KARNA is one of the most fascinating characters of Mahabharata, the longest Sanskrit epic written two millennium ago. Besides being an invincible warrior he was known for his generosity.

Karna was the son of Kunti from the Sun God. The story is that Kunti, while still very young, had occasion to serve Rishi (sage) Durvasa. She looked after him with great dedication. Durvasa was highly pleased. He gave Kunti a mantra (chant) and said that whichever God she would think of after reciting the mantra, would appear before her and bless her with a son endowed with his own godly qualities.

As the son of the Sun God he had received a kavach and a Kundal (armor and earrings). He had a boon that he couldn’t be vanquished as long as he wore them. (Indra tricked him to take these away, but that’ll come later in the story.)

The second factor that caused his death was the curse by Parshurama. Karna had gone to him for learning archery and related war related skills. Parshurama taught only Brahmins, and Karna being a Kshatriya had to lie to get his training. Under Parshurama he learnt a variety of skills, including the supreme weapon Brahmastra. One afternoon Parshurama was having a nap on Karna’s lap a bee bit Karna. Karna, not wanting to wake his guru didn’t react and endured the pain. Parshurama was eventually woken when he felt the blood tricking from Karna’s wound. He concluded that Karna couldn’t possibly be a Brahmin, since it was impossible for a Brahmin to endure such pain and not react. Enraged that his lessons had been acquired through deceit, he cursed Karna that he would forget how to use the Brahmastra when he most needed it.

The third factor was the curse by the Earth Goddess. Karna once happened to meet a child who had spilled her pot of ghee [Purified Indian butter]. He tried consoling the child and even offered her new ghee, but the child refused to take it, insisting that she wanted the same ghee. Feeling pity for the kid, Karna picked the soil on which the ghee was spilled, and squeezed it hard so that only the pure ghee went in. The child got her ghee but the force that Karna used was so enormous that it hurt the Earth Goddess. In an act of vengeance she cursed Karna, saying that his wheel of his chariot would get trapped in muck during a very critical part of the war.

Then comes the part where Karna loses the Kavach Kundal and earns the Indrastra. As mentioned earlier, Karna had the kavach Kundal which made him virtually immortal. Knowing that Karan would eventually encounter Arjun in the war, Krishna wanted to take these powers away from Karna. So he asked Indra to come disguised as a beggar and ask for the kavach and Kundal. On hearing about the Gods conspiring against his son, Surya (Karna’s father) appeared in his dream and warned him about Indra coming as a beggar to take his protection. However charity was Karna’s very nature. So despite the warning, and knowing fully well that giving them up would lead to his death, he willingly gave them up when Indra came to ask for them. Impressed by his generosity, Indra gave him the Indrastra, which could kill anyone it hit, but could only be used once.

Then comes the part where he had to ‘waste’ his Indrastra on Ghatotkacha (Bhima’s son) [Karna had saved it to use on Arjun]. It was the thirteenth day of Kurukshetra war, and the war had proceeded well into the night. Ghatotkacha had almost annihilated the Kauravas army. (Being a half asura his powers increased at night). In a desperate move, Karna had to use the Indrastra to kill Ghatotkacha. Krishna is believed to have danced in joy on hearing about Ghatotkachs’s death, since it meant that Karna couldn’t use the Indrastra on Arjun.

The Story of Karna Death Mahabharata - Karna and Arjun

In his final battle against Arjun all these factors came together. His chariot got stuck in the mud. He tried to use the Brahmastra, but due to Parashurama’s curse forgot how to use it. He didn’t have the Indrastra since he had used it on Ghatotkacha. As he got down to fix the wheel he requested Arjuna to stop the battle. (In lieu of general war etiquette.) However Krishna coaxed Arjun to continue the attack stating that Karna had broken the war etiquettes during the attack against Abhimanyu (Arjun’s son).

On the seventeenth day of battle the two foes faced each other once more. The warriors on the battlefield and the devas in heaven watched the battle in speechless amazement and terrified admiration of the strength and skill of these greatest of warriors. Karna cut the string of Arjuna’s bow many times. As the battle intensified, Arjuna pushed back Karna’s chariot 10 steps backward every time by the energy of the arrows, but Karna was only able to push Arjuna’s chariot 2 steps backward. Seeing this Lord Krishna praised Karna and admired the skill of Karna. When questioned by Arjuna, Krishna said it is impossible for any human ever to push his chariot backwards because the chariot of Arjuna contains both Hanuman and Krishna, thus holding the entire weight of the universe. Even pushing it back two feet was an impossible task.

The epic states that initially, the battle was even between the two foes, but then Karna’s chariot wheel was trapped in the mud as a result of the curse he received earlier from a Brahmin. He still defended himself, but at the crucial moment forgot the incantations to invoke Brahma Astra, as a result of his Guru Bhagwan Parshuram‘s curse. Karna got down from his chariot to free the wheel and asked Arjuna to pause, reminding him of the etiquette of war. But Krishna reminded Arjuna of Karna’s cruelties – Draupadi’s insult and Abhimanyu’s death among them, and the enraged Arjuna attacked Karna while he was trying to lift his sunken chariot wheel. Karna defended himself and invoked Rudraastra, hitting Arjuna on his chest. Swooning, Arjuna lost his grip on his Gandiva, which fell down from his hand for the first. Following the rules of engagement of war, Karna did not try to kill the unconscious Arjuna but instead tried to utilize the time in extracting the wheels of his chariot.

Arjuna recovered and using the Anjalika weapon, decapitated the weaponless Karna, who was still trying to lift the sunken chariot wheel. Though it was highly forbidden according to the rules of engagement of the war to attack a weaponless warrior or to attack an enemy from the back, Arjuna attacked Karna from the back and killed him as suggested by Krishna. It was later revealed that Karna could be killed only when all the 3 curses acted together upon him, and this made Krishna employ deceit to kill Karna.

In other versions of the epic, when Arjuna used the Anjalika Astra on the weaponless Karna, Krishna found that Karna was still alive even though seriously wounded. Krishna found that Dharma-devata, the goddess responsible for protecting Dharma, was guarding Karna from death and resisting every arrows sent by Arjuna. Krishna explained to Arjuna that the Dharma-devata herself was protecting Karna from death because of the massive good merit Karna earned by giving charity during his lifetime and it was impossible even for Lord Shiva to kill Karna. Krishna said wherever Dharma is present there is victory and this time Dharma was with the side of Karna. So Krishna went down from his chariot and appeared as a Brahmin and asked for Karna’s punya or merit to him as charity. Karna gave his entire merits as charity to the Brahmin in the form of his blood and once Karna gifted his life’s merit to him, Krishna rewarded Karna with the view of Krishna’s Vishwaroopa. Krishna told that only this way it was possible to kill Karna and when Karna gave away his life’s merit to Krishna, Dharma-devata disappeared. Karna asked Krishna to cremate him in a virgin land where nobody else is present. Then Krishna went back to his chariot and asked Arjuna to take the kill shot on Karna.

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