Valiant Karna through the eyes of Uruvi, a Tale Unveiled through Kavita Kane’s Karna’s Wife: the Outcaste’s Queen

Abstract

Kavita Kane, an Indian women writer of the century, is well known for her mythology fiction. Her debut attempt in this genre was Karna’s Wife: The Outcaste’s Queen (2013). She presents before us a tale never often told by others, a turbulent tale of Uruvi, Karna’s wife. It is quite surprising that Kavita Kane found Uruvi as the wife of Karna and Vrushali and Supriya never interested her. (They are mentioned in Mahabharata as Karna’s wives). Uruvi (Ponnaruvi) as mentioned in Tamil interpretations of Mahabharatha can be an epithet of either Vrushali or Supriya. The novel is set against the background of the Mahabharata; at the centre of the story is Uurvi’s tumultuous and troubled relationship with her husband, who she loves deeply but cannot forgive for what he did to Draupadi. Through Uurvi’s eyes we see a different side of the warrior Karna. He is presented to us as a lonely, unhappy man, who lives his entire life devoid of true happiness, in the quest of rightness and the desire to earn respect and legitimacy.