Uruvi knew she had fallen in love with the stranger then and there—utterly and irrevocably. Mesmerized, she continued to stare at the handsome young man who was flaunting his phenomenal skills with more flamboyance than Arjuna. Uruvi was sitting next to Queen Kunti, the imperial widow of King Pandu of Hastinapur and the mother of the Pandavas.

As her mother’s childhood friend, Kunti was Uruvi’s self-appointed foster mother.

‘Who’s he?’ Uruvi excitedly turned to the Pandava queen, who looked unexpectedly ashen and seemed to stiffen at her question. ‘Ma, are you not feeling well?’

There was no reply and Uruvi saw to her growing horror that Kunti had crumpled into a quiet faint. Thoroughly alarmed, and the stranger forgotten for the moment, Uruvi knelt over the prostrate figure, calling anxiously for help just as Vidura, the youngest brother and chief counsellor of King Dhritrashtra, took charge of the situation. Soon Uruvi was relieved to see her foster mother swiftly regaining consciousness. ‘It must have been the heat,’ murmured Kunti through parched lips, gathering her silken folds and her dignity quickly.

Reassured, Princess Uruvi peered down the gallery to watch what was happening below. The show was supposed to be a display of skills by the two groups of cousins—the Kauravas and the Pandavas. But this stranger, who called himself Karna, seemed to have stolen the glory from the Kuru princes, particularly Arjuna.

Uruvi watched Karna bow carelessly to the royal audience each time he strung his bow and effortlessly repeated the feats of Arjuna.

Prince Duryodhana, the eldest of the Kaurava brothers, looked visibly delighted, his swarthy face wreathed in a huge smile. For a man who rarely smiled, he looked unusually euphoric. He rushed to the young archer and embraced him like a long-lost brother,

‘Whoever you are, fortune has sent you to me. My brothers and I are at your command,’ he announced. Events seemed to be happening too fast and decidedly not in his favour, realized an irate Arjuna. A promising and versatile warrior, he was the best Kuru archer. He blazed with an impetuous temper. ‘Whoever you are, you are an intruder! You have entered uninvited and yet you dare compete with us! You shall sorely regret your arrogance the moment you taste defeat. I shall trounce you in a challenge.’

Karna gave a mirthless smile and replied evenly, ‘What is the use of a competition if one cannot be compared with others? Talk is the weapon of the weak; release your arrows instead of hollow words.’

‘This young man is a great warrior!’ declared Bhishma Pitamaha in his deep baritone. ‘He has surpassed each of Arjuna’s feats.’ Arjuna looked almost apoplectic. Glancing at his mottled face, Princess Uruvi could not suppress a giggle. ‘Spoilsport!’ she dimpled. ‘Can’t face competition, can he?’ The mood of the tournament had radically changed; the air seemed to thicken rapidly with palpable tension. Having surpassed Arjuna’s feats, the stranger, encouraged by Bhishma’s pronouncement, was now challenging Arjuna to a duel. Arjuna bristled angrily. He hurriedly bowed to his teachers, hugged his brothers and with his face flushed, stood ready for combat as Karna faced him. Pick up the book to know what happens next….