When he reached the main hall, Lord Surya and Goddess Sangya were waiting. Lord Surya placed a hand on his shoulder, pride and worry mixed in his gaze. Sangya rushed forward, touching his cheeks, his arms, searching for any sign of harm.
"Karna… are you alright?" she asked softly.
He nodded once. "Yes, Mother. I am fine."
But he said nothing more. No explanation. No smile. Just that quiet nod, then he excused himself and went to his room.
Goddess Sangya watched him go; her heart became heavy as her son, her radiant boy, had returned without a word about what had happened to him. Did he dismiss tapasya by himself, or was it successful?
She waited all afternoon, hoping he would come to her, share even a little. He did not.
Late in the evening, when the palace lamps burned low and most servants had retired, Goddess Sangya could wait no longer.
She walked quietly to Karna's room. The door was ajar. A single lamp flickered inside. She pushed it open gently, only to see Karna sitting on the edge of his bed, staring at the floor.
His hands rested on his knees, fingers loosely clasped. He had not changed out of the simple white cloth he wore during tapasya. His face was still, but his eyes, those bright, searching eyes, carried a heavy weight she had never seen before.
He did not look up when she entered.
Goddess Sangya stepped inside, closed the door softly behind her, and sat beside him on the bed. For a long moment, neither spoke. The only sound was the faint crackle of the lamp wick.
Finally, Goddess Sangya placed her hand over his.
"Karna… my son. You have not said a word since you returned. Not to your father. Not to me. What happened?"
Karna kept staring at the floor.
His throat moved once, as if swallowing something difficult. He looked away, toward the window where the night sky glittered above Suryaloka.
Goddess Sangya's voice trembled just a little, "Are you keeping things from your mother now, Karna?"
Karna finally turned to her.
His eyes were moist. He shook his head slowly as he said, "I just don't want to lie to you, Mother. I don't want to see you hurt by questioning you."
Goddess Sangya felt her heart skip.
She squeezed his hand tighter and said, "Then don't. Whatever it is… You can tell me. There is nothing in this world you cannot share with me. Have I ever not answered your questions? Yes, there are some I didn't answer fully because you were too young to understand, but whatever I answered, they were nothing but the truth."
Karna took a deep breath and looked straight into her eyes, those same eyes that had watched over him since the day Surya first brought him home.
"Mother… I know that I'm a mortal."
Goddess Sangya's breath caught at those words.
Her grip on his hand loosened for a second, then tightened again as if to hold herself steady. Her voice came out small, quivering. "What… what are you talking about, Karna?"
Karna's own voice shook now. "Mahadeva himself told me. I'm not immortal like my brothers. Why? Have I been cursed with mortality when I was a baby?"
Sangya's legs gave way.
She slid to the floor in front of him, knees hitting the cool marble. Tears spilled instantly as she grabbed his hands, pressed them to her cheeks, sobbing quietly.
"I'm sorry… I'm so sorry…"
Her words came between gasps. "I knew this day would come. We always wanted to be the ones to tell you. Not like this… not from Mahadeva… not when you were alone…"
Karna knelt quickly, wrapping his arms around her in surprise. He didn't expect such a drastic reaction from his mother.
He felt her shaking against him. For the first time, he realized there was more… much more… hidden behind those words.
"Mother… I'm grown now. In two days, I turn sixteen. Formally an adult. Whatever the truth is, you can trust that I can take it. No secret can change our relationship."
Goddess Sangya sobbed harder, clinging to him. "No… it will change everything, son."
Karna looked at her again and said, "Mother… who am I exactly?"
Goddess Sangya then said, "You are not a deva, son. You are a human."
"A human?"
Goddess Sangya nodded as she revealed, "You were Suryaputra, born from the blessings and the radiance of your father, but I'm not your birth mother, Karna."
Karna froze.
He had expected a curse, perhaps. or a divine punishment that perhaps made his parents mortal when they conceived him, just like how his parents were in the form of a horse when they conceived his brothers, Ashvini Kumaras. However, he had never expected this.
He pulled back just enough to look at her face, tear-streaked, eyes red, but still the same face that had sung him lullabies, wiped his tears, fed him with her own hands.
"Then whose child am I, Mother? And why was I here? Did she die? Or did Father take me away from her because of my divinity?"
His voice was quiet, but it trembled with the weight of the questions.
Goddess Sangya wiped her eyes with the edge of her sari.
She took a shaky breath, then began to speak, narrating the story of Kunti, as if every word hurt.
Karna's breath caught.
Abandoned?
Such a thought never appeared in his mind.
Goddess Sangya continued, tears falling freely now. "That day… when he brought you here… I was missing my other sons and daughters, who were already gone, serving their duties across the world. When I saw you… so small, so radiant… a desire took birth in me. The desire for motherhood. I asked Suryadev if I could raise you as my child. He agreed. From that moment, you became mine. I fed you. I sang to you. I narrated you the bedtime stories. I loved you more than your siblings."
She looked at him then, as if she was pleading. "I don't care who gave birth to you. I don't care if you are mortal. You are my son. My Karna. Always."
Karna's eyes filled with tears at her confession.
He reached out and gently cupped her face in both hands. He knelt fully so their eyes were level.
"Mother… why did you think this secret would change everything?"
His voice cracked. "If Father had taken me by force from my birth mother, yes… I might have felt torn and betrayed. But if Princess Kunti abandoned me of her own will… then the bond between us was severed the moment she placed me in that basket. You are the one who raised me. You are the one who told me bedtime stories. You are the one who fed me with your hands. You are the one who loved me. You are the one who cared for me, worried for me… did fasting for my sake."
He wiped her tears with his thumbs.
"I don't know what my future holds, Mother. But I can tell you this… whatever happens in my life, for the world, I will only be known as Sangyaputra. Not even Lord Shiva can change that. For me… You are the only mother."
Goddess Sangya broke again… this time in relief and gratitude. She pulled him into a fierce hug, sobbing against his shoulder.
"My son… my Karna…"
They stayed like that for a long time, the mother and son pair, under the quiet lamp light.