Karna (Sanskrit: कर्ण, IAST transliteration: Karṇa), originally known as Vasusena, is one of the central characters in the Hindu epic Mahābhārata. The epic describes him as the king of Anga (present day Bhagalpur and Munger). As per the Mahabharata, he was one of the warriors in that era who conquered the entire world.
Karna single-handedly and successfully conducted Digvijaya Yatra, a
campaign in which he conquered all kings in every direction of the
world, and was instrumental in establishing Duryodhana as the emperor of the world by conducting the Vaishnava sacrifice.[1] Karna was equal to 2 Maharatha warriors
Karna was the son of Surya and Kunti, born to Kunti before her marriage with Pandu. Karna was the closest friend of Duryodhana and fought on his behalf against the Pandavas (his brothers) in the Kurukshetra War. Karna fought against misfortune throughout his life and kept his word under all circumstances. It is believed that Karna founded the city of Karnal, in present Haryana .
As a young woman Kunti, the princess of the Kunti Kingdom, had been granted a boon by sage Durvasa
to be able to invoke any deity to give her a child. Eager to test the
power, while still unmarried, she called upon the solar deity Surya and was handed a son Karna wearing armour (Kavacha) and a pair of earrings (Kundala). Afraid of being an unwed mother and having an illegitimate son, Kunti placed the baby in a basket and set him afloat on a river. The child was found by Adhiratha, a charioteer of King Dhritarashtra of Hastinapur. Adhiratha and his wife Radha raised the boy as their own son and named him Vasusena. He also came to be known as Radheya, the son of Radha.
Karna became interested in the art of warfare and approached Dronacharya, an established teacher who taught the Kuru princes. But he refused to take Karna as his student, since Karna was not a Kshatriya. However, according to some versions of the tale, appreciating Karna's boldness, Drona tells Adhiratha to call his son "Karna".[3] 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.
As Parashurama only taught Brahmins, Karna appeared before him as such. Parashurama accepted him and trained him to such a point that he declared Karna to be equal to himself in the art of warfare and archery. On a day towards the end of his training, Karna happened to offer Parashurama his lap so his guru could rest his head and take a nap. While Parashurama was asleep, a bee stung Karna's thigh. Despite the pain, Karna did not move, so as to not disturb his guru. 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 Brahmastra.
Upon Karna's pleading, Parshurama relented and modified his curse, saying that Karna would only lose the knowledge when he needed it most while fighting against an equal warrior.[citation needed] This curse would come to haunt him in his final fight against Arjuna. 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.[4]
To display the skills of the Kuru princes, their guru Dronacharya arranged a friendly tournament. His student Arjuna, third of the Pandava
brothers, was a gifted archer. Karna arrived at this tournament,
uninvited, and displaying Arjuna's feats, challenged him to a duel. Kripacharya
refused Karna his duel, asking first for his clan and kingdom; for
according to the rules of duelling, only a prince could challenge Arjuna
to a duel. Due to his low standing, Karna was not allowed to fight
Arjuna. He was further insulted by Bhima who compared him to a stray
dog, for his mixed caste and lineage. This incident marks the beginning
of a feud between Karna and the Pandavas. Duryodhana, the eldest of the one hundred sons of the king Dhritarashtra,
was envious of the martial prowess of his cousins, the Pandavas. Seeing
Karna as a chance to get on even terms with them he immediately offered
Karna the throne of the kingdom of Anga, making him a king and hence eligible to fight a duel with Arjuna. Neither of them knows that Karna was in fact Kunti's eldest son, born to the Sun God Surya. When Karna asked him what he could do to repay him, Duryodhana told him that all he wanted was his friendship. Karna later married women belonging to the Suta caste, as per the wishes of his foster father Adiratha.
After Shakuni won a game of dice by trickery, Draupadi, now queen to all five Pandavas, was dragged into the court by Dushasana. Duryodhana and his brothers attempted to strip her. Karna insulted Draupadi by saying that a woman with more than one husband is nothing but a whore. Arjuna took an oath to kill Karna for insulting sacred lady Draupadi by commenting her as whore.
In this military adventure, Karna waged wars against many kingdoms. 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 many kingdoms, Karna came back to Hastinapura with immense wealth and power.
King Dhritarashtra praised Karna, comparing him favourably to those like Bhishma and Drona, who had never returned such tribute. Bringing tribute and allegiance from all the world's kings, Karna helped Duryodhana to perform the Vaishnava yagna to please Vishnu and crown Duryodhana as "Emperor of the World", as Yudhisthira did with the Rajasuya Yagna. No person in the entire universe, except Lord Vishnu and Indrajit, the son of Ravana had performed this Vaishnava sacrifice before.
Indra realized that Karna would be invincible in battle and unable to be killed as long as he had his Kavach and Kundal. He approaches Karna as a poor Brahmin during Karna's sun-worship. Surya warned Karna of Indra's intentions, but Karna thanked Surya and explained that he was bound by his word and could not send anyone from his door empty-handed. When Indra approached Karna in the form of a Brahmin beggar and asked his Kavach and Kundal as alms, Karna reveals that he knew the Brahmin's true identity but assured that he would never turn anyone away. Indra became happy and took his normal form. Cutting the armor and earrings off his body, Karna handed them to Indra. Indra granted the boon as Vasavi Shakti, with the stipulation that Karna could only use the weapon once. In some versions of the story, Indra gives Karna the name "Karna" for this great act.[16]
Following failed peace negotiations with Duryodhana, Krishna is driven back to the Pandavas by Karna. Krishna then revealed to Karna that he is the eldest son of Kunti, and therefore, technically, the eldest Pandava. Krishna implored him to change sides and assures him that Yudhishthira would give the crown of Indraprastha to him; even Duryodhana will happily see his friend get the crown. Shaken from the discovery, Karna still refuses these offers over Duryodhana's friendship. Krishna is saddened, but appreciating Karna's sense of loyalty, accepted his decision, promising Karna that his lineage would remain a secret. In addition, Karna was elated to learn that his true father was none other than Surya.
Krishna went to Kunti and asked her to emotionally blackmail Karna by revealing the truth about his birth. According to Krishna when Karna knows about his real identity it will emotionally weaken him and Kunti can manipulate Karna. Krishna told Kunti that it is up to her to make a decision to choose between Karna and her 5 other son. As the war approached, Kunti met Karna and in desperation to keep her children alive asked Karna to join the Pandavas. Kunti revealed the truth about Karna's birth. Surya Deva also validated the words of Kunti and Karna was emotionally weakened. His hatred against Pandavas become weakened. But Karna rejects the offer of Kunti again. Knowing that Karna will fight against Arjuna with a motive to kill, Kunti extracted a promises from Karna that he will not kill any of the Pandavas except Arjuna. Karna requested his mother to keep their relationship a secret till the end of the war, as pandavas will not fight against their own brother in the Dharma Yuddha if she reveals the truth to them, due to dharma against fighting a brother/father figure. After the end of the war she is supposed to reveal his birth identity to everyone and also promised that at the end of the war she would still have five sons, the fifth one be either Arjuna or Karna himself.
by : vipul koul
Karna was the son of Surya and Kunti, born to Kunti before her marriage with Pandu. Karna was the closest friend of Duryodhana and fought on his behalf against the Pandavas (his brothers) in the Kurukshetra War. Karna fought against misfortune throughout his life and kept his word under all circumstances. It is believed that Karna founded the city of Karnal, in present Haryana .
Story
Birth, education and curses
Surya, father of Karna, the Hindu Sun god.
Karna became interested in the art of warfare and approached Dronacharya, an established teacher who taught the Kuru princes. But he refused to take Karna as his student, since Karna was not a Kshatriya. However, according to some versions of the tale, appreciating Karna's boldness, Drona tells Adhiratha to call his son "Karna".[3] 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.
As Parashurama only taught Brahmins, Karna appeared before him as such. Parashurama accepted him and trained him to such a point that he declared Karna to be equal to himself in the art of warfare and archery. On a day towards the end of his training, Karna happened to offer Parashurama his lap so his guru could rest his head and take a nap. While Parashurama was asleep, a bee stung Karna's thigh. Despite the pain, Karna did not move, so as to not disturb his guru. 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 Brahmastra.
Upon Karna's pleading, Parshurama relented and modified his curse, saying that Karna would only lose the knowledge when he needed it most while fighting against an equal warrior.[citation needed] This curse would come to haunt him in his final fight against Arjuna. 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.[4]
Second Curse
Karna was also cursed by a Brahmin for killing his cow while practising his skills with bow and arrow. The Brahmin got angry and cursed him that he would die helpless in the same way that his innocent cow had died.Meeting Duryodhana
The coronation of Karna
Fight with Jarasandha
Karna helped Duryodhana marry the Princess Bhanumati of Kalinga. Duryodhana abducted Princess Bhanumati from her Swayamvara ceremony in a chariot and Karna fought with the rest of the suitors. Many legendary rulers like Bhishmaka, Vakra, Kapotaroman, Nila, Rukmi, Sringa, Asoka, Satadhanwan etc. were defeated by Karna. Jarasandha, the king of Magadha later challenged Karna to a one-on-one fight. Karna and Jarasandha fought continuously with different weapons until Karna defeated Jarasandha by trying to tear him apart during a wrestling fight. Jarasandha gifted the city of Malini to Karna as a token of appreciation. The victory over Jarasandha made Karna famous. Later following his accession to the throne of Malini, Karna took an oath that anyone who approached him with a request, when he worshipped the sun, would not leave empty-handed.Hostilities with the Pandavas
Upon prodding by his uncle Shakuni and Karna, Duryodhana goes forward with a plot to kill the Pandavas through treachery, apparently succeeding, And Duryodhana plotted many evils plan against Pandavas .After Shakuni won a game of dice by trickery, Draupadi, now queen to all five Pandavas, was dragged into the court by Dushasana. Duryodhana and his brothers attempted to strip her. Karna insulted Draupadi by saying that a woman with more than one husband is nothing but a whore. Arjuna took an oath to kill Karna for insulting sacred lady Draupadi by commenting her as whore.
Conquering the world
Later after the Pandavas were in exile, Karna took up the task of establishing Duryodhana as the Emperor of the World. Karna 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 against many kingdoms. 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 many kingdoms, Karna came back to Hastinapura with immense wealth and power.
King Dhritarashtra praised Karna, comparing him favourably to those like Bhishma and Drona, who had never returned such tribute. Bringing tribute and allegiance from all the world's kings, Karna helped Duryodhana to perform the Vaishnava yagna to please Vishnu and crown Duryodhana as "Emperor of the World", as Yudhisthira did with the Rajasuya Yagna. No person in the entire universe, except Lord Vishnu and Indrajit, the son of Ravana had performed this Vaishnava sacrifice before.
Prelude to war
The Pandava elder brother Yudhisthira always considered Karna as the foremost warrior in the world and worries about this fact in the prelude to the war.Indra realized that Karna would be invincible in battle and unable to be killed as long as he had his Kavach and Kundal. He approaches Karna as a poor Brahmin during Karna's sun-worship. Surya warned Karna of Indra's intentions, but Karna thanked Surya and explained that he was bound by his word and could not send anyone from his door empty-handed. When Indra approached Karna in the form of a Brahmin beggar and asked his Kavach and Kundal as alms, Karna reveals that he knew the Brahmin's true identity but assured that he would never turn anyone away. Indra became happy and took his normal form. Cutting the armor and earrings off his body, Karna handed them to Indra. Indra granted the boon as Vasavi Shakti, with the stipulation that Karna could only use the weapon once. In some versions of the story, Indra gives Karna the name "Karna" for this great act.[16]
Following failed peace negotiations with Duryodhana, Krishna is driven back to the Pandavas by Karna. Krishna then revealed to Karna that he is the eldest son of Kunti, and therefore, technically, the eldest Pandava. Krishna implored him to change sides and assures him that Yudhishthira would give the crown of Indraprastha to him; even Duryodhana will happily see his friend get the crown. Shaken from the discovery, Karna still refuses these offers over Duryodhana's friendship. Krishna is saddened, but appreciating Karna's sense of loyalty, accepted his decision, promising Karna that his lineage would remain a secret. In addition, Karna was elated to learn that his true father was none other than Surya.
Krishna went to Kunti and asked her to emotionally blackmail Karna by revealing the truth about his birth. According to Krishna when Karna knows about his real identity it will emotionally weaken him and Kunti can manipulate Karna. Krishna told Kunti that it is up to her to make a decision to choose between Karna and her 5 other son. As the war approached, Kunti met Karna and in desperation to keep her children alive asked Karna to join the Pandavas. Kunti revealed the truth about Karna's birth. Surya Deva also validated the words of Kunti and Karna was emotionally weakened. His hatred against Pandavas become weakened. But Karna rejects the offer of Kunti again. Knowing that Karna will fight against Arjuna with a motive to kill, Kunti extracted a promises from Karna that he will not kill any of the Pandavas except Arjuna. Karna requested his mother to keep their relationship a secret till the end of the war, as pandavas will not fight against their own brother in the Dharma Yuddha if she reveals the truth to them, due to dharma against fighting a brother/father figure. After the end of the war she is supposed to reveal his birth identity to everyone and also promised that at the end of the war she would still have five sons, the fifth one be either Arjuna or Karna himself.
Kurukshetra war
Sitting out
Bhishma is appointed as the commander-in-chief of the Kaurava army. But giving the reason that Karna had humiliated Draupadi and disrespected their shared guru, Parashurama, Bhishma refuses to take him in the Kaurava army. Secretly, he knows of Karna’s lineage and doesn't want Karna to fight his own brothers..At the tale of Rathi's and Atirathi's, Bhishma further insults Karna and declares him as just an Ardha Rathi(Half a Rathi) warrior since Karna had a habit of flying away from the battlefield after being defeated. Duryodhana wants Karna to fight in the war from the beginning, but Bhishma threatens that he will not fight if Karna is in the army. Duryodhana considers instead installing Karna as the commander, but due to Karna's low birth, he knows that many kings would threaten not to fight under Karna when people like Bhishma and Dronacharya are present. So Karna decides that he will not fight until the fall of Bhishma. Knowing the Karna's situation on Kurukshtra war that Karna will not fight till Bhishma was present, Lord Krishna requested Karna to stay with him and Pandavas in Pandavas camp and insists Karna that he may join Kaurava side whenever the Bhishma has slain. But Karna politely dismissed Lord Krishna's appeal that he has dedicated his life to fight for his friend Duryodhana and will not do anything that is unpleasant to him. Only after Bhishma falls on the eleventh day did Karna enter the war. After the fall of Bhishma, Karna visits him on the bed of arrows and Bhishma reveals his knowledge about Karna's birth. He then explains his previous attitude, praises Karna's prowess, relates Karna's exploits, and gives Karna his blessings.
Karna (left) kills Ghatotkacha (centre) as Arjuna (right) watches
Joining the battle
There is a popular folklore which is totally false that on the morning of 11th day of battle, Surya offered his invincible chariot and his charioteer Aruṇa to Karna, just like Lord Indra who gave his chariot to Arjuna. The chariot of Surya was brilliant as the sun, yoked with 7 horses of different colors and only a person with divine vision could look into it. Confident in his own skills, Karna rejects this offer, saying he didn't want to be remembered as a person who depended upon others strength to gain victory, indirectly referring to Arjuna who depended upon Lord Krishna. Drona took the commander-in-chief position. His nine sons also entered the battlefield with their father, Karna.Ascension to svarga
The Mahabharata mentions that after his death in the Kurukshetra war, Karna's soul ascended to Suryalok (the abode of his father, Sun god), and along with his sons and "attained" the "state" of a god.Other stories
Parasurama's command
In some versions, during the night of 15th day of battle, Karna had a dream in which he envisioned his guru Parashurama and asked him to take back the curse he had placed years back. Parashurama revealed that he had known all along Karna was a Kshatriya, but because he was a worthy student Parashurama had instructed him regardless. The avatar explained to Karna that the Brahmanda astra had to fail him when he needed it most. If he killed Arjuna, Duryodhana would be king instead of Yudhishthira and chaos would ensue. Parashurama asked Karna to accept his curse and asked him to die at the hands of Arjuna, so that the world might live in peace. Karna accepted his guru's words and in return the grateful guru, Parashurama blessed Karna with immortal glory and everlasting fame.Family
Mahabharata does not name Karna's wives specifically, though they are mentioned multiple times collectively in the epic. Because of this anonymity, various later writers had built up stories about Karna's wives, weaving in their own imagination. Shivaji Sawant in his famous book Mrityunjay, names them Vrushali and Supriya. Kashiram Das in his 15th Century retelling had named Karna's wife Padmavati. In Tamil stories, she is known as Ponnurvi, Uruvi and Kanchana. He had nine sons: Vrishasena, Vrishaketu, Chitrasena, Satyasena, Sushena, Shatrunjaya, Dvipata, Banasena, and Prasena; eight of them took part in the Kurukshetra war. Prasena was killed by Satyaki. Shatrunjaya, Vrishasena, and Dvipata were slain by Arjuna. Bhima killed Banasena; Nakula killed Chitrasena, Satyasena, and Sushena. Vrishakethu was his only son who survived the war.After the war when Pandavas were made aware of Karna's lineage, Vrishakethu was under the patronage of Arjuna and took part in various battles that preceded the Ashvamedha yagna.Themes and analysis
Within the various Hindu legends, Karna draws resemblance with various other characters. The attributed author of Mahabharata, sage Vyasa, is also noted to be born from an unwed union of Satyavati and sage Parashara, just the way Karna is born before Kunti's marriage. Philologist Georges Dumézil also compares him with his father Surya in the sense that he too has two mothers, Kunti and Radha, just the way Surya in Vedas has two mothers, the night and the dawn. German indologist Georg von Simson, notes the similarities in the names of Karna and of the Kumbhakarna, the demon brother of the main antagonist Ravana of the epic Ramayana. He also notes that both Karna and Kumbhakarna did not take part in the great wars of their respective epics at the start. Scholars internationally have also drawn parallels with various European mythologies. Karna's kawach (armour) has been compared with that of Achilles's Styx-coated body and with Irish warrior Ferdiad's horny skin that could not be pierced. He has been compared to the Greek character Achilles on various occasions as they both have powers but lack status .by : vipul koul
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