Chapter 57 57. Few Questions
"Sushala, Don't be rude."
Before Karna could answer her, Duryodhana standing next to him spoke happily by the tone of his little sister questioning his friend. He can feel there is a reason behind this but he would not go out of his way to ask it.
If Karna wanted to tell him, He would gladly listen but if he did not then that is also fine with him as he trusts whatever he did he did it for his own good, He knows it in his guts.
"It's not good to be angry at someone who just wants an answer for the injustice, It's not a Kshatriya Dharma, Mitra. You need to answer them because that law binds you to answer"
Karna spoke up in defence of Sushala who was aggravated that her brother yelled at her, So he knew he had to step in and calm the situation.
Though he did not have a royal teacher nor had he started to study officially yet, But he used to read lots of books before, So there was already a foundation for him and here he was taught by multiple teachers too.
Given they might not be as talented as royal teachers, But seeing how wealthy those 4 monster families are, Those teachers are also not any worse. The way they teach and explain complicated problems is proof of it.
So he knows a lot of knowledge how this works in this time period though only in theory as his mother would never allow him to go outside in the city and when she does she would always be with him like a shadow following him.
Which he felt quite blessed about. In previous life, there was no one to even ask him if he had eaten much less to care for him when he used to get hurt and bleed from time to time while searching for food.
Here there was someone who was always there for him, Always asking if he had eaten, No make sure he had eaten and that his stomach was full making sure he would eat more than he asked for it.
He did not get hurt yet in away way but that too because of her, She eliminated everything that can even remotely come close to harming him, A sharp things like swords and arrows which he wanted to learn were taken away from him by her reminding him that he is still a child.
When he is old enough he would get to learn and use those but not a day before that, He still remembers when his father Adiratha tried to teach him how to use a sword but his mother Radha caught them.
That was a sight to see as how his father who is a man of few words had to search and say all the vocabulary he knew to ease his wife, Which she did only after he promised to her that he would not teach him this soon. Well, he was 4 years old at that time.
"But Mitra.."
"Don't worry, I am not offended nor am I angry. I do want to tell you the reason but I think GandharRaj (King of Gandhar) would be able to word it in a way that will be easy to understand.
So GandharRaj Shakuni, Can you do me a favour and explain to them the reason behind my doing this?"
Karna was brought back from his thoughts by the words of Duryodhana, hesitant about it still thinking it would be rude to question not only his friend but guests like this. After all, a guest is considered a god himself. How can one question a god?
But Karna once again did not allow him to say it as he asked Shakuni to give them the answer they were seeking for, Though he can answer them but he is not that good at spelling out his thoughts.
It would be best if the message behind his actions were conveyed to them by someone who knows his way with words and here who can do better than Shakuni? So Karna asked Shakuni to do it as he was sure he would do an excellent job at it.
"Angaraj (King of Anga), It would be an honour to impart this crucial knowledge on my nephews. Thank you for giving me the opportunity for it."
Shakuni just suppressed his shock when he heard Karna's offer. He was excited, happy and glad that Karna giving him this opportunity. It's actually the elders job to give this knowledge to their little ones.
But he was too busy to think of the solution of how to make Duryodhana see his arrogance but Karna acted first and made a move that definitely worked, Though he was sad that would not get the opportunity to be the one who would teach Duryodhana an important lesson like this.
Yet he was happy that Karna was able to nip the bud of arrogance this quickly, but to his surprise Karna did not take all the compliments to himself rather he given his right back to teach his nephews.
Respect and goodwill towards Karna instantly increased in his heart to another level simply believing this to be true, While both parties were unaware of the fact that the invisible thing like a fate or lick acted in the dark making this happen.
"Bhanje~, And priy Shushala, Have you ever heard of someone called Mahisasur, Hiranyakashipu and Ravana?"
Shakuni after talking with Karna, He walked towards the duo of brother and sister standing around Karna and asked with a doting smile on his face, He though taken only the name of the two of them, His eyes were on every Kauravas while asking this question.
Hearing his question, the children become silent for a second before Durydohana the eldest of Kauravas decides to speak up.
"Mama Shri (Uncle), Mahisasur was an Asura which killed by the goddess of war and victory, Durga, Hiranyakashipu was also a very strong Asura who was later killed by Narshima, Fourth Avatar of Lord Vishnu and Ravana was also a very strong Raksha who killed by the maryada purushottam (Most dignified men) Suryavanshi (Solar dynasty) Rama."
Duryodhana thought for a second before he quickly answered his uncle with a confident voice, His great-grandfather, Who is Mahamahim Bhishama used to tell the story about these people to him on his insistence.
So he knows them, Not much about them but knows enough to describe the basics of them, As he did to tell his uncle.
"Very good, Duryodhana, Now can you tell me what was common between all three of them?"
Shakuni was quite proud of his nephew for knowing this and answering him, So after that, he asked another question making others confused about what this has to do with the reason behind Karna's action but no one disturbed him and let him finish.
Duryodhana here fell into deep thinking trying to figure out what is common between them, He came up with many conclusions. First obvious one they all are Asura's but knowing Ravana was not Asura but Raksha dropped that thought.
He also thought that it would be killed by gods but seeing that first one killed by a goddess he also had to drop that conclusion and so he had to drop many many for one reason or another making him frustrated.
"Forgive me Mama shri but I could not figure out what is common between them, Please enlighten me."
Duryodhana finally gave up and asked Shakuni to answer him, as he could not figure out what is common between them, As there is always one that is different from the other.
"Oh no worry, I will tell you, All three of them are so powerful that even the gods in the high heavens were helpless in front of them and got defeated by them, all three of them at one point conquered Swarg (Heaven), They were unstoppable.
So tell me why do you think they all fell and died like that?"
Shakuni's smile widened as he spoke to them with patients letting them think through this. There is a high chance they might not be able to answer this but just letting them think was enough to train them to think from a different point of view.
As he thought no Kauravas would be able to answer him, Everyone was thinking of it but as a lack of knowledge and the experience because of young age they were not capable of answering him.
"Mama, I think they fell because of those gods. They go against their ways to deal with beings who are stronger than them. I admit they harmed Devloka (Domain of Gods) but that is because injustice happened to them by Deva's."
Shakuni was about to answer it seeing no one will answer him but then Duryodhana thinking through answered him, He since childhood was treated differently just because of his birth.
So because of that unfair treatment he developed a habit of always seeing two sides of the story, and when Asura were treated harshly just because they were Asura, He had to look into the other side and see why they were like that and to his surprise he found the reason.
And what is even more surprising is that it was not even that hard to find it, It was right there naked for one to see but everyone ignored it but he didn't, He read through how Aura's treated by Deva's, Which though not justified their action but give more meaning to their action other then just being pure evil.
Shakuni was taken aback by his answer but then there was a wide proud grin on his face as he looked at Duryodhana.
(A/N : What do you think is the reason for their fall?
Like always thank you for reading and have a good day 😁)