In the previous episode, we had witnessed King Shalya taking over as the charioteer for Karna, as the seventeenth day of the war at Kurukshetra was about to begin. Unlike Bhagawan Krishna who constantly motivates Arjuna to go for the kill against the Kaurava army, King Shalya tries to demotivate Karna in whatever he does, even before the start of the war. This makes Karna rethink whether he made a huge mistake in asking Duryodhana to approach King Shalya for this job. As Karna starts his journey towards the battlefield, there are so many bad omens that appear, which clearly indicate a disaster in the waiting. In fact, one of the horses of his chariot gives up and falls on the ground, unable to get up. This itself is a huge signal of something bad that is about to come by and King Shalya starts his demotivating talk. He says to Karna that he should retire from the battlefield to prevent any further disaster. King Shalya mocks Karna by saying that if he sees Arjuna in the battlefield he will start trembling with fear, and all his pep talks are only off the battlefield! This irks Karna and his ego is heavily hurt!
Unmindful of all the bad omens that show up, and ignoring what King Shalya says, Karna once again roars like thunder thus, “Oh King Shalya! I’ve never been scared even when Indra came in front of me! I’ve always fought with a lot of valour against any enemy! Even Bhagawan Shiva will not dare to come and fight with me! I’ve directly learnt my warfare lessons from Parasurama, for whom there is no fear in his dictionary! Today’s war is going to be decisive – Whether it is me or Arjuna! Let all the Devas come together in the “Aakaasha” (Sky) and witness this intense battle today!” Even as Karna does this pep talk, King Shalya cuts him down every time with his counter demotivating talk!
At this point, Karna says something unwanted to his army thus, “Oh army men! Whoever spots Arjuna and Bhagawan Krishna in the battlefield today, will get ten villages as “Dhaanam” from me! Whoever spots Arjuna’s chariot and his “Kireetam” in the battlefield, will get 10,000 gold coins as a reward!” Like this, there are around 20 shlokas! Karna goes on and on with his reward-proposing spree to everyone who spots Arjuna and Bhagawan Krishna in the Kurukshetra battlefield! This is something unwanted from Karna, and King Shalya couldn’t control his laughter upon hearing this! In return, King Shalya says thus, “Oh Karna! Why are you giving all these assurances and promises to people around you? Don’t you know you’re blabbering something? Arjuna and Bhagawan Krishna are coming right in front of you! In fact, rather than you searching for Arjuna, Arjuna is coming searching for you today! Rather than fighting the war face-to-face, why are you wasting your time and energy on all these false promises that you’re giving to people around? Moreover, why should someone else find your enemy for you? As a warrior, what is your job then? Don’t you have the guts to explore your way amidst the battlefield and find out your enemy and fight? What kind of an approach is this? Aren’t you ashamed to even talk this way? From this accord itself, I can clearly understand that you’re only interested in talking a lot and not in fighting or winning the war against Arjuna!”
Hearing all these demotivating talks from King Shalya thus, Karna replies back – “Oh King Shalya! I had great respect and regard for you and this is the reason why I wanted you by my side. I thought you would be very intelligent and motivate me all through the battle, however, even before the battle begins, you’re constantly abusing me in whatever way possible! You seem to be an enemy in the form of a friend! You never seem to be interested in my welfare even for a minute!” Thus, Karna doesn’t stop here. He loses his cool and starts abusing not only King Shalya, but also his Madra Desha, his subjects, women, etc. as well! Karna continues thus, “Oh King Shalya! It is not that you’re only wicked and crooked in your thoughts and actions! Your people in Madra Desha are also like this only! Your country’s women are extremely ill-natured! Your country’s Brahmins are not cultured enough! These are the reasons that make you talk and abuse me like this! Oh King Shalya! Even though Duryoudhana trusts you a lot, you’re not living up to his expectations! You’re ditching him by being beside him! You’re an extremely opportunistic person, who only wants to score personal brownie points in everything that you do!”
Saying thus, Karna fumes in anger against King Shalya! Thus, a huge war of words breaks out between the duo, even before the war commences on Day Seventeen at Kurukshetra! So for today, let us understand up to this point, and we shall continue this further in the next episode as well! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 