"insights into human nature" and how circumstances have the ability to shape human behaviour and one's personality. Karna is not evil, just a misfit or a rebel, an inspiring character if viewed from one set of values and an abnormal character from another set of values. Other characters in the epic, on both sides, present behaviour conflicted hues of human behaviour in difficult circumstances. Karna is cruel in some situations such as against Draupadi, a behaviour he himself regrets in the pages of the Mahabharata. To the victim Draupadi, it was a violence she would never forget nor live with, and Karna's personal regrets did not balance out her sexual humiliation in public. The reader and epic's audience can empathize with his psychology, as well as the psychology and the counter-behaviour of his victims. According to Adarkar, the Karna story also illustrates a different paradigm, one that transcends the Oedipal theories and evolutionary models of human behaviour. The Karna narrative resonates deeply with some in part because of his "heroic steadfastness" (dhirata), being comfortable with who he is, his beliefs and acting according to his dharma rather than being someone who evolves and changes as he studies martial arts, or because of Krishna's advice, or Kunti's confession that Karna is her firstborn. He refuses to wear "Emperor's New Clothes", states Adarkar, and thus "being revealed as a fraud" and ever-adapting to new psychological garb. He loves the parents who adopted him, he loves his friends and heritage. Karna exemplifies a personality that does not "discard identity after identity, but rather one who thrives by accepting and steadfastly hanging on to a meaningful identity". A more modern era example of Karna-like human behaviour was in Mahatma Gandhi, who "after getting well-educated in a British law school and gaining international experience", steadfastly felt more empowered to embrace his heritage and culture rather than abandon or transcend it. Flawed, tragic hero Karna is the flawed tragic hero of the Mahabharata. He is martially adept and equal to Arjuna as a warrior, a gifted speaker who embeds provocative insults for his opponents in front of an audience. He does the right thing (dharma) yet is cruel and mean (adharma). He never questions the ethics of his lifelong friend Duryodhana rather conspires and abets in Duryodhana's quest for power through the abuse of his opponents. He complains of "dharma failed him" on the day of