The Curse or Karna by T.P. Kailasama

This blog is part of the reflective task given by Megha ma’am, where I express my own views and personal responses to the questions she asked.

Karna - The voice of Subaltern

Introduction

In the Mahabharata, Karna is one of the most tragic and complex figures. Both K. Kapoor’s critical essay “Karna (the Unsung Hero of Mahabharata: The Voice of the Subaltern)” and T. P. Kailasam’s play The Curse or Karna highlight his identity as a silenced and marginalized hero. Karna represents the subaltern because his voice, merit, and struggles are repeatedly suppressed by the dominant social and political order of his time.

Karna as a Subaltern Figure

Karna is denied social recognition because of his birth as the son of a charioteer. Despite possessing equal or greater skills than Arjuna, he is excluded from the elite warrior class. This reflects how caste and birth determine power, silencing merit.

In Kailasam’s The Curse or Karna, Karna is shown as a man aware of his exclusion and deeply hurt by it. His character becomes a mirror of the subaltern condition: possessing knowledge and strength, but still deprived of authority and voice.

Kapoor emphasizes that Karna becomes “an unsung hero” — always overshadowed by the Pandavas and dismissed because of his low status. His truth and struggles never find space in the dominant narrative.

Conflict Between Dharma and Marginalization

Karna’s life is marked by contradictions: he seeks dignity through loyalty to Duryodhana, even though he knows Duryodhana’s cause is unjust. This loyalty stems from his longing for recognition — a central aspect of subaltern identity, where survival often demands compromise with oppressive structures.

Kailasam dramatizes this inner tension by portraying Karna’s tragic awareness: he is cursed, rejected, and forced to fight on the “wrong” side, not out of choice but out of social compulsion.

The Silenced Hero

Karna’s voice is systematically ignored by history — he dies unsung, without receiving the honor he deserves.

Both Kapoor and Kailasam show Karna as a tragic figure who embodies the pain of the silenced classes in Indian society: talented, noble, yet crushed under social prejudice and destiny.

Conclusion

Thus, Karna stands as a powerful symbol of the subaltern voice in Indian literature. In Kailasam’s The Curse or Karna, he is not merely a warrior but a tragic emblem of how society erases the voices of those who challenge its hierarchies. Karna’s silence, loyalty, and suffering all make him a timeless representative of the marginalized — a hero whose story reflects the struggles of the subaltern across ages.

Is moral conflict and Hamartia there in Karna's Character?

Moral Conflict in Karna

In The Curse (Karna), T.P. Kailasam shows Karna as a noble yet divided character. His conflict comes from the clash between dharma (righteousness) and loyalty. On one hand, Karna yearns to live by justice and gain recognition for his true worth. On the other hand, he feels bound to Duryodhana, who gave him dignity when society rejected him. This gratitude ties him to a path of adharma (injustice), even though his heart tells him otherwise. For instance, Karna realizes that the Pandavas represent the just side, yet he opposes them because of his debt to Duryodhana. This torn conscience becomes the core of his tragedy—he aspires to morality but is compelled to compromise for loyalty and belonging.

Hamartia in Karna

Karna’s hamartia, or tragic flaw, lies in his extreme loyalty and rigid sense of honor. His unwavering devotion to Duryodhana, though admirable, is ultimately his undoing. Kailasam emphasizes this when Karna refuses to join the Pandavas even after Kunti reveals his divine parentage. Rather than follow the path of righteousness, he chooses to remain true to his vow, believing that breaking his promise would be dishonorable. His flaw is not a lack of strength or courage, but the inability to let go of gratitude and loyalty—even when they bind him to a doomed cause.

Conclusion

Thus, Kailasam portrays Karna as a tragic hero whose life is marked by both moral conflict and hamartia. His struggle between righteousness and loyalty, and his fatal flaw of unshakable devotion to Duryodhana, lead to his destruction. Karna is not ruined by weakness but by the rigid social system and his own tragic choices, making him a true embodiment of classical tragedy—noble, yet fated to fall.

References 

Full Text of “the Curse or Karna.” archive.org/stream/unset0000unse_h8e3/unset0000unse_h8e3_djvu.txt.

Kapoor, Kajal. “https://media.neliti.com/media/publications/281255-karna-the-unsung-hero-of-mahabharata-the-1a9f6184.pdf.” International Journal of Linguistics, Nov. 2016, media.neliti.com/media/publications/281255-karna-the-unsung-hero-of-mahabharata-the-1a9f6184.pdf.