Varsha (Mahabharata)
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Varsha was the wife of Karna, who is known as the hero of Mahabharata, she was known as the daughter in law, welcomed by Kunti, Karna's mother. She was legally beautiful according to folklores and the friend of Bhanumati and beautiful maiden to Karna. It is also said that Varsha met secretly with Karna, but however, her father Rajaysena declines Karna as his son in law, as he knew when the Senapati told his full information to the King. Varsha was kidnapped by Karna during the Swayamvara, they secretly marry in the Gandharva Vivah style, by doing the acts of Krishna but their story is comparatively different apart from Karna's marriage. Varsha and Karna had a daughter named Ratnamala, who later became the friend of Lakshmanaa, Duryodhana's daughter. She was the Princess of the Kingdom named, Karpjot, which is not mentioned in Mahabharata of Vyasa.
| Varsha | |
|---|---|
| Information | |
| Affiliation | Queen of the Anga Kingdom, fifth angarani |
| Family | Rajayasena (father) |
| Spouse | Karna |
| Children | Ratnamala (daughter),
|
| Home | (unnamed kingdom in sources mentioned as)Karpajota Kingdom (by birth), Hastinapura (by marriage) |
In the Mahabharata, Karna's wife is mentioned six times. As she was fond of him, her father was legal of his duties and would not marry his daughter to Karna as he didn't like him by seeing his caste, and also supporting Kaurava Duryodhana. Varsha didnt like the way her father was behaving with her, and without her father's wish, she stubbornly married Karna.
Textual sources and developmentEdit
BirthEdit
She was the only daughter of Rajayasena, and the princess of the Karpajota Kingdom. As a daughter of Rajaysen, her life was indeed and prosperous. When she grew up, she was at the age to marry and her father wanted her to marry a prince who would be very loyal to her. But, accordingly, she married Karna, the unsung warrior and hero of the Mahabharata.
Meeting with KarnaEdit
Varsha was taking a walk around a forest in the dense jungle. While going for a long time, she felt thirsty and had brought a pot with her. As she was about to dip the pot into the water, she saw Karna and he too saw her, both loved each other but she didn't tell her father, as he will decline. She and Karna met secretly with each other for ten days before her swayamvara, the marriage. Stree parva describes her relationship with Karna and he loved her immensely. The romance between Karna continued in the Hastinapura as they loved each other, nearly before. Greatly, her dreams about Karna wouldn't stop and so thinking this, Kunti accepted it and married her to Karna.
She is mentioned in Stri Parva about her sorrow for Karna, but also as the childhood friend of Bhanumati, as they were very close to each other, they could meet in the Hastinapura happily. Varsha also heard the news of the death of karna and put the blame on herself. As she loved him, her heart broke during his death.
Life after the marriageEdit
Her life went smooth ad happy after the marriage, actually it came to a end because of Arjuna, but it was true that he was the only one who killed him without recognizing him and so he also killed Bhisma Pitamah at the advise of Sri Krishna. Varsha, a woman with her her tears rolling down her eyes, did not marry anyone for the broken heart for her husband. Arjuna, claimed that he killed Karna and apologized for his mistake.
Marriage with Karna in the Shanti ParvaEdit
Karna, however made plans to kidnap Varsha from her kingdom as he went to the kingdom alone with faith and bravery without giving up. Her father invited such princes and except Karna. Karna too came for the marriage of the princess but as he entered, the princes started to laugh at him, without a caring emotion in them and made fun of Karna, as he was a charioteer's son. Karna gave a long importance and accepted his fun in front of all others. Varsha came in with a beautiful garland and went to the court too chose prince as her husband, as she went close to Karna, he furiously kidnapped her as helped his friend to kidnap Bhanumati and Mayuri.
While he went and kidnapped Varsha and took her to Hastinapura, she readily agreed to marry him and Kunti and Gandhari however celebrate their marriage with happiness and a quote from the sage, Vyasa.
Varsha, the character of the Mahabharata, wife of Angaraja Karna, the woman who talked with the soul of her husband, Karna. The daughter in law of Surya and Kunti, the mother of Ratnamala and one of the kuru queens
— Vyasa, Kisari Mohan Ganguli
This quote is often seen in the Shanti Parva books, one of the books written by Sage Vyasa. Gandhari is described by Vyasa, welcoming Varsha as a daughter in law in the Hastinapura. Shakuntala's story too begins from this story of love, but Karna, during his death, didn't forget Varsha she was Karna's most favourite and also her sister, Geeta. Unfortunately, Yudhishthira resulted and cursed Kunti, his own mother as Varsha became silent after her husband's death. Ratnamala was Karna and Varsha's favourite but she had a relationship was Lakshmanaa, it can describe the relationship of being friends of their own father.
Stories of Karna in SourcesEdit
Rescuing Varsha from a eagle named VasudharaEdit
There are few stories in Mahabharata witten by Ved Vyasa do say in a jungle, Varsha loved flowers. She went to pick many flowers such as Rose, Hibiscus, with her boyfriend, Karna. Some Historians may say she used to pick flowers in the Kamyaka Forest. An eagle named Vasudhara, used to rule the forest, who was an asura, took the form of an eagle, after the death of Ghatotkacha. Varsha was roaming and roaming and didn't know where was Karna. Vasudhara, angrily kidnapped Varsha and made her sit in the nest. In that stage, Vasudhara had no babies. Karna saw the eagle and killed her and destroyed the nest and saved his girlfriend with his good aim. The eagle died without any mercy. Therefore, this story of Mahabharata may be a complex story. This story may not be real as this story is fictional and is said by Devdutt Pattnaik. This story is shown in a systematic way where Duryodhana makes their marriage in a periodic way.
Wayang Kulit styleEdit
AppearanceEdit
She is portrayed to be dressed beautifully, tied pony, folded hands and legs, folded lips and bangles. Karna and Varsha are spelled in Indonesia as Karna dan Warsa. The word Karna will remain the same but in their culture, V is spelled as 'W'.
Story in Indonesia culturesEdit
Puppet figures of the Mahabharata characters are carved and made from wood. The puppeteer presents the Wayang kulit of Karna and wayang kulit of Varsha and also, it is made into a beautiful golek. The eagle, Vasudhara is not to be seen in Mahabharata, but in epics available in Bengali, Marathi, Hindi, Telugu and Malayalam and various others. Wayang performers make her the daughter of King Narakasura and she is the princess of the Pragjyotisha Kingdom. In indonesia cultures or figure story, Bhagadatta is her cousin.
Regional folktalesEdit
As the daughter of NarakasuraEdit
Narakasura, a powerful demon was her father and wanted her to marry a powerful asura. Varsha, the beautiful lady told her father she liked Karna instead of the asuras. This makes Narakasura angry and he tells her that he is against because he was a Sutaputra, but Varsha did not agree to it.
Karna's marriage is found in the Shanti Parva married to Princess Varsha, daughter of Rajayasena in the Hindu literature. Stree Parva mentions she had a beautiful daughter who used to look like Karna, Ratnamala who had cordial relations with Lakshmanaa. Narakasura, against Karna's caste wanted to behead Karna, but Varsha fortunately do not agree to this incident and went from the Pragjyotisha Kingdom. After seeing Karna, she told him everything. Karna and Varsha did a gandharva vivah when Karna knew what Varsha was telling him. Same story is with with the original folktales the king of Karpajota, King Rajayasen. As per this Hindu folktale, she was immense to marry Karna, Rajayasena declined and told her that in the Swayamvara he will never allow Karna and will not invite him. Tears came from Varsha's eyes and she went crying bitterly. Her boyfriend, Angaraja Karna told her not to cry but he had a solution that they should do the Gandharva vivah so no one notices. Later, she gives birth to Ratnamala. Ratnamala or Ratna later was a gorgeous girl by Varsha. Varsha later dies with Karna in Sati.