'I AM HIS WEAPON TEACHER'

The voice rattled everyone in the court. Suddenly the sky turned dark and the wind started blowing indicating the upcoming storm. Then Lord Parshuram entered into the court.

Bheesm and Drona, 'Gurudev?'

Karna was shocked but smiled at him and touched his feet. Lord Parshuram placed his hand at his head and said, 'Vijayi Bhava Putra.' Then he turned at Drona. 

Lord Parshuram, 'I am his teacher Drona and he is my best student. Tell me what do you want to do to me? You and the stupid son of yours wanted to punish me and here I am now.'

Both Bheesm and Drona came down from their throne and tried to touch his feet but Lord Parshuram refused. 'No, today I came here not as your guru so I cannot accept your pranam. Now tell me why do you want to punish me and my student. Because of him, all of you are alive today. Drona you gave Brhammastra to a person who does not have the ability to touch it and now you are harassing the person who saved you. And you Bheesm because of this Aswatthama your mother was also injured and instead of punishing him, you dragged my student into this court?'

Drona, 'Gurudev, how could you do this adharm? How could you teach a Sutputra?'

Lord Parshuram, 'I am not like you who teach people based on their social status. The only thing I see in my students is determination, talent, and good intentions. Adhirath Putra Karna has all those abilities in him. And you are talking about Adharm, who forced a boy to cut his thumb so that he cannot beat your best student Arjun. It is the greatest Dharam of a teacher to treat all of his students equally and you failed to do that.'

This statement of Lord Parshuram disturbed everyone in the court. Dhritarashtra himself came down from his throne and bowed in front of Lord Parshuram and begged for his mercy. But Lord Parshuram said, 'Everyone in this court had done adharm by taking the side of a sinner and tried to punish an innocent. Drona today I Parshuram challenge you, if your best student can defeat my best student then I will accept my defeat.'

Hearing that everyone was shocked but Dronacharya accepted this challenge. He said, 'Gurudev, I don't want to disrespect you but I am confident that Arjun will win and then you will realize that one should follow the profession that is determined by their birth. A Sutputra can never defeat a Kshatriya.'

Bheesm, 'Dronacharya, you have committed a great mistake. One who can stop Brhammastra can easily defeat Arjun. Today you both you and your student are going to be humiliated in front of all.'

King Dhritarashtra announced the tournament between Karna and Arjun. Karna was shocked to see Lord Parshuram in Hastinapur. When he asked then Lord Parshuram replied, 'Putra once you asked me about my Gurudakshina. Today it is your guru Dakshina to me. I want Drona to apologize to me in front of everyone. You shall show everyone that birth status cannot be an obstacle in anyone's life. Everyone shall have a chance to pursue their dreams. So that in future no one shall dare the cut the thumb of a tribal boy in the name of Dharma.'

Meanwhile, Arjuna was also very angry. He never dreamed that one day he had to prove his strength by dueling with a Sutputra. Pandavas though always treated others properly still believed Sutas as inferior. But he did not understand why Lord Parshuram taught Karna. 

Bheem, 'Now a petty Sutputra is going to compete against Arjun.'

Yudhisthir, 'Don't forget Bheem that Sutputra is the student of Lord Parshuram. I told you, that he is different. That is why he knows so much about warfare and weapons.'

Sahadev, 'He can even stop Bhrammastra.'

Arjun, 'I don't care. Today I will show everyone that I am the best.'

Yudhishtir, 'Overconfidence can be fatal anuj. Don't underestimate him.'

Tournament Ground

The news of the tournament was spread like a wildfire in Hastinapur. It was big news that Lord Parshuram himself came into the city and his favorite student was a Sutaputra. the news reached Radha's house as well. Though both Adhirath and Radha were a little worried, still they knew that Karna was not an ordinary human being. So he could be able to defeat Arjun.

Both Arjun and Karna came to the stadium and greeted the king and the royalties. Arjun was in his full battle regalia but Karna wore just a simple dress. seeing that Bheem taunted, 'What Sutputra, can't even afford an armor for yourself?'  But Karna just smiled. Duryodhana offered him armor but Karna politely declined. 

Shakuni to Duryadhona, 'Bhanje, if this Karna can win the match, then we shall try to make him our ally. We should support him in the match.'

Bheesm announced the rules and warned Karna not to injure Arjun as spilling the blood of a prince was a crime. Then Duryodhana said, 'Pitamaha, then ask Arjuna not to spill Karna's blood as well. As Karna is a citizen of Hastinapur and it is forbidden to harm a citizen without any reason.'

Then the match started. Both the archers took their positions. 

Arjun, 'Himastra' and tried to trap Karna in ice but Karna evoked Agniastra to melt it. Then Karna evoked Vayastra but Arjun countered it with Meghastra.

Karna, 'Andhak astra

Arjun, 'Mrityunjai astra'

Karna, 'Varunastra,' to spread a huge amount of water on Arjun.

Arjun, 'Agniastra' which turns the water into a vapour.

Bheesm to Vidur, 'I don't know who will be the winner but one thing I can say. This boy is immensely powerful. All his weapons are different than Arjuna's. He is not even using his full strength otherwise he can defeat Arjun easily.' 

Both the warriors fought among each other for some time, then Arjun launched ulka Astra to Karna. This is a weapon of Suryadev, seeing that Karna did not try to defend himself. Everyone thought that Karna was going to burn but then his Kavach appeared and formed a protective shield around him. Seeing that Arjun was shocked. Kunti who was sitting among the royal women immediately recognized the Kavach and she realized Karna's identity.

Karna (thinking), 'M... my..my son is alive' and she fainted.

Arjun was getting frustrated and also felt a little tired. But Karna showed no sign of tiredness, in fact during the entire tournament he had a small smile on his face as if he was enjoying the duel. Seeing this Arjun was more frustrated. So to finish the match Arjun launched Brhhammstra. Everyone was stunned seeing his action. 

Drona, 'Arjun, what have you done. You cannot launch Brahhmastra like this.'

But both Parshuram and Karna did not show any sign of distress or fear. Karna just folded his hand and started chanting  mantra. When Brahhmamstra reached Karna it turned into flowers. 

Then Lord Parshuram instructed him, 'Karna, finish the duel.'

Karna launched a special arrow called 'Tashtra' which hypnotized Arjun and he fainted. Shakuni was so happy that he started jumping and King Dhritrashtra declared Karna as a winner. All the Pandavas rushed to the ground and picked Arjun up to take him to the healing chamber.

Karna then went to Guru Drona and said, 'Guru Drona, I never had any intention to humiliate you or Prince Arjun. I always respect you as you are a great teacher. But in your pride, you disrespected your own Guru and I cannot tolerate anyone disrespecting my Gurudev. Now you shall apologize to your teacher.'

Lord Parshuram, 'Karna my son, today you gave me your Dakshina. I am very happy. Today I am blessing you, no one in this Aryavarta can defeat you. One day you will be Digvijayee.'

Hearing that Shakuni taught, 'Karna I shall bring you to my side by hook or crook.'

King Dhritrashtra asked Lord Parshuram to stay as a royal guest but he refused and then left the palace. Both Radha, Adhirath, and Karna's other siblings were also very delighted to see his triumph. All the common citizens were also very happy as Karna was one of them and his victory seemed like their own victory. 

King Dhritarashtra wanted to give Karna expensive jewels as a gift but he declined saying,'I took part in this tournament just to protect my Guru's honor and give my Gurudakshina. I don't need any gift, your majesty. Your blessings are enough for me. But if you want to do anything then please help those people whose properties were damaged by Aswatthama's foolish act.' 

Then Bheesm asked him, 'I know that you are not only an expert in weapons but also in Shashtras as well. May I know your Shastra Guru's name, my boy?'

Karna smiled, 'You know my ShastraGuru quite well Mahamahim, He is none other than Guru Brihaspati.'   

Next episode- Duryodhana befriended Karna.

Note- Sorry as I am not very good at describing the action scenes. Thank you everyone for liking the story and sorry to those who requested to update another chapter yesterday. I was feeling very sick and could not type. I will try to update more chapters as soon as possible.