Chapter 69 69. Mata
Lord Surya in disguise of Sage had a smug smile on his face as he announced the "compensation" for making Gandhari worried, Which was the foremost and the strongest Mantra (Chant) there is, The Gayatri Mantra.
This mantra is so powerful that it even says that even if you don't know any other mantras, Chanting this mantra will be enough without offending others gods as this place is given to this Mantra by his lord, The Shiva god of destruction.
But that is not why he has a smug smile, the reason he has a smug smile is that this mantra is also dedicated to him, Which means once someone chants this Mantra, He has to bless them and hence he can see the person he was blessing.
Blessing is also a form of reward of Karma, The one of the few things Curses could not affect that much, In theory one can counter curse with his own Karma but that is yet to happen.
Anyway he did not worry about those, He just knew one thing, He will get to see his son every morning as Karna will pray to him which he has to give blessing and hence he can see him without being blindsided by that strange blurry vision.
"GAYATRI MANTRA!!"
Surya was being casual but his words stirred up the whole dining hall. No one believed what this sage was saying, Just giving the mighty Mantra like that is no one ever heard of.
Shakuni started to rub his semi-long beard as gears inside his head started spinning, This is a gold thing for his family but he being as sharp as he is, He smelled there is an ulterior motive.
So to prevent any mishaps happening with Karna he was very critical of this new Sage, He even thought this sage was sent by someone to weaken them and he might give Karna some wrong Mantra but that was quickly rejected by him.
Sage can't lie about things like this. If he said he will give Gayatri Mantra then he has to give him without any treachery or falsehood, So there is another reason.
"Bhraman Dev, I am happy with this decision but I think giving this strong Mantra to a child is not good, Please reconsider it."
Gandhari said hesitantly but also with firmness in her voice, She too felt it is too weird that this Sage was ready to give Gayatri Mantra this easily, There has to be an ulterior motive behind his action.
They were reacting because for the simple reason which is that unlike in Kalyuga where you just need to know about words to chant here the revered one has to pass down a mantra and can only do once in a given time, After that they had to once again master it to give it to someone unless the giver is Deva or originator of that mantra.
So in their eyes it is not right to give away precious and powerful mantras like Gayatri Mantra, It's very easy to misunderstand for the ulterior motive, which Surya definitely has, though it was a good one.
"Wait! Just Gayatri's mantra as compensation?"
Others could not wrap their minds around the fortunes of Karna but here Karna looked at Sage with confused eyes not understanding why he was boosting about the mantra that most of the people knew about in his period
Even he who was too busy surviving had heard of that mantra, So much so that he still remembers it word by word, Which is making him confused as to why others give this exaggerated reaction.
"What are you talking about? Has no one taught you the Vedic knowledge yet?"
Surya did not expect to hear these words from Karna at all, He was looking forward to seeing the joy in his son's friend but what he got was blank confused stares.
It was his wife Sandhya who was seated close to him but could not hold herself back and asked him out as this is a basic knowledge of Vedas which is taught to children at his age.
This confused her but then guessed the reason for it she asked in the thought-neutral voice but there was suppressed anger behind her words, Chhaya too though not said anything but looking forward to his answer to decide what her next move will be.
This is what Surya is most afraid of and the reason he is not allowing them to meet him. They though both goddesses but for them, their family comes first, especially their children.
He was sure if Karna said something like he was not allowed to learn Vedic knowledge because he was a lower caste Suta, There would be carnage as these two would go out of their way to make people pay who hurt their son.
"No, My mother said I am still little, She said I should start my study at the age of 10 with my father because she was afraid I would hurt myself."
Surya's breath stopped a second when Karna started to speak but hearing a reason he breathed a sigh of relief, He sneakily wiped the cold sweat from his forehead glad that disaster was prevented.
"Anyway, Even if my mother allowed it, I am Suta. There is no good teacher who would teach me this Vedic knowledge."
Well, Surya's happiness was short-lived as Karna finished speaking, He did not even need to turn around to see, Both of his wives were throwing daggers from their eyes towards him.
"But I don't think anyone would reject me, As King gave me the Kingdom of Anga as punishment, So I am technically a king, A Kshatriya (Warrior class). They have no reason to refuse me as refusing me is like refusing the king's order."
But Karna was not done yet. He continued his answer not knowing why he was even talking about this stuff with these people. He had yet to get the reason why Gayatri Mantra was that important because he already knew it yet he did not want to stop speaking for some reason.
Power in the dark was acting, making him do the thing which he was not aware of the reason to make a good future for him.
'Is he now retaliating?'
Hearing Karna speak, All Surya can say is that it is not coincident, It has to be premeditated, If not for the fact he was sure that Karna did not know he is his father and he is Surya, He right now accused him of playing mental warfare with his father.
He was just glad that the daggers being thrown at him stopped right now, Though even he was surprised by the revelation. What kinda punishment is that? In which world giving a kingdom is punishment?
He felt like he needed to know more, So by instinct he tried to use his divine vision to look into it just to remind once again that he could not see anything related to him at all.
"Yet again I don't think they would teach me of their free will, So that is as good as trying to steal knowledge which is not good, So to your question matas (mothers), I didn't learn Vedic knowledge because I can't."
Surya was sulking that he still could not see anything about Karna just to get hit by his words, He hoped no he prayed, He prayed to his lord that he continues speaking just like before countering this part but to his horror Karna really finished speaking this time.
What is scary thing is that this guy has to say those keywords, Now he was sure his wives will go crazy.
'Mata? He called me Mata.'
As Surya guessed, Both Sandhya and Chhaya passed hearing the word Mata come out from Karna's mouth, Though they knew it was a common practice to call women older than you at your mothers age to be called Mata but they don't care.
All they cared about was their son called them Mata, And so the rage in their heart boiling for him increased a hundredfold. They were able to cover their rage quite well on the surface but Surya who knows them too well can see through their facade.
"Arya, Why don't you give this Putra the mantra? Also Putra, We will teach you if you want and trust me we will teach you with our whole heart, Aren't that right Arya?"
Sandhya turned around and said to Surya in a very sweet voice but this made Surya tremble in fear. He knows he is in trouble, No matter how powerful he is, He can't handle the anger of his beloved wife and now there are two of them.
"*Ahem* Here you go, You will understand the power of this Mantra once you use it. Chant this mantra at sunrise after the bath for its full effect, "
Also yeah you are welcome to come to study with us anytime you want."
Surya could not afford to anger his wives even more, So he just agreed even though he too wanted the same thing.
He just blitzed past everyone and appeared in front of Karna and before he could react, Surya's palm on his forehead glowed as Sanskrit mantra letters poured into Karna's mind.
[Ding!.. ]
(A/N : Like always thank you for reading and have a good day 😁.)