‘Kunti had the baby, Karna. The Sun God gave his young son earrings and impenetrable armour. Impenetrable means that nothing could break it. Wrapped in his father’s protective cloak that shone like the sun itself, Karna could not be killed.

‘Kunti was young and unmarried. She was frightened when she had the baby, so she gave him up. She placed him in a basket with the gifts from his father and surrendered him to the will of a river. Karna was found by a charioteer who raised him.

‘Eventually Kunti married a prince and had more sons, the famous Pandava warriors. Once again, these children were conceived through other gods, using the ancient prayer.

‘When Karna met his five brothers, they didn’t know his true identity—they laughed at him and looked down upon him because he was “merely” a charioteer’s son. Only Duryodhana, the Kaurava king, who was hated by so many, accepted Karna as his friend and equal.

‘Later, when war broke out between the Pandavas and the Kauravas, Kunti revealed herself to Karna and begged him to join his Pandava brothers against their Kaurava cousins. But Karna had promised his loyalty to Duryodhana; and he would not betray him. However, Karna promised Kunti that, of her sons, he would only fight Arjuna. One of them would die—she would always have five sons as she did now.

Dhara turned around and looked at Nala thoughtfully. ‘It must have been very sad for Karna, to find out that his mother had given him away.’

‘Yes, Dhara, I think Karna must have been sad. The charioteer and his wife who raised him loved him, though. They loved him like he was their own. Karna had many moments of happiness in his life.’

‘He still died though, didn’t he?’

‘Yes, but we all die,’ Nala stopped, as a dam somewhere in the east opened and swept away a different cousin-brother. The dam closed just as quickly, and she could breathe; she could speak again.

‘Karna chose a warrior’s life and a warrior’s death.’ She didn’t finish the story. They all knew how it ended. Karna was cheated by Arjuna’s father into giving away his celestial armour. He fought Arjuna on the battlefield, and without the breastplate forged by the Sun God to protect him, Karna was doomed to die. Perhaps he had been doomed from the very beginning.

‘I love Karna,’ Dhara said, rubbing the tears of margosa oil from her forehead, streaking it across her face.

‘Me too, mahal,’ she said, taking the girl’s small face in her hands. She pressed her forehead to Dhara’s, leaving an imprint of her red pottu on the child’s forehead.