Karna The Unsung Hero of the Mahabharata

by Kotru, Umesh

  Karna, addressing Duryodhana in a stern voice said, “Friend, what has happened to you? Don’t you realise that the Pandavas have not done any favour to you. It is the duty of every subject of a kingdom to protect their king and the Pandavas have only done their duty. In a war often the leader of an army gets captured by the opponents and many times some ordinary soldiers manage to rescue him. That does not mean that the leader should feel humiliated about it. Please overcome your remorse and let us all return to Hastinapura cheerfully.” Shakuni also added, “Son, whatever Karna has just spoken is true. Please give up your resolve to fast unto death and do as he said”.

  Duryodhana was in no mood to oblige and he refused to reconsider his position. As a result everybody decided to stay put at the spot till Duryodhana would change his mind. As a result, all of them spent the night at that very place. Next morning Karna was the first to reason with Duryodhana again. He said, “Friend, your death will serve no purpose. A dead man can achieve nothing. We have lot of unfinished work to complete. I apologise for running away and leaving you without support in the fight against the Gandharvas. I was badly injured and had to retire for my safety. Today I take a vow in front of you to kill Arjuna in battle. Now, please cheer up and let us go back to our palace.” These words of Karna provided solace to Duryodhana and he gave up the idea of committing suicide. The entire group then returned to Hastinapura.

  Back in Hastinapura, when everybody was gathered in the court of King Dhritarashtra, Bhishma rebuked Duryodhana for planning the rash adventure which resulted in their defeat at the hands of the Gandharvas and loss of many lives. He was particularly harsh with Karna and said, “This Suta Putra could not protect you from the Gandharvas. On the other hand, Arjuna whom he considers his rival could easily secure your release. Karna does not possess even a quarter of the valour and skills possessed by Arjuna. He only knows to brag about his ability which amounts to nothing.”

  This angered Karna a lot. Addressing Duryodhana he said, “Friend, in order to prove my capabilities, I will proceed to conquer all the kingdoms on this earth and subjugate all the powerful kings. Single-handedly I will achieve what the Pandavas did collectively at the time of the Rajasuya Yajna conducted by Yudhishthira. Let everyone witness this and decide who is superior.” Duryodhana gladly agreed and promptly secured Dhritarashtra’s consent for the same. Necessary arrangements were made for Karna to depart on his mission.

  Karna travelled in all directions and defeated all the powerful kings of that time which included Drupada, Bhagadatta and Rukmi – the powerful Kings of Panchala, Pryagjyotisha and Vidarbha. He subjugated all the kingdoms and collected huge amounts of wealth as taxes. After completing his mission successfully, Karna returned to Hastinapura. He was received with full honours and pomp by Duryodhana. King Dhritarashtra was also present during the subsequent celebrations. After the event, addressing Karna, Duryodhana said, “My dear friend, today you have achieved something that even Pitamaha Bhishma and Guru Dronacharya could not. I am very pleased and confident that we can easily overcome the Pandavas.” Karna reciprocated by saying, “My friend, yes you are right. Furthermore I wish you should also conduct the Rajasuya Yajna which was performed by Yudhishthira.” Duryodhana agreed and he approached his royal priests to prepare for the Yajna.

  The royal priests informed Duryodhana that he could not conduct the Rajasuya Yajna on account of both Yudhishthira (who had already performed the Yajna) and Dhritarashtra being alive (a son cannot conduct this Yajna if his father is alive). They instead suggested that Duryodhana should perform the Vaishnava Yajna which is of similar stature as the Rajasuya. The priests also informed him that nobody other than Lord Vishnu himself had performed this Yajna thus far. Duryodhana gave his consent and all arrangements were made to conduct the Vaishnava Yajna. All the prominent kings and dignitaries from all around were invited and the Yajna was successfully concluded. This made both Duryodhana and Karna regain their confidence. For Duryodhana it meant a reiteration of Karna’s friendship and loyalty to him. For Karna, keeping his pledge of lifelong friendship and loyalty to Duryodhana was in itself a fulfilling reward.

  Chapter-12

  Daanaveera

  Being an all-weather friend was not the only quality possessed by Karna. He was endowed with a towering personality and was born with some rare human qualities which made him stand apart from his contemporaries. In particular, the spirit of sacrifice and willingness to give away anything to those who asked for the same, were inbuilt into his nature. These qualities were present in him in a nascent form right from his birth but began to manifest clearly as he grew older. Even as a small child he used to give away anything which his family juniors or friends wanted from him without a second thought. This magnanimity was all the more remarkable because of his poverty which resulted in his having very few prized possessions and to part with them would have required a lot of mental effort besides being an otherwise painful experience. But Karna was a great donor with a tremendous spirit of sacrifice. His parents would always marvel at his qualities and feel unbounded pride at being the parents of a child of such exceptional virtues.

  After watching Karna’s abundant acts of such generosity, one day Radha had said, “Swami, what sort of a son we have? Is he the incarnation of some Devata or what? Other children of his age will never part with their meagre possessions. That is true about our other children, who will never behave as he does in a similar situation.” “Yes, I agree,” replied Adhiratha; “I have never come across a child who is even remotely like him. Observing his personality with his special features has made me think, as you do now, that he is an incarnation of some Devata, but I did not express my feelings for fear of alarming you. See, how unlike he is from the other kids. We are the luckiest parents to have been blessed with this godlike son. Isn’t it so?” Radha replied, “Yes, but please don’t praise my Vasu too much, I fear that will attract the evil eye. I don’t want him to fall sick.” With these words she got up quickly to perform the usual rituals to ward off evil influence.

  Karna had two childhood obsessions. One was to shape beautiful bows and arrows from twigs and dry branches of trees, and the other was to make beautiful toys from clay, a material freely available in and around his village. He would spend hours on his hobbies and in the bargain forget everything including meals. His mother had to ensure that he did not miss his meals when he was absorbed in his work. Although, like other children, he too was proud of his creations yet, at the same time, what made him different was that he drew tremendous satisfaction from giving away the same the moment anybody asked for them. It was quite often that he was left with nothing for himself, which pained his mother although she said nothing. One day Karna prepared a particularly beautiful toy and kept it in a corner, away from the eyes of his friends. Radha saw the beautiful toy and lavished praise on her son. Inwardly she also wanted that Karna should keep this toy for himself. As it happens in such cases, a gust of wind blew away his mother’s scarf which was covering the toy, thus making it visible to all the boys in the room. It was so beautiful that a fight broke out for possession of this special toy between all those who saw this new creation of Karna. Nobody bothered to even consult him or seek his permission before removing his toy. He became a mere spectator as one of the boys took it away. When the room was empty, Radha could see a tear appearing in the eyes of his son. Her own eyes were filled with tears, as she felt as if her heart was being torn apart. Karna was not aware that mother had been watching everything that had happened in the room. As she was approaching, he quickly wiped his eyes with the back of his left hand and gave his trademark smile as if nothing had happened. This pained Radha all the more and she hugged him tightly and wiped the remaining tears with her scarf.

  She said, “My dearest Vasu, what kind of clay has gone into shaping you? Don’t you feel anything when whatever you achieve by your hard work is taken away from you? No child, including your brothers and sisters will behave as you do.” Seeing his mother in di
stress he replied, “My dearest Maa, don’t worry. After all who took my toys? They are all my friends or family. It does not matter. It pains me more when I see you in distress. Let me confess that the toy you saw today was my special creation which I would have liked to keep for myself. That is why I felt sad for a little while and so made you sad as well. Believe me Maa, I have got over it now and will make more beautiful toys tomorrow.” On hearing these comforting words from her dearest son, Radha burst into tears and pulling him into her lap showered him with kisses on his cheeks and forehead. She said, “Son, why are you so unlike other children? Don’t you feel anything when giving away your most prized possessions?” Karna replied, “Maa, in the beginning there was some conflict in my mind as to whether I should be selfish or a giver. I have overcome that conflict now and in fact, now I derive tremendous pleasure in giving away my things which makes others happy. I request you again not to worry on my account and instead bless me that I remain the same throughout my life.” After blessing her son, a happy Radha left the room and busied herself with household chores.

  A few months after this incident, fate took Karna to Hastinapura to enroll in Guru Dronacharya’s Gurukula. There also he won appreciation for his exceptional qualities and good behaviour, both from his teachers as well as classmates. As was his usual lot, however, good luck did not last long as he was denied opportunity to pursue higher studies on account of his lineage. Consequently he was again reduced to the status of a non-entity. But this time he overcame depression by sheer will power and pursued higher studies on his own. Nobody missed him during this period of total obscurity. As already seen by us, after a few years he gate-crashed into the tournament organised by Guru Dronacharya and gave an astounding display of his prowess and bettered almost everything done by Arjuna before him. Although he was debarred from further participation in the tournament on the basis of his ‘birth’ yet, for a change, fate saved him from another bout of obscurity when Duryodhana crowned him as king of Anga Desha and, thus, began a new chapter in his life.

  As a token of his friendship with Duryodhana, he was given a separate palace for himself in Hastinapura. Being a king enabled him to use his qualities to the fullest extent. Nobody, particularly no Brahmin, returned empty handed from his dwelling. The doors of his palace were open 24 hours a day. He himself was available to the public round the clock. His becoming a king also heralded his association with evil which gradually changed his perspective of life as a whole. Despite this, he kept his inherent good qualities intact, though to an observer he seemed to have changed for the worse. One of the reasons was that he was not a pretender. If he was a donor he was donor to the core. With the passage of time his reputation as a Daanaveera spread far and wide, resulting in crowds at his doorstep all the time. Instead of feeling irritated, he felt happy that Mahadeva had given him the opportunity to perform good deeds and help the needy. For the first time in his life, he was at peace with himself. This new experience was very satisfying in comparison with the rather painful experiences of the past.

  Like the Kauravas, the Pandava brothers also used to keep a tab on the main leaders in the opposite camp, which included Karna. This enabled them to assess the relative strength of their opponents. It was not long before the news about the awesome reputation of Karna reached them. One day over dinner Nakula told Arjuna, “Brother, have you heard about the latest news regarding Karna? For a change it happens to be good news.”

  “Yes,” replied Arjuna,” I have heard about his magnanimity. But, what is new about it? Every king is supposed to engage in some kind of charity all the time. In the case of Karna it is all the more important, considering the jump he made from being a Suta to the king of Anga Desha, courtesy Duryodhana. After all he has to create a new notable identity for himself and make all out efforts to hide his past from the public.”

  Arjuna’s derisive comments made everyone laugh, except only Yudhishthira. He said, “It is not fair to ridicule anybody, even if he is an enemy, for a good deed committed by him. It only confirms my assessment of him being a complex personality.”

  Bhimasena replied, “Brother, what is so complex about him except the fact that despite being a Suta, Duryodhana gifted him the kingship to win an important ally. All of this is so transparent and we all know it. Otherwise Duryodhana would have befriended him in the Gurukula itself when all of us were aware about his prowess.” From the reactions around the room it appeared that everyone agreed with Bhimasena.

  Yudhishthira continued, “Don’t you see that he did not hide his past when he identified Adhiratha as his father in front of everyone in the arena? Had he chosen to do otherwise, the whole story would have been different. That also confirms his being a man with some character. Despite these apparently good qualities, he should not have been in Duryodhana’s camp, where goodness is at a premium. That is what I meant by his being a complex character.” With these words, Yudhishthira got up and retired to his quarters.

  One day Shri Krishna came to meet his cousins and aunt Kunti. He usually spent a few months with his cousins and this time was no exception. Arjuna and Krishna were also great friends and used to spend lot of time together. In fact he used to live in Arjuna’s palace. They used to discuss mostly politics and various characters in the Kaurava camp, including of course Karna. It was during one such conversation that Shri Krishna detected traces of jealousy the middle Pandava was harbouring towards Karna, on account of the latter’s reputation of being benevolent and generous. He was somewhat amused by Arjuna’s reaction but did not say anything at that time.

  One day when they were relaxing in the palace garden an old Brahmin was ushered into their presence by the guards. On seeing the old man, Arjuna got up and with folded hands said, “Baba, what can I do for you?” The Brahmin replied, “Rajkumarji, I have a problem. My wife died just few hours ago. Her last wish was that she should be cremated on a pyre of sandal wood. Being a poor man I cannot afford the costly wood. Moreover it is also not available anywhere in the market or in the palace godowns of the Kaurava princes whom I visited prior to coming here. I am sure you will not send me back empty-handed from here.”

  In reply Arjuna smiled and directed the guards to give the Brahmin as much sandal wood as he liked from his godown. After seeing the man off, he sat down and resumed the conversation with Shri Krishna. Soon Shri Krishna’s attention got distracted by some movement behind Arjuna. On looking back, Arjuna saw the Brahmin and the guards headed in his direction. One of the guards informed him that there was no sandalwood in the godown.

  He said, “Baba, You have heard what the guard said. I am sorry that I could not help you.” The moment the Brahmin left Arjuna resumed his stalled conversation with Shri Krishna. But Krishna excused himself by saying that he was tired and needed rest. Before leaving he said, “Arjuna, we will meet again for our usual evening walk. You also go and have some rest.” With these words he retired to his room.

  In the evening they met again and started their walk. But today Shri Krishna started walking in a different direction. Arjuna queried, “Keshava, why are we going in a direction which will lead us to the river?” Krishna replied, “What is the harm in changing our routine once in a while?” Don’t you feel bored by using the same route every day? But, if you insist we can follow our old route today as well.” With these words he reversed his steps to follow the usual route again.

  Arjuna was concerned and felt guilty that he annoyed Shri Krishna. He said, “Madhava, I did not mean to hurt you. It was just a casual remark. I am sorry.” He caught hold of Shri Krishna’s hand and both began to walk in the direction which took them to the river front.

  It was a wonderful scene with cool breeze blowing from the river and soon Arjuna began to enjoy walking with Shri Krishna by his side. He even thanked him for this change of daily routine. While walking, the main cremation ground of the city came into view in the distance. They were so busy talking and watching the flowing river that both almost missed the old Brahmin who was
returning from the cremation ground and loudly singing praise of Karna. Shri Krishna stopped him to enquire about the reason behind his exuberance.

  The Brahmin replied, “After I left your presence I went to the palaces of the remaining Pandavas but received the same answer. Then somebody directed me to the palace of Angaraj Karna who, he said, will surely help me. Since I had no choice I went there. On hearing about my predicament, he got up and accompanied me personally to his godown. But, unfortunately, there was no sandal wood there as well. It took him no time to take a decision, when he asked his guards to break the sandal wood pillars of his own palace and gave them to me for cremating my wife. I can never forget this act of sacrifice on his part. God bless him.”

  When they resumed their walk, Shri Krishna saw the ashen face of Arjuna and remarked, “Arjuna, Isn’t your palace also made of sandal wood?” “Well, Yes,” replied Arjuna. “Then why didn’t this thought occur to you when the same Brahmin visited your place earlier today? queried Sri Krishna. He added, “Now you must realise why and how reputations are created even if the person concerned is your worst enemy. Instead of feeling envious, you should recognise that the title of Daanaveera given to Karna by people is well deserved.” Arjuna felt ashamed but did not say anything. Shri Krishna also changed the subject thereafter and walked along.

  Meanwhile Karna continued his complex existence, where he was in constant inner conflict with himself. Outwardly he was the nicest person anybody could have met. For his friends he was a wish fulfiller. He fulfilled all demands of his friends, howsoever unreasonable or difficult they were. There was no limit to what he could do for the sake of friendship with Duryodhana. Sometimes his friends were impressed as well as baffled by his resilience. He never revealed his inner turmoil to anybody, including even Duryodhana. The best part of Karna’s character was that he remained essentially unaffected by the awesome reputation he had acquired. His natural spirit of sacrifice helped him all the way and gave him the inner peace, which he badly needed after his association with Duryodhana, Shakuni and Duhshasana commenced.