Book Review - Mrityunjay - The Death Conqueror👏

 

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Mrityunjay - The Death Conqueror. The original Marathi magnum opus of Mr Shivaji Sawant has been very ably translated into English by Mr Pushottam Lal & Ms Nandini Nopany. My copy was a hard cover book bound with hand-woven silk cloth and golden lettering on the cover; the pages golden edged. It definitely does credit to the contents and the homage that is paid to the great character that Karna was. Credit must go to my nephew Suryakalpo Sarker for introducing me to the book.

 

In literal terms, Mrityunjay means a person who has conquered death. Taken from the story of the Mahabharata, the book is the story of the life of Karna, the great warrior, the greatest giver; Karna, who braved the mightiest of disadvantages, insults, unfairness, injustice, humiliation and contempt to emerge victorious as a person of sterling character. A personality to be the role model for youth all through the ages. Very inspirational.

 

Karna has forever been my hero. The one personality who left a mark amongst the myriad of characters of Mahabharat.  

 

A Kshatriya, the son of Kunti & the Sun God, Surya Dev, Karna unaware of his parentage, lived under the contemptuous shadow of being a Charioteer’s son. His entire life is a striving, an yearning to be recognized as the great warrior that he was. Capability should judge a man and not his birth. But that was denied to him right till the end of his life. At every step humiliated, pushed back and sought to be ousted. During the war of Kurukshetra, there were repeated attempts by the great leaders of both the Pandavs and the Kauravs to break his morale. Just before the Kurukshetra war, Krishna divulges his kinship with the Pandavs. Kunti who had ignored the injustice meted out to him during the archery contest thought it fit to inform him that he was her son and tried to tempt with the throne as the eldest Pandav. Karna’s feelings, his pain & suffering, his courage & character are portrayed in depth.  Divided into sections, the book explores important milestones in the life of the great persona.

 

Born with a divine set of earrings and a shield covering his entire body, unaware of his true identity Karna, from his childhood, has a strange attraction towards the Sun God. A great devotee of the Sun God, spurned by Guru Dronacharya, Karna makes the Sun his Guru to train as the greatest warrior. Inspite of his obvious superiority over all the Pandava and the Kauravas, or rather because of this, his entire life is a struggle against the injustice meted out to him. Fearing his supremacy he is forced out of all competition for the Pandavas. Humiliated and shunned by all he is befriended by Duyrodhan, the one person who is portrayed as evil, scheming and cunning. But all the others who prided themselves on their character do not come forth to stand by what is right. Though Krishna and Bhishma are aware of reality, both do nothing to set the facts right and establish Karna to his rightful place. His Mother, Kunti does not own him till the end. In fact she reveals his true identity to protect her other sons. So do Krishna and Bhishma, who reveals the truth to make him desist from the warfare. But through all this Duryodhan stands by him and as a mark of gratitude, so does Karna stand by his friend.

Apart from this constant struggle for acceptance, Karna’s life centres round his family. His father Adhirath, mother Radha and brother Shon. His marriage to Vrushali is poetically romantic. Vrushali is the perfect foil for the generosity embodied by Karna. The love and respect that Karna has for his family is returned wholeheartedly by all of them. His life is a Greek tragedy and ends with the death of his wife, sons and in the end himself.

Despite all this cruel injustice, Karna remains compassionate and sympathetic to the needs of others, till the end. Knowing fully well, his donations would be the ruin of him, he discards his divine earrings and the body shield to the utter torture of his physique. But the word of a gentleman is his honour. Even on his deathbed, he removes his gold teeth to give to a dead solder’s poor father to make funeral arrangements for the son. Little wonder then that he is conferred the title of ‘Daanveer Karna’.

Inspite of his great love and devotion for Lord Krishna he rejects the offer to join the Pandavas as the eldest and best of Pandavas as his conscience would not permit him to abandon his friend, Duryodhana who supported him throughout his life.

A must read for all. 

 

[Sucharita]