A charioteer for Karna
“Give me a good charioteer”, Karna asked Duryodhana. The war on the 16th day, the first day under his command, had just ended. The Kauravas did not fare any better even that day compared to the earlier days. Karna thought that the time had come for him show his real mettle to all, especially to Duryodhana. He continued. “Mark my words. I shall not return today without killing Arjuna. I am better than he is in almost every aspect of archery. I excel the Pandava in the ease of sending arrows, their accuracy and power. My own bow, “Vijayam”, which was made by the architect of the gods, is superior to Arjuna’s Gandiva. But, I have none to drive my chariot with skills to match that of Krishna. If I get a good charioteer, then I shall easily defeat and kill all the Pandavas, including Arjuna. He has been avoiding me all these days for fear of my powerful javelin given by Indra (Sakthi). Now that I have used it up against Ghatotkacha, Arjuna is going to come face to face to fight against me.”
Duryodhana was willing to offer anyone and anything to Karna. Who his good friend would like to drive his chariot?
Karna pointed out to Salya who was standing near by.
Salya feels insulted
Duryodhana spoke polite and appeasing words to the Madra king. “Sir, you are an expert on the science of horses (Aswa Hridaya) among us as Krishna is on the Pandava side. Kindly accept the role of charioteer as requested by Karna”.
Salya had heard Karna when he asked for the favour. He was fuming with righteous anger from that time. When the Kaurava prince asked him directly he burst out. “Who does the son of charioteer think I am to drive his chariot? I, myself, am a much superior warrior than he is in all spheres of warfare”.
It took a lot effort on the part of Duryodhana to pacify the hurt feelings of Salya. He offered liberal praises on the superior skills of the Madra king. Then, the Kaurava narrated the story of the Tripuras to illustrate the point that great people had accepted the role of charioteer in the past in times of crisis.
The killing of the Tripuras
That was the time when the gods fought pitched battles against the demons and were destroying thousands of them. There were three sons to the famous demon, Taraka, bearing names, Kamalaksha,Tarakaksha and Vidyunmali.
The three brothers did years of hard penance and pleased Brahma, the creator. The latter appeared before them and offered any boon of their choice. The demons asked for immortality. But, Brahma would offer anything except that to them.
Then, they thought of a clever condition. They asked for three cities for them to live in. Each would live in one of the three cities for one thousand years. The cities should move around freely at their will during that time. Then, the three cities could come together for a second and split apart as before for another thousand years. If they were to be killed, the enemy should use that opportunity when they came together and kill all the three of them with one single arrow. Brahma agreed and blessed them accordingly.
It was said that Maya, the architect of demons built the three cities in the three worlds for them in which they started living happily. Then, they went about their main business of killing gods indiscriminately living in their flying cities.
The gods were in a fix. The three demons had put almost an impossible condition for killing them. They approached Brahma for help. The creator of worlds was helpless against those whom he, himself, had empowered with an almost flawless boon. He went to Siva accompanied by all other gods. The destroyer of the three worlds assessed the situation and agreed. But, he wanted Brahma to be his charioteer. Brahma accepted the role and it is said that the two accomplished the task of killing the formidable demons at the end of the next thousand years when they came together.
Salya accepts the role
Even before Duryodhana completed his story Salya had already cooled down considerably hearing the shower of praise from the Kaurava. The story of Brahma volunteering to drive the chariot of Siva, who was his son, made the Madra king feel even better. He accepted the role of Karna’s charioteer, but, on certain conditions. He would speak frankly to Karna keeping his welfare in mind. Karna should not mind that.
There was one more condition. Salya turned to Karna and spoke. “Don’t boast about your accomplishments or insult others on their failures. If you speak that way, I shall not spare any words to put you on the right track immediately”. Karna accepted the conditions.
Thus, the 17th day’s war started, with Salya driving the chariot of Karna. We shall learn about the developments on the 17th day from the subsequent episodes.
