Wives Of Karna

In the Hindu epic ''Mahabharata'', the wife of the warrior Karna is unnamed and in the '' Stri Parva'' of the epic, she is mentioned as the mother of Vrishasena and Sushena, the most prominent sons of Karna.

Karna's wives are subjects of fantasy and different stories and folktales portray different women as the wives of Karna. In many recent adaptations of the ''Mahabharata'', Karna is married to two women—Vrushali and Supriya. Contradictory to this, the Tamil play ''Karna Moksham'' portray Ponnuruvi as his wife, while the regional ''Kashidasi Mahabharata'' states her to be Padmavati. In modern retellings, his wife is also called Uruvi.

In the ''Mahabharata''

Karna's wives play insignificant roles in the original epic. In the ''Udyoga Parva'' of the ''Mahabharata'', Karna—while explaining his commitment towards his foster parents—mentions them.

In the epic's '' Stri Parva'', Gandhari, the mother of Duryodhana (antagonist of the ''Mahabharata''), describes the grief of women after the Kurukshetra War. The sorrow of a wife of Karna is also described by her.

In derivative literature

Vrushali

Vrushali also spelt as Vrishali, (Sanskrit: वृषाली, ); is the first of the two most popular wives of Karna. Her story is found in the Marathi novels ''Radheya'' (by Ranjit Desai), and ''Mritunjaya'' (by Shivaji Sawant), and is retold in many modern adaptations based on Karna's life.

Like Karna, Vrushali belonged to the ''Suta'' (charioteer) community and she was a good friend of Karna from their childhood. When Karna grew up, Adhiratha chose her as the bride for his son. She is described to be wise and pious. After the death of her sons and husband, she ended her life on her husband's pyre.

Supriya

Supriya (Sanskrit: सुप्रिया, ) is considered as Karna's second wife, the first being Vrushali. According to scholar Pradip Bhattacharya, Supriya is a creation of Shivaji Sawant and her name parallels with Subhadra.

In ''Mritunjaya'', Supriya is the maid of Bhanumati, princess of Kalinga. When the King of Kalinga organises Bhanumati's swayamvara, Duryodhana abducts Bhanumati with the help of Karna and marries her. Duryodhana gets Supriya married to Karna.

Padmavati

In the '' Kashidasi Mahabharat'' (a regional version of the epic), Padmavati is the wife of Karna. She was the maid of princess Asawari. They were rescued by Karna from some attackers. When Karna asks Asawari's father, the king, for her hand, the king rejected her marriage with Karna. Later, Karna attacked the kings at Asawari's ''swaymvara''. Karna asked her if she would like to marry him. She says that she will do anything to save her father. Karna then accepts her maid Padmavati as his wife instead. Padmavati marries him and goes to Anga Kingdom with him.

Ponnuruvi

Ponnuruvi is the wife of Karna in the ''Karna Moksham'' of Kattaikkuttu, a Tamil drama written by Pukalentippulavar. She plays a major role in it and is depicted as a princess belonging to Kshatriya (warrior) community. In the play, she is the princess of Kalinga and the story of her marriage is based on the ''Mahabharata'''s narration of the abduction of the Kalinga princess. Though the princess marries Duryodhana in the original epic, in these folklores, she is named Ponnuruvi and is married to Karna because he was the one who touched her during the abduction.

''Karna Moksham'' depicts her as abusive towards Karna as his lineage is not specified and she believes him to be of the lower caste. She doesn't even let Karna touch his son. However, when Karna discloses his true lineage before going to the Kurukshetra War, her attitude drastically changes and she apologizes. She advises Karna to not kill the Pandavas (Karna's half-brothers). She also advises him to leave the side of the Duryodhana. However, Karna refuses as believes Duryodhana to be his true friend. After Karna dies in the war, Ponnuruvi laments his death.

Reference

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Characters in the Mahabharata