Karna
Template:Short description Template:About Template:Pp Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use Indian English Template:Infobox character
Karna (Sanskrit: कर्ण, IAST: Karṇa), also known as Vasusena, Anga-Raja, Sutaputra and Radheya,Template:Sfn is one of the major characters in the Hindu epic Mahābhārata.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn He is the son of Surya (the Sun deity) and princess Kunti (later the Pandava queen). Kunti was granted the boon to bear a child with desired divine qualities from the gods and without much knowledge, Kunti invoked the sun god to confirm it if it was true indeed. Karna was secretly born to an unmarried Kunti in her teenage years, and fearing outrage and backlash from society over her premarital pregnancy, Kunti had to abandon the newly born Karna adrift in a basket on the Ganges.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The basket is discovered floating on the Ganges River. He is adopted and raised by foster Suta parents named Radha and Adhiratha NandanaTemplate:Sfn of the charioteer and poet profession working for king Dhritarashtra.Template:Sfn Karna grows up to be an accomplished warrior of extraordinary abilities, a gifted speaker and becomes a loyal friend of Duryodhana.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn He is appointed the king of Anga (Bihar-Bengal)Template:Sfn by Duryodhana.Template:Sfn Karna joins the losing Duryodhana side of the Mahabharata war. He is a key antagonist who aims to kill Arjuna but dies in a battle with him during the Kurushetra war.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn
He is a tragic hero in the Mahabharata, in a manner similar to Aristotle's literary category of "flawed good man".Template:Sfn He meets his biological mother late in the epic then discovers that he is the older half-brother of those he is fighting against.Template:Sfn Karna is a symbol of someone who is rejected by those who should love him but do not given the circumstances, yet becomes a man of exceptional abilities willing to give his love and life as a loyal friend. His character is developed in the epic to raise and discuss major emotional and dharma (duty, ethics, moral) dilemmas.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn His story has inspired many secondary works, poetry and dramatic plays in the Hindu arts tradition, both in India and in southeast Asia.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn
A regional tradition believes that Karna founded the city of Karnal, in contemporary Haryana.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Nomenclature and epithetsEdit
Karṇa (कर्ण) is a word found in the Vedic literature, where it means "the ear", "chaff or husk of a grain" or the "helm or rudder".<ref name=mmwkarna/> In another context, it refers to a spondee in Sanskrit prosody.<ref name=mmwkarna>Monier Monier-Williams (2008 update), कर्ण, Karna, Oxford University Press (Updated, Harvard University), page 256</ref>
In the Mahabharata and the Puranas, it is the name of a warrior character.<ref name=mmwkarna/> Called Vasusena as a child by his foster parents, he became known by the name Karna because of the golden earrings of Surya he used to wear, according to the Sanskrit epics scholar David Slavitt.Template:Sfn
The word Karna, states the Indologist Kevin McGrath, signifies "eared, or the ear-ringed one".Template:Sfn In section 3.290.5 of the Mahabharata, Karna is described as a baby born with the ear-rings and armoured breastplate, like his father Surya.Template:Sfn
The second meaning of Karna as "rudder and helm" is also an apt metaphor given Karna's role in steering the war in Book 8 of the epic, where the good Karna confronts the good Arjuna, one of the climax scenes wherein the Mahabharata authors repeatedly deploy the allegories of ocean and boat to embed layers of meanings in the poem.Template:Sfn For example, his first entry into the Kurukshetra battlefield is presented as the Makara movement (an arrangement of soldiers in the sea-monster pattern).Template:Sfn As Duryodhana's army crumbles each day, the sea and vessel metaphor repeatedly appears in the epic, particularly when Karna is mentioned. As a newborn, Karna's life begins in a basket without a rudder on a river, in circumstances that he neither chose nor had a say. In Book 1, again in the context of Karna, Duryodhana remarks, "the origins of heroes and rivers are indeed difficult to understand".Template:SfnTemplate:Refn
The name Karna is also symbolically connected to the central aspect of Karna's character as the one who is intensely preoccupied with what others hear and think about him, about his fame, a weakness that others exploit to manipulate him. This "hearing" and "that which is heard", states McGrath makes "Karna" an apt name and subtle reminder of Karna's driving motivation.Template:SfnTemplate:Refn
Karna was also called with many names.Template:Sfn Some of them are:
- Vasusena – Original name of Karna, means "born with wealth" as he was born with natural armour and earrings.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
- Suryaputra – Son of Surya
- Radheya – son of Radha (Karna's adopted mother).
- Sutaputra – son of charioteer.
- Angaraja – king of Anga.
- Daanaveera – one of charitable nature or one who is exceptionally munificent (generous)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
- Vijayadhari – holder of a bow named Vijaya which was gifted by Lord Parashurama.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref>
- Vaikartana – one who belongs to solar race (related to Surya).
- Vrisha – one who is truthful in speech and kept his vows.
Mythology and sources: MahābhārataEdit
The story of Karna is told in the Mahābhārata, one of the Sanskrit epics from the Indian subcontinent. The work is written in Classical Sanskrit and is a composite work of revisions, editing and interpolations over many centuries. The oldest parts in the surviving version of the text probably date to about 400 BCE.<ref name="Brockington98">Template:Harvnb</ref> Within Mahabharata, which follows the story within a story style of narration, the account of Karna's birth has been narrated four times.Template:Sfn
Karna appears for the first time in the Mahabharata in the verse 1.1.65 of Adi Parvan (first book) where he is briefly mentioned through the metaphor of a tree, as someone who is refusing to fight or help in the capture of Krishna.Template:Sfn He is presented again in sections 1.2.127–148, and chapter 1.57 of the Adi Parvan. It is here that his earrings "that make his face shine", as well as the divine breastplate (body armor) he was born with, are mentioned for the first time. This sets him apart as someone special, with gifts no ordinary mortal has.Template:Sfn However, later in the epic, the generous Karna gives the "earrings and breastplate" away in charity, thereby becomes a mortal and later dies in a battle with Arjuna.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn
The story of his unmarried mother getting the child due to her curiosity, his divine connection to the Hindu god Surya,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> then his birth appears for the first time in the epic in section 1.104.7. The epic uses glowing words to describe Karna, but the presentation here is compressed in 21 shlokas unlike the later books which expand the details.Template:Sfn These later sections with more details on Karna's birth and childhood include 3.287, 5.142 and 15.38.Template:Sfn According to McGrath, the early presentation of Karna in the Mahabharata is such as if the poets expect the audience to already know the story and love the character of Karna. The text does not belabour the details about Karna in the early sections, rather uses metaphors and metonyms to colourfully remind the audience of the fabric of a character they already are assumed to be aware of.Template:Sfn The complete narrative of his life appears for the first time in chapter 1.125.Template:Sfn
Manuscripts, many versionsEdit
The Mahabharata manuscripts exist in numerous versions, wherein the specifics and details of major characters and episodes vary, often significantly. Except for the sections containing the Bhagavad Gita which is remarkably consistent between the numerous manuscripts, the rest of the epic exists in many versions.<ref>Template:Cite book; Quote: "The current text of the Bhagavad gita is well-preserved with relatively few variant readings and none quite serious. This is especially remarkable in the light of the numerous variants for the remainder of the Mahabharata, some of which are quite serious. Secondary insertions are found in individual manuscripts of the Gita, but these are clearly secondary. The number of stanzas in the Gita is 700, a number confirmed by Shankara, and possibly deliberately chosen in order to prevent interpolations."</ref> The differences between the Northern and Southern recensions are particularly significant, with the Southern manuscripts more profuse and longer.Template:Sfn The legends of Karna too appear in many versions, including some versions that have no support in surviving manuscripts. The manuscripts found in the North and South India for the Karna parvan book have "great divergence" in details, though the thematic essence is similar.Template:Sfn Scholars have attempted to construct a critical edition, relying mostly on a study of the Bombay edition, the Poona edition, the Calcutta edition and the south Indian editions of the Mahabharata manuscripts. The most accepted version is one prepared by scholars led by Vishnu Sukthankar at the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, preserved at the Kyoto University, the Cambridge University and various Indian universities.Template:Sfn<ref>Critical Edition Prepared by Scholars at Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute BORI, Muneo Tokunaga, Kyoto University (1998)</ref>
BiographyEdit
Birth and early lifeEdit
According to the legend, there was a king of the Yadava dynasty named Shurasena who had a beautiful young daughter named Pritha (later Kunti). A rishi (Vedic scholar and seer) named Durvasa visited the king for a lengthy stay and was housed as his palace guest. Shurasena asked Pritha to ensure that Durvasa's stay was comfortable. On leaving, having been delighted with his stay and her diligent services, Durvasa thanked her and gave her the Siddha mantra, telling her that if she ever wants, she can invoke any deity to give her a child.Template:SfnTemplate:Refn
Teenage Pritha became curious, wondered if the mantra would really work and, as the sun rose one morning, she initiated the mantra through which she could invoke any divine God being to provide her a son. She called the sun god Surya. He came with a golden glow, dressed up in jewellery and breastplate, and provided her with her first son.Template:SfnTemplate:Refn Pritha felt confused and ashamed, worried what everyone will think and how she will embarrass her family. At that time, according to Vedic civilization, if a girl gave birth to a child before her marriage, she would be less likely to be married. So, she put the newborn baby in a padded basket, and set it adrift in the small river Ashvanadi by the palace.Template:Citation needed
Later Kunti got blessed with children Yudhishtra, Bhima, and Arjuna, using this mantra. The same mantra was used by Kunti to allow her co-wife, Madri, to conceive Nakula and Sahdeva. The Spiritual "fathers" of the five Pandavas were Dharma, Vayu, Indra and the twin Ashwini Kumaras.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
As the adolescent mother abandons her unwanted child on the river, she laments and the epic verses describe her emotions with heartbreaking poetry, according to the Indologist Patricia Greer.Template:Sfn
The basket floats, reaches the river Charmanwati, which carries it to the Yamuna River.Template:Sfn The basket floats on and reaches the Ganges River and on it into the kingdom of Anga (ancient Bengal). There, it is found by a charioteer's wife Radha, who takes the baby Karna to her husband Adhiratha Nandana. They adopt him right away and name him Vasushena.Template:Sfn They love him and raise him just like their own son.Template:Sfn While he was growing up, his adopting parents let Karna know that they had found and adopted him. This knowledge affects Karna, he feels ashamed that he was abandoned, and this frames his sense of self-identity through the epic.Template:Sfn
Karna attends school in Hastinapura, where he studies martial arts under the sages Drona and Kripa. When Drona declines to teach him the knowledge of the Brahmastra weapon, Karna disguises himself as a Brahmin to become a student of Parashurama, an incarnation of the god Vishnu. Upon discovering Karna's deception, Parashurama curses him, declaring that he will forget the secret of the Brahmastra at the critical moment when he wishes to use it against his enemy.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite book</ref>
The third Pandava prince Arjuna was Karna's peer and equal. At school and in episodes where his character appears, he is repeatedly rejected, subjected to ridicule and bullied for being the son of a poor family, and particularly for his low birth. The boy Karna came to be known for his solitary habits, hard work, pious yoga before Surya every day, compassion and eager generosity to help anyone in need particularly Brahmins, his gift of speech, and for the pursuit of excellence in whatever he did.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn Karna is also known as someone who craves for respect, love and attention, who is overly sensitive to criticism, who habitually brags about his skills and martial capabilities, yet is deeply thoughtful and dharmic in critical moments of the epic.Template:Sfn
Relationship with DuryodhanaEdit
Karna meets Duryodhana for the first time in Hastinapura during archery lessons from Drona, an event described in section 3.293 of the Mahabharata.Template:Sfn They become close friends not long after, when Karna and Arjuna are at a weapons trial competition. Duryodhana sees in Karna a man who is an equal of Arjuna in martial abilities, and someone to befriend to balance out Arjuna and thereby "diminish the Pandavas".Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn
Before the competition starts, the contestants must announce theirs lineage so that men of equal ranks are placed together. After Arjuna announces his royal lineage, it is time for Karna to present his lineage.Template:Sfn If Karna were to announce his charioteer lineage, it would disqualify him from competing against Arjuna. Duryodhana steps in and says Karna is an Arajna (a non-king, but also a word play on Arjuna) but announces that he is offering to anoint Karna as the king of Angas (BengalTemplate:Sfn). Once Karna is a king, states Duryodhana, Arjuna would not have the excuse to avoid Karna and not compete with the able warrior. Karna accepts the anointment, becomes a king that day. It also transforms him into a loyal friend to Duryodhana, with an eagerness to reciprocate the favour. Karna asks Duryodhana what he would want in return for the kingdom he just gave out of his empire, Duryodhana replies, "I want your endless friendship Karna".Template:Sfn
For the consecration ceremony, Karna's father arrives. Bhima, one of the Pandavas, ridicules him for his low status and calls him dog-like. The public insult of his father makes Karna hate the Pandavas.Template:Sfn At the end of the competition, while everyone rejects Karna, Duryodhana expresses amity to Karna by "taking Karna by his hand". Karna feels Duryodhana is that friend who stood by him when everyone rejected him. Duryodhana becomes Karna's lifelong close friend. In Karna, Duryodhana finds an able man and talented commander who can help him gain and retain power over an empire. In Duryodhana, Karna finds a caring friend and resourceful supporter when almost everyone is bent on ridiculing and disowning him.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn
Karna evolves into a character who shares Duryodhana's view that Pandavas are bad and enemies, though for different reasons. Karna participates with Duryodhana in schemes to effect the downfall of the Pandavas.Template:Sfn Duryodhana provides the goals, Karna conspires the means to get there.Template:Sfn
In the final year of the exile of the Pandavas, Duryodhana plans to sow dissension and keep the entire empire to himself. In contrast, Bhisma and Drona suggest a conciliation and dividing the kingdom into two, half for Kauravas and other for Pandavas.Template:Sfn Karna, in contrast, adopts the hawkish approach and becomes the first to suggest a direct confrontation in the form of the Kurukshetra war. He calls for "together we should slay the Pandavas" as the final solution. Karna persistently recommends violence and an all-out war, to settle things once and for all, by good brave warriors. Karna also accuses Bhisma and Drona as covetous materialists and dishonest in counselling Duryodhana with non-violent strategies.Template:Sfn Duryodhana has evil intentions and is a bad king, but it is Karna who fuels Duryodhana's ambitions and fights his battles.Template:Sfn
With Duryodhana, Karna is a key participant in insulting the Pandavas and Draupadi.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn He humiliates the Pandavas with his gift of speech and mocks Draupadi, then calls her a "whore" and asks Duhshasana to strip her off her clothes.Template:Sfn It is Karna's language and insults that hurt the Pandavas and Draupadi the most, a sentiment that is noted in numerous verses of the Mahabharata such as 3.13.113 and 5.93.11.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Yet, states the Mahabharata scholar Alf Hiltebeitel, "remarkably, Karna regrets his harsh words to Draupadi and Pandavas", in verse 5.139.45, where he confesses he spoke so to please Duryodhana.Template:Sfn
Conquests and defeatsEdit
Karna is portrayed in the Mahabharata as a skilled and valiant warrior, achieving several notable victories. One of his key successes was his defeat of Jarasandha, the powerful king of Magadha, during the swayamvara of the princess of Kalinga. Despite Jarasandha’s strength and reputation, Karna prevailed and, as a mark of respect, was gifted the territory of Malini by the defeated ruler. Additionally, Karna played a critical role during Duryodhana’s military campaigns, successfully defeating various kings like Drupada and Bhaggadatta and expanding the Kaurava domain.<ref name=":1" />
Karna also faced significant defeats that revealed his limitations. During the campaign against Drupada, launched as Gurudakshina for Drona, Karna and the Kauravas were unable to overcome Drupada’s forces. It was Arjuna who ultimately succeeded in capturing Drupada.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Another notable loss occurred during the Pandavas’ Rajasuya Yajna, when Karna refused an alliance with Bhima, leading to a direct confrontation. Although Karna resisted fiercely, Bhima ultimately defeated him, with Karna’s divine armor (Kavacha) and earrings (Kundala) preventing his death.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In the Gandharva episode during the Pandavas' exile, Karna fled from battle after Kauravas were captured by Chitrasena, the Gandharva king, after being defeated in battle.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Hostilities with the PandavasEdit
The relationship between Karna and the Pandavas, particularly Arjuna, were hostile.Template:Sfn The Mahabharata mentions Karna as the main challenger of Arjuna at sporting and skills competitions.Template:Sfn At martial sporting events, Arjuna and Karna were often equal,Template:Sfn though in his self-bragging style Karna once announced, states McGrath, that "he will perform any feat that Arjuna has accomplished and do it better".Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn
At the svayamvara competition of Draupadi, where she is expected to choose her husband, both Arjuna and Karna are present. Arjuna and his brothers, however, are disguised as mendicant Brahmins.Template:Sfn They use this false identity in exile because Duryodhana had attempted to kill them using various schemes, including burning the lacquer house – custom built for the Pandavas by Duryodhana – along with the forest while they were sleeping.Template:Sfn There are some variations regarding Karna's participation. Some renditions show Draupadi refusing to marry Karna on account of being a Sūta, while some other versions describe him failing to string the bow by the "breadth of a hair".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In the end, Arjuna succeeds in the task, However Karna objects that the competition is only meant for Kshatriyas, and Brahmins such as "the mendicant who just strung the bow" should not be competing for the hand of Draupadi, a Kshatriya bride. Duryodhana supports him. The gathered Kshatriyas too angrily support Karna, for they against the mixing of varna (here, Brahmin-Kshatriya marriage). Arjuna maintains his calm, continues to hide his true identity, insists that he is a "Brahmin who fight". Arjuna's accomplishments and calmness win Draupadi's heart. Draupadi picks Arjuna and awards the garland to him, signify that she chooses to marry the disguised-Brahmin Arjuna.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:RefnTemplate:Refn The varna-based discrimination and verbal insults on Arjuna, for lovely Draupadi's hand, one that Karna initiates at the time of Draupadi's svayamvara competition comes back to haunt him many times through angry Bhima and others who remind Karna that he is merely a suta-putra (son of a charioteer). Draupadi too never likes Karna thereafter.Template:Sfn
Karna fights and berates the Pandavas at the legendary gambling match during the royal consecration ritual. There, Karna uses the choicest words to insult Draupadi that takes the bitterness of Pandava for Karna to much more emotional level from what previously was a dispute about respective martial prowess.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn These are the sections of the epic when the Pandavas, Arjuna in particular, openly pledge to kill Karna.Template:Sfn Karna retaliates with words too, stating that Arjuna's death is so near that he will "not wash his feet until Arjuna is slain".Template:Sfn
Karna is not proud of his anger and outbursts. Later, in a quieter moment with Krishna such as in section 5.139.45, and to his lifelong friend Duryodhana in section 8.1.7, Karna confides he was wrong in insulting Draupadi and the Pandavas, it is his past karma that haunts him and is a source of his private suffering.Template:Sfn
Discovery of his biological motherEdit
Book 5 of the Mahabharata describes two meetings where Karna discovers information about his birth. The first meeting is with Krishna, the second where his biological mother Kunti comes to meet him for the first time.Template:Sfn
Krishna approaches Karna as an ambassador seeking to prevent violence and the war. Krishna starts by complimenting Karna for knowing "the Vedas and the subtlety of the dharmasastras". He then requests his support to end the cascading cycle of violence and war. Krishna tells Karna that Kunti is his biological mother and Pandavas are his half-brothers.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn In section 5.138 of the epic, according to McGrath, Krishna states, "by law, Karna should be considered as the eldest born of Pandavas", that he can use this information to become the king. Through his relationship to his mother Kunti, all Vrishnis on Krishna's side will also recognize him and be his tributary, he can be the emperor with power over everyone. Yudhisthira will hold the fan for him as he sits in the throne, Bhima his umbrella, and the common wife of the Pandavas – Draupadi too – says Krishna, may marry to him.Template:Refn after some time, were Karna to press his status as the eldest biological Pandava brother, end the war and rule the world.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn
Karna declines the offer. Karna replies that though he was born from Kunti, it was the wife of a charioteer "Radha who gave him love and sustenance", and that makes her his real mother.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Similarly, it is from the love and affection and "not scripture" that he knows Adhiratha to be his real father. He is already married, says Karna, he has two sons and now grandsons, all because his father Adhiratha helped him settle into his married life.Template:Sfn What matters most in life are the "bonds of love", according to Karna, and not power over the world. He shall betray no one, remain loyal to those who love him, including his friend Duryodhana, with whom he has been in allegiance for thirteen years. It is not "blood ties" that matter, but how someone treats you over a period of time that does. He made a promise to Duryodhana and he will keep it. It is his duty to fight Arjuna.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn
Krishna then went to Kunti and asked her to meet Karna and tell him that he is her first born son and the Pandavas were his brothers. Krishna left it to her to choose between Karna and her five other sons. Kunti then went to meet Karna, finds him praying. She waits. After he finished his prayers to Surya, Karna meets Kunti for the first time in his adult life. He greets her (he now already knows her to be his biological mother).Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn With folded hands, he introduces himself as the son of Radha and Adhiratha, and inquires about the purpose of her visit. Kunti then confesses that he is her firstborn. Surya also appears and confirms Kunti's story, and suggests that he follow her.Template:Sfn<ref>Template:Cite bookTemplate:Full citation needed</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Karna says that though he may have been the firstborn, he never received the affection or care from her as the firstborn. "You discarded me", says Karna to Kunti, "you destroyed me in a way that no enemy could ever do to him".Template:Sfn It is too late. He reiterates that he loves the parents who raised him, they love him, and he will remain loyal to his lifelong relationships. No one should abandon those who give respect and affection, says Karna in these Mahabharata verses. The war momentum shall continue and he aims to kill Arjuna. Karna promised to Kunti that he will not kill any of his other four half-brothers, but either "Arjuna or I" shall die and she can still say she has five sons just as she did all her life.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn
After these developments and pondering on Karna's life choices, the divine Krishna, as well as a host of Mahabharata heroes, in private and after his death, honour Karna as a satpurusha (lit. "a true, honest, good man") and "the best among those who understand and uphold the dharma".Template:Sfn
Role in Kurukshetra WarEdit
Karna was born with aspects of his divine father Surya – the earrings and armour breastplate – that made him an immortal at birth. However, despite being warned, Karna prefers to lose these natural gifts in order to uphold his reputation as the one who always gives dāna (charity), particularly to Brahmins, as being more important than his own life.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn
As the battle-to-death between Karna and Arjuna becomes certain, Kunti – the mother of both, faints and later weeps in sorrow that her boys are bent on killing each other. In parallel, Arjuna's brothers and Indra – the father of Arjuna and a major Vedic deity – plan ways to make Karna mortal.Template:Sfn Surya meets Karna and warns him of Indra's plan to appear disguised as a Brahmin to divest him of his earrings and breastplate, and thereby his immortality. Karna disregards this warning and says that if the king of gods Indra comes to beg before him, and if he charitably gives to Indra, it will bring him "renown and fame", then argues that "fame is more important to him than anything else".Template:Sfn Indra appears as predicted, and Karna cuts his birthmarks of immortality with a knife, and gives the blood-soaked donation to disguised-as-a-Brahmin Indra. The leader of gods in return praises him and gives him a missile that can only be used once and will kill any mortal or immortal.Template:Sfn
Karna keeps the Indra's missile in reserve since it could only be used once, and aims to kill Arjuna with it. By the thirteenth day of the Mahabharata war, numerous soldiers, kings, brothers and sons of Kauravas (Karna's side) and Pandavas (Arjuna's side) had been killed, many by foul means.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The war had entered a brutal stage, according to the Mahabharata verses in sections 7.150–156. On the fourteenth day, Arjuna took revenge of his own son's death, while Bhima and his son Ghatotkacha wreaked havoc on numerous Kaurava battalions. The war that previously started after sunrise and stopped at sunset, did not stop on the fourteenth day's sunset as both armies continued a ferocious war to kill each other.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Bhima's son Ghatotkacha had a rakshasha lineage, and his powers of illusion to confuse the enemies grew to enormous proportions as the war dragged deeper into the fifteenth night.Template:Sfn Duryodhana and Karna's Kaurava friends plead that they are finished unless Karna does whatever it takes to kill Ghatotkacha. Karna hurls the "Indra missile" to kill Ghatotkacha. Karna thus saves his reputation among his soldiers, launches the missile and kills Ghatotkacha. Duryodhana and Kaurava army rejoice with the death of Bhima's son Ghatotkacha, but now Karna had exhausted the weapon that gave him an advantage over Arjuna.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn
DeathEdit
As the second last day of the war and Karna's day of death dawns, Karna asks Duryodhana to convince king Shalya to be his charioteer since he plans to kill Arjuna that day. The South Indian king considers it below his dignity to be a mere charioteer and starts insulting Karna, who retaliates with words. Duryodhana intervenes, praises both, presses Shalya to guide the chariot for the critical battle.Template:Sfn Ultimately Shalya agrees. Since all previous commanders of Duryodhana had been killed, he anoints Karna as the senapati (commander of all his forces) for the first time. Karna and Shalya head into the battlefield together, though they keep insulting each other's abilities and intent, lack mutual devotion and teamwork.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Together they reach Arjuna with Krishna. They battle that day, each showing his martial skills of attack as well as his ability to neutralize all weapons that reach their chariot.Template:Sfn Then, the wheel of Karna's chariot gets stuck in the ground. Karna steps out of his chariot and is distracted while trying to unstick it. Arjuna – whose own son was killed by the Kauravas a day ago while he was trying to unstick his chariot's wheel – takes this moment to launch the fatal attack. Karna dies.Template:SfnTemplate:Refn
Marital lifeEdit
{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} The Mahabharata provides scarce information on Karna's marital life. In the Udyoga Parva, it is mentioned that he married a Suta woman chosen by Adhiratha. She is later referenced in the Stri Parva as the mother of Vrishasena and Sushena, the two most prominent sons of Karna.Template:Sfn Marital details of Karna's life are expanded and reimagined in later adaptations of the Mahabharata.
In the modern day version of the Mahabharata, nine sons of Karna are mentioned—Vrishasena, Chitrasena, Satyasena, Sushena, Shatrunjaya, Dvipata, Banasena, Prasena and Vrishaketu.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn
Themes and symbolismEdit
Vedic and Indo-European parallelismEdit
The Karna-Arjuna story has parallels in the Vedic literature and may have emerged from these more ancient themes. According to McGrath, the Vedic mythology is loaded with the legendary and symbolism-filled conflict between Surya (sun) and Indra (clouds, thunder, rain).Template:Sfn Indra cripples Surya in the Vedic mythology by detaching his wheel, while Arjuna kills Karna while he tries to fix the wheel that is stuck in the ground.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn As another example of parallels, Surya too has a birth mother (Night) who abandons him in the Vedic texts and he too considers his adoptive mother (Dawn) who raises him to his bright self as the true mother just like Karna.Template:Sfn This idea was first discussed by the philologist Georges Dumézil, who remarked that similar mythology and details are found in other ancient Indo-European stories.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn
Karna resembles various famous characters found in Hindu texts. The attributed author of Mahabharata, the sage Vyasa, was also born from an unwed union of Satyavati and sage Parashara.Template:Sfn German Indologist Georg von Simson states that Karna of the Mahabharata resembles Kumbhakarna of the Ramayana, the demon brother of the main antagonist Ravana of the epic Ramayana in their powers to sway the war. Both Karna and Kumbhakarna did not take part in the great wars of their respective epics at the start.Template:Sfn
Scholars internationally have also drawn parallels with various European mythologies. Karna's kavacha (breastplate armour) has been compared with that of Achilles's Styx-coated body and with Irish warrior Ferdiad's skin that could not be pierced. He has been compared to the Greek mythological part divine, part human character Achilles on various occasions as they both have divine powers but lack corresponding status.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn
Dharma-ethicsEdit
Dharma is a complex concept in the Indian religions. It is not an atomistic or compartmentalized concept, rather incorporates "ways of living, ways of seeing and ways of relating to life's ultimate issues", according to Matilal.Template:Sfn Of those issues, ones relating to right or wrong behaviour, duties, rights, and expectations from others are the domain of dharma-ethics.Template:Sfn Karna's story raises the dharma-ethics questions both while Karna acts in the epic as well as after his death.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn These questions arise with the circumstances related to his birth and through his death. Karna chooses loyalty to his lifelong friend and "good policy based on his heart" to be of higher value than accepting Krishna's recommendation that he switch sides and become the king as the eldest son of Kunti based on dharmasastras.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn According to Gurcharan Das, the character of Karna in the ancient Hindu epic suggests a social debate between "inherited status" and "deserved status", a debate that remains relevant to the contemporary times.Template:Sfn Das writes,
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Karna, like the other heroes in the Mahabharata, forces us to look at ourselves and at our frailties. When Karna is not allowed to train in weaponry because he is a suta, it makes one ask, ’What if my child had been denied entry into college because of her birth?’ [...] We want them [our children] to feel secure and confident about their position. We want them to be treated with respect as equals. The Mahabharata is not content simply to point out the weaknesses of human beings. It criticizes society's flaws. It raises the question whether a person's social position should be defined by birth or by some other criterion, such as accomplishment of some sort. [...] Karna challenges their traditional understanding of dharma – as inherited status – and offers a new notion of dharma as deserved status.
Karna has to be 'the wrong person in the wrong place' – this is what Karna symbolizes to many minds today. Life may have been unfair to Karna but he rises above pity. Despite his flaws we admire him. {{#if:Gurcharan Das, The Difficulty of Being Good: On the Subtle Art of DharmaTemplate:Sfn (abridged)|{{#if:|}}— {{#if:|, in }}Template:Comma separated entries}}
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Circumstances and subjective moralityEdit
As the Karna story unfolds, similar to other stories in epic,Template:Sfn it raises moral dilemmas. With each dilemma, the Mahabharata presents various sides and shades of answers through the characters. According to Bimal Matilal, the characters face a "choice between irreconcilable obligations", between two good or two poor choices, where complex circumstances must be considered. These circumstances make the evaluation of the choices complicated and a decision difficult, subjective.Template:Sfn When circumstances lead to a conflict between two choices that are both right in their own premises, then following one duty becomes "contrary to the duty according to the other". Under these circumstances, there is an inherent subjective weighing of one moral duty against another.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn
According to the Mahabharata, human conflicts such as those illustrated through Karna-Arjuna conflict are inherently complicated and come with circumstantial depth. During violence and war, where all sides are motivated in part by their own beliefs in what constitutes righteousness, coupled with anger, frustration, and fear, the circumstances are ever more complex, actions irreversible, choices difficult. The choices made by Karna and his opponents must then be reflected upon both in terms of the circumstances and the mesh of multiple relative goods or bads, by characters each with different combinations of human strengths and weaknesses.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn
According to the Indologist Adam Bowles, while the Hindu Arthashastra text presents an objective analysis of situations, its dharmasutras, dharmasastras and the epics attempt to deal with the more complex, subjective scenarios of life.Template:Sfn The dharma, according to the Mahabharata and as Karna's story illustrates, is sukshma (subtle) and subjective to circumstances.Template:Sfn According to Julian Woods, these stories suggest that the difficulty is not really between "dharma and adharma", but rather "conflict between different dharmas". No act, states Woods, on this earth "is wholly good or wholly bad".Template:Sfn
Human behaviourEdit
Karna and other characters in the Mahabharata, like all human beings, combine a spectrum of good and bad behaviour, intentions and deeds. According to Das, all of the epic's characters including Karna do good deeds, foul deeds, and they are "ineradicable mixture of good and evil".Template:Sfn With the assistance of Karna, Duryodhana plotted many evil plans against the Pandavas.<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia Template:ODNBsub</ref> Similarly, the Pandavas use foul means in an attempt to win a war, and Arjuna sets aside the Hindu behavioural code for "just war" when Karna becomes defenceless and distracted by his chariot's stuck wheel.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn
According to the Mahabharata scholar Sukthankur, as quoted by Indologist Adarkar, there are apparent contradictions in Karna's character.Template:Sfn His behaviour reflects a "frustration complex" that makes sense in light of the circumstances of his birth and early life. Karna is a mirror with "insights into human nature" and how circumstances have the ability to shape human behaviour and one's personality. Karna is not evil, just a misfit or a rebel, an inspiring character if viewed from one set of values and an abnormal character from another set of values. Other characters in the epic, on both sides, present behaviour conflicted hues of human behaviour in difficult circumstances.Template:Sfn Karna is cruel in some situations such as against Draupadi, a behaviour he himself regrets in the pages of the Mahabharata.Template:Sfn To the victim Draupadi, it was a violence she would never forget nor live with, and Karna's personal regrets did not balance out her sexual humiliation in public. The reader and epic's audience can empathize with his psychology, as well as the psychology and the counter-behaviour of his victims.Template:Sfn
According to Adarkar, the Karna story also illustrates a different paradigm, one that transcends the Oedipal theories and evolutionary models of human behaviour.Template:Sfn The Karna narrative resonates deeply with some in part because of his "heroic steadfastness" (dhirata), being comfortable with who he is, his beliefs and acting according to his dharma rather than being someone who evolves and changes as he studies martial arts, or because of Krishna's advice, or Kunti's confession that Karna is her firstborn. He refuses to wear "Emperor's New Clothes", states Adarkar, and thus "being revealed as a fraud" and ever-adapting to new psychological garb.Template:Sfn He loves the parents who adopted him, he loves his friends and heritage. Karna exemplifies a personality that does not "discard identity after identity, but rather one who thrives by accepting and steadfastly hanging on to a meaningful identity".Template:Sfn A more modern era example of Karna-like human behaviour was in Mahatma Gandhi, who "after getting well-educated in a British law school and gaining international experience", steadfastly felt more empowered to embrace his heritage and culture rather than abandon or transcend it.Template:Sfn
Flawed, tragic heroEdit
Karna is the flawed tragic hero of the Mahabharata.Template:Sfn He is martially adept and equal to Arjuna as a warrior, a gifted speaker who embeds provocative insults for his opponents in front of an audience.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn He does the right thing (dharma) yet is cruel and mean (adharma). He never questions the ethics of his lifelong friend Duryodhana rather conspires and abets in Duryodhana's quest for power through the abuse of his opponents.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn He complains of "dharma failed him" on the day of his death, yet in his abuse of Draupadi, he himself ignores the dharma. He is a victim of his circumstances beyond his choosing, as much as the cause of circumstances that victimize other flawed heroes of the epic. His life story raises compassion, sorrow with an impending sense of destruction and fear (phobos and eleos) in the audience, as any good tragic drama.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn According to the Indologist Daniel Ingalls, the Karna character refutes the "bon mot that Indian poets knew no tragedy" before the colonial British introduced European literature to the Indians. Karna, and many Rajput ballads, are clearly tragedies in the Aristotlean and Elizabethan sense, states Ingalls.Template:Sfn
According to Julian Woods, Karna is a "tragic antihero" of the epic. He is both generous to the Brahmins yet arrogant and cruel to the Pandavas. He bitterly opposes the Pandavas and is the pillar of support to the Kauravas, yet as he nears his fatal battle, he is also willing to accept his mistakes and recognize the good in Yudhisthira and the Pandavas he opposes.Template:Sfn
Secondary literatureEdit
The Karna story has been retold and adapted into drama, plays and dance performances in India and southeast Asia. These versions vary significantly from each other as well as the Mahabharata manuscript.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn
LiteratureEdit
Rabindranath Tagore wrote a poem, "Karna Kunti Sangbad" based on the meeting of Karna and Kunti before the war.Template:Sfn Karna also has been topic of various contemporary literary works. The Marathi books of Radheya (1973) authored by Ranjit Desai and Mrityunjay (1967) authored by Shivaji Sawant bring forth a fictionalized account of Karna's private and personal life.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Sawant also received Moortidevi Award, instituted by Bharatiya Jnanpith, for his work<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and was translated into nine languages.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Ramdhari Singh Dinkar in 1978 published an epic poem Rashmirathi (translation: One who rides the Chariot of light, 1952) which narrates Karna's life. The poem has later also been adapted as a play.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In popular cultureEdit
- Shyam Benegal's 1981 film Kalyug adapted the Mahabharat as a conflict between rival business houses with Shashi Kapoor playing Karan, the character based on Karna.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
- Rajinikanth played a character based on Karna in the 1991 Kollywood film Thalapathi. The theme of the film is based on the friendship between Karna and Duryodhana.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
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- Ajay Devgan played a character based on Karna in the 2010 Bollywood film Raajneeti.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
- South Indian film actor Mohanlal performed Karna on the stage in Karnabharam, a Sanskrit play that was premiered in New Delhi in 2001 as part of the Bharat Rang Mahotsav directed by Kavalam Narayana Panicker. The play depicts Karna's mental agony a day before the Kurukshetra War, as he thinks about his past and his faith.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
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- Bala Devi Chandrashekar plays the character of Karna in the 2015 Bharatanatyam production Karna – Destiny's Child.Template:Citation needed
Film and televisionEdit
NotesEdit
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ReferencesEdit
BibliographyEdit
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