Radheya (Marathi) 4th Edition

The Marathi book narrates the story of Karna, the tragic and respected hero from the great epic, The Mahabharata. The author has tried to immortalise Karna through this novel.

Summary Of The Book

Through Radheya, the author strives to find and explore the thin line between righteousness and duty by citing Karna’s story. By painting a picture of Karna’s journey, Desai states that while there is nothing wrong in wanting to win, one must be prepared to accept defeat as well.

The story of Karna, the immortal character from The Mahabharata, has time and again been a matter of interest to all modern writers. His story has been enacted in dramas and has been the subject matter of many novels. This novel is based on Karna's life, and the author, Ranjeet Desai, is an accomplished and authentic writer of ancient and historical events.

In this book, he has portrayed Karna's individuality and his circumstances and resultant compulsion to fight for what’s right. Deprived of his parents’ love, discarded and insulted, Karna experienced suffering throughout his life because of the mistakes committed by others, in which he had no part or control.

He was asked to give away whatever he had, but was given nothing in return by his mother Kunti. At every stage in his life, he was taunted due to his humble origins and ridiculed for hailing from a lower class. Though he was born to noble parents, he was unable to prove the same to his tormentors. This terribly disturbed Karna, and his inherent strength was weakened due to loneliness.

With this novel, the author has paid a rich tribute to Karna. The tale of the fearless warrior who fought against his own kin in order to stay loyal to his friend serves as the perfect story through which Desai talks about victory and defeat, and about how sometimes, losing is not such a bad option after all. This book is available in Hindi as well.

About Ranjeet Desai

Ranjeet Desai was one of the most popular Marathi writers.

The most noted among his books is Swami, which won many awards. Some of his other books include Shrimanyogi, Pavankhind, Abhogi, Maza Gaon, Madhumati, Kanav, and Gandhali, all in Marathi. Quite a few of his novels have been made into movies and plays. Some of these movies are Rangalya Ratri Ashya, Sawal Maza Aika, Nagin, and Sangoli Rayana.

Desai was born in Kowad, in the Kolhapur District of Maharashtra. He was born in the year 1928. He won the Maharashtra Rajya Award in 1963 for his book, Swami. He also won the Hari Narayan Apte Award (1963) and Sahitya Akademi Award (1964) for the book. Desai was honored with the Padma Shri by the Government of India (1973) and was also conferred the Maharashtra Gaurav Puraskar (1990). He died in the year 1992 in Mumbai.