Priyamveda was the dasi that was in charge of taking care of me and she was like a mother to me. Priyamveda would take me with her to meet the charioteer families. One day, Priyamveda learned through her best friend Vidya that her cousin Adiratha and his family had moved to Hastinapur. She took me with her so that I could meet her cousin’s son who was two years older than me. The second that I met Vasusena I knew that he was special. From the first moment on, he treated me like I was his younger sister and he was my older brother. We had amazing five years together where we played games. One incident of our childhood was my third birthday when the Gandhar princes came to the party. I received a doll from Shakuni Mama and Arshi Mami. I was totally in love with that beautiful doll and one day the two youngest princes snuck into my room when I was at the Mandir with all the ladies. They ended up breaking that doll. I went to my room before dinner that night and saw my beautiful doll on the floor broken. I started sobbing my eyes off. One minute later, Yuvaraj Arush and Vasu Bhaiya come in the room. Arush sees the destruction and instantly knows it was the terrible twosome that are his younger brothers. Arush picks me up and takes me to my parents. Then he goes to find his brothers and takes them to their parents for their punishment. He leaves to find how he can fix my doll as a surprise for me. Arush and Vasu Bhaiya spend the whole week fixing my doll. They give me the new doll with plenty of rose bouquets while telling me that they will always be my best friends. Even then, I could see the differences between the three Gandhar princes. One was an absolute gentleman but the other two were little hellions. Vasu Bhaiya was an amazing friend and gentleman.
It wasn’t until I was six, that I understood why Priyamveda would cry when she saw us playing together. She would always tell me to promise her that I would never tell my mother about Vasusena. I had already realized the truth because of the huge amount of time that Vasu Bhaiya and I had spent together. I started noticing things like the fact that Bhaiya did not look a thing like Radhe Ma, Adiratha, Gauri Masi or his younger brother Shona. In fact, he looked like my mom and I. We had the same facial structure, the same bone structure, and our feet looked the same.
One day, my mother told me to go and spend some time with Priyamveda because my Parashavi Kaki was in labor. And that was the day when I accidentally learned the truth of Karna’s birth.
I walked through the palace looking for Priyamveda only to run into Gauri and I found out that Priyamveda was praying in the Mandir. So I walked to the Rama and Sita part of the Mandir, and found Priyamveda crying:
“Sita Maiya, please forgive me for making Rajkumari Kunti give up her son, Suryaputra Karna who is also known as Vasusena!” I was so shocked that I cried out. Priyamveda was shocked to see me there but I told her that my mother had told me to find Priyamveda. For the next one hour, I sat speechless listening to the story of the biggest secret and regret that my mother had.
One day about eight years ago, my step grandfather’s kingdom had an memorable visitor. It was Sage Durvasa and he wanted to stay for some time at Raja Kuntibhoja’s palace. Kuntibhoja told my mother to take care of Sage Durvasa and so my mother did. She took such good care of him that he ended up giving her a mantra that would give her children from the Gods. My mother was young and one day she grew curious enough that she decided to test the mantra. She ended up calling Suryadev with the mantra and he came. Sadly, she realized the truth and apologized for calling for him. He apologized to her and said that since she called him she would have to let the mantra take it’s course. You see Suryadev could come when called but he could not leave until he had given what needed to be given. Karna was then born and my mother loved him. Unfortunately, Priyamveda realized that as much as Kunti loved Karna, she could not keep him. People were already wondering where their beautiful princess was since she had been away from the public for quite sometime. She only had one month with her beloved firstborn before Priyamveda took Kunti to the Ganga river to put Karna in the basket that would later float down the river on it’s way to the childless couple Adiratha and Radha. Priyamveda finished the story and told me not to talk about this subject again. A few minutes later, word came that Parashavi Kaki had given birth to twins.
A month later, my father went to war with Shalya Raj and ended up coming home married to Rajkumari Madri. Maharani Madri became my Chotima and she was just as loving to me as my mother was. To this day, I miss my Chotima. She was absolutely a treasure to know. I am blessed to have been treated as her daughter. A few months later, tragedy struck our parivar when my father accidentally shot and killed what he thought were two deers. You see, the two deers were actually Rishi Kindama and his wife having intercourse. Before his death, Rishi Kindama cursed my father that if he had intercourse with his wives again he would be killed instantly. So my parents decided that we would give up the kingdom and go live in the forest. I didn’t want to leave Hastinapur because I had started taking dance lessons and I wanted more time with my only Bhaiya. We left Hastinapur to go the forest. My heart broke into a thousand pieces seeing my beloved Karna Bhaiya waving goodbye and crying his heart out.
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