KARNA- the legend

Karna – The lone son of Kunti and unsung hero of Mahabharata

A birth in the haste of youth, Karna had to bear the runt of his birth throughout his life. A warrior, a faithful friend, and an outcast Karna’s life was unfair from the beginning. Daanveer, Vasusena, Radheya, Angaraja, Rashmirathi, Suryaputra, etc were the names he was known by and he did justify each and every one of it. Seen as the anti-hero who despite his goodness was ruined due to his bitterness and loyalty to the Kauravas, this is his story.

Birth and childhood of KarnaKunti was excited after the boon provided by Rishi Durvasa decided to summon Surya dev – the Sun God and was handed a son with Kawach (armor) and Kundala (earring). Jubilant at first the truth soon dawned on Kunti that she was now an unwed mother, looked down upon by the society and royal family. So as any young person would she panicked and floated the kid on the river and forgot about him.

Lucky for the infant, he was discovered by Adhiratha, royal charioteer for The king of Hastinapura (his mother would soon be wed into the same house). Addhiratha and his wife Radha pined for the child and were happy to foster the child.

Karna grew up to be a boy. He was brighter than his friends, stronger and more determined. Even as a boy he liked bows and arrows. He was far ahead of others in archery and in marksmanship. He wished to improve his mastery of archery. He longed to become an outstanding archer and a great warrior. He thus approached Dronacharya, an established teacher who taught the Kuru princes. But he refused to take Karna as his student since he was not a Kshatriya. However, according to some versions of the tale, appreciating Karna’s boldness, Drona tells Adhiratha to call his son “Karna. After being refused by Drona, Karna wanted to learn advanced skills of archery and hence he decided to learn from Parashurama, Drona’s own guru.

Parashurama observed Karna’s humility and love of learning, Karna gladly demonstrated his skill and surprised him by his dexterity and concentration. But in those days only Kshatriyas and Brahmins were allowed to stay with and learn archery from a teacher. Parashurama hated that Kshatriyas. Therefore he had decided to teach archery only to Brahmins. He thought Karna was a Brahmin. And Karna refrained from telling him that he was not a Brahmin. This would lead to Parashurama cursing Karna following his education.

One afternoon Parashurama was tired and rested his head in Karna’s lap. He fell asleep. At that time a bee flew in from somewhere. It settled on Karna’s thigh and began to bore Karna’s thigh. Karna could not attempt to drive it away as it would disturb his master. Despite the increasing pain Karna sat still. Blood began to ooze from the thigh. When Parashurama woke up and saw the blood oozing from Karna’s wound, he at once deduced that Karna was not a Brahmin. Enraged, Parashurama accused Karna of stealing knowledge and laid a curse upon Karna that he would forget all the knowledge required to wield the Brahamastra.

Upon Karna’s pleading, Parashurama relented and modified his curse, saying that Karna would only lose the knowledge when he needed it most while fighting against an equal warrior. This curse would come to haunt him in his final fight. Rewarding Karna’s diligence, Parashurama gave him his personal celestial weapon Bhargavastra which no one else possessed. Repenting over a curse made in anger, and in order to nullify said curse, Parashurama also gave Karna his personal bow Vijaya to be ever victorious in battle and blessed Karna with greatness.

His was a life with insults and curses and lived most of his life trying to overcoming them and eventually sacrificing his Dharma for the sake of loyalty and gratitude.

Karna and the CursesAfter the curse of Parashurama that he would forget his knowledge of the Brahmanda Astra the moment he needed it the most, he was cursed twice Furthermore.

He was also cursed by a Brahmin as he practiced with arrows and bows and accidentally killed a Brahmin’s cow. The Brahmin got angry and cursed him that he would die helplessly in the same way that his innocent cow had died.

It is said that once, a small girl was carrying a bowl of ghee to her mother and she accidentally spills it on the ground. She was very afraid that her mother would scold her for this. Karna decided to help her by invoking powerful incantations to squeeze ghee out of Earth itself. This caused great pain to Mother Earth and she cursed him, that when he would be the most vulnerable, she would abandon him.

Thus, his chariot wheel could not be taken out of the mud it was stuck in.

Karna and DuryodhanaKarna’s weakness was his insecurities, constantly being taunted and deprived of opportunities because he belonged to a lower caste. Dronacahrya organized a contest to assess the Kuru prince’s prowess to which Karna wanted to take part in. Kripacharya didn’t let him as only princes were allowed to participate. Bheema even managed to insult him and compare him to a stray dog. But it was Duryodhana who went against the caste system and embraced him.

It was Duryodhana who saw his capabilities and when everybody disowned him and even insulted Karna, Duryodhana stood by him not only by considering him as an equal but also by bestowing him as a commander of his Army for his capabilities in the great Mahabharata.For the first time in his life, he was accepted by royalty and it deeds well for his conscience and ego and his soul.

He never forgot this gesture of his friend Duryodhana and so in order to show his gratitude towards this unconditional friendship vowed to aide Duryodhana all through his life and in all conditions, good or bad. This is the reason why he did not side with Pandavas even when Lord Krishna exploded with the truth that he is one of the Pandava brothers and son of non-other than Lord Surya himself.

He took up the task of establishing Duryodhana as the Emperor of the World. He embarks upon a worldwide military campaign, otherwise called Digvijaya Yatra, conquering kings in every direction and subjugating their kingdoms and making them swear allegiance to Duryodhana as the king of Hastinapur.

In this military adventure, Karna waged wars all over the world and made submission of entire kingdoms in the world. Among these include the Panchals, the kings of the Himalayas, the Angas, the Kalingas, the Magadhas, Chedi, Yavana, etc. Having thus conquered and brought under his subjection the entire world, Karna came back to Hastinapura with immense wealth and power the world had never witnessed before.

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