Once Krishna and Arjuna were walking towards a village.

Arjuna was pestering Krishna, asking

him why Karna should be considered a role model for all Danas (donations and not himself.
Krishna, wanting to teach him a lesson snapped his fingers. !he mountains beside the path they
were walking on turned into gold. Krishna said "Arjuna, distribute these two mountains of gold
among the villagers, but you must donate every last bit of gold". Arjuna went into the village, and
proclaimed he was going to donate gold to every villager, and asked them to gather near the
mountain. !he villagers sang his praises and Arjuna walked towards the mountain with a huffed up
chest. #or two days and two continuous nights Arjuna shovelled gold from the mountain and
donated to each villager. !he mountains did not diminish in their slightest.
$ost villagers came back and stood in %ueue within minutes. After a while, Arjuna, started feeling
e&hausted, but not ready to let go of his ego just yet, told Krishna he couldn't go on any longer
without rest. Krishna called Karna. "(ou must donate every last bit of this mountain, Karna" he told
him. Karna called two villagers. "(ou see those two mountains)" Karna asked, "those two
mountains of gold are yours to do with as you please" he said, and walked away.
Arjuna sat dumbfounded. *hy hadn't this thought occurred to him) Krishna smiled mischievously
and told him "Arjuna, subconsciously, you yourself were attracted to the gold, you regretfully gave
it away to each villager, giving them what you thought was a generous amount. !hus the si+e of
your donation to each villager depended only on your imagination. Karna holds no such
reservations. ,ook at him walking away after giving away a fortune, he doesn't e&pect people to
sing his praises, he doesn't even care if people talk good or bad about him behind his back. !hat is
the sign of a man already on the path of enlightenment".
Once Arjuna asks Krishna why (udhishthir is called Dharmaraj (-eligion king and Karna
Daanveer (Donation king even though both never refused alms to anyone. Krishna says wait for
some time and . will let you know.
After a month, it was raining heavily in the whole kingdom when both Krishna and Arjuna, in
disguise of /rahmins (wise men0priests, first go to (udhishthir saying that we are doing a (ajna123
and need 244Kg of sandalwood. (udhishthir immediately sends his servants across the kingdom,
and later refuses saying it is difficult to find dry 5andal wood anywhere. ,et me know if . can
arrange anything else for you. /oth brahmins say 6no thanks7 and leave the place.
!hen they go to Karna and make the same demand. Karna thinks for a while and says it is raining
heavily outside, it is least likely to get dry 5andal wood anywhere. 8e takes out his bow and arrow
and cuts all windows and doors of his palace and compiles them for the brahmins.
,ater Krishna says to Arjuna, it is not that (udhishthir would have refused if we would have asked
for wood from his doors and windows. /ut this idea didn't strike (udhishthir in the first place.
(udhishthir donates because it is written in Dharma (religion, Karna donates because he likes to do
it.
!his is a small e&cerpt
*hen Karna was on his death bed, Krishna came to test him. 8e disguised himself as a /rahmin
saint , and asked Karna for some offering in the name of Dharma.Karna cited his debilitated
condition and asked Krishna, "O ,ord /rahmin, what can i offer you in this capitulated condition".
Krishna teased him ,". thought you were the greatest philanthropist on earth, are you not going to
offer anything to this old brahmin)"
Karna thought for a while and then grabbed a stone from his macabre surroundings. 8e then
thwarted the stone into his mouth and although his brutally beaten frame was cursing every
movement he was afflicting upon himself, he kept doing that continuously. $eanwhile Krishna was
surprised as well as awed by courage of this great warrior. After many strong blows, Karna was able
to break two golden teeth he had, and offered them to the disguised Krishna.Krishna being
e&tremely impressed by the valor of this great warrior , did not show any visible emotions. .nstead
he cursed Karna(to test him again on how he was offering such saliva ridden teeth to such a pious
brahmin. Karna deeply engraved by this statement, tried to crawl up to his bow and arrow. 8is bow
was in tatters and the thread supporting it was nowhere to be seen. 8e cursed himself upon the
defeat he faced to Arjuna in the earlier part of the day, and kept crawling to find an au&iliary thread
to support his bow. ,uckily he found one a few feet away from him. 9very inch that he crawled
made his wounds even more blood stained, and he was slowly losing his consciousness
/ut he kept crawling as the legend of Karna will not have an apt ending if this saint would not be
satiated by him. #inally having reached the supporting thread he drew the thread in his bow.
$eanwhile his hand continued to bleed profusely, and his nerves were on the verge of bursting
up.8e finally launched the final assault on his body and caressed the final arrow of his life into the
ground. 5ubse%uently, a stream of water came bursting out of the ground. 8e washed those saliva
and blood stained teeth in this pristine stream of water and offered them to the disguised saint.
Krishna embarrassed and visibly taken aback, gave up his disguised identity and came in his
original form. /owing to the great warrior he said, "Karna, if you want i can make you alive at this
moment and make the world bow at your feet, :ntil you are there at the face of this earth , i am
assured that Adharma shall never ever reign on this planet".Karna replied. "O ,ord Krishna ,you are
the creator and are omnipresent everywhere.Dont insult me by bowing in front of me. . have had
enough of travails and hardships in my life, so much so that even the most ebullient lu&uries are not
able to lure me back into this life again. ,et me die in peace and assure me that the legend of Karna
may inspire generations to come. . beg forgiveness for all the wrongs that i have done
unintentionally. ,et the world turn into a righteous place, where the reign of Dharma shall ensure
prosperity to everyone irrespective of their not caste and their not so noble beginnings7. Krishna
silently nodded in agreement and blessed the warrior prince


!he greatest justice that this .ndian society can actually do to the legend of Karna, is that children
are still named Karan(inspired by Karna.Although the original form is still not used, and some
historians still curse him for being in the favour of Adharma, he truly showed how morality can be
practiced even in the clutches of darkness.. hope the story of this warrior prince shall be celebrated
as much as his contemporaries.
!his incident took place on the seventeenth day of the war of Kurukshetra.
Arjuna had killed Karna's son, ;rishasena, in order to make Karna e&perience the pain that he
himself had borne when Abhimanyu was brutally e&ecuted. /ut Karna refused to grieve his son's
death and continued to fight Arjuna in order to keep his word and fulfill Duryodhana's destiny.
#inally when Karna and Arjuna came face to face, a serpent called <aga Ashwasena secretly
entered Karna's %uiver. !his serpent was the one whose mother was relentlessly burnt when Arjuna
had set Khandava=prastha abla+e. Ashwasena, being in his mother's womb at that time, was able to
save himself from getting charred. Destined to avenge his mother's death by killing Arjuna, he
transformed himself into an arrow and waited his turn. Karna unknowingly released <aga
Ashwasena at Arjuna. -eali+ing that this was no ordinary arrow, ,ord Krishna, Arjuna's charioteer,
in his bid to save Arjuna's life, sunk the wheel of his chariot in the ground by pressing his feet
against its floor. !his made the <aga, who was speedily advancing like a thunderbolt, miss his
target and hit Arjuna's crown instead, causing it to fall on the ground. Disheartened, <aga
Ashwasena returned to Karna and asked him to fire him towards Arjuna once again, this time
making a promise that he would definitely not miss his target. After hearing Ashwasena's words,
this is what the mighty Anga-aj said to him>
".t is beneath my stature as a warrior to shoot the same arrow twice. #ind some other way to avenge
your family's death."
5addened by Karna's words, Ashwasena tried to kill Arjuna on his own but failed miserably. Arjuna
was able to finish him off in a single stroke.
*ho knows what would have happened had Karna released Ashwasena for the second time. 8e
even might have killed Arjuna or at least would have injured him. /ut he upheld his principles and
did not use the presented opportunity. 5uch was the character of Anga-aj. 8e was the man of his
words and the epitome of morality. 8e was the ultimate warrior.
!here is another story about the friendship between Karna and Duryodhana. After Karna's
coronation as Angh -aj, he would be with Duryodhana most of the time. !hey would play a game
of dice in the evening. .t was one such evening when sun had set off and it was getting dark. ,amps
were lit all around. At some point Duryodhana had to leave momentarily. Duryodhana's wife
/hanumati, who was passing by saw Karna waiting for her husband and continued her husband's
game. !he mood was jovial and they were having fun. At some point they had a casual %uarrel
about whose turn was it ne&t. ?layfully, Karna tried to snatch the dies from her hand. *hile they
were wriggling, /hanumati's dress got misplaced and her pearl necklace was broken. !he pearls
were scattered everywhere on the floor. At that instant, Duryodhana entered and found his wife with
his friend in a compromising position with their clothes entangled and pearls all around.
Duryodhana asked Karna what the %uarrelling was for. :pon knowing the reason he cracked a joke
and laughed aloud and continued playing.
,ater, when /hanumati asked Duryodhana why did he not doubt her. !o which Duryodhana said,
".n a relation there is no scope for doubt, for when doubt settles in there will be no relation. Karna
is my best friend and . trust him because . have faith that he will never break my trust."
-emember the story of Dronacharya asking his disciples to shoot the eye of the bird)
*ell, that afternoon, when Karna was out of station, his apparent brother, 5hona, was busy in
spying on these disciples so that he could later teach the same lesson to his brother. !hat night,
when Karna returned, his brother was ready to test him.
5hona then hung a parrot rotating about its own a&is and asked his brother, Karna, the same
%uestion than @uru Drona had asked his students."Oh ;assusena (Karna, what do you see)"
Karna replied "<othing."
!hinking that Karna was unable to see the parrot due to dark surroundings, 5hona lit a torch and
repeated his %uestion.
"*hat do you see now)"
$uch to 5hona's surprise, Karna delivered the same reply.
"<othing."
5hona was crestfallen as he could not get the e&pected answer out of Karna's mouth. 5hona wanted
Karna to say "!he 9ye". Only then he had planned to let him shoot the bird.
/ut the confident Karna shot two arrows in %uick succession instead. $uch to 5hona's ama+ement,
Karna didn't only shoot the eye on the parrot's fore side that was visible to him, but he was also able
to strike the other one as the bird rotated.
5hona e&claimed "8ow did you hit the eyes without even seeing them)"
Karna replied, "(ou didn't mention which eye . was supposed to hit, so . shot both of them."
5hona asked "/ut how)"
Karna replied ". couldn't see the eyes but . could very well reali+e them, just the way you reali+e
yourself without seeing your own body. 5o . became one with my target in order to achieve this
feat."
Once karna was applying chandan from a golden cup held in his left hand, and lord krishna was
passing by. Krishna said that he likes the golden cup and asked for it. !hen karna gave it
immediately. *hen Krishna asked why is he donating it with left hand, Karna replied that there
might be a chance of change of mind if he takes time to give it with right hand.

!his small story has inspired me to not take much time in thinking whether to do a good deed or
not. . don't know the authenticity of this story, but it is surely a sort of thing karna would do.
On the 2Ath day of the $ahabharata>
Arjun used vajra astra and sent KarnaBs chariot many feet back. Karna used vajra astra and sent
ArjunBs chariot only few inches back. /oth, had divya and unbreakable chariots so the chariots
could not break.
Krishna C Karna, you are a great warrior.
Arjun C Krishna, why are you praising Karna, when . am sending his chariot back further.
Krishna C Arjun, on his chariot you can see that only Karna and 5halya are there, while on your
chariot 8anumanji and . are sitting on it. 5till, Karna is pushing it backward. <ow, what if we were
not on your chariot, than what will Karna do)
Arjun reali+ed how powerful Karna really was and if Krishna was not there, Karna could never be
beaten by him.
.t was the last day of the war and everything had ended. Krishna on reali+ing this immediately
drove the ratha on which arjuna was riding to the nearest forest and asked Arjuna to step down from
the ratha instantly.
Arjuna did as said. 5uddenly the ratha on which Arjuna was riding blasted into thousands of pieces.
Arjuna on seeing this was stunned and asked Krishna for an e&planation Krishna said "Arjuna do
you remember, whenever you shot an arrow on Karna's chariot, it would go 24 feet back, but i
nevwr praised you. /ut whenever Karna shot an arrow on your chariot, even though it went merely
a step back, . always complemented him by saying *8A! A 58O!DD ". "(ou did not know but on
the flag pole of your chariot was sitting lord hanuman, the strongest of all gods, who was suffering
all the blows of your chariot."
Arjuna said that he did not know it.
Krishna then said. "(ou Arjuna were firing your arrows on only a simple man and were able to send
him 24 steps back. Karna on the other hand was firing his arrows on a chariot with hanuman on its
top (hanuman, whose tail could not be picked up by /heema too and on top of that on your chariot
was ., . on whose shoulders resides the weight of the entire universe. .f a simple man is able to push
me and hanuman togethet even a single step back, then that man deserved every complement . gave
him. And the condition that you are seeing right now of your chariot is all because of Karna only,
because no one else was able to fire a weapon on your chariot."
!hat was the time when Arjuna realised the true power and strength that Karna had.
An important point to be seen here is that this was the only warrior that lord Krishna praised on the
war field.
!his is only because of his strength and power that he was able to force back the two most powerful
and strong gods in the 8indu mythology.
Karna truely deserves respect and honour for the same.
Karna was married to ;rushali. 8e had nine sonsE ;rishasena, ;rishaketu, Fhitrasena, 5atyasena,
5ushena, 5hatrunjaya, Dvipata, /anasena and ?rasena all of these took part in the Kurukshetra war.
?rasena was killed by 5atyaki, 5hatrunjaya, ;rishasena and Dvipata by Arjuna, /anasena by /hima,
Fhitrasena, 5atyasena and 5ushena by <akula. ;rishakethu was his only son who survived the war.
Karna's eldest wife ;rushali went sati after Karna's death.
After the war when ?andavas were made aware of Karna's lineage, ;rishakethu was offered to be
the King of .ndraprasth, being the son of their eldest brother. 8e was under the patronage of Arjuna
and took part in various battles that preceded the Ashvamedh yagna.
$ahabharta serial never mentioned anything as far as i can remember about Karna's wives or kids.
$y friend's name is ;rishakethu
?revious birth story of karna>
,ong long ago there lived an asura(demon named Dambhodbhava. 8e wanted to become immortal
and so prayed to the 5un god, 5urya. ?leased with his penance, 5urya appeared before him.
Dambhodbhava asked 5urya to make him immortal. /ut 5urya couldnt grant this boon since
anything, anyone who was born on this planet will have to die. 5urya offered him to ask for
something else instead of immortality. Dambhodbhava thought of tricking the sun god and came up
with a cunning re%uest.
8e said that he has to be protected by a thousand armors and laid the following conditions>
2. !he thousand armors can be broken only by someone who performs penance for a thousand
yearsD
G. *hoever breaks the armor should die immediatelyD
5urya was horribly worried. 8e knew that Dambhodbhava had performed a very powerful penance
and that he could get the entire boon he had asked for. And 5urya had a feeling that Dambhodbhava
was not going to use his powers for good. 8owever having no choice in the matter, 5urya granted
Dambhodbhava the boon. /ut deep down 5urya was worried and seeked ,ord ;ishnu's help,
;ishnu asked him not to worry and he would save earth by eliminating adharma.
.mmediately after getting the boon from 5urya, Dambhodbhava started wrecking havoc on people.
?eople were scared of fighting with him. !here was no way of defeating him. Anybody who stood
in his way was crushed by him. ?eople started calling him 5ahasrakavacha 1meaning one who has a
thousand armours3. .t was around this time that King Daksha 1the father of 5ati, the first wife of
5hiva3 got one of his daughters, $urti married to Dharma C one of the H$anas putrasB of ,ord
/rahma, the @od of Freation
$urti had also heard of 5ahasrakavacha and wanted to put an end to his menace. 5o she prayed to
,ord ;ishnu to come and help the people. ,ord ;ishnu pleased with her appeared before her and
said
H. am pleased with your devotionD . will come and slay 5ahasrakavachaD /ecause you have prayed
to me, you would be the reason for slaying 5ahasrakavachaDB.
$urti gave birth to not one child, but twins= <arayana and <ara. <arayana and <ara grew up in
the ashrama surrounded by the forests. !hey were great devotees of ,ord 5hiva. !he two brothers
learnt the art of warfare.!he two brothers were inseparable. *hat one thought the other was always
able to finish. /oth of them trusted each other implicitly and never %uestioned the other.
As time went on, 5ahasrakavacha started attacking the forest areas surrounding /adrinath, where
both <arayana and <ara were staying. As <ara was meditating, <arayana went and challenged
5ahasrakavacha for a fight. 5ahasrakavacha looked at the calm eyes of <arayana and for the first
time since he got his boon, felt fear building inside him.
5ahasrakavacha faced the attack of <arayana and was astounded. 8e found that <arayana was
powerful and had indeed got a lot of power from the penance of his brother. As the fight went on,
5ahasrakavacha reali+ed that the penance of <ara was giving <arayana strength. As
5ahasrakavachaBs first armour broke he reali+ed that <ara and <arayana were for all purposes one.
!hey were just two persons having the same soul. /ut 5ahasrakavacha was not too worried. 8e
had lost one of his armours. 8e watched in glee as <arayana dropped dead, the minute one of his
armours brokeD
As <arayana fell down dead, <ara came running towards him. /y his years of penance and
pleasing ,ord 5hiva, he had gained the $aha $ritunjaya mantra C a mantra which brought back
dead to life. <ow <ara took the fighting with 5ahasrakavacha while <arayana meditatedD After
thousand years, <ara broke another armor and dropped dead while <arayana came back and
revived him. !his went on until III armors were down. 5ahasrakavacha reali+ed that he could
never beat the two brothers and ran away seeking refuge with 5urya. *hen <ara approached 5urya
to give him up, 5urya did not since he was protecting his devotee. <ara cursed 5urya to be born as
a human for this act and 5urya accepted the curse for this devotee.
All this happened at the end of !reta yuga. .mmediately after 5urya refused to part with
5ahasrakavacha, the !reta (uga ended and the Dwapar (uga started. !o fulfil the promise to
destroying 5ahasrakavacha, <arayana and <ara were reborn C this time as Krishna and Arjuna.
Due to the curse, Dambhodbhava with 5urya's ansh within him was born as Karna, the eldest son
of KuntiD Karna was born with one of armours as a natural protection, the last one left of
5ahasrakavacha.
As Arjuna would have died if Karna had had the armour, on Krishna's advise, .ndra 1Arjuna's
father3 went in disguise and got the last armor of Karna, much before the war began.
As Karna was actually the monster Dambodbhava in his previous life, he led a very difficult life to
pay for all the sins committed by him in his past life. /ut Karna also had 5urya, the 5un @od
inside him, so Karna was a hero as wellD .t was KarnaBs karma from his previous life that he had to
be with Duryodhana and take part of the all the evil things he did. /ut the 5urya in him made him
brave, strong, fearless and charitable. .t brought him long lasting fame.
!hus after learning the truth about Karna's previous birth, ?andavas apologised to Kunti and
Krishna for lamenting them...
everyone has written the story of karna before his death or during his life, but i have heard story of
his ne&t life>
(before writing story be ready to read my poor grammer
story starts like this>
after death karna reached to "swarglok". there during lunch time he was given god in lunch so he
asked indra why doesn't he get food and given gold))
and indra replied that "during your life time you have only donate gold, not food, so here in
response you are getting gold".
in this reply karna told him that give him one more chance to live on the earth and he will donate
food, and indra agreed on this.
and he take birth as "seth sagalsha" in a village of gujarat, and take a pledge that he will take lunch
and dinner only after feeding atleat one sadhu or saints. and his wife follows the pledge to eat after
her husband's food.
one day lord vishnu thought to e&amine them. so he came to earth as a sadhu and ask for food. sheth
told him to sit inside and took lunch there. when he gave him food , god said he only eats meat. on
hearing this, seth went to "kasai vada" and bring the meat of goat, seeing this god got angry and
said he only eat human's meat. hearing this seth got depressed, but her wife told her that "we have
son, and we will donate him and will made his meat."
so seth went to take his son from school(gurukul to feed the saint. god thought to make more tough
for them and reached school before him and told the chellaiya(son of seth sagalsha that your dad is
coming to kill you, just run away from here. on hearing this chellaiya told "if i run away this
moment i couldn't be son of seth, giving is our blood".
so seth took him home and bring his meat to saint, on this saint has said he won't took anything
from "vanjiya"(who don't have children as they haven't have any child now, so seth's wife cut her
womb and show that she still have a child in her womb and can eat food from them. seeing all there
god pleased very much, and give life to chellaiya and seth's wife.
Once ,ord .ndra tried to test Karna's generosity. *hen he saw that Karna was ready to give even
his personal ornaments to a person in need, ,ord .ndra gave him a powerful 5pear, which would
magically always hit and kill the target. !he only catch was that this spear could only be used once.
Krishna knew that if this was used on Arjuna, the battle would be over. Due to this, Krishna
compelled /hima to call upon his son, @hatotkacha into the battle field. @hatotkacha was half
human half asura, and had divine powers. Also, he had promised his father /hima that he would be
present whenever he thinks about him. !hus, when Arjuna thought about him, @hatotkacha arrived
with his clan at Kurukshetra in a jiffy.
@hatotkacha was so mighty that the battle would have been over in a day or two against the
Kauravas. 8aving no choice, Karna was compelled to use the 5pear on @hatotkacha rather than
save it for Arjuna.
Another .ncident . recall was that once Karna found out he was was Kunti's son, he vowed that after
the Kurukshetra battle, Kunti would still have J sons, only that Arjuna would now be replaced by
Karna.
Due to this promise, Karna managed to defeat (udi, <akul 5ahadev as well as /heem in the battle
but could not kill them. .nstead, he told them that he had spared their life. At this moment, none of
the ?andavas knew that Karna was their brother. After (udishtir realised that Karna was his own
brother, he refused to continue with the war.
.llegitimate /irth of Karna
#rom his birth to death, Karna carried the burden of being an illicit child, one produced without a
ceremonial marriage. !he reason for this and story of KarnaBs birth is %uite incredible. 8ere it is>
Kunti, the future wife of ?andu (father of five ?andavas once attended the famed -ishi Durvasa
with great devotion and care. .mpressed, the sage gave her a secret mantra with which she can
summon any @od and seek a child through him. !he young and unmarried Kunti decided to try this
mantra once and conjured 5urya (5un who then left only after giving her a son, Karna (which
denotes ear. 8e was born with impenetrable armour and earrings (Kavach and Kundal that would
grow with his body.
Kunti however didnBt like the idea of being an unmarried mother (a social disgrace and set Karna
afloat in a basket in Ashwa -iver. As fate would have it, Karna was found by Adhiratha, a
charioteer of Dhritrashtra. 8e and his wife -adha raised Karna as ;asusena.
After being turned down by Dronacharya for not being from royalty, Karna went to ?arshurama
(DronacharyaBs @uru for advanced training of martial arts and weaponry. !o be trained by him, he
lied to ?arshurama that he was a /rahmin. And that laid foundation of his second misfortuneK.
Karna Fursed /y ?arshurama
One day towards end of KarnaBs training, ?arshurama asked him for a pillow to sleep and Karna
offered his lap. *hile his @uru was sleeping, a large bee stung Karna in the thigh. !o not upset his
guruBs sleep, he bore the pain without flinching. *hen ?arshurama woke up and saw the blood
oo+ing out, instead of being pleased, he got angry at Karna. /ecause only a Kshatriya could have
borne so much pain, which meant Karna lied about his being a /rahmin. 9nraged, he cursed Karna
that he will forget the mantras to invoke H/rahamastraB when he needs it the most.
Karna Deceived /y .ndra
KarnaBs pledge of never returning anyone empty=handed was known to all. Abusing this, .ndra
approached Karna, disguised as a poor /rahmin and asked for his Kavach (armour made of gold
and Kundal (earrings. !hough Karna father 5urya warned him against .ndra, Karna decided to
honour his commitment without second thoughts. .mpressed, .ndra gave him ;asava 5hakti or
.ndrastra or Amogh 5hakti, a powerful weapon that Karna can use once to kill anyone, after which
the weapon will return to .ndra. !his weapon too was wasted away by Karna because of trickery
and deceit. 8ereBs howK
Karna=-eceives=Amogh=5hakti=from=.ndra=$isfortunes=of=Karna
Amogh 5hakti *asted On @hatotkacha
*hen Karna joined the Kaurav forces on Day 22, Krishna very well knew of the Amogh 5hakti that
.ndra gifted to Karna, and the ever=lurking threat it possessed for Arjuna. After a strategic but
remorseless decision, @hatotkacha was sent to attack the KauravaBs army as the battle continued
beyond sunset one day.
@hatotkacha was the son of /heema, from 8idimba the -akshasi (demoness. As is typical with
-akshas, @hatotkacha got very mighty and uncon%uerable in the wee hours of night. *hen
Duryodhana saw that the rakshas was indefatigable and unflinching, he asked Karna to kill him.
After fighting a long ferocious duel, Karna too realised the might of @hatotkachaBs power. 8e then
used Amogh 5hakti or .ndrastra which killed @hatotkacha and returned to .ndra.
!hough a victory for the Kaurav camp, this was a personal defeat for Karna. 8e just spent his only
weapon and chance that could have killed his arch=nemesis, Arjuna.
!he $isfortune of KarnaBs Death
!he misfortune of KarnaBs death was a curse from his own @uru ?arshurama. After a balanced
battle went between Karna and Arjuna on seventeenth day of war, KarnaBs chariotBs wheel was
stuck in the soil of Kurukshetra (modern day 8aryana which was wet with blood of slain soldiers.
#rustrated, he decided to invoke /rahamastra to mortally attack Arjuna. /ut as prophesised by
?arshurama, he forgot the mantras to conjure /rahamastra, for he needed it most desperately at this
moment.
Arjuna=Kills=Karna=$isfortunes=of=Karna
-ealising his time has come, he re%uested Arjuna to follow the ethics of war and wait till he fi&es
his chariot wheel. /ut under KrishnaBs aegis and influence, Arjuna ignored KarnaBs pleas and
decapitated him using the weapon called Anjalika. !his was the final act of misfortunes in scheme
of things for Karna, the solar progeny.
Other $isfortunes of Karna
!hough he had all the wisdom, knowledge and righteousness to see that DuryodhanaBs ways were
wrong, KarnaBs swearing allegiance, loyalty and friendship to him prevented him from doing
anything against DuryodhanaBs will, right unto his death.
On learning of his true lineage that heBs a ?andav and the eldest son of Kunti, Karna assured
Krishna and later Kunti that he will not kill any ?andav e&cept Arjuna. !his way, Kunti will
continue to have five children. !rue to his word, he attacked and injured all four ?andav brothers
e&cept Arjuna, but did not kill any of them.
.n her past live, Draupadi had prayed to lord for a husband with five %ualities. 5ince all those
%ualities were not commonly seen in one person, DraupadiBs fate got her married to five persons.
*hen she asked Krishna about her polyandrous destiny, Krishna told her that Karna was the person
with all these %ualities but since Draupadi rejected him because of his non=noble birth, she was
resigned to this fate to honour her boon.
Karna had his famed bow ";ijaya" which he used to devastating effect on 2J,2L,2A th days of war.
Karna also had access to *$D Astra's such as ;asavi 5hakti, <agastra etc. 8e' s an e%ual to
Arjuna in the inventory department.
Foming to the %uestion of skills, Arjuna had defeated Karna only once before= Operation ;iratD
8owever during $ahabharata war, Karna defeated all J pandavas(with different weapons during
the 2Lth day. !hat includes a humiliated Arjuna, whom he disarmed, and tied to his chariot and left
alive( all with Krishna as Arjuna's charioteer= only because sun was down. !alk about being bad
assD ?oint to be noted , Karna had 5halya( who being (udishtras spy,drove Karnas chariot like shit
while berating him and praising Arjuna. 9ven without kavach, Karna was beyond Arjuna's reach
and only with Krishna's tricks could Arjuna kill Karna.
Karna was better than Arjun but life's a bitchD
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$ahabharata> *as Draupadi in love with Karna)
<ote> Deleting a lot of te&t(%uestion details which was mainly about '*ho is better> Karna or
Arjuna' as it did not seem relevant to this %uestion.
?lease post the content in a separate post, blog or answer. !hanks.
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Amit /anerjeeAmit /anerjee, *riter
N.Mk upvotes by 5ouvik @hosh, Dhruv ?andey, !ushar /hasin, (more
.f $ahabharata has two characters who have received the most humiliation for no fault whatsoever,
one is Draupadi and the other is Karna.
Draupadi has longed for a husband who will have wisdom and moral values, will be strong and well
built, a good archer, handsome and intelligent.
Karna is the only character in $ahabharata who has all these %ualities. !he gods knew Draupadi's
wish well ahead of time and gave all these %ualities to one man.
Karna.
Also, all these %ualities have been e%ually divided in ?andavas ((udhistira for moral values, /hima
for physical strength, Arjuna for archery, <akula is handsome and 5ahadev is the most intelligent.
Karna is the best archer (ne&t to 9klavya and Arjuna is no match for him. Dronacharya knew that
Karna is far superior than Arjuna, hence he denies to teach him archery lessons. /hisma knew that
Karna is superior to Arjuna and thus prevents him from entering the war during initial days. . agree
Arjuna was skilled but note that he had guidance of /heesma and Drona while Karna had none. 8e
rose to e%ual levels of Arjuna on his own (having received a short stint of guidance from
?arashurama, /heesmaEs guru.
.ts fate or destiny which parted Draupadi and Karna. 8e would have been a better 'only' husband for
her than the five she got as he was as good as any of the pandavas when it came to virtues and
valour.
/ut from the political and "Dharma's" point of view, she has to be married with ?andavas. !hats the
plan. Karna negates Arjuna, which creates a balance.
Draupadi herself prevented Karna from participating in the 5wyamvar, calling him a 5uta ?utra
(!his insult by Draupadi was one of the reasons for her downfall in the court room where she was
disrobed in public, leading to humiliation of ?andavas, reaping the seeds of war. Karma is a bitchD
$any years later, she learned from Krishna that Karna is not a suta putra but the eldest son of Kunti.
!o this, Draupadi regrets saying,
".f . had married him, . would not have been gambled away, publicly humiliated and called a
whore. #or he has all the %ualities possessed by my J husbands."
5o she ended up marrying a man who shared her with his brothers and failed to protect her when
she needed him the most. (,esson> @ive credit where it is due, for Karma shall get you in due time.
!here is another legend which says that its Karna who prevented the rape of Draupadi by ;asuki
(?age on /oloji. ;asuki could only be pacified by the eldest Kunti=putra (Karna.
Draupadi has always favored Arjuna but alas, Arjuna was not happy with the fact that he has to
share the pri+e he has won with N brothers. Arjuna, on the other hand, favored 5ubhadra. Draupadi
knew this too, which is why she starts having a soft corner for the ne&t best archer, Karna.
QQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQ
Karna and /heesma
*hen the war started, /heesma was appointed the commander in chief of Kaurava Army. !his is
because /heesma is the greatest warrior and cannot be defeated by anyone (he had the vardaan of
".chhyamrityu". 5o logically, /heesma's presence ensured that Kauravas cannot be defeated.
8owever, here is a twist. /heesma won't allow Karna to enter the war, as long as he is leading the
army.
Duryodhana analy+ed the situation and concludes that Arjuna has to be pacified first or they can
never win against ?andavas. 8e needs Karna from day one, because only Karna can kill Arjuna.
!he logic here is that /heesma won't kill ?andavas, for he loves them dearly. Drona won't kill
Arjuna because Arjuna is his favorite student.
.f there is anyone who can kill Arjuna, its Karna.
/ut /heesma prevents Karna from entering the war giving this reason.
(ou have insulted Kulvadhu Draupadi in the court room by calling her a "*hore". (ou have
insulted a @oddess, you have violated the norm of a "Khstatriya" (a Khsatriya's duty is to protect
and respect women. 8ence, you cannot enter the battle under my command.
On the 24th day of the battle, Arjuna slays /heesma with the help of 5hikhandi.
!hen Karna goes to /hisma and asks for forgiveness, that he insulted Draupadi and he should have
prevented his "wicked" friend Duryodhana from insulting the kulvadhu, who represents the pride
and glory of Kuruvansh. 8e tells /heesma that he was taken aback, that he was burning inside
because Draupadi prevented him from entering his 5wyamvar and denied him the glory he
deserves. 8e continues telling /heesma that by calling Draupadi a "*hore", he has committed a
grave "sin" and he begs for forgiveness.
!o this /heesma says
"8ey Karna, jyesth Kunti putra Karna, you have finally reali+ed your mistake.
@hayal nagin, ghayal sherni aur apamanit stree se daro.(asaswi bhava..D"
Karna was taken by a shock. 8e didn't knew that /heesma knows his real identity. 8e asks
/heesma that if he knew that he is the eldest Kunti ?utra, why did he prevented him from entering
the war) *hat is his fault)
/heesma says
"Karna, my son, you and Arjuna are the greatest warriors Kuruvansh has seen after me.
Duryodhana, (udhistir, /heema, Dushasana... they don't have the merit of being a guardian of Kuru
throne.
$y goal in life is is to ensure 8astinapur's throne is in safe hands. . cannot leave this planet until
and unless 8astinapur is protected from all sides.
Only you and Arjuna has the power of protecting 8astinapur from foreign intrusion.
8ence, . prevented you from entering the war. . want to see both you and Arjuna alive, you are
brothers and . know one day, Dharma shall win. . can see that day, when Arjuna will know who you
are, and he will come running to you, take you in his arms and beg for forgiveness. . can see that
day, when you will forgive Arjuna too, and you will take him in your arms, for you my son, you two
are brothers. (ou are the student of ?arashurama, if you enter the battle and use your ;ashava
shakti, Arjuna's death is certain. .f Arjuna uses his Divyaastra against you, your death is certain.
After me, 8astinapur has two worthy guardians. Arjuna and Karna. 8ence, it is my duty to ensure
that the guardians don't fight with each other. . have done my duty, . am now laying in my death
bed. <ow it is upto time and destiny, . have done my part"
Karna replies "8ey ?itamaha /heesma, both me and you are helpless. (ou are tied with your vow
of protecting 8astinapur's throne and . am tied with the debt of Duryodhana's salt. 9ven if he is
wrong, . have to fight for him, for that is my duty"
Karna, however enters the war because he is in=debt of his "wicked" friend (Duryodhana for life, as
it is Duryodhana who has given him identity in the society.
Karna gives back to Draupadi
.n the 2Gth day of the battle, Arjuna had made a vow to kill Rayadratha (Duryodhana's brother in
law. !his is because Rayadratha was instrumental in holding off all the other N ?andavas in the first
gate of "Fhakravyuh" , which caused the death of Arjuna's brave son, Abhimanyu.
5ince Arjuna has made the vow that either he will kill Rayadratha or he will take "Agni 5amadhi",
Drona laid out this plan that by the time Arjuna is busy fighting Rayadratha, he can capture
(udhistira.
/heema was appointed the defence of (udhistira and hence Duryodhana asks Karna to involve
/heema, so that Drona can capture (udhistira.
Karna challenges /heema and fights bravely. 8e holds him through out the day. /heema is superior
to Karna in @ada (the mace and Karna is superior to /heema in archery. 8ence, both of them
decide to use a neutral weapon = the spear.
At the end of the day, Karna succeeds in defeating /heema and there comes a point when /heema
is armless and Karna holds his spear towards /heema's neck.
/ut Karna decides not to kill /heema.
!here are two reasons why he doesn't kill /heema, despite having all the options to do so.
2. Karna has given his word to Kunti, that her J sons will remain alive. .f he kills /heema, he can't
kill Arjuna.
G. .f Karna kills /heema, he would do injustice to Draupadi's unstrangled hair. Draupadi has taken a
vow that until and unless someone brings the blood of Dussasana's heart and wets her hair, she will
never tie her hair. /heema has made a vow that he will kill Dussasana and bring his hearts blood to
Draupadi. .f he kills /heema in this battle, he will do injustice to Draupadi.
#urthermore, Karna had earlier protected Draupadi from ;asuki and then Draupadi had touched his
feet saying
"8ey Angraj Karna, please forgive me for my innocence for unfairly denying you participation in
my wedding competition and calling you "5uta ?utra", . take back my words and today you have
protected my modesty. After 5hree Krishna, it is you who have protected my modesty and hence,
you have risen to a @odly level in my heart. ., panchali, the wife of ?andavas, the daughter of
Drupad, the sister of Dhristadhumnya, the mother of J brave sons, respect you to e%ual level of my
husbands."
!o this Karna had said
"8ey Devi, hey Annapurna, hey Kalyani, forgive me too, for . had insulted you in the courtroom.
. was blind in the agony of revenge and . didn't reali+e your worth. ?lease forgive me too. . will
ensure justice is done to your hair."
Karna decides to walk away and not kill /heema.
*hen Draupadi learns that Karna had spared the life of /heema, her love and respect for Karna is
magnified.
Karna and Arjuna
Karna and Arjuna are the most talked about rivals in $ahabharata. . use the terms "rival"
(competitor not enemy. /oth hold respect for each other. Karna knows that Arjuna is the best
student of Drona and that he has Divyaashtra. Karna knows how Arjuna has single handedly
defeated the entire Kaurava army in the battle of ";irat". Karna knows what Arjuna really is.
Arjuna also knows that Karna is the student of ?arashurama and after /heesma and Drona, only
Karna can fight with him in e%ual levels.
.n the 2Jth day of the battle, Karna is the commander in chief of Kaurava army. During their face to
face combat, Karna makes Arjuna helpless. 8e tied Arjuna with his arrows and just when he is
about to launch the final one, the sun sets.
!he war ends for the day.
.n the camp, Arjuna is restless and says that he cannot live with the fact that Karna did mercy to his
life. Arjuna says
"8ey <arayan... this guy has waited his entire life for this moment. 8e entered the war only
because he wants his glory of "sharwasrstha dhanurdhar", which he will obtain only when he kills
me. !oday, he had the chance. . agree the sun had set but now, nobody is following the rules of the
war. *e have killed Drona and /heesma by forgery. On that ground, he could have fired his arrow
and killed me too. /ut he didn't. *hy) . cannot live with this indirect insult"
;asudev Krishna then tells Arjuna that Karna is a noble spirit and he had sent a message. !he
message is this
"As long as . am the commander in chief of Kaurava army, all the rules of the war will be
maintained and upheld. (es, we have broken the rules of war while killing Abhimanyu. (es, you
have broken the rules while killing /heesma, Drona. /ut . am a man of my words and . will not use
any unfair means to kill you, o Arjuna. /ecause . have never got my due and . will not give history
this chance to say that Karna had killed Arjuna through unfair means. $y glory is greater than my
life.
*hen Duryodhana asks Karna
". am here to win a war. (ou had the chance of finishing Arjuna today, why didn't you fire your
weapon) *hat for) . never relied on /heesma and Drona, when it comes to killing Arjuna but .
have always relied on you. (ou have disappointed me Karna, you have disappointed me."
Karna says
"$y friend, you are fighting this war for the throne. Arjuna is fighting for Dharma, for
.ndrapratha, for ?anchali. /ut what am . fighting for) . am fighting for my glory. (es, we are
participating in the same war but the reasons are different. . will not gain or lose anything, no matter
which side wins. /ut . am not ready to lose my glory, . will not let history point fingers towards me
saying that . was a "Foward". 8astinapur's throne is important to you, . am aware of that. /ut my
friend, learn to respect the reason and cause of your peers. *e are all fighting our own wars and .
am the loneliest warrior here after /heesma, fighting for nothing."
8ow Karna *as !ricked !ime And Again
8ere are some instances which shows how Karna was tricked of his glory
Karna could only be defeated by the curses that were intentionally staged against him. ?olitics was
played on him time and again but he stood his ground and never took evil means (e&cept once when
he was involved in the group that killed Abhimanyu by unfair means, the only sin which caused his
"unfair" death in the hands of Arjuna
2. .ndra went to Karna disguised as a sage and tricked him. 8e took his Kavach Kundal, the
protective shield which no weapon can pierce. .ndra protects his son Arjuna by weakening Karna's
defence mechanism.
G. Kunti went to Karna and tricked him too.
Karna promised Kunti that he will not kill any other ?andava e&cept Arjuna. 5o Kunti improved the
defence of ?andava, since Karna could have easily killed /heema, <akula, 5ahadeva and (udhistir.
*henever Karna encountered these ?andavas, he spared their life because of the word he had given
to Kunti.
M. Karna was tricked by Dronacharya, when he was a child.
*hen Karna's father went to the -oyal school, re%uesting Drona to teach his son the art of Archery,
Drona asked the name and identity of this young lad.
!he charioteer (Karna's father said that his name is "-adhey" and that he is his son. Drona said that
from his face, . can see the glory of "5un". 8ence, call him "Karna" ( .t was Drona who coined the
name "Karna". Drona was a learned /rahmin and he immediately grasped the glory that lies ahead
of "-adhey" from his face
Drona continued,
!his school is for royal prince and Khastriyas. Karna fails to %ualify in both disciplines ( he is
neither a Khastriya nor a prince in the society but in reality he is both.
Karna then asks what is your son Ashwathamma doing in the school then) 8e is your son, the son
of a /rahmin and hence not a Khastriya. <either he is prince.
!o this Drona has no reply but still he does not accept Karna in his school (the great .ndian caste
system in action centuries ago.
,ater, Karna by his efforts makes himself a worthy warrior and takes guidance from ?arashurama.
?arashurama had two disciples, /heesma and Karna.
N. Karna was tricked by Krishna.
Krishna intelligently asked @hatotkacha, /heema's asura son to mercilessly destroy Kaurava
army.Karna had to use the ;asava 5hakti, which had been gifted to him by ,ord .ndra in return for
his divine armour (Kavach Kundal. :sing this weapon, Karna killed the Asura @hatotkacha, which
was reserved for Arjuna.
J. *hen Krishna revealed the truth to Karna that he is the eldest Konteya (Kunti ?utra, that he
holds the right to be the king of .ndraprastha and sleep with Draupadi, Karna denies.
Karna says that he cannot leave his friend, Duryodhana at a time when he needs him the most. !his
is because it is Duryodhana who has given him identity in the society and he is in=debt of his
"wicked" friend for life.
L. Draupadi insults Karna and prevents him from participating in her wedding competition.
!o this Karna replied =
"8ey Devi, you called me a 5uta putra, a person of lowerly caste. One day, you shall live the life
of a lowerly caste and you will need my help. Rust give me a call, . will be thy savior"
$any years later, Draupadi was 5airandhri in the Kingdom of ;irata, the servant of the %ueen
5udeshna. 5he was molested by Kichak (/heema kills Kichak. ,ater, ;asuki tries to rape Draupadi
and was saved by Karna (on Arjuna's re%uest.. what a terrible shame.
A. Karna's arrows are far more powerful than Arjuna's.
During their face to face combat in Kurukshetra, Krishna begins to praise Karna infront of Arjuna
("Aho Karna ...@reat going Karna".
!o this Arjuna says
"8ey $adhusudan, my arrows are moving his chariot by 24 steps while his arrows are moving
my chariot only two steps. /ut you are still praising him..D".
Krishna replies
"8ey ?artha, . am sitting in your chariot, my mass is so huge that Karna's arrows are not able to
show their full impact. 8ad . not been here, you would have been thrown into the vast chasm of this
universe, thanks to the arrows of someone who hails from "!he 5un" (Karna is the son of "5urya"
P. Krishna tricked Karna a second time by re%uesting 5halya to be his Fhariot rider, well before the
war even started. 5halya was given instructions to be a "5py" and not do %uick maneuvers in the
battlefield.
I. On 2Ath day of the battle, when ?arashurama's curse fell on Karna, he descended from his chariot
to remove the wheel.
8e re%uested Arjuna
"8ey ?artha... 8ey 5reshtha dhanurdhar, kunti putra Arjuna, hold your @andiva for a while. $y
chariot needs my attention, . am getting down unarmed to raise the wheels"
Krishna tricks Karna a third time telling Arjuna that Karna has no right to refer to eti%uette at this
point, having violated those same rules himself when killing Abhimanyu.
"Kill him immediately. #or you will never get s second chance to kill your biggest competitor."
24. Karna is the only personality in the epic whose final rituals were performed by @od himself
(Krishna. /ecause it is the @od who tricked him every single time.
Karna fought against his misfortunes throughout his life without a single pause. 8e never got his
due, but never gave up his efforts, his courageous spirit led him to brave impossible odds in his life
and he died with uni%ue courage, valour and honour.
.n the $ahSbhSrata, /heeshma and ,ord Krishna concede that Karna was a noble spirit who rarely
appears in the human race. Karna is especially adored for his generosity. 8e is ideali+ed as an
inspiration for struggling humanity not to lose heart. 8e is also considered an e&ample of how
misjudgment can render all the finer %ualities of an individual futile.
!"
#$ #% & % ' ( )* #+ , ( -. /