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Tag: mythology

  • Reflections on Mahabharata: Part – I: A few thoughts on Karna

    There is no other religious text that I have read about more than Mahabharata. In my view, it is an indelible spiritual gift from India to the world. I still vividly remember the profound book, “The Essence of Bhagavad Gita“, written by Swami Kriyananda, which I bought and read in the year 2008. Beyond just making an earnest effort to comprehend the intricacies of this “longest epic poem in the world” encompassing life’s infinite depth in the written textual form, I have watched adaptations of Mahabharata in its visual form as well. From watching B.R Chopra’s masterpiece umpteen number of times, to watching the captivating episodes on this subject as depicted in “Bharat Ek Khoj”, I have had the opportunity to approach this eternal work on human life and behavior as a sincere student.

    As with any other subject or aspect in life, if one continually inquires about it, he starts to formulate an opinion about it. So is my case with Mahabharata. I have always been intrigued by its characters and how they relate to us in the contemporary times. Of all the characters in this intense and soul touching literary work , one that has ignited my thoughts the most is the mystical yet dramatic character of Karna. Here are some of my perspectives:

    The greatest “Warrior” of his time: Around the final stages of the eighteen day war, when Duryodhana, exhausted and in sorrow, entered the “Dwaipayana Lake”, Yudhishthira ridicules him and challenges him to come out of the lake and face his fate. At the very moment, Krishna discourses with the Pandavas that had Indra not taken Karna’s impenetrable armor and his earrings (in my view , this was an act of deceit), his death was impossible. Legend says that no weapon could pierce Karna’s armor (Kavacha) and even a “Divyastra” would bow to it and return back. It is also believed that his earring’s (Kundalas) made him invincible.

    Now it is generally argued that Arjuna was the greatest archer of his time. I find a lot of merit in the argument that Arjuna was indeed the man of focus and among the greatest warriors in Mahabharata. But was he better than Karna? I doubt. People sometimes cite “Virata war” where Arjuna injured Karna from the arrows of his divine “Gandiva” bow. However, it is a fact that Karna (and it is believed that at the time of this conflict, he did not had his celestial “Vijaya” bow given to him by his guru, Parshurama)also pierced the chest of Arjuna with his thirteen arrows.

    The last argument to build my first point of view is the conversation between Krishna and Arjuna just before the beginning of the war. When Krishna returns to Pandavas camp after deciding the “rules of engagement” and Arjuna asks him what took him so long, Krishna answers that he met with the people he likes and that included Karna. Arjuna, on hearing this, bursts in anger (and aguish) and asks back “why did you had to go to that son of a charioteer?”. Hearing this, Krishna silences Arjuna by pointing out that Karna is the only warrior who has an arrow in his quiver which makes him worried for Arjuna’s safety.

    Based on this, I opine that even the “Lord” himself knew that even Arjuna could not defeat Karna, especially in a fair one to one duel. No wonder, both Krishna and Kunti made several attempts to “buy” out this first Pandavas and to break up with Duryodhana.

    An eternal optimist: There is a famous incident from the war when Shalya becomes the charioteer of Karna. He constantly aims to peel off courage from Karna mindset like someone slowly and effectively peels off the skin of an onion. Whether it be Bhishma Pitamah, Guru Dronacharya, Parshuram, Draupadi or the Pandavas, there is not even a single “great soul” who does not flings insults on Karna and attempts to bring down his morale. Even after all these slights and multiple curses on him, he never looses faith in his ability and skill. In the entire treatise of Mahabharata, if there is one personality that does not knows the meaning of dejection and pessimism, even though being target of incessant affronts, it is Karna.

    Moral grounding: Last year, I wrote an article titled “How righteous was karna“. In that article I argued that when it comes to morality and depravity, Karna was as righteous and as villainous as the Pandavas. If he hurled insults on Draupadi during the game of dice, she was also the one who rejected Karna during the “swayamvar” (Bride- choosing ceremony) just on the basis that he was not a “Kshatriya” (of warrior class). Is it not tantamount to practicing inequality and discrimination? Well, it may be argued that it was Krishna himself who signaled Draupadi to reject Karna, but there are other cases where arrogance of Draupadi have been documented in the epic. And what about Yudhishthira who gambled away his wife? Yes, the Pandavas did pay the price for that, but so did Karna for his acts of vices.

    My stance here is that Karna was as moral and as immoral as any other character in the scripture. Even during the war, besides Bhishma Pitamah, there was no other chief military commander whose conduct was as ethical as Karna. His pulling back his arrow to his quiver (which could have otherwise killed Arjuna) after the sunset is another example in this context.

    There is a famous saying from Rishi Vyasa about Karna when he meets him during Rajasuya Yagna of King Yudhishthira. The prime sage adorns Karna with respect by saying that there is no one in all the three “lokas” (world’s) who does not knows this great warrior.

  • How righteous was Karna?

    Mahabharata is considered to be the longest written poem in the world. The nucleus of it is “Bhagwat Gita” which provides deep reflections on how one should conduct his life. However, unlike millions of Hindus, I do not consider Mahabharata to be a work of history. For me it is a mythology. I don’t deny that the events described in this great epic never occurred but I do not accept the folklore surrounding it. Kurukshetra war might have happened and the characters might have existed too , but I do not buy the supernatural events encompassing it.

    Whether Mahabharata is a work of history or mythology is a discussion for another time, but I have been inspired by many of its characters throughout my life. The “folk tale” contains several situations that one can relate to in their own lives. It is a saga of triumph, of loss, of malign, of love, of virtues and of frivolous decisions made by “great men” of those times.

    One character that stands out and grabs my attention is that of Karna. People usually consider him as someone doomed by destiny who had to align with the “evil” Duryodhana. Was he righteous in his conduct? Did his actions earned him a place in the “Heaven” as the mythology states? I think he had his share of mistakes and “immoral” conduct, but before concluding that Karna had an “evil frame of mind”, one has to think in context of the circumstances in which those vices were committed.

    Abandoned by Kunti, he was raised by his foster parents, Radheya and Adhiratha. He was rejected by Dronacharya who refused to take him as his disciple on the grounds that he was not a “Kshatriya” (or Warrior). He eventually got trained by Parshurama, who cursed him that all the learnings that he got from him would be rendered useless when he needs them the most. The reason behind this curse was that Parshurama thought that Karna had hidden his real identity from him and got the training in a clandestine manner.

    Karna’s misfortune does not ends there. He was also cursed by a “Brahmin” that on the most decisive battle of his life, the wheel’s of his chariot would be submerged in the ground and the “demon of fear” will surround him from all sides. To add to his adversity, Indra, the God of rain visited him at a time when he granted people with anything they asked from him. Indra, disguised as a Brahmin, deceived him and took away his divine armor and his earrings. This armor had the power to protect Karna from any divine weapon and his earrings gave him strength of an elephant. Krishna, the Hindu deity, mentions it himself that had Indra not taken the armor and earrings from Karna, his defeat was impossible.

    Despite of all these maledictions, he never left hope and is known as an epitome of valor. Many do argue that he insulted Draupadi during the infamous game of dice and that he also joined Duryodhana in slaying the young and armless warrior Abhimanyu. These make him as much a partner in crime as Duryodhana. I would argue that albeit these instances cannot be refuted and hold merit to some degree, one also has to understand the venomous slangs thrown by Draupadi on Karna.

    During the “Swayamvar” of Draupadi, Karna contested for her hand along with other princely warriors including Arjuna. Karna was the first one to lift up the Bow and knot its string but was “brazenly” rejected by Draupadi on the grounds that he was a “Sootputra” (son of a Charioteer) and not eligible for her garland. On another occasion, the “arrogant” Draupadi insulted Duryodhana by calling her “Andhe ka Putra Andha”, which means blind son of a blind man. Despite this, he was thoughtful enough to question and object Duryodhana and his wicked uncle Shakuni for their treacherous means of killing Pandavas. It was his unwavering commitment to Duryodhana that made him offend Draupadi during the game of Dice. All these, along with Yudhishthira’s intoxication with the game of dice laid the foundations for the battle of Kurukshetra.

    Karna was a dedicated friend, a wise ruler of the kingdom of Anga, and embodied all the great virtuous of Pandavas. Even Krishna himself appreciated and praised Karna on many occasions. He had a soft corner for karna and said at one point before the battle that if he wished, he would want karna to never fight the battle since it was only him who had the “astras” or the weapons to defeat Arjuna.

    So was Karna righteous? I would say he was as righteous and as villainous as the Pandavas.