Karnabharam

Karnabharam is the shortest and the least action-oriented among the plays written by Bhasa.[10]

Major elements of this play are the Mangala Shloka, Prologue, Entry of the soldier, Anguish of Karna, Curse of Parashurama, Finding of inner brilliance by Karna, Donation of Kavacha and Kundala, Receiving of Vimala power and Bharat Vakya.[11]

The play begins with a scene in which, a soldier sent by Duryodhana informs Karna that the time to go to the battlefield had arrived. Karna finds himself filled with extreme agony and grief that manifest themselves from his whole demeanor, which was ironic given that it was a day of great battle for him (Shloka-6). But, Karna cannot shake off his recent discovery of the fact that he was the eldest son of Kunti (Shloka-7), who did not want him to kill his arch enemy - and now also his younger brother - Arjuna (Shloka-8). Karna also remembers the event involving his Guru's curse. As he narrates these things to Shalya, the king of Madra and Karna's charioteer, Indra approaches Karna with a request for a great favor. Indra is in the attire of a Brahmin, and he does not reveal his identity. Karna offers him many things, all of which were refused by Indra, until the time when Karna offers his armor and earrings. Indra accepts and goes away. "Indra cheated you!", cries Shalya. "No, it was Indra who was cheated by me", responds Karna. This is a thought-provoking response, as the reader wonders how exactly did Karna cheat Indra. It is true that Indra was obliged, favored and even dwarfed, but how Karna thinks that Indra was cheated, is a question that does not have a ready answer.[12]

When Karna promises Indra to give him whatever he wants, Indra blesses him with 'undying glory'. Karna wonders why, as it was customary, the receiver did not give the usual blessing of 'live long' (Sanskrit: दीर्घायु भव). Karna is suspicious but goes ahead with the gracious act of giving unconditionally and with unshaken faith. A little while later, a messenger sent by Indra arrives and gives him what Indra sent in reciprocation - a weapon named Vimla, which never failed in killing the target. Karna again responds valiantly that "I never seek the return on what I have gifted." (Sanskrit: दत्तस्य न प्रतिगृह्णामि) But, the messenger insists that he keep it "because of the request from a Brahmin." (Sanskrit: ननु ब्राह्मणवचनात् गृह्यताम्) Karna accepts and asks Shalya once again to take his chariot to where stands Arjuna (Sanskrit: यत्रासावर्जुनस्तत्रैव चोध्यतां मम रथ:).

Thus, the play starts with a messenger of Duryodhana and ends with a scene involving the messenger from Indra.

Karna was one of the greatest warriors of ancient India as given in the Mahabharatha. He was the king of Anga kingdom. According to Mahabharatha, Karna, along with Arjuna, were the only warriors who had the capacity to conquer the entire world.

The play depicts Karna's mental agony a day before the Kurukshetra War, as he thinks about his past and his faith. The play projects the mortal anguish of a man unsure of his identity. Karnna the protagonist is heroic and pathetic at the same time as he tries to find his place between the mocking and adulation of social forces on one side and the taunting challenges of fate on the other.

The treatment of the play takes it beyond reality, beyond the caricature of farce into a realm that transcends the space and time and gets related to the social realities of today. Karna lingers in one’s consciousness as the symbol of Universal man in search of his own self-the ultimate dilemma of existence.

The time and space of action is from the eleventh day in the war-field of Mahabharata. The great warrior Karna, the son of Surya is seen distributed and depressed in the war-field instead of being mighty and powerful. The play analyses the reasons.

He is worried of his birth, his caste and his social status. Whether he is the son of Kunthy and Soorya, or Radha and Sutha? The mockery and adulation of the society moulds his person and fate. For a while he is moved by the meaninglessness of the war where men kill each other. He says that irrespective of his victory or defeat, war is a real waste. This vision adds to his turbulence.

Karna tells Salya about the curse given by his Guru, Parasurama. This episode is enacted by correlating the narration of the present with the enacting of the past. The astra advised by Parasurama is found powerless at the needed hour.

The entry of Indra disguised as a Brahmin, follows, who cunningly takes away the divine Kavacha and kundala from Karna. He understands that the whole plot is masterminded by the shrewd Krishna and accepts his fate. The messenger from Indra offers a powerful weapon Vimala which can destroy one among the Pandavas. Accepting the challenge from Arjuna and Krishna the revitalized Karna proceed to this ultimate fate heroically. Thus ends Bhasa’s play Karnabharan.

1. Shanti Parva. Chapter 3. The story of Karna learning the 'Astravidya' (art of warfare) and divyastras (divine weapons) from Parasuram. The curse of the guru.
2. Vana Parva. Chapter. 310. The visit of Indra and the giving away of the armour and the ear rings in exchange for a magic power.
3. Udyogaparva. Chapter 146. Kunti’s request that her children may be spared. Karna’s promise (exception Arjuna)
4. Karna Parva: Karna’s march to the battlefield with Salya as the charioteer.

'Bhara' or burden is the central theme. The word 'bhara' in the title may refer to

• The weight of the armour and the ear rings
• The thought of killing his own brothers.
• The thought of the three curses.
• The thought of his weapons becoming useless at the crucial time.
• The loss of the ear rings and the armour at the crucial time which increased his bhara or responsibility as the commander of the army.

The play has many deviations from the original Mahabharata and all deviations are purposeful. Three major changes are:

First, the play is characterized by a friendly dialogue between Karna and Shalya, his Charioteer.[13] Shalya is consistently empathetic towards Karna, and even concerned about his interests - he warns Karna not to give away his armor and earrings to the brahmin-looking stranger. In the original story, Shalya was the king of Madra, and sympathetic towards the Pandavas. Karna had accepted to be a General of the Kaurava army provided Shalya drove his chariot. Shalya could not deny Duryodhana's request, but keeps a condition of his own - that Karna would say or do nothing in response to whatever he said to him. Karna accepts, and on the battlefield Shalya continually criticizes Karna, reminding him of his low birth and other failures in life. The Karna of the Mahabharata (in Karnaparva) fights bravely in spite of nagging criticism of Shalya. The Karna of Karnabharam finds an ally in Shalya.

Second, in the original, Surya - Karna's father visits him in his dream and warns him of a possible cheating by Indra (Vanaparva). Karna of Karnabharam is not aided or supported by anyone from his family, and it appears ironic that Indra, Arjun's biological father goes to Karna to protect his son, while Sun, the biological father of Karna, watches on from the sky. In the original, Indra feigning as a brahmin asks for the armor and earrings, and Karna obliges. In Karnabharam, Karna offers one thing after another, refused by Indra and in the end, offers on his own, his armor and earrings. Karna of Karnabharam is a compulsive giver. Also, in the original, when asked by Indra to get something in return for a great act of charity, Karna asks for the ability to kill the enemy. In Karnabharam, a guilty Indra sends the weapon, which Karna refuses to accept, saying that he does not seek the return on charity. Bhasa's Karna is gallant and very, very generous.

Third, the mental agony experienced by Karna is an exploration and presentation by Bhasa. Although Karna's story appears in various parts of Mahabharata, all of them appearing together and serving the backdrop for Karna's intense stress, feeling of being let down in life and un-auspicious omens pointing at impending fate, Bhasa's Karna tells Shalya,

"हतोSपि लभते स्वर्गं जित्वा तु लभते यश: उभे बहुमते लोके नास्ति निष्फलता रणे ॥ १२॥

[Meaning: If killed, one attains heaven and if victorious, gains glory. Both are highly esteemed in this world - there is nothing like failure in war.]

Fourth, in the original, when Karna goes to Parashurama, he identifies himself as a brahmin. In Karnabhara, he simply tells him "नाहं क्षत्रिय:" (meaning: I am not a Kshatriya). It makes sense, because, if Karna did not know that Kunta was his mother until the announcement of war, then he only knew that his foster parents were Shudras - the charioteers of Duryodhana. In that case, Karna's statement that he was not a Kshatriya was probably not a lie. Again, in Mahabharata, Parashurama's curse is limited to use of Brahmastra by Karna. But in Karnabhara, the curse of Parashurama is, "Your weapons will be powerless at the moment of need (Shloka 10)." - this Karna of Bhasa faces a much more ominous threat.

Further, the time of Indra’s appearance in the play happens on the 17th day of the battle. In the Vyasa version, it happens much earlier.

An interesting discussion around the major scenes of this play is found in Pusalkar.[14] Selected parts appear below:

Awasthi and Schechner (1988)[17] note that the length of "Karnabharam" should be given its due importance. Karnabharam is a one-act play, and its reading time is short. However, the play contains a multitude of staging signs, and their variety increases its performance time greatly (p. 51). So much so, that according to the authors, Bhasa's Madhyama Vyagoga, Urubhanga and Karnabharam take four times as long as it takes to rea

Karnabharam, the Sanskrit language play was staged at the Siri Fort Auditorium in New Delhi on 29 March 2001. The play was performed as part of the National Theatre Festival of National School of Drama. It was designed and directed by Kavalam Narayana Panicker. The play had a duration of 55 minutes. Indian film actor Mohanlal portrayed Karna in the play.[18][19]

Karnabharam is created by weaving together several instances and situations that have been mentioned in different parts of Mahabharata, but as it was customary, Bhasa made his own modifications [20] discussed above. In the background is the story that identifies Karna as the son of Kunti, born of Surya (Sanskrit: सूर्य) at the time when she was still unmarried. Kunti felt ashamed of it, put Karna in a basket and floated him across the river. He was rescued and reared by a charioteer family.

As the legend goes, Karna was born with a chest-armor (Sanskrit: कवच)and earrings (Sanskrit: कुण्डल) of Gold. Of course, after Kunti married the king Pandu (Sanskrit: पाण्डु), who was cursed to die if and when he attempted to make love, Kunti had three more sons (Yudhisthira, Arjuna and Bhima) by three different Gods. Kunti had a boon, given by Rishi Durvasa, which empowered her to invoke a god by chanting a mantra for obtaining a son. The mantra could be used five times. Because she had Karna at a very young age before her marriage as she used the mantra out of curiosity, Kunti abandoned Karna by putting him in a box and leaving the box afloat in the river. Now, before the great battle of Mahabharata, when Kunti knew that Karna had vowed to kill Arjuna in battle, she went to Karna, identified herself as his mother, and asked him to spare his brothers. Generous Karna, rather than asking her why she had remembered him after all these years, and asking if her sons won't kill him if he did not kill them, assured her that she will remain the mother of five Pandavas as always - either he or Arjun would die.

The second story is that of Karna's sojourn with his Guru, Parashurama. Parashurama was a sworn enemy of Kshatriyas and he taught archery (Dhanurvidya) only to the Brahmins. Karna, however, had decided to learn from Parashurama only, so at the time of admission, when Parashurama asked for his Jati, Karna said he was a Brahmin - which was a lie. Then, once upon a time, when Parashurama had taken his disciples in the forest, Parashurama slept with his head on Karna's lap during siesta. A bug sat on Karna's thigh and began to bite so viciously that Karna started bleeding. Not wanting to disturb his Guru's sleep, Karna did not move or even make a sound. But the stream of warm blood touched Parashurama, who woke up and realized that such fortitude was beyond a Brahmin. When confronted by the Guru, Karna admitted that he had lied about his Jati. Angered by this treachery, Parashurama cursed Karna that he would forget all his lie-begotten vidya in the moment of true need.

The third story is about Karna's generosity and the vow of charity that remained unbroken even at the cost of his own life. Every morning, Karna performed puja of Surya, followed by a session of charity wherein he granted all the favors requested by the people who came to him for help. His reputation spread far and wide, and people lined up waiting for Karna's Surya-puja to be over, so that they could request for Karna's charity. Just before the day of battle when Karna took part in it (he had abstained initially as he did not accept the generalship of Bhishma), Indra, who fathered Arjuna, approached Karna in the form of a Brahmin and asked for Karna's gold chest-armour and earrings. Karna suspected treachery, but since he did not want to break his vow of granting every wish made after his puja, he gave those two objects away. However, he knew that without those two divine objects on his body, he was vulnerable to death. Indra felt guilty at his own treachery and reciprocated by giving to Karna a single-use weapon that could never fail and caused certain death of the enemy for whom it was used.

• Thirteen Trivandrum plays ascribed to Bhāsa( 2 Vols), translated by H.C.Woolner, Lakshman Sarup, 193
• Māni Mādhava Chākyār (1975), Nātyakalpadruma, Kerala Kalamandalam, Vallathol Nagar
• Dharwadker, Aparna Bhargava (2005). Theatres of independence: drama, theory, and urban performance in India since 1947. University of Iowa Press. ISBN 0-87745-961-4.
• Encyclopaedia of Indian Theatre: Bhasa, by Biswajit Sinha, Ashok Kumar Choudhury. Raj Publications, 2000. ISBN 81-86208-11-9.
• A.D. Pusalker : Bhasa – a study. Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Pvt. Ltd. New Delhi, India 1968
• V. Venkatachalam : Bhasa (A monograph in the 'Indian Men of Letter Series'), Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi, 1986; Second Edn. 1994; (pp. 16+192) (Translated into Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada and Telugu-Pub. By Sahitya Akademi)