The Palace of Illusions

by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

“The kings are always fighting,” she said. “All they want is more land, more power. They tax the common people to starvation and force them to fight in their armies.”

A hero is a hero, no matter what his caste. Ability is more important than the accident of birth.

Since truth hasn’t served him well, Karna does not risk it again. He tells Parasuram that he is a brahmin. Seeing his potential, the sage agrees to teach him. In time Karna becomes the best of his students, the most beloved, the only one to whom Parasuram imparts the invocation for the Brahmastra, the weapon that no one can withstand.

“Whatever you pronounced—even that was part of the law.”

sometimes one has to drop logic and go with the instinct of the heart, even if it contradicts law.”