My response
One question that strikes me is if people like Vyasa, Bhishma, Vidura etc knew about Karna's birth why didn't they reveal it earlier (much before the situation worsened to the point of war). Krishna being a Machiavellian politician may have only wanted to psychologically weaken Karna with the truth at the last moment. But people like Bhishma and Vidura were genuine opponents of war since the very beginning.
I wonder where you got the 'etc'? The only people who knew this were Kunti, Krishna, Vyasa & Bheeshma. Bheeshma got to know this from Narada, but kept it to himself.
Revealing Karna's truth would have been the best way of ending the conflict as Karna was Duryodhan's best bet for the war and even if Karna had chosen to be the second Bhishma, i.e. remained a loyal regent to Duryodhan instead of being the king himself, he would have atleast never goaded Duryodhan for the war and perhaps he may have seen to it that the dice game and Draupadi's molestation be entirely avoided.
I think the same blind loyalty that tied them to Dhritarashtra also guided them into protecting Kunti as well. After all, as the ex queen of Hastinapur, she was someone that they were at one point loyal to, so to reveal her secret w/o her consent would have been betrayal for them. Vyasa was a total outsider and not supposed to intervene - the only time he did was during the Brahmashira release. So was Narada. But Bheeshma was a one time subject - albeit indirectly - of Kunti, so couldn't do something w/o her consent.
However, it's not known at what point in the story Bheeshma got to know this secret. Some surmise that he knew it right at the beginning, which is why he approached Shalya for Madri's hand for Pandu, so that in case Kunti was exposed, Pandu would still have Madri for a queen. But if he knew it later, it could have been as late as just b4 the war, in which case, an exposure would only have cost the Pandavas their rights, which even Karna wanted to avoid.
Furthermore, Kunti seemed to be really selfish when she finally decided to reveal the truth as it was quite apparent that her only motive was to save the necks of her 5 younger sons. If she truly wanted Karna to live and get his dues as the eldest Pandava, shouldn't she have first spoken to her younger sons who were not bound by any oath of fidelity to anyone? Instead she behaved identical to Indra and approached Karna when he couldn't refuse anyone.
That she absolutely was. Karna would have been totally justified in rejecting her request. After all, if Karna could kill Ghatotkacha & help kill Abhimanyu in battle, why not Nakul or Yudisthir? Bhima too was older to Duryodhan, so it's not like Yudisthir's death would have made Duryodhan the next rightful claimant to the combined throne. As I mentioned in the Pandava AT, she had several opportunities to tell the Pandavas about Karna, but failed.
Personally, I find the war to be entirely meaningless and avoidable, and those who truly didn't want it to happen had enough options to stop it, the best being Karna's secret. The war, as I see, was a product of personal vendetta and it served no greater good. It was no 'Righteous war', as its claimed to be, as the end product was only genocide, famine and revenge-murders and there's no evidence that ordinary people suffered during Duryodhan's reign making his overthrow imminent. In fact he was a just and admired ruler, which is why he ascended to heaven directly.
Now you are stretching it. The 2-state solution - Hastinapur & Indraprastha - was the perfect one for this situation, and until Duryodhan got jealous and plotted that game of dice, things were ideal. Duryodhan got to be the yuvraj of Hastinapur and had the only claim on the Kuru title. The Pandavas got a kingdom where they could safely live, free from the plots of the Kauravas. Karna had his own kingdom in Anga. Had Duryodhan had a live-and-let-live approach to life like Yudisthir, he could have happily lived & ruled Hastinapur.
The Pandavas could not have lived in Hastinapur had Duryodhan become Yuvraj. He'd still have wanted them dead, and they & their families would always have been insecure. The only alternative then would have been them leaving the kingdom and going to Dwarka or Kuntidesh to live. Karna could not have bought their rights from Duryodhan - the latter would still have wanted at least Bhima & Arjun dead.
One thing I do fault Yudisthir - for including the Kauravas as co-hosts in the Rajasuya. He should have bypassed them and excluded them - maybe just invite Bheeshma, Drona, Kripa & Vidura there. Had he done that, no maya mahal episode, and Duryodhan wouldn't have gotten to see Indraprastha, and no game of dice
Edited by .Vrish. - 11 years ago
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