Karna: the lost prince

Ganga

After adhiratha and Radha's son shon was born things became more difficult for little Vasusen.
Radha loved shon very much,was very protective of him, so she would not let Vasusen come near him because she thought he might end up hurting her son or putting him in some danger. It was just a faculty of her imagination/superstition that vasusen will bring harm to her son despite being the most loving and caring big brother.
She also thought that her son will also become an out cast like Vasu if she let him be with Vasu.
So ,she deliberately kept shon apart from Vasusen.

By the passing years it became evident that vasusen was more intelligent,wise,talented and good looking then her own son shon ,so she became more hateful towards Vasusen out of jealousy.
By time shon too started to understand by the way his parents treated Vasusen that he is just like a servent in their house and he would order Vasusen around. He would commit a mistake and put its fault on Vasusen ,this getting him punished instead, he would do anything to cause problems for Vasu. He was jealous of Vasusen because he was more talented then him.
Adhiratha had started to teacher Vasu about chariots and how to be a charioteer.
He wanted to let Vasu work,and make some money for the family as soon as he can.
He thought of it as a way of earning some extra income, in return of feeding Vasu all these years.
Radha would ask Vasu to do random work like cleaning the aangan or fetching water.
She would even make him clean utensils or clothes.
If he accidentally made a mistake,he would be punished harshly either by being kept hungry or beaten with a stick.
Karna was an intelligent child and knew that his parents treated him badly, he also knew that in his own home ,he was unwanted and if he would not do his work properly ,he would be thrown away anytime....but why ,why does his own parents not love ,is he a bad son ,is he cursed ?.....so many questions were in his mind ,with no answer but only pain and sorrow.
He would hate his kavach and kundal at times because they need to be kept hidden and he could not show his face to anyone,he wanted to tell everyone that he was not deformed or hideous but could not.
He still thought that his parents must be doing this for a reason and tried to find good in everything.His only solace till now was the time spent with Vrushali.

One day with all these questions in his mind ,he was sitting at the shore of river Ganga.
He was crying today because he wanted to study as the boys ,who go to the local Gurukul ,so he told his father just that but his father became very angry and told him to never think of gaining knowledge again, as it is not allowed to the suta,he said to Vasu that he only needs to learn ,how to repair,clean,assemble and drive a chariot and take care of horses. He will also need to learn how to serve the upper class people. So, he asked why people were divided into upper and lower class,and why every class is treated differently,with lower class people treated the worst.
This resulted him in getting pummelled untill his back was raw and bloody.
His father told him ,never to ask such questions again.
After getting cleaned up by himself , he went to the shore of river Ganga,he would come here often.
He would do his Suryanarayan worship in the morning here, daily and would visit this place ,when he felt lonely or distressed,this place gave him peace.
He had also seen an old person dressed in white royal clothes visit this place often,he seemed like a strong and intelligent person but sad and troubled, Vasusen sometime thought of talking to him but he always  seemed so serious,so Vasu hesitated thinking that this person will also not want to be near him,thinking that vasu has some incurable and contagious disease beacause of his black garb.
Today, an old lady dressed in white approached him and asked ,why he was crying?.....Vasu immediately wiped his tears and told her, he is fine and he would help her if she needed any.
The lady told him that it was fine ,if he does not wanted to share his sorrows with her,but she would like to be his friend ,and he can even call her Mata,if he wanted to.
Vasusen looked at the lady carefully and she liked harmless ,even divine ,so, he decided to believe her and told his name as Vasusen and who he was.

The lady looked at him pitifully and offered him some laddus,which seemed to have appeared out of nowhere.
He took them and ate,it was his first meal of the day and first time eating laddus,they were very tasty.
His pain also seemed to have lessen by a great extent,he thought it must be beacause of his enhanced healing abilities,he seemed to heal at a faster rate than others but it does not mean that his wounds pained any less.
The lady standing infront of Vasusen smiled sadly seeing him eat laddus with such enthusiasm and being somewhat surprised when his pain lessened.
The lady was none other than Devi Ganga herself and she was here to provide some care to her great grand son,that she could.
She knew in what conditions he was living in and that Kunti and Bhishma were searching for him.
But ,as a goddess she was bound not to get involved directly in the matters of mortals ,she could not mess with niyati/ destiny and for Vasu to become the greatest king in whole aryavrata in future,he needed to go through all these hardships.
But,it does not stop her from feeling bad for her own son, Kunti and above all this innocent and pure child.

She decided that she will help and care for Vasu in any way she can. She loved her great grand son very much.
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