Roshan Kumar: That was interesting, I never knew about that, how did you come to Rangabhoomi (weapons show for the princes of Hastinapur) and how your friendship with Duryodhan had started?
Karna: After I returned from the ashram of Guru Parushuram, I was itching to join the forces of Hastinapur kingdom and fight wars. As I always had a warrior's temperament, so sitting at home idly did not suit me. I learnt from Baba that the princes of Hastinapur had finished their training at Guru Dron's ashram and soon a wonderful show would be organized to showcase their skills. I was very excited on hearing the news, and so I headed to the magnificent arena where the princes were showcasing their skills. Everyone showed great skills like Yudhisthira with spear, Duryodhan and Bheem with mace, Nakul with sword and so on. Out of them all, I was most fascinated to see the skills of Arjuna, his skills were out of the world and the archer in me itched to showcase to the world that I too could show such skills. As I was highly excited to showcase my skills, I forgot that it was a show meant only for the princes of Hastinapur to showcase their skills after concluding of their training under Guru Dron. So, as usual with my impulsive nature, I stepped in immediately after Arjuna had completed showcasing his skills. I bowed to the Acharya and to the royals and asked for the permission to showcase my skills and then repeated all the skills shown by Arjuna. Seeing my performance Duryodhan was mighty happy as Arjuna was always a thorn in his heart, and he found in me an archer who could give him a serious fight.
After the performance, I was not done though, since I always had very impulsive nature and was envious of Arjuna, so I asked for a duel with him. At this, Acharya Kripa raised an issue that since Arjuna was a kuru prince, so asked me to introduce my lineage, but Duryodhan stepped in immediately and announced that I would be made king of Anga. After this, Adirath Baba entered the arena and I embraced him, and we had an emotional moment as he was so happy to see me become the king of Anga region. Seeing this Bheem had intervened and said some very harsh words which enraged and pained me immensely, and I should tell you that Yudhisthira/Arjuna or the twins never insulted me like how Bheem did that day which created a bad impression of his. Even though I was very envious of Arjuna but I always respected Arjuna for his great skills, attitude, and his calm demeanour, I respected Yudhisthira for his gentle manners and for his forgiving nature and also had a good impression of both Nakul and Sahadev, they both were very nice people. I always held Bheem with contempt though, I sometimes felt he behaved very rudely. But, only later on I understood that for Bheem his family and loved ones were foremost and to protect and save them, he would go to any extreme lengths.
Roshan Kumar: That was a very interesting way you developed friendship with Duryopdhan?
Karna: I knew from the start that Duryodhan would be using me against Pandavas, specially against Arjuna, but I too was engrossed in my own aspirations and ambitions. I never said no to anything to Duryodhan or Shakuni mama and participated in all of their plots.
Roshan Kumar: So, you too participated in all the plans of Duryodhan and Shakuni mama to wipe out Pandavas?
Karna: Oh yes, I did participate in all of those plans to have Pandavas wiped out. The jealousy and envy against Arjuna always fueled me to do pretty nasty things against Pandavas. Like Ghosh Yatra incident involved my active participation, it was meant to humiliate Pandavas and to see their struggles in the forests and specially to see Arjuna and Draupadi in deerskin but of course it backfired spectacularly.
Roshan Kumar: Ok, let's move on to the interesting topic of Draupadi Swayamvar, there are some very popular opinions which say that even though you were capable of winning the contest but you were rejected by Draupadi on the basis of caste, is there any truth in that?
Karna: That is totally incorrect, I participated but failed to win the contest. The contest was too tough, as the feat required intricate knowledge of archery along with great powers of concentration and only Arjuna had all these qualities to win the contest. I along with with various immensely strong contenders like Duryodhan, Shalya and so on., failed to even string the bow but Arjuna effortlessly strung it and shot the target with ease.
Roshan Kumar: Thanks for clarifying that. Why do you think these false stories are repeated?
Karna: I honestly don't know any specific reasons for that, but I would imagine it would make for a great story, like an individual who had the capabilities to win the contest but was rejected solely because of caste, so that would make people like the character and makes the story more interesting. It is usually the nature of the people to root for an underdog and ignore the mistakes. That is the reason you see all these stories are present only in the few recent versions where people tampered with the events to make them more interesting but you don't see any such distortions in the older versions which were written during our time or a bit later on after that.
Roshan Kumar: Thanks for honest answers, I appreciate it. But, did you recognise it was Arjuna who had won the contest?
Karna: Yes, somehow looking at that Brahman youth striding confidently and lifting the bow effortlessly and then striking the target so nonchalantly, I suspected it was Arjuna. But, then I remembered the evil plan which we hatched to burn them down in the house built with lac in Varnavrat, so all these conflicting thoughts ran through my mind during that time.
Roshan Kumar: What happened after Arjuna had won the contest?
Karna: All the kings and princes in the arena were disturbed and enraged to see that a Brahman youth string the bow and pierce the target, where as they could not even string it. It hit the nerves of all the assembled kings and princes and we felt ashamed, so to take revenge, everyone of us rushed towards Arjuna. But, Arjuna as usual was very calm and he fought the duel with me and later on I realized that I cannot defeat that youth as I saw him never tiring in the duel and was instead enjoying it, so I wanted to save my himself from further humiliation, so I quit the duel. I was the one who challenged him but after seeing his prowess I choose to quit as I felt nervous seeing the energy and skill of that youth. On the other side of the arena, Bheem effortlessly crushed Shalya and other princes who were trying to fight and thus the fight ended and we returned back to Hastinapur.
