Originally posted by: CaptainSpark
Kunti is my favourite character after Arjuna. Agree with whatever you just said. But I think she did love Karna. And if we see the citation of Karna Kunti meeting properly, Kunti NEVER asked Karna to give the life of her five sons. I don't know why people call her a beggar. She was the strongest woman of the epic IMHO. It is Karna who said she has five sons, she will have five after war too. (We all know what he meant.) Kunti wanted Karna in her side, Kunti never asked Karna to spare his five sons. And most importantly, Karna DID NOT spare Arjuna either. So anyway, Kunti had to see one of her sons dying.
We all focus on Karna's greatness and his so called sad life. Never do we turn to see Kunti's side. This is so unfair. I mean Kunti had the worst life among all in the epic. She had no choice other than letting Karna in the water because otherwise she would be making situations worse for Karna. And it is very difficult when you just cannot say the truth when you know very well who Karna is. But if she would have said that to him or anyone before, would that not be unfair for Yudhishthir, for all her sons? She had NOTHING in her life. Is it very wrong to ask for her own sons to rule and wanting that and taking certain steps? Also, it wasn't that Karna was still floating in water. Karna had a much better life than he would have with Kunti. He had support of the Kurus, he was King of Anga, he had loving foster parents, he had everything!! So should Kunti not focus on her three other sons? And as you said, she got no love from anyone else. Atleast she wanted her sons to be with her! Also, Kunti could turn situation in her favour, control her sons etc. Karna was not in this cage of hers. Wasn't that good? Kunti is one phenomenal woman, and deserves much more respect than she gets IMHO.
I had mentioned this a few times in the ⭐️B thread, so I'll repeat it once here. Yeah, Kunti was helpless at the tournament, but it's not like she
never got any private time w/ her sons since then. Why, that very night, she could have summoned her sons, told them who Karna really was, then summoned Karna and disclosed all to him. Karna wouldn't have remained in Dury's debt b'cos the moment Dury would have known that Karna was a Kaunteya, he'd have disowned him instantly and taken back Anga.
It's ridiculous to claim that Karna had a better life w/ Adirath - the best that can be claimed is that he wasn't
worse off. In fact, the only advantage Karna had from not being claimed by Kunti was that he didn't have to suffer those 13 years in exile. Also, despite being Dury's friend (or perhaps
bcos of it), he never had the support of the Kurus: he was
hated by Drona, Kripa, Ashwatthama, Vidura et al. Bheeshma too openly hated him, although he later told Karna that he loved him as much as Dury or Yudhi (I think Bheeshma was lying).
The beef that one has w/ Kunti isn't merely her floating Karna away: it is coming back to claim him after too much has passed. Kunti could easily have approached Karna long b4 Varnavarta. Karna being king of Anga was there, but he too was subdued by Bhima, and was one of the many rulers who had to accept the suzerainty of Yudhi. If one reads the Vana Parva section in question (don't feel like excavating it now), one will see that Kunti expecting that Karna, on getting to know who he was, would automatically join her sons. Nowhere in
her private moments did she state that she'll get for Karna what he deserved. So stating above that Kunti was not a beggar is a blatant lie. Yeah, she didn't go to beg him to spare her sons' lives, she went to beg him to support her sons just b'cos he came out of her birth canal. And her offer to him of the throne was nothing short of a blatant bribe - she really wanted it for Yudhi, not him.
And where did this theory come from that nobody loved her? It's
she who shamelessly stayed on at Hastinapur after her sons were exiled, instead of leaving for Dwarka or Kuntibhoj. She had no business remaining in Hastinapur, nor for that matter, leaving w/ Dhritarashtra & Gandhari. What was she - his concubine? She was very much loved both during her marriage (during which she held from her husband a secret that might have made him happy, given his predicament of not being able to procreate) and after marriage, had the full support of the Kuru elders, if not Dhritarashtra or Gandhari.
It's amazing what some people get away with only b'cos of their plumbing, and nothing else. Gandhari is one, and Kunti is another. Like I said once, if only Karna had a womb.
Edited by .Vrish. - 10 years ago
CID
