The age difference between the couples was a real concern for me throughout the book, without trying to be an ageist, with the history that Indian culture has presented, it questions the integrity of characters and the mythological tale when, Uruvi falls in love and marries a man who already has his eldest son aged 13 years old at least.
The shrewdness portrayed in Kunti’s character is something to applaud, I do believe that when a writer can make you hate a character with all your heart, they are doing something right, but Kavita goes ahead and articulates Kunti’s perspective with such precision.
The gender biasness when it comes to divulging the feelings of Lust and Love has run its course now, we have to move ahead of women’s spiritual love narrative and add in some spoonfuls of lust in it, that can be extracted from the lusting conveyed in the men’s eye.
In conclusion, this retelling of Mahabharata, has broaden my understanding of the tale and it’s teachings, which earlier in my bedtimes stories only reasoned it as the pioneer of Familial slash brotherly disputes, which is a pretty shallow presentation of the tale. Karna’s Wife highlights the grey side of the numerous renowned characters of the tales, and questions the integrity of philosophers like Bhisma Pitamaha and Sage Vyasa. Kavita should also be rewarded for bringing light to practices like Niyoga, which were humiliating to females on so many levels. There are so many well- intricated plots in the story which I would love to sit and converse about with a fellow reader, but wouldn’t want to hint in here to ruin the story for future readers.
So, go ahead, give it a read, I would highly recommended you to, and come back here and lets discuss it more.