Rare Death Story of Karn from Mahabharat
Karn, the unsung hero, the inevitable warrior, daanveer, Angraaj and one of the the most lovable characters of Mahabharat! All lovers of Karn or the Mahabharata know how he was killed by Arjun through unfair means with the assistance of Krishn. There is no doubt that Karn was a better warrior than Arjun which compelled them to resort to such devious tactics to defeat him.
However, very few know what happened to Karn after his colossal defeat in the war or about the story of his funeral.. Being a Mythologist and a great enthusiast of Mahabharata, I have dug out this story and glad to be sharing it with you now.
After Karn was vanquished in the war by Arjun through unfair means, Krishn took his last exam by disguising himself as a Brahmin and asking for a daan from Karan. Karn, who was resting on the lap of his mother Radha and beside his wife Vrushali, replied that he has nothing to offer him for daan. But Krishna played it smart and replied that he can see some gold in his teeth (nazar dekho kitni tez hai). Karn, without being hesitant, immediately broke gold from his teeth and handed it over to the Brahmin. Krishn was overwhelmed by his act of selflessness and thus asked his last wish. Karn requested, “Hey Madhav, I am the son of Surya & Virgin Mother Kunti (Kunwari Mata), Please do my last rites (antim-sanskaar) on a virgin land (where no one has ever stepped upon and in some version its definition it is referred as where no plant has even grown) because my ill fate has followed me whole life, I don’t want to pass it further”. Krishn accepted his wish with a smile and started searching for such a piece of land. After rigorous searching, they found a piece of virgin land which was equivalent to the tip of the needle at the shore of river Tapti near present day Surat (Gujarat), where eventually Karn’s last rites were performed.
The Pandavas were in great grief after discovering that Karn was in fact their elder brother from mother Kunti. They doubted if the land chosen was actually untouched to which Karn from the sky (in Tapti Puran Version) replied, “This is indeed a virgin land at the shore of my sister Tapti (as Tapi River is daughter of Surya, the Sun God) and it is named with my borthers Ashwini and Kumaar”.
Then the Pandavas asked Krishn how will people know or come to believe that it is indeed the virgin land? To this, Krishn replied that there will be a three leaf banyan tree plant which will be the mark of this land and whosoever will respect this tree, their desires will be fulfilled by the grace of Daani Karn.
So this was the story, but wait, here is something more! The people who have visited this land have noticed that the three leaf banyan sapling was not growing with time and its length has remained the same since ages. And the most surprising thing is this that one leaf out of three falls off from the plant often and a new one sprouts again. However, nobody knows where the old leaf disappears despite the plant being enclosed in a container, since the leaf only falls off at night time. We can assume that it might drift away due to the winds but the question is why every time, in every fall season and just one leaf? I think this is something unnatural and somehow if we do not consider this factor then there are no logical answers as to why the plant is not growing further despite being near the river where the soil is fertile and full of minerals and nutrients. This plant is surrounded by a cage so that no one can harm it or step upon on the virgin land (although technically it is not virgin anymore but it is sacred for sure). You can see it in the image below.
I have asked a lot of locals there and even the purohit of the mandir about the length of the plant. They replied that they have been regularly observing the plant from the past 32 years but have not seen any growth of the plant, not even up to centimeters.
I had been searching for this temple since the last three years, and when I first visited Surat, I asked a lot of people about it. But not many knew much about this place as it is not that famous in Surat. It is mostly renowned as the Teen patti mandir & Chaar dham mandir in Surat. So let us make it famous for the love the great warrior and human being ‘Karn’.
