Karna and his Brothers in an Alternate Universe

Rewriting the messy lines of destiny

Just like thirteen days ago, it had been unthinkable for Karna to accept his brothers' side when Yudhishthir offered him out of dharma, it was unthinkable to reject his brothers' side when Arjun asked for it in a voice full of earnestness.

Karna smiled--a smile of acceptance. His vision blurred.

Arjun's face lit up. He rushed to his eldest brother and caught his arms.

"You will?" he demanded.

The childishness of the question hit Karna with a hopeless barrage of affection. Was this how younger brothers asked questions of their older brothers: childish, earnest, possessive; impossible to say no to?

Was this how it felt when a young brother looked up at you with shining, hopeful eyes: paralyzed with love, consumed with longing to fulfill every wish of theirs so that their eyes never lost the hope?

He would not know; he had never been an elder brother.

Here was an offer, though--an offer to change the world, but more importantly, an offer to be an elder brother.

"Jyesht?" asked Arjun, confused by the prolonged silence. "You mean it, don't you?"

"Of course I do, my...my anuj."

Arjun threw violent arms around Karna, fueled, no doubt, by the hysteria of his son's close shave with death, and the relief that had followed. His hug at the same time assured and asked for assurance.

Karna, as a rule, hated hugs except those of Radha Maa. His father was a stoic human, Duryodhan even more so. His sons had grown up like their father and were stoic as well.

His brothers were a different kind of people. It would be rude to refuse to return Arjun's embrace.

It took Karna the best part of a minute to get his arms rise, trembling and hesitating, almost protesting, to clasp his younger brother close.

But then it felt so right, he was never to hesitate again.

**************

Even Sahadev's hurried arrival and him starting to heal Abhi, mumbling to Draupadi that he was going to be okay, it was not too late, could not make Arjun let his older brother go.

He clung on to him as Sahadev worked on Abhi. He did not want to let go even when Sahadev said, "He is fine now, just sleeping."

He finally had to relinquish his hold when Sahadev came up, his eyes filled with tears of gratitude and relief, to touch Karna's feet himself. Arjun felt a scowl coming on and it dawned on him that Madhav had possibly been right: he did not want to share his older brother with anyone else. 

But maybe it would not be so bad, even if he did have to share him. Six brothers, instead of five...

Sahadev gave Karna a hug and went deeper into the medical camp to tend to others.

"The last medical camp of Kurukshetra." Arjun turned to Karna, beaming.

"But, Arjun, I cannot get Duryodhan to understand." Karna sounded heartbroken.

Arjun fought the urge to slap his own forehead or jump into the ocean that his brother was so bound by his evil friend that wherever he went, he would lose. There could be no victory for him.

"Yes, you can."

Arjun and Karna turned to Draupadi, who had finally let Abhimanyu go and stood up.

"You have never tried, Karna," she said, "have you? Have you not, perhaps, always told him what he wanted to hear, and not what he needed to?"

"I--" Karna stopped.

"Govind has always maintained that you are a man of honour. Have you honestly found it in your heart to think what Duryodhan does is right?"

Still, Karna remained silent.

"What good is such a friendship, jyesht?" asked Arjun. "If you only help him push himself into the depths of cruelty and violence? An enemy who tries to stop him would technically be a better friend to him."

"You don't understand, either of you," said Karna finally. "Nothing I say will make the slightest difference."

"Do his friend's words hold no value to him?" asked Draupadi.

Pushed into the corner, Karna's shoulders slumped.

"You will never know that unless you try," said Draupadi. "Go. Both of you. I will take care of Abhi. Go and talk to Duryodhan, tell him that you wish to put an end to the war."

Arjun raised his eyebrows. Karna looked up in bemusement.

"You two were always the heart of the war," said Draupadi with a small smile. "If you two refuse to lift a weapon, each side has lost. The war has lost."

She paused to smoothen Abhimanyu's creased forehead.

"But before that, you, brother-in-law," she said. "You will test the limits of your friendship today. Arjun and I will both pray that it still remains unbroken. If it yields to so honourable a strain, maybe it is not worth having in the first place."

Karna glanced at Arjun pleadingly.

"I will go with you, jyesht," said Arjun.

*******************

As Krishna had predicted once long back, if the two archer sons of Kunti were on the same side, no force in the world could stop them.

No one could stop them from doing something as ridiculous as putting an end to the war and bringing peace.

No one could stop them from re-establishing the Aryan Kingdom with the eldest of Gandhari's sons in Hastinapur and the eldest of Kunti's in Indraprastha. 

It had taken days to get Duryodhan and Bheem to relent. Duryodhan did not want to give up even a village of their kingdom to his cousins. Bheem raged at the idea of letting the sons of Dhritarashtra remain unpunished for Draupadi's insult. Kunti and Gandhari, Vidur and Dhritarashtra, Dronacharya and Kripacharya, and eventually Bheem's brothers and Duryodhan's brothers--everyone tried to pacify them when Karna and Arjun declared the war null. Everyone failed.

It appeared impossible that Duryodhan and Bheem would ever accept the peace forced on them. But Karna and Arjun persisted, together; every time they brought up the topic to either, they did it together; and they managed to win them over anyway, together. There was little doubt that neither could have succeeded alone.

No one could stop them, because together, the son of Suryadev and the son of Indra--Karna and Arjun--brothers whom fate had used to write the most twisted story of all times--were unstoppable.

****************

But in one thing, Vasudev Krishna had been wrong. He had said blood would not matter in this case. Or maybe he had known all along. 

Blood always mattered.