Karna’s Death

Mahabharata has many stories and many heroes. Some of the stories have been narrated to us from ages and are imbibed into our beliefs. However, there are a few stories that have lost the attention even though they have carried enormous amount of knowledge and meaning for all of us.

One such story is of the greatest warrior Karna. Karna’s archery skills were as illustrious as his teacher Parashurama and other students of his teacher – Bhishma and Dronacharya. Having learnt the art of war from Parashurama himself, he was second to none. His skills were noted even by Bhishma and Sri Krishna. He was acknowledged as undefeatable and surpassed Arjuna on many counts except one – Sri Krishna’s closeness. Along with being a great warrior he was a great man of principles too. Devotion and principles were just as great assets to himself as his weapons.

It was his devotion to his friendship that made him stand in the court of Hastinapur when Draupadi was disrobed. An act, that Karna regretted throughout his life. It was his devotion that kept him on the side of Duryodhana, despite all his wrongdoings and knowing that Pandavas were his brothers. At his death, Kunti and Sri Krishna told Pandavas to pay respect to their elder brother Karna.

Arjuna cried asked for forgiveness from Karna’s wife Uruvi and requested to perform the list rites for his brother. Uruvi, then asked Arcjuna not to mourn or repent for killing Karna for he was killed at least 6 times before Arjuna. Let’s see how -

 

Guru Parashurama’s curse

Once Parashurama rested in the forest keeping his head in Karna’s lap. At that time a bee started to bite and probe into Karna’s thigh. He sat unnerved even when the bee kept drilling him so as not to disturb his teacher’s sleep. When Parashuram woke up and saw the lacerating wound on Karna’s thigh, he became angry for Karna having hidden his identity of being Kshatriya or the warrior class as others are incapable of bearing such pain. He cursed Karna that he would forget all his knowledge just at the time he needed it most.

 

Angry Brahmin’s curse on killing of his cow

Once Karna was practicing his archery skills and shooting upon the slightest of sounds. During his practice, he mistakenly killed a brahmin’s old wailing cow. The Brahmin cursed Karna that just as his cow was helpless when she died, he shall be helpless at the time of his death.

 

Mother Earth’s curse

Once Karna saw a young girl crying in the village market. Upon asking she told that she was to buy ghee or vegetable oil and take it home. However, the pot fell down and the ghee was impure now. Even when Karna offered to buy a new pot, she insisted on the same impure ghee to be taken home. Karna then took the ghee from the ground and squeezed it hard to remove the impurities. The girl was happy to get what she wanted. But then Karna heard another woman’s gurgled cry. Upon opening the palms of his hand, he saw the mother earth or Bhudevi being strangled through his squeeze. She then cursed Karna that she shall squeeze hold him and he would be stuck in the earth sometime.

 

Indra stripping Karna of his kavacha and kundala

It is well known that Karna was the son of the Sun or Surya. While Arjun was the son of Indra. Karna was born with an undefeatable armor and earrings as gift from Sun god which protected him from all evil. When it was inevitable that Krana and Arjuna would see each other in duel and there would only be one survivor, Indra plotted to strip Karna of his armor and earrings. A man of principles and generosity, Karna never allowed anyone to return empty-handed from his home in the morning. Indra disguised as a Brahmin visited him just then and asked for the gifts from the Sun god. Despite being warned by the sun, Karna did not deviate from his principles and gave what the Brahmin asked for. And thus he became vulnerable to Arjuna’s weapons.

 

Kunti’s love for her son

Kunti was Karna and the rest of Pandava’s mother. However she hid the fact of Karna’s birth all the time to save her own skin. When the Mahabharata war was inevitable and Karna was identified as an undefeatable warrior on the Kaurava side, she went upto Karna and told him the story of his birth. Karna always had a soft corner for his mother and always wanted her to accept as her child. He wanted to tell the world that he was indeed a warrior class and not a shudra. In his love for Kunti, he promised that Kunti shall always have 5 sons and he would not harm anyone but Arjuna. Thus at the end of the war either he or Arjuna shall be the survivors.

This was a great promise from Karna to Kunti. Apparently, this was not enough for Kunti. She also took another promise from Karna – possibly the most dreaded one. She asked him never to use the same weapon twice. Thus even when he was gaining an upper hand at Arjuna, he could not use his godly weapons as his promise to Kunti prevented him.

 

Shalya’s role

Shalya was a great charioteer. He was in fact a master of horses. He was also Nakul and Sahdev’s maternal uncle under whose supervision, Nakul became a great horseman. Shalya never wanted to be charioteer to Karna considering him to have born in the lower caste. Upon insistence from Duryodhana, he accepted the job half-heartedly. He was supposed to be equal to Krishna’s skills in guiding the chariot. Even though, Shalya admired Karna’s devotion to his friend, war principles and bravery he refused to help when Karna’s chariot was stuck in the earth during the final battle.

All the six anecdotal stories exemplify one super power above everything – destiny. We all try our best and do our best too. But, sometimes it is not enough. Call it “Karma” or “destiny” or “god’s will” there is something beyond which controls and overpowers everything. What is it?