Central Institute of Indian Languages, Mysore.
National Book Trust India, New Delhi.
Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi.

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In the fourth sequence has three signifying ensembles and the first unit has four sub-ensembles which are in complete disjunction with the earlier propositions of Karna. In the first unit, Karna questions why Kunti had abandoned him in a world completely unknown to him without any identity or name and even without the love of a mother? Why had she foresaken him and allowed him to float adrift in the current of rejection, outlawed him from the natural kinship of his brothers? The chasm between Arjuna and him had been widened forever and therefore the proposition here is both an extension and an infix as he says why from early childhood he had sustained on a blind envy and unabated hatred for Arjuna. He questions his mother's speechlessness! And in the third sub-unit, there is a change of tone as his mother's shame permeated through the engulfing darkness and he could feel it with his very being. His eyes droop in her shame and therefore he seeks to refrain from pestering her with questions that have no obvious answers. In the translation, the sub-unit is only partially presented and in the earlier section - "Maatah, Niruttara?" has become "you remain speechless". But it is acknowledgement of her as his mother that makes it possible for him to empathize with her painful shame and the discomfiture of her position and also make his forgiveness later imperative. Otherwise, the inner relationship that Karna and Kunti share become merely an external factor and creates a disjunction in the psychic progression of the being. Sub-ensemble beginning with the lines "Vidhira Prathama Daana E Vishvasamssare / Mataatrisneha, Kena Sei Devataara Dhana / Aapana Santtana Hate Karile HaraNa, / Se Kathaara Diyo Naa Uttara." can never mean the same as "never explain to me what made you rob your son of his mother's love!" as the kernal semantemmes like " Vidhira Prathama Daana" and "Devataara Dhana" is equated with " Matrisneha" and thereby the first divine gift is the blessing of the love of a mother. The translation centres on the notion of "HaraNa" or "snatch away by force" rather than merely "rob" in slyness and the violence imperative to the inner structure of the sentence is completely lost in English. And therefore the micro-unit is an extension of the proposition in the third sequence and though it, the idea indicating there as to the real purpose of her visit find completion.

In the second signifying ensemble, Kunti's answer can be divided into sub-ensembles. In the first one, she emphasizes on the justification of Karna's rage and says that her act of abandonment has become a sin and it followed her through life like a dogged curse because forever she had been yearning for her lost son and in the second, she calls herself fortunate ("Bhaagyavatii") as she has now met him, acknowledges her sin, and hopes that it is the innocence of speechless infancy that would make Karna forgive his erring mother ("Kumaataa"). And it is this forgiveness that would render her pure by burning away her sinful shame. In the translation, there is mention of being "dogged by a curse" (P. 307) which makes Kunti's sin an act not of choice but of compulsion, much like the impact of fate as a force that subordinates the will of an individual and makes him/her a plaything in the hands of the powers above. Kunti never mentions anything about her "life's pleasures .... run to waste" or her pain being similar to that of childlessness as a state of mind - " Tavu Mora Citta Putrahiina" - her physical motherhood of begetting five more sons could not bridge the gap nor reduce her yearning for her abandoned first-born and it is this guilt that became the curse.

In the third sub-sequence, Karna addresses her as mother and says " Deha Padadhuulii" - "give me the dust on your feet" and accept my tears or rather "annoint thy feet with my tears". In a cultural context, where the idea of "PraNaama" (touching the feet) is foreign, the notion of "Padadhulii" would also perhaps seem ridiculous and hence the omission. But what one has to remember is that the omission is largely due to the nature of the colonial dominance over local languages and culture which either transforms native concepts or obliterates them completely as they are subordinate and do not require any comprehension on the part of the white reader.

In the fifth sequence, there six signifying ensembles, the first ensemble contradicts every proposition that Kunti has made before: "Tore Lava Vakkhe Tul i/ Se Sukha-Aashaaya, Putra, Aasi Naai Dvaare". She claimed that she had not come with the hope of winning Karna back when her emotional victory over him was truly complete. Her purpose, as she asserted was to restore him his due right. She purposefully attempts to reinforce the idea that he was not the son of a charioteer, but rather the son of a king and therefore abandoning the memory of all earlier episodes, he should accompany her to where the Pandavas were.

The single-unit proposition in the next signifying ensemble reflects Karna's misunderstanding of her purpose and he tries to convince her that he is truly the son of the charioteer and that Radha was his mother and in his humility lay his pride and therefore he asserts that the Pandavas may be where they are and the Kauravas in their own place - he has no reason to envy any one. The translation does not acknowledge the third micro-ensemble and therefore the proposition remains incomplete as neither the emotional turmoil of Karna is reflected nor the hidden purpose behind Kunti's play of words - the acknowledgement of which makes the rape of his desire a complete annihilation of his existence.

Kunti's imploring speech constitutes the third signifying ensemble and here the same idea is extended as she urges him to win back his kingdom by the force of his strength. In the next five micro-ensembles, she paints an elaborate picture of how Yudhisthira, Bhima and Arjuna would assist him in different ways while the holy Brahmins would be chanting the Vedas giving divine sanction to his legitimate claims of kingship. She lures him with the offer of the kingdom making her underlying motive evident but this whole section is absent in the translation which leaves the fake ring of her words remain unnoticed and thereby her real intention. She has been able to provoke Karna and incite his scorn and contempt for kingly rights and yet retain his sympathy for her as his mother, thereby guaranteeing the safety of her five sons in the forthcoming battle.

In the fourth sub-unit of the fourth signifying ensembles, Karna hurls the word "kingdom!" at her with all his being and follows it with the next micro-unit by saying, "Must you, who once refused me a mother's love, tempt me with a kingdom? (P. 307) His denial to claim his material rights is imperative as he follows the chivalric code of conduct and thinks that adhering to it is his sole duty. "Ekadina Ye Sampade Karecha Vancita / Se Aara Phiraaye Deoyaa Tava Saadhyaatiita" - "It is beyond your powers to return the wealth that you had once forbidden my access to". This unit indicates his absolute comprehension of Kunti's paradox and thereby, he sees a way out of it by refusing to leave his charioteer parents and his allegiance to the Kauravas in [4b] and rationalizes his statement saying "Tave Dhik More" - "Then, shame be on me!" if he transgresses the heroic code and cheats them to whom he owes his existence.

In the fifth ensemble, the four sub-units complete Kunti's final victory over Karna. In the first unit, she addresses him as "V¢ra" which means brave and "Dhan"a", which means blessed and thereby "great". In the next sub-unit, she blames "Dharma" and not "God" as it is indicated in the translation, as it the sense of duty which she had not fulfilled as another when Karna was an infant and it is this that comes back to claim her all in the persona of the adult Karna through the hoary gloom of a past darkness to pitilessly snatch away the children from his own mother. This is the curse - "Abhishaapa" - that returns to avenge her failings in motherly duties and central to it is the notion of the law of "Karma" - so central to the Vedic philosophy which is elaborately articulated in the Gita.

In the concluding ensemble, there are three sub-units. The first sub-sequence reassures the mother, the second re-affirms that the final victory would be the Pandavas' and the third urges her to abandon him once more but with the sole blessing that he may never swerve from the path of heroic duty. In this proposition is a futuristic prediction as through the eyes of the seer, that he is able to witness the outcome of the war by reading the signs evident in the path of the stars in heaven. The silence all around enable him to hear the music of defeated endeavours and the hopeless strife for action - he could see the void that waits as the consequence of the war - "Ei Shaanta StavdhakhaNe / Ananta Aakaasha Hate Pashiteche Mane / Jayahiina CeSTaara Sangiita, Aasahiina / Karmara Udyama - Heritechi Shaantimaya / Shuunya PariNaama." In the translation, the line is rendered as "my heart is full of the music of a hopeless venture, and baffled end". Later the proposition is extended by the ideas of "desperate and forlorn" and "expectation of defeat and death" which completely contradicts the image of Karna as in the Bengali version but completes the idea of Karna as the egotistical being as presented in the English text and his doomed end as a natural consequence of some kind of hubris or pride.

But the Karna in Karna kunti sambad withdraws into his meditative self like the perfect sage and he continues to be on the side of the vanquished, not as an act of fate but as a matter of choice and therefore the destiny that awaits him is not pre-ordained, but of his own making as per the law of Karma. He no longer yearns for either fame or glory as action itself has becoming meaningless and thereby gains in inner strength and despite the knowledge of the violence committed by his mother against his desire to avenge on his destiny ("AdriSaTa") he calmly relents and lets go all claim seeking only one singular blessing: "Shudhu Ei Aarshirvaada Diye Yaao More, / Jayalobhe Ưasholobhe Raajyalobhe, Ayi, / Viirera Sadgati Hate BhraSTa Naahi Hai." which does not find an echo in the translation. "Viirera Sadgati" indicates the passage from mortal life on the merit of one's own excellence and Karna's excellence lies in the idea of "dana" or the supreme act of giving and thereby, renounciing all personal claims to physical / moral / material life.

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