Sumedha, Karna's third queen and his personal advisor.
The princess of Mathura, the scholar who had spent her entire life surrounded by books and wisdom, spoke in court like a blade wrapped in silk. She did not shout. She did not insult. She simply used logic so sharp that the scholars found themselves unable to answer.
And after that, the protests slowly died.
Now, that force had grown.
Not one hundred anymore.
More than two thousand women were trained under Mrinalini's command.
Roughly 1100 of them were already fully trained and had formed a proper women's army. Each of them was strong enough to defeat and subdue any common man in the streets, and they carried discipline sharper than most soldiers in other kingdoms.
The remaining 900 were still in training, still being molded into warriors.
And out of those 1100, half did not even wear uniforms anymore.
They wore ordinary clothes and spread across the kingdoms like invisible nets.
Around 100 of them stayed in Kalinga and spread across the cities and towns where the nobles and wealthy merchants were living, acting as spies for the palace to make sure these influential individuals were not taking advantage of the poor and vulnerable communities.
As for the remaining 400 spies, they spread outside the kingdom, into other kingdoms.
Some lived as merchants.
Some lived as travelers.
Some lived as servants in noble houses.
Some even worked as maids in palaces.
They became the Eyes of Dakshina Kalinga in those kingdoms where Karna believed adharmic kings existed.
Karna was originally against this plan, using the trained women as spies, but Sumedha convinced him that the women weren't spying to benefit Dakshina Kalinga or for some selfish needs. They were doing it for their King who wanted to keep adharma in check.
And because women are less prone to suspicion as spies compared to men, it became easier for Karna to gather the information. During the past four years, Karna contacted more than twenty smaller kings, some from the north and some from the south. He advised them, bribed the kings in the form of importing grains and their surplus food, even though Dakshina Kalinga didn't need it, all so that these smaller Kings acted against the incidents to keep the society in check, and not to be overwhelmed by the crimes.
*
Meanwhile, the other half of the trained warriors who weren't acting as spies, became full-fledged warriors in the eyes of the public, although their movements were strictly restricted to the capital city, which is home to almost one-fourth of the kingdom's population.
They remained in Kanipura and patrolled the city.
Not like ordinary soldiers who only watched thieves and criminals, but like protectors who watched a different battlefield.
These elite women soldiers walked through neighborhoods and spoke to housewives, widows, young girls, and mothers. They visited homes quietly, checking on women who never came to court. They listened to whispers that would never be spoken in public.
Karna understood something most kings never cared about.
A kingdom did not only suffer from wars and invasions.
It also suffered from what happened behind closed doors.
Domestic abuse was one of the most common problems in society. It never reached the king's court. Women were too afraid to complain. Even if their husbands beat them, they stayed silent. Even if their mothers-in-law tortured them, they endured it quietly, because society taught them that speaking out was more shameful than suffering.
Karna did not accept that.
He knew a woman might never confess her pain to a male soldier or a male judge. But she might speak to another woman. She might feel safe enough to whisper the truth to someone who could understand.
So the women warriors became not only soldiers.
They became a shield for the silent victims.
They became a presence that reminded abusive men that even their home, their own family matters, was not beyond dharma.
And it wasn't only about the protection that Karna provided for the women.
In the capital, Karna had established a school for girls to empower them.
However, it wasn't a gurukul but more like a proper institution within Kanipura itself.
Because he knew it was difficult for families to send daughters away. Most commoners only sent their daughters out of their homes when it was time for marriage, and even that was often done with fear.
So on Queen Sumedha's advice, Karna brought education to them instead.
A women-only school, open for all castes.
He recruited renowned female scholars and philosophers from across Bharatavarsha. Some came willingly. Some hesitated. Some were afraid of society's judgment. But Sumedha convinced them, and Karna promised them protection, honor, and wages, and slowly the school became known as something sacred.
The women warriors guarded the school as well, ensuring no nobleman's son dared harass the girls. Ensuring no drunkard dared approach the gates. Ensuring that the future of Dakshina Kalinga's daughters could grow without fear.
And Karna's reforms did not stop with women either.
He knew pain did not exist only in one corner of society.
There were people in Dakshina Kalinga who lived like shadows. People who worked like oxen, died like insects, and were never allowed to learn even the simplest letters. Lower castes were denied education for generations. They were told knowledge was not meant for them, as if wisdom belonged only to those born into certain blood.
Karna never accepted that idea.
Had he been born like everyone else on earth, grew up while studying human society, and gotten used to it, none of these reforms would have even taken place.
But he was raised in the divine palace of Lord Surya, and he studied under Lord Parashurama himself. His mindset was way different from the kshatriya princes and kings who grew up on earth.
In the eyes of Karna, a man's worth was not decided by birth.
Only dharma and karma mattered.
However, just because he wanted to do something, it didn't mean people would just accept it. He faced resistance with every reform, and with Sumedha's advice, Karna managed to cross those problems.
But for this issue, the resistance was too fierce. The Brahmin community opposed him with rage. They threatened to leave the kingdom. They threatened to curse his throne. Some even declared that his rule would bring disaster upon Dakshina Kalinga.
Karna did not retreat from his reforms.
But he also did not want their curses on the kingdom. He knew the power of devotion more than anyone. Brahmins, who often pray to their God, carry tremendous power of devotional energy, and when they are angered too much, their curses that carry devotional energy can even ruin a God, much less him.
Hence, to pacify their community, he made a compromise and created another institution.
A separate school for lower castes.
Not a formal gurukul.
Not a sacred ashram where guru and disciple formed bonds that society considered holy.
Instead, it was a place where people came only to learn, regardless of their age, background, or caste. So there won't be any concept of Guru Dakshina either, unless the specific teacher decides to take a student as his disciple.
Karna called it a vidhyalaya, a concept he had first invented for the girls.
A place where knowledge was taught without religious authority.
Because no Brahmin pandit was willing to teach them the Vedas, and society refused to accept anyone other than Brahmins or ascetics as "gurudev." So Karna found scholars from the Vaishya caste, men who were educated but not bound by rigid pride. He paid them wages, gave them honor, and commanded them to teach.
Basic education.
Reading.
Writing.
Numbers.
Logic.
History.
Ethics.
There was no Vedic knowledge given to the commoners, but they received the kind of knowledge that could atleast make them decide their future.
A Shudra might not be able to learn the Vedas and become a Brahmin, but Karna made sure that he could wield weapons to become a Kshatriya or learn business to become a Vaishya, atleast in the land of Dakshina Kalinga.
It wasn't perfect.
It wasn't everything Karna wanted.
But it was a beginning.
And as four years passed, despite the fact that many of those educated people still stayed in the respective professions of their caste, at the very least, they weren't ignorant and they know what is right and wrong, they had the knowledge of things that they can use it to help others who were working in different professions or work for them as assistants too.
The biggest change is the number of soldiers that grew. After all, which lower caste person wouldn't want to become a warrior to protect their land like a Kshatriya?
In four years, the soldiers' strength has grown to more than 178,000, although they were spread to all the towns and villages in the kingdom to Patrol, and to solve any issue that needed their strength.