Chapter 270

"You..."

"Hey, I am Vritra, sent by my lord to find you."

Kavia naturally kept in mind Arjuna's inner 'darkness' and his Ekalavya to surpass many princes without needing a master. That's why she asked Vritra to bring back the Ekalavya from the King Drupada to prevent his right finger from being cut off. Otherwise, given the King Drupada's personality, he probably wouldn't even give the Shudra a second glance.

This is not only because of Arjuna's talent for Ekalavya, but also because to resolve the darkness in Arjuna's heart, Arjuna himself must acknowledge his own 'darkness'. Relying on external forces will not work. Throughout the entire Mahabharata, Arjuna can feel remorse for the Draupadi was unintentionally married to five husbands because of his mother, and there is also Arjuna who was killed as if by assassination.

But when it comes to the first and the root cause, it is undoubtedly Ekalavya, who completely ruined his future.

Therefore--

"Ekalavya, from now on, you'll continue learning martial arts in a different place. There's a little Sun there, and you'll definitely get along very well with him."

Kavia appeared before Ekalavya and, before he could kowtow, placed his hand on Solitary Chakravartin's shoulder, preventing him from doing so.

"So, let your most fervent and selfless love continue to exist in this place of right and wrong, Ekalavya."

Chapter 327 Divine Gifts and Charity.

A grand Ritual is being held in Hastinapura, the capital of the Kuru Dynasty.

Today is the day when the Kauravas and the Pandavas repay their master Drona for their success. Not long ago, Drona's enemy, King Drupada, defeated the Kauravas and the Pandavas, and brought them to Drona. Drona, who had been humiliated by King Drupada, felt sorry for his former friend and let him go, but he preserved half of the country that the king had promised him.

Therefore, on the day of their return to Hastinapura, the usually solemn and serious crowd celebrated for them.

Countless nobles of high status sat in the audience, while the crowd below was already packed to the brim, all eager to witness the superb martial arts displayed by the Kauravas and the Pandavas. However, the appearance of the Pandavas always elicited the loudest cheers.

"You damned Arjuna, how dare you humiliate me like this! How despicable!"

The purple-haired man in a long black robe gritted his teeth as he stared at the five beloved members of the group on stage, his hands clenched into fists.

The eldest of the Kauravas of Mahabharata, a villain in the Mahabharata, Duryodhana.

"It's because you guys performed Duryodhana, getting utterly thrashed by Father's enemy King Drupada."

The man with bronze skin and red hair looked helplessly at his invincible Duryodhana.

His name was Ashwatthama, son of the guru Drona.

"Waaaaah! It's all because that King Drupada cheated, and Arjuna also benefited from our advantage. If we brothers had rested a bit, under my leadership, we could have easily defeated King Drupada..."

"Sigh, whatever you say."

Ashwatthama looked at his friend's usual shameless demeanor and simply sighed without saying anything more.

Admittedly, his friends and brothers are mostly scoundrels, especially compared to the excellent Pandavas, the difference is too great. An ordinary person would know at a glance that he should befriend the Pandavas rather than the Kauravas... However, since he is Duryodhana friend, he can only do this.

Normally, as the son of Drona, Ashwatthama should have been on good terms with the five sons favored by Drona. However, this was not the case. Instead, Ashwatthama was on good terms with Duryodhana. This was probably Duryodhana although Nan Di was a rogue, he would show genuine goodwill in his own calculations and prioritize his own goals without compromise.

Because Greed than anyone else, Duryodhana possesses a terrifying capacity to accept anyone.

"Duryodhana. Calm down a bit. This is indeed the stage for Yudhishthira. Don't be impatient."

The purple-haired middle-aged man, who was staring intently at the Pandu house, calmly spoke to the grumbling Duryodhana.

Upon hearing his words, Duryodhana became obedient.

"Yes, Uncle."

As is well known, the most important plot of the Mahabharata is the Kurukshetra War, the largest war in the India Age of Gods that swept across the entire India region and resulted in the deaths of billions of people. Kauravas, who committed countless evil deeds, is the undisputed villain, and the Culprit ultimately caused the Kurukshetra War is the purple-haired man speaking to Duryodhana at this moment.

Duryodhana's uncle, a prince of the Kingdom of Gandhara, a fervent follower of Shiva, was named Shakuni.

The Kuru and Pandu, as the two major opposing races in the epic, were actually both Bharata.

Long ago, there was a famous Shantanu in the Lunar Dynasty named King Fu Shen. He first married the Ganga and had a son named Devavrata. After the Ganga returned to her throne, he fell in love with a fisherwoman Satyavati. The fisherman proposed a harsh condition for marrying his daughter: the throne must be inherited by the son born to Satyavati.

Bhishma, Devavrata to give up the throne for his father and vowed never to marry, is named after this person, meaning one who makes a terrible vow.

After Satyavati married Shantanu, they had two sons, but one died in battle and the other died of illness, leaving no offspring. In order to continue the family line, Satyavati summoned her son Vyasa, to have offspring with the widows of her deceased sons.

Vyasa, also known as the Krishna Dvaipayana Dwaipayana, was born to Satyavati before his marriage to Rishi. He was the Great Dwaipayana who witnessed the Kurukshetra War and wrote the epic Mahabharata using a broken tusk of the Ganesha.

Vyasa gave birth to her half-brothers Dhritarashtra and Pandu, and also had a son named Vidura with a female slave.

Because Dhritarashtra was Dhritarashtra blind, Pandu inherited the throne. Pandu married Princess Kunti of Kingdom of Kunti and Princess Madri of Kingdom of Madra. Because Pandu was cursed by the Rishi that he would die if he had sex with someone, he agreed to let Kunti use a secret method to give birth to the children of the gods for Kunti and Madri, namely Pandavas.

But one day, King Pandu couldn't control himself and slept with Madri, ultimately suffering a terrible fate, Madri was forced to commit suicide.

Therefore, Dhritarashtra to rule, and the hundred sons and the five sons lived together in the palace.

Dhritarashtra once married Princess Gandhari of the Kingdom of Gandhara, who was also the sister of Shakuni.

As Duryodhana's uncle, Shakuni deeply resented Bhishma and the descendants of King Pandu. This was because, before King Pandu died, he had attacked the Kingdom of Gandhara with Bhishma. After the conquest, they killed the king and imprisoned all the male members, allowing each person only one grain of rice per day. Eventually, everyone decided to pool the rice and feed it to one person, because this way at least one person could survive.

The last person to survive was Shakuni.

Ultimately, Shakuni, representing the Kingdom of Gandhara, submitted to Hastinapura, and his sister was married off by Bhishma, who Dhritarashtra blind.

Generally speaking, Shakuni, who had suffered such treatment, should have been very dissatisfied with Dhritarashtra and his hundred sons, since the whole family had been treated this way. However, surprisingly, Shakuni only hated Bhishma and the Pandavas, because Dhritarashtra and Gandhari were genuinely loving towards each other.

The reason why Dhritarashtra was blind is said to be because when his mother was giving birth to him, she saw Vyasa and thought he was very ugly and rude, so she closed her eyes. Dhritarashtra was born blind. However, although he was blind from childhood, Dhritarashtra was a kind and fair person. His only selfishness was probably about his sons, the Kauravas.

When Duryodhana was born, various ominous phenomena occurred. Wise people believed that he would bring disaster to the clan and advised Dhritarashtra to abandon the child, but Dhritarashtra ultimately did not accept it... This is also the reason why Shakuni truly accepted Dhritarashtra as his brother-in-law.

According to the epic, Shakuni is regarded as the reincarnation of the evil god Dvapara, who is actually a deification of dice. These long dice have only four sides with points, symbolizing the 'four periods' in Indian Mythology. In the Bhagavata Purana, the four periods are Satya Yuga, Treta Yuga, Dvapara, and Kali.

In other words, the greatest symbol of this dark age Dvapara Yuga was Shakuni, whose nephew, Duryodhana, was regarded as the incarnation of the Demon Kali.

Today, in order to avenge the humiliation of defeating Gandhara in Hastinapura many years ago, and also to enable his sister's child to defeat the Pandu and ascend the throne of Hastinapura, at the instigation of Shakuni, Duryodhana poisoned Bhima's food and threw Bhima into the river. Unexpectedly, Bhima arrived in the world of snakes, was bitten by many snakes, and the poison in his body was neutralized, thus reviving him.

The Snake King, Posuji, even gifted Bhujun a magical elixir that promised power upon consumption, a classic case of biting off more than he could chew.

"However, if the five continue like this, it could become quite troublesome."

"Yes, Uncle, I hate people who embarrass me. I especially hate those five who have embarrassed me many times, hmph."

"Things I hate... for me, they're battles. Whether they're good or bad, it makes no difference to me."

Ashwatthama suddenly said that although he was the embodiment of Wrath, he was actually a fairly calm person. His only Wrath in life was the madness he felt after his father, Drona, was killed by Krishna in an Adharma manner.

"Oh dear, don't say that, Ashwatthama. After all, only victory is a sure-fire gamble, it makes your mouth water, hehehehe..."

That being said, we still need to ensure victory.

"Sigh, you're right, those five damn bastards are really strong."

Duryodhana could hide his disdain and resentment towards the five. He watched the five figures splendidly on the stage, cursing them incessantly in his mind.

However, while cursing and having nothing to do, Duryodhana suddenly noticed a figure in the audience. He was the only one standing quietly in the crowd. His face was not clearly visible under his tattered clothes, making him seem out of place. But what really caught Duryodhana's attention was not his strange behavior or attire, but the intense heat emanating from him, like that of the Sun.

Arjuna!

Arjuna!

Arjuna!

Arjuna!

However, the renewed cheers drew Duryodhana's attention to the stage, causing Duryodhana to snort coldly, his eyes filled with undisguised displeasure.

A man with dark skin and a long white robe displayed his incredible martial arts skills on stage.

Pandu, the third son of Arjuna, though Duryodhana was reluctant to admit it, felt that even all of his hundreds of brothers combined wouldn't be enough to defeat Arjuna alone.

Then, while still pondering how to deal with the five, Duryodhana heard an even louder commotion, which inevitably annoyed him. However, he subconsciously looked towards the center of the noise, and only then did he realize that the Root of the noise was the strange person he had just seen.

People made way for them, creating a narrow path leading directly to the arena, amidst laughter and schadenfreude. Some Warrior maintaining Order tried to cross the arena to stop the farce, but they were stopped by Duryodhana and waited with curiosity for what would happen next.

"Karna, what are you doing?"

"I'm sorry, Ekalavya, I... I couldn't control myself."

Karna's somewhat uncontrollable urge to see Arjuna stemmed from karmic connections from a previous life.

"But rest assured, I will protect myself and will never allow the Lord of the Himalayas to be disgraced."

As Karna spoke, he took off his tattered outer garment, revealing an unusually pale, sickly complexion. The Sun -shaped ornament on his earlobe swayed slightly with his steps. The son of the Sun God looked at King Ekalavya of Nishada King not far away, nodded slightly, and then moved forward without hesitation.

More than ten years ago, after Ekalavya was rescued by Kavia, he arranged for him to come to the region where Karna lived. Over time, Ekalavya and Karna gradually became close friends.

In the India Caste System, there are generally four castes: Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya, Shudra. However, there is also a lowest caste, the Dalit, also known as the "untouchables."

Ekalavya is Shudra, while Karna is Suta. Suta is Caste, meaning it results from marriage between different Caste.

"... Karna, as long as I have a breath left, I will protect you..."

Watching Karna's retreating figure, Ekalavya sighed. Several years ago, he had felt that sometimes when he came here with Karna seemed to care about Arjuna, one of the Pandavas of Arjuna, for some reason, which was completely inconsistent with his indifferent personality in the past.

After learning that his master was Drona, Karna went to seek Drona out as a disciple, only to be rejected just as he had been Ekalavya: "The secrets of Brahma's Divine Weapon can only be taught to Brahmin and Kshatriya."

But Karna did not give up. He then went to the Holy Land of the Brahmin, a place where dust should not exist, including Karna, who was born as humble as dust. He had known his lowly status in this vast world since he could remember, but he never belittled himself or was ashamed to admit his origins.

Karna remembered someone telling him when he was just born, "What you can take with you will not be just your shadow, and what you leave behind will not be just your footprints." In other words, "Dust is invisible, but the openness and joy that exists in the world under the Sun is very real."

However, he lied; he lied to Parashurama.

However, Karna, disguised as a descendant of Bharata, quickly learned Brahma's Brahma's Divine Weapon and obtained a divine bow from Indra, named "Vijaya." It is said that this bow was made by the Vishvakarma Vishvakarma to please the god-king Indra. Parashurama used this bow to wash away the Kshatriya on earth twenty-one times, and its power was even greater than the Gandiva divine bow that Arjuna received as a gift.

During his ascetic practice, Karna accidentally shot and killed the ox of an unknown Brahmin Rishi. Despite his pleas for forgiveness, the Brahmin still hurled a severe curse upon him, saying that his chariot wheels would sink into the ground and he would be killed when fighting enemies. Karna then made a vow never to refuse the Brahmin.

Then one day, Parashurama was sleeping on Karna's lap when several insects bit a hole in Karna's thigh. Karna, afraid of Parashurama, silently endured the excruciating pain without moving, until hot blood flowed from the wound, waking Parashurama.

Seeing this, Parashurama was not moved, but Wrath.

Because such virtues are not possessed by Brahmin, Karna, in his Wrath with the axe in hand, truthfully revealed that he was Suta, not Brahmin.

Therefore, the deceived axe-wielder cursed Karna:

"You deceived your Teacher, you fool! When you face danger in the future, you will forget how to use the magic weapon. Everything you learned from me through deception will be useless to you."

The young son of the Sun God did not refute, but remained kneeling like a still stone statue for a full day before leaving.

However, according to the meticulously edited version of the Mahabharata, Karna was always Drona's disciple, but he refused to give Brahma's Divine Weapon because of his Caste. However, it is normal for Indian Mythology to be so numerous and varied.

Back to the present, Arjuna on the platform watched Karna approach step by step, trying to control his astonishment. He felt that the blazing sun that had just been scorching now seemed somewhat cold and terrifying, and even his own fingers had involuntarily touched the bowstring.

Karna looked at Arjuna with his blue eyes, which to others was undoubtedly a provocation to Arjuna.

This was not a pointless Jealousy for the son of the Sun God, nor was it worldly ambition; perhaps only the ambiguous word "fate" could describe the turmoil resonating in his heart at this moment.

"You rude person, announce your family's whereabouts."

Upon hearing this, Karna fell silent. Arjuna was a prince, and only the Kshatriya or those above him could challenge him with power, while he was merely Suta. His silence brought an uproar from the crowd, who all awaited what would happen next.

When Kunti saw Karna in the stands, he immediately recognized him as the child he had abandoned years ago, and fainted.

"What's wrong with that guy? Why hasn't he said anything for so long? I'm waiting for him to teach Arjuna a lesson."

"Duryodhana shout indignantly."

"Pretending to be human is probably why they are not speaking, unless they are Kshatriya or Brahmin."

"Huh? People with this kind of power aren't Kshatriya or Brahmin? How is that possible, Uncle?"

"That's just how it is, Duryodhana we shouldn't get involved in this mess."

"Alright, Uncle, although I've been listening to you all along, you really mean well for us. After all, I've disliked those five bastards for a long time. If Arjuna refuses to fight just because this guy isn't a prince..."

Duryodhana he spoke, Duryodhana rose and led his hundred sons to Karna's side, opening his arms to Arjuna.

"If this guy weren't King Ben, I would have made him King of Anga, then he would be qualified to compete with you Arjuna, right?"

It is worth noting that Duryodhana is currently only the second prince. Even if he becomes the true crown prince later, he will not have much say in political affairs. The fact that he is giving away his own fiefdom of Anga to Karna without hesitation, in order to win people's hearts, shows his skill.

"... I am extremely grateful."

"Call me 'Grandpa,' I'm Grandpa Duryodhana. Since you've accepted, we're friends now. By the way, what's your name?"

"Karna."

A few seconds later, just as the two sides were facing off, Karna's adoptive father walked in.

The driver was old, his clothes were disheveled, he was sweating profusely, and he was trembling, supported only by a cane. He saw his child standing in the center of the stage, with no one behind him, a stark contrast to Arjuna opposite him. He wanted to get closer but was powerless because of the crowd.

Seeing this, Ekalavya took the old coachman's hand and led him through the crowd to Karna's side.

Upon seeing the figure of Ekalavya, Drona in the stands frowned slightly. He vaguely felt that the cloaked man looked familiar. In fact, he had asked the King Drupada about Ekalavya's whereabouts before, but the King Drupada refused to say anything, so there was no follow-up.

When the old coachman was brought to Karna's side, he realized how terrible his attire was and quickly covered his feet with the hem of his clothes, looking at Karna as if he wanted to say something but couldn't.

But Karna didn't care at all. In front of everyone, he hugged the old coachman and softly called out:

"Father."

In an instant, the entire audience was shocked, while Arjuna's second brother, Bhima, son of the Wind God, said with a half-smile: