Ancient History
Karna — A symbol of Inspiration and Generosity who Succumbed to his Death with his Inevitable Curses
Karna — The most powerful man ever known to mankind.!
Disclaimer: Please note that the stories that are written carry no factual evidence. These stories have been re-tellings right from about 2000 years ago. There is a great chance for the epic to have adulterated.
Before I start off, let me just start with how the story of Mahabharatam was written. In Ancient days, people would hymn, chant, sing, and talk about the greatness of God. All these put together were termed to be as Vedas vaguely. The people who heard the Vedas for the first time were known as Rishis. The Rishis created a society where everything changed with rhythmic regularity. The Society had Brahmins — The Teachers, Kshatriyas — The Warriors, Vaishyas — The Providers, and Shudras — The Servants.
According to the Vedas, in other births past, present, or future, the life of one would not be the same as the other. A Vaishya need not be Vaishya in the next birth, they could be a Kshatriya or a Shudra or even perhaps a rock or a plant or even a god or a demon. This proves that life is a cycle and one would be taking re-births until one attains moksha. The point of one’s existence was just to introspect the life he had been given.
Let me just start with Sage Ved Vyasa’s classification of these Vedas into four collections — Rig Veda, Yajur Veda, Sama Veda, and Atharvana Veda. Vyasa had this urge to write a story on the Vedic truths which would reach all corners of the world in a form that would be concrete. Lord Ganesha here serves Sage Vyasa as a Scribe. The only condition between the two was that Sage Vyasa should narrate without a pause and Lord Ganesha needs to write portions only he had understood and which made sense to him. Thus, was born an epic called Mahabharatam. (It seems that Sage Vyasa has written 60 portions of this epic and only one had reached to earth by his disciple.)
Now, let us come back to the story of a hero, a warrior, and in fact the invincible one — Karna. Karna was a character in the Indian epic Mahabharat. Karna was the son of the Sun-god Surya and Kunti. Karna was conceived by a magical mantra, this mantra was given to Kunti which would enable her to conceive children with desired divine qualities. Kunti tried the magical formula in her adolescence calling out Lord Surya to inspect if the formula really worked. And hence, a child was born. Unable to control the fear of what the society would term her, she puts the new-born in a basket and sails it away on a small boat. This child was found by Adiratha, a charioteer. This shows that even though Karna was born of a royal bloodline, he was raised as a son of a charioteer. Karna was a Kshatriya by blood but he was not termed to be one, because of his mysterious birth even though he proved to be a competition to almost all Kshatriyas. Unlike anybody, Karna was born with an Armour on his body. Karna grows up to be an accomplished warrior with extraordinary abilities.
Karna’s Curses:
The Parashuram’s Curse:
Karna was so much interested to learn the art of Kshatriya dharma. As he was called as a son of a charioteer he was not allowed to be learned. Hence, he decides to go to Parashuram. Parashuram is said to be the sixth avatar of Lord Vishnu. Parashuram had a hatred towards all Kshatriya as a Kshatriya had killed his father. He had taken a vow of killing any Kshatriya that crossed his path. It is said to be that he had filled 5 lakes with the blood of Kshatriya not once but 21 times. Karna dupes Parashuram as a Brahmin and intends to learn everything from his master. Parashuram accepts Karna as a student and teaches him all the knowledge of a Kshatriya.
One day, when Parashuram had a nap on Karna’s lap, an insect bit Karna and he started bleeding profusely but he stayed silent, still and calm. When Parashuram woke to see this horrendous act, he was taken aback and he knew that at that instance no brahmin can take the pain of that sort. When asked, Karna apologizes that he was no brahmin and he had only done this to learn the skills from his master. Annoyed and agonized by Karna’s behaviour, Parashuram curses Karna to forget his teachings when he needed the most.
The Nagastram Curse:
The Nagastram is one of the most powerful astram which would kill the target once shot. Lord Krishna who sided the Pandavas was very much aware of the Nagastram that Karna owned and plots a plan. Krishna then requests Kunti to ask Karna that he use the Nagastram only once during the battle of Kurukshetra. Kunti then goes to Karna and explains to him that Karna also is her son and stops Karna from going to the battle against his own brothers. Unperturbed by the situation and owing to his loyalty to his friend Duryodhana, Karna tells Kunti that he will not kill any Pandava except Arjuna if given a chance. Hence, Kunti asks him a boon on the Nagastram and Karna grants her request.
Lord Indra’s Disguise:
Karna is known for his charity. Throughout his life, Karna is said to have given anything he was asked for. Knowing this, Lord Indra disguises himself as a Brahmin to test Karna. Indra then seeks the armour with which he was born, which was almost attached to his skin. Karna without a moment of hesitation rips off the armour from his body and gives it to Indra. Surprised by this act, Indra gives the Divya-Astra to Karna.
The Brahmin’s Curse:
Once, while Karna was practicing his archery skills, he accidentally kills a cow that belonged to a Brahmin. Irked and inflamed by this, the Brahmin curses Karna that when in a battlefield, at a very crucial moment, the wheels of the chariot in which he is riding would get stuck in the mud.
The Good Deeds or Punyam was taken from Karna: Lord Krishna disguises himself as a priest and comes to Karna who was in his deathbed and asks for some of his good deeds as alms. Even while he was dying Karna did give all his good deeds he has amassed throughout his life to Krishna which is why it is often said that nobody can give charity like how Karna did.
The Actual Reasons for Karna’s Death:
- Lord Parashuram’s curse of not to use the Brahmastra from his teaching.
- Lord Indra taking away the armour of Karna.
- Kunti’s boon to use the Nagastram only once during the battle.
- Lord Krishna, being the charioteer of Arjuna saves Arjuna from the one-time usage of Nagastram by pressing the chariot by a little to the ground.
- A Brahmin’s curse to Karna that the wheels of his chariot would get stuck in a battlefield.
- The charioteer of Karna called Shalya who abandons the chariot when it gets stuck on the ground. Now, it is left to Karna to get down and move the chariot that is stuck on the ground.
- Now, when Karna is on the ground unarmed, Arjuna launches his arrow onto Karna to kill him.
Though Arjuna claims to have killed Karna and to have won the battle of the Kurukshetra for the Pandavas. Lord Krishna explains to Arjuna about the curses that Karna incurred in his life and how that had an impact on the war. Krishna further explains that before Arjuna killed Karna, Karna was already killed 6 times through various acts of misdeeds he had acquired. In few other alternate stories, it is also said to be that Lord Krishna disguises himself as a priest and comes to Karna who was in his deathbed and asks for some alms, having nothing, Karna breaks his jaw and gives his tooth to the priest which was covered in gold.
Karna is a symbol of someone who is rejected by those who should love him, yet becomes a man of exceptional qualities willing to give his love and life as a loyal friend.
His character often reminds us to keep doing whatever you want to and what you can do, no matter how many times you face rejections. It also tells us that society will always have opinions on your life right from your birth until you achieve something in life. Karna had faced rejections all through his life with only his friend standing by him no matter what. It is also believed that Karna was the most powerful man ever known to mankind, even powerful than Arjuna. His generosity and charitable nature inspire many even today. Karna was a man of morals, he did not look for material profits.
To conclude, Karna had all the qualities of the Pandavas. Karna was intelligent, had moral values, was a great archer, was powerful and handsome. These qualities were distributed among the Pandavas. Sahadeva was known for his intelligence, Yudhishtira was famous for his moral values. Arjuna was a great archer. Bheema was physically strong and powerful and Nakula was physically attractive.
Had Karna been given the respect and love that he really should have been given, then I doubt whether the Kurukshetra battle would have been fought. There would have been high chances of the epic being molded into a different story completely. Karna would have been an invincible warrior if the aforementioned curses were not cursed against him.
