Roshan Kumar: What went through your mind when your mother Kunti met you and asked you to join the camp of Pandavas?
Karna: That was one of the most emotional moments in my life, I was having mixed emotions. On one side I was feeling so proud that I was the son of Mata Kunti and Lord Surya and the eldest brother of the noble Pandavas but on the other side I was filled with anger towards my mother for leaving me as an orphan. After the initial bitter words, I slowly came into my senses and understood the situation of my mother. After all, she was a young teen who unknowingly invoked the mantra without really knowing the implications, so one should be a bit sympathetic to her. Let me remind you, she did not simply drown me in the river Jahnavi, but after praying earnestly to Lord Surya and all devas to protect me from all the forces of nature, she left me. I came to know the immense pain she harboured in her heart all those years after that incident. On that day, after many years I had a peaceful sleep in the lap of my mother, you find it surprising that she sang a lullaby for me, may be she wanted to compensate in her own little way the things I was deprived of during my childhood.
Roshan Kumar: Why didn't you agree to your mother's proposal to join the Pandvas camp and thus try to avert the war?
Karna: Yes, the feelings were too much for me to take at that point. I was drowned emotionally and was vulnerable but finally remembered that all my life there were only two goals one was to loyally serve my friend Duryodhan till my last breath and other was to best Arjuna at least once in my lifetime. So, if I had agreed to my mother's proposal then those two goals of mine would be shattered. That was the reason I gave promise to my mother that apart from Arjuna I will not kill any of the Pandavas.
Roshan Kumar: Why did you refuse Krishna's proposal to side with Pandavas?
Karna: As I said earlier, if I agreed to the proposal of Keshava to side with Pandavas then my life long ambitions would have been unfulfilled. Moreover, during the talk with Keshava I remembered my shameful behaviour in the Dyut Sabha and I did not dare to face Draupadi or my brothers. After knowing that Pandavas were my younger brothers, I wanted my life to end on the spot for that one unpardonable sinful act of mine in the Dyut Sabha. Hence, I requested Keshava to not stop this war but ensure it was taken place, so at least whoever has lost their lives in the holy place of Kurukshetra will earn some merit for fighting bravely.
Roshan Kumar: During the Kurukshetra battle you spared the lives of your four younger brothers but you did insult them very badly as well?
Karna: All through my life, to check the feelings of hate and using of insulting words has been a difficult exercise for me, yes you are right I did spare the lives of my younger brothers as promised to my mother but without insulting them badly though. You should remember Bheem spared my life as well during the battle at Kurukshetra when I had flee from him, but he did not say any such insulting words to me.
Roshan Kumar: During the final battle with Arjuna, it is said that he killed you unfairly when you were trying to lift the stuck chariot?
Karna: The final battle with Arjuna was my most memorable battle wherein I put all of my efforts but when the chariot was stuck during the final phase of the battle I knew my time was up. As I said earlier, for me eternal fame was a lifelong ambition, so even though I knew fully well that I will not be able to lift the stuck chariot due to the curse, but I still got down lifting it knowing that I will be killed as a helpless man. But, you need to remember that if you are really skilled and if a situation arises you should be able to battle against enemies standing on the ground. This feat was shown by Arjuna to all of us on the 14th day of the battle, when he fought alone on the ground without any chariot or Madhava for help and destroyed us. Of course, I did not have such skills, so for eternal fame I wanted to have my life end in a helpless state, so future generations could feel that I was cheated. If it were only Arjuna's decision, he would have waited for all day for my chariot to be lifted but Keshava saw me through, and he did not want to have any time wasted, so he recounted all the sins I committed, specially against Draupadi and Abhimanyu and that instigated Arjuna to kill me in that situation.
Roshan Kumar: Is it true that you were discriminated against?
Karna: See, the varna system was in vogue during that time, so people usually were confined to the professions entailed for that particular varna but there were always exceptions. Like Guru Parushuram, even though he was a Brahmana but took up arms to fight against insolent Kshatriyas, or take example of our Kakashree Vidhur who was of mixed caste birth but rose to be a minister of Hastinapur, or Keechak a suta who rose to become army general of king Virat etc. In my case, I did not face much discrimination actually, I got initial weapons training from Acharya Dron, I was allowed to showcase my skills in Rangabhoomi even though that event was strictly for the princes of Hastinapur kingdom. I was only stopped to have a duel with Arjuna as he was a prince and the Acharyas wanted to know my lineage and when Duryodhan made me king of Anga, even that opposition went away quickly, and we were ready to fight the battle. After I was made king of Anga I had a great life living in luxury and there were no instances of any discrimination after that.
Roshan Kumar: How do you feel when stories are written which glorify you as a champion of oppressed and downtrodden classes?
Karna: I feel pity for such writers and it is unfair for me to get that undeserved glory. If you read Mahabharat carefully, I always strove to showcase my battle skills and wanted to move up the social ladder, so I could be classed as a Kshatriya. There is no single instance in the epic wherein I said to have the corrupt social class system be destroyed.
Even though the varna system was created with a good intention in the olden times for efficient division of labour in the society but overtime the system got corrupted and came to be associated with birth rather with aptitude/skills. I never raised any voice against the prevalent system during my time, I raised voice only for allowing showcasing my individual ability as a warrior. All my life, I performed all the rituals meant for various occasions like birth, marriage, death and so on, respected the priests, performed the pujas and yagnas, so it's not like I was some kind of a rebel who swam against the tide.
I never walked in the path of great social thinkers to raise my voice to abandon prejudices against people, just like majority of the people at the time, I too got on with my life and my own ambitions. For example, Gautama Buddha was a champion thinker who questioned the prevalent prejudices, illogical sacrifices, and inhuman practices; Similarly, Sri Ramanujacharya was a champion reformer who went out of his way fighting against the orthodoxy and allowing for everyone to be initiated in the bhakthi tradition of Lord Vishnu or other great saints such as Samarth Ramdas, Tukaram, Ramananda, Purandara Dasa, Basava, Meerabai and so on who tried to break all such social barriers and tried to promote devotion to God as primary object of human life.
