Originally posted by: RamKiSeeta
The problem is people want to "relate" to the characters of these epics, so they try to draw parallels with today's time period, which would be okay as long as they're able to differentiate and understand the differences then and now. Once people start judging the characters based on today's mindset, that's where everything becomes skewed.
You're right. Karna was NOT unfortunate. The only thing he didn't have going for him was, he wasn't a royal prince. In that case, all the commoners in Hastinapur were unfortunate. 😆 Otherwise he had a very lucky life.
Actually my personal favourite character is Arjun, and that's because I find him very relatable and human. (All of the characters have human traits in them of course, just Arjun seems more relatable though he is a hero). But that does not mean I judge him from today's terms. If we look at some things they did, they're wrong today. But what is important is, why they did it and what intentions they bore.
That's the thesis anti thesis difference between Arjun/Yudhishthir and Karna/Duryodhan. All made mistakes but if we look at the intentions, their reasons and most importantly their characterization, we know why the difference.
Today there's a trend of celebrating Duryodhan, Karna and their likes while picking faults of Pandavas. I am not saying all Pandavs were flawless, but the very fact that we have to cherry pick their flaws and dig for good traits in others prove that this culture of celebrating them is faulty. 😆