Once upon a time, in the ancient kingdom of Hastinapura, there lived a young warrior named Karna. He was known for his exceptional strength and skills with the bow and arrow. But he gained those skills after he cheated on his teacher by lying about his caste. When the deception was revealed, his teacher, in his great wrath cursed him, laying the foundation for his eventual death. This is a story well-known to anyone who heard his story.

However, in this story, the past was unwritten and the ink flowed back into the pot. This Karna came back from death and turned to a changed man. For if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.

This is a conversation between him and his master about his previous life. The questions asked by a student to his master changed everything.



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After a day of light training, Radheya and Adhriratha returned home in the afternoon to see the children in their family hurriedly cleaning the house and arranging everything in the correct order. A bit perplexed both of them walked into the kitchen where Radha was cooking Kheer.

"Radha..." Adhiratha called softly. "...are we expecting guests today?"

"No pati... Sage Parashuram sent one of his students to announce his arrival at our home. He will be coming in three hours." Radha replied excitedly. "Can you imagine a Vishnu avatar coming to our home, pati." She fluttered around adding sugar to the kheer smiling happily. Adhiratha spirits were raised at those words. "Everything has to be perfect. Vasu, go help your brothers in setting up the table. There should be no mistakes today. Can bring some supplies, pati?" None of them saw the anguish in the eyes of their eldest.

The quaint hamlet was spotless by the time of Sage Parashuram's arrival. The Chiranjeevi and the only Vishnu avatar who co-existed with other avatars came alone without any of his disciples. He was garlanded by the elders of the house and was given the best room in the house. Sage Parashuram chose Vasusena to serve him for the duration of his visit.

The entire day has passed and the sage has spent the night relaxing in the house. The sage then stated that he wanted to take a walk in the nearby forest and Radheya accompanied him. The sun was high in the sky, casting dappled shadows on the forest floor.

"Karna..." Sage Parashuram called when there were no people around them.

"It has been nearly six years since I have heard that name, Sage Parashuram." Radheya smiled wanly. "So may I know the reason you are here?"

There was a silence following that blunt statement. "I thought after that day, I would never see or hear of you again, Sage Parashuram. You did deny knowing me all the time." He exhaled warily. "So, which curse have the great sage come to my home to bestow upon me now?"

"I came here to make you my disciple."

Vasusena was surprised at the answer and stood dumbfounded for a few moments. A few moments later, he burst into laughter to the point where he had to steady himself against a tree to avoid falling.

"I never thought you were capable of making a joke, Sage Parashuram." He stated holding his sides to control his laughter. On seeing the serious look on the face of the great sage he sobered up.

"You are not joking?" After getting out of shock he started to laugh again. "Oh god!! You really are not joking." This time he rolled on the forest floor unable to control his laughter

"I fail to see humour in this Karna."

"You do know that in this life, I already have a master, right?" He stated.

"And he himself said that your education was incomplete and he would send you a teacher to complete your education, didn't he?"

"And he sent you?" Karna questioned skeptically. "Is this supposed to be funny? If it is I certainly do not find humor in this."

Sage Parashuram's face reddened in rage. "What exactly do you think is humorous in me being your teacher, Karna? If you remember I was your Guru in your previous life."

"You are the one who said a teacher-student relationship should be based on trust, Sage Parashuram," Karna stated bluntly. "You'll always regard me as a cheat and I really cannot trust you. In my previous life, I regarded education as merely an extension of my ego, learning with only half-hearted effort. Unfortunately, this approach proved costly, leading to the loss of my life. In this current life, I am approaching education with a much more serious and committed mindset. I cannot have a master who does not trust me and whom I cannot trust.

I give you my sincere apologies. You have taken a long journey from Parashurama Kshetra to here. I'll ask my master to send me another teacher to complete my education. If he sends me another teacher, I'll complete my education. If not, my education will have to remain incomplete."

"You'd rather have your education be incomplete than be taught by me?" Sage Parashuram asked, anger masking the hurt in his tone.

"Yes..." was the unrepentant reply.

"As I have stated before, in your previous life you were my student, Karna. You even cheated me so that you could learn from me." was the reminder.

"And I got punished for learning under you with my life. Pardon me because I'm not willing to die like a dog again." was the flippant answer.

Sage Parashuram's eyes reddened. "You are the one who came to me to learn. You are the one who cheated me by saying you are a Brahmin. You very well know that I never refused to teach any student based on their caste and yet you lied to me. You lied to me because you wanted to learn Brahmastra. I cursed you because you broke my trust. Even then, after my anger had abated, I was the one who gave you one of your greatest weapons, the Vijaya Dhanush that was used by the King of Gods, Indra himself." His voice didn't raise but the wrath in that tone can be clearly heard. "I cared for you, taught you and nurtured you. Your curses you have received are the consequence of your misdeeds."

The mortal child of the Sun God didn't speak for several moments. "I wonder how I will be remembered in history." he started softly. The change in the topic startled the sage a bit. "A scammer who cheated his teacher who is the representative of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. A fraud who boasted of being the greatest archer in the world but ran away several times from battle. An oath breaker who was unable to fulfil his promise to his friend even after the said friend made him to be who he is. History, after all, is written by victors."

"What nonsense are you speaking?"

Radheya smiled but there was no humour in it. "Can I ask you a question, Sage Parashuram? It's actually about that day you cursed me."

A sense of foreboding that something is very wrong came to the Chiranjeevi yet he consented to the question.

"On that day when Dansa burrowed in my thigh, my entire dhoti got soaked with blood. Tell me why Sage Parashuram..." the smile turned cold. "...tell me why your first action after you pulled out that mite, is to question how was I able to bear the pain so long? Usually people when they see another person bleeding before them, their first action is to treat it before asking questions. Their first emotion is to feel happiness that a person is willing to suffer for them without expecting anything in return."

"Oddly, Sage Parashuram, your first action is to question me, disregarding my well-being. And even more odd is that your first emotion is wrath. May I know why?"

The sage was silent for several moments. "There is only one explanation for this. You already knew that I lied about being a Brahmin, didn't you?" Radheya stated and smiled grimly. "I'm asking you Sage Parashuram, did you or did you not know?"

"Yes..." The sage stated softly his anger being replaced by guilt. "I knew."

"When did you know I lied about being a Brahmin?"

"On the very day, you came to me to learn under me... I know you are not a Brahmin."

"You are an incarnation of Vishnu... of course, you knew that I was lying the very first day I set foot in Parashurama Kshethram. At least your disciple, Drona has decency enough to chase me off for daring to set foot in his ashram. Even if I was talked about after my death, people won't remember that the teacher already knew his student's lie. People won't speak about the student who served his teacher with all of his mind, body and soul.

I will be shown as a warning for generations of children to come not to reach above their station." Tears started to form in his eyes. "In future when a suta child wanted to be a warrior, she'll tell the child 'Arre beta, iss maarg me thum shaapith ho gaye.' And she will point to me as an example"

"Karna..."

"You said I am a cheater right, Sage Parashuram? Then why didn't you chase me off the very first day I walked into your ashram?" He blinked back tears. "Why?"

The sage was silent in the face of all accusations. Tears started falling down his face. "Like a child that loved his mother, I loved you. Like a son who believed his father, I trusted you. You asked me why I'd rather have my education incomplete than be taught by you, Sage Parashuram. because I would never trust a Vishnu avatar to be impartial to me. Because you blinded yourself to my love and laid the foundation for my death. A death at the hands of my brother, hearing all the misdeeds I have committed in my life, without a weapon in my hand, and put down like a mad dog."

"Vasusena...it's not like that child."

"It's your duty as a Vishnu avatar to do so. Please show decency not to lie to your victim. I'm not expecting respect in this life like I did in my previous life. I'm just expecting common decency. You said you gave me my most powerful weapon. Do you know what the education I have received from you? It's exactly like the gift you gave me. The Vijaya Dhanush. You gave me the bow and took away the arrows. You gave me the education I have craved for but when I needed it the most it slipped away like sand in between my fingertips. You didn't give me that weapon not out of love, Sage Parashuram. You gave it to me because you felt guilty.

So tell me, Sage Parashuram, when I came to you begging for education what was my sin? You said that due to my misdeeds, I was cursed, didn't you?" He clenched and unclenched his hands. "I would really really really be happy if it were the case."

Leaning back on a tree he continued. "Let's talk about my curses. I received my first curse from you. Oddly enough even that was stuck between a rock and a hard place situation. If I had woken you up, I would have been cursed without a question. Because you have decided to do so. Is it not, Sage Parashuram?" He asked softly. The sage nodded. "An unfair curse engineered by you."

"Let's come to my second curse." He exhaled. "I saw a tiger trying to kill a cow that belonged to a poor Brahmin. At that time I didn't know it was an illusion by Indra. So I released my arrow and when the illusion disappeared, it hit the cow and it died. Even this curse was me being struck between rock and hard place." He scoffed. "If I didn't try to kill the tiger, I'd have been cursed by a Brahmin because Lord Indra would have made the illusion real. Hell, I even offered to compensate for that cow and perform any penance he wanted me to do. And yet only my death would satisfy his blood thirst, it seems. Brahmins are supposed to be peaceful, aren't they? Why do I always get the ones who wanted me dead? Why Sage Parashuram? I really want to know that answer." he mocked.

"My final curse... I never thought I would hope at least once in my life I get cursed for doing something wrong." He barked out a laugh so hollow that Parashuram felt someone had squeezed his heart. "In this incident, I was not struck in a rock and hard place but I was cursed for a reason that would be ridiculous if not for the fact that it led to my death. What again is it, Sage Parashuram?"

"Once upon a time, a small girl was carrying a bowl of ghee to her stepmother. In an unfortunate turn of events, she accidentally spilt the precious ghee on the ground. Fearful of her mother's scolding, she stood there, distressed. That was when you came and decided to help that little girl. With powerful incantations, you invoked the Earth itself to yield ghee. However, this act of kindness came at a cost. Feeling the pain caused by your actions, Mother Earth couldn't ignore the disturbance. In response, she cursed you. The curse foretold that when you are most vulnerable, she would abandon you." Sage Parashuram spoke swallowing his tears

"Farmers till the land every season. Miners drill the earth for gold and gems. Potters crush clay under their feet every day and burn it to create pots and I can give many other examples. Bhoomatha, whose very name means the mother who endures, felt that my actions were too painful for her. And for that, I got cursed? Like I said, I would have laughed if it didn't lead to my death. Tell me is this even a good reason for a man to be cursed?"

"I have no answers for these Karna."

"If I am to be cursed, let me be cursed because I blinded myself to dharma for the sake of my friendship. If I am to be cursed, let me be cursed because I didn't protect the princess of Panchaal during the dice game. Let me be cursed because I insulted her. Let me be cursed because I broke the laws of war and killed Abhimanyu unlawfully. Let me be cursed because even though I know my friend is walking the path of adharma... I didn't deter him. I'm talking to Vishnu in you now Sage Parashuram. Why curse me when I'm trying to do the right thing? Why?"

The sage was silent again. "Because you wanted to draw a clear line between the right side and the wrong side. You wanted the Pandavas to be completely right and us to be completely wrong. In future, I would be shown as an evil person who tried to wash off his sins by doing good deeds. Because if I was punished and cursed whenever I walked down the wrong path... my Karma would not be balanced enough for me to die like an adharmi."

"'So be it then.' I thought at that time. But for you avatars just cursing me is not enough?" He sneered. "With all of these curses, you have symbolically broken all my limbs. I never sent anyone from my home empty-handed. Even that was taken advantage of. I really can't complain about it though. I got Vasavi Shakti for those kavach and kundal."

"Even during the war, I was being cheated this time courtesy of Vishnu's final avatar. Can you believe it? Manipulations upon manipulations. I thought I had some form of memory loss, you know when I forgot my greatest weapon during my battles with Phalguna. Turns out that Vasudev Krishna was using his supernatural powers to manipulate my mind and make me forget about using the Shakti Astra before my fight with Ghatotkacha. There are several other unlawful things we have done and they have done. If we are to debate everything, it would take a really long time though.

These days... I'm really sorry to say this but these days I find it difficult to trust any of my Vishnu avatars, Sage Parashuram."

"History might remember me as a fraud, a scammer and a boastful man. Let me be known that way I really have no issues. I have been called worse. But Sage Parashuram... what will not go into history books is that you conspired and wrote a death sentence against a child who loved and respected you deeply.

I may be a cheater, and I will gladly accept my punishment when I reach Naraka, but you ask your conscience. Ask your conscience what you exactly are. Learning under you for the first time... it's like a sheep trusting a butcher. I won't make that mistake twice. Because I may be many things... but a fool is not one of them."

"My mother will be waiting for us. If you want to curse me... I'm giving you an opportunity. I have insulted you. Whatever curse you want to give me give it and be done, if that's what you wish. All I ask of you is to let her complete her service to you. She and my family except me are innocent in this." He folded his hands and bowed his head.

Blinking back tears, Sage Parashuram accepted all the services given to him by Radha. On leaving the house he broke down into tears. Because a person who took part in the death of a child who trusted him is a traitor.