KARNA: The beginning

Our epic hero, Karna, is born to Kunti, who in a moment of youthful curiosity invokes the Sun God, Surya, to test a spell bestowed upon her by a rishi. Under the effect of the spell the Sun god bestows a son, Karna,in the regalia befitting a true warrior, with a golden armour and golden earrings. They itself signify the infinite capability of the boy, an infant, who would change the course of time in ways so profound.

But from the moment of his conception he is shunned. He is unacceptable to his mother who fears defamation for bearing son while still unmarried. In a manner most disrespectful to a hero he is cast away in a casket to reach the house of a charioteer. His fatherhood is again intensely debated: should it be the Sun God, Surya, or the man his biological mother marries: Pandu, making him the foremost Pandava, or the husband of the woman, Radha, a charioteer in the Kuru dynasty, who bring him up as their own son. The irony continues to amaze us. Karna’s ancestry and fatherhood makes him either the ruler of the Kingdom, or its mere vassal, upon the generosity of Duryodhana.

Another stark comparison between Karna and Krsna’s childhood cannot escape this narrative. Both born of royal parentage are brought up in primitive households. Krsna brought up in the house of Nanda and Yashodha. Krsna accepts this position playfully and enjoys every moment of his childhood, playing with friends, tending to cows, with soft music of the flute. Karna on the other hand is forever seen distraught with this position. He knows he is born to be a warrior, why else would he have a golden armour and earrings. He never really comes to terms with his place as a charioteer ‘son. . We see that while Krsna, who is variously referred to as a cowherd is foremost respected by most kings, including Yudhistira, never takes ‘cowherd’ as being an offence.  Krsna accepts this fully and takes pride in being called a cowherd or nandlala. He accepts himself with delight and that may be the reason why he is accepted as a Kshatriya, a king more easily than Karna who refuses to accept himself, his past.

Much like a tragic hero of some odyssey, or like most men in the modern sense, Karna is presented with problems right from the moment of his birth, most of which he is helpless to do anything about. Yet he has to rise above them, for therein lies the glory. He cannot change his father’s position but he can very well rise up and does so to become the king of Anga, though again it is not his merit or his prowess as a warrior that lands him the kingship, at least not directly. It is rather the jealousy of one man Duryodhana upon the pandavas and the prospect he sees in Karna as the one man who can defeat Arjuna. He is made king of Anga by Duryodhana who wanted to see Arjuna loose more than Karna win.

All through his life he is pitted against problems he did not create, shunned for deeds he was not responsible for, his merits, skill, prowess and virtues all erased in the questions of blood and birth, and problems he can do nothing about. In modern terms that would be every man. But he rises no doubt, but not as great as Krsna, and that is because he refused to accept and respect himself for who he was and tries to become what the world respected.

Mahabharata: Characters

While reading the story of Mahabharata, we come across characters which teach us everything we can will ever need to know in our life. Just a surface deep, lie every emotion that crossed our heart, every thought that flew in our mind. The epic presents a variety of situations, each representing in its own way the subtleties of life. And then there are characters. Some are the incarnations of what one should not be and their deeds directives of what should not be done: exampled by Duryodhana, the foremost of the Kauravas, the villain in the epic in layman terms.

We have Krsna, the supreme personality, the perfect, revered, admired, a teacher, a warrior, with a shrewd mind and an innocent smile. He is mysterious, not all he does is understood, and that is what makes him more than a mortal. But we assume he is right. And he is always on the winning side, even when he uses no arms and fights against his own armies. He is God, his speech, Gita, is venerated, to be followed.

Devaratta, or Bhishma is another Goddess son, a figure so complete in himself. A warrior without equal, a son who embraces celibacy for delights of his father, a caretaker of the Bharata clan who watches the clan perish in the gory of the battle, bonded by his vows. He is not clever like Krsna who plays with words and smiles. He presents a curious and exciting dilemma much like the ones in our lives, times where we know what is correct and to be done but watch things unraveling in the wrong way helplessly.

Then we have the Pandavas, the God-sons, whose fatherhood is always intensely debated and always concluded in the perspective of them being correct, the rightful heirs to the throne. Our society will have a very difficult task if we for a moment conclude that they not being Pandu-putra, not at least biologically did not have any claim to the throne in the first place. The five Pandavs in their own right present the five important qualities in a man. They are all imperfect in their own self, but together they are the perfect male. The youngest of pandavs, Nakul and Sahadeva, who represent beauty and handsomeness loose prominence in the narration, signifying the slight and feeble position these qualities hold for a man. The Pandavs, Yudhistira, Bhimasena, Arjuna and the virtues integrity, power and courage are greatly esteemed. The Mahabharata has made a very clear distinction between being powerful and courageous, being brave and fearless.

Yudhistira, the upholder of righteousness, presents before us a perfect king, a perfect moral person, he is not exciting, just like the integrity of the rules he represents, he in modern terms would be a person we would call a bore and refrain from calling to adventure rides. He is also the person who losses his kingdom and his ‘wife’ in a game of dice, and lies, if not technically to win a war. Then we have Bhima, hopping across the line between good and evil. He is strong, powerful but he is also haughty and arrogant.

Arjuna is the most upheld of all Pandavas. Krsna was after all his charioteer, and revealed the Gita to him. He is courageous and compassionate; he wants to find morality ‘Dharma’ in his actions. He is powerful but not arrogant. He is the perfect disciple and an almost perfect warrior. He is the again a character one can find most close to oneself in the scheme of life, but he had Krsna in a way no one else had.

The various characters of Mahabharata, their virtues, their problems and dilemmas present before us situations we can relate to. But then stands Karna, the most interesting and exciting character of the epic. Karna: the right man on the wrong side. Our heart goes out to him, but he is not a character for pity. He is in the real sense a hero but is not allowed to be one, wronged by all, his mother, brother, teacher even God, yet stands up for himself. Unlike the other characters of the epic, we not only learn from his vitures, actions but he in one character we can relate to most easily.

Therefore in my next few blogs I am going to share of how Karna, a central character of the epic is actually the true representation of humans in the age of darkness or the Kali-Yuga. The right man on the wrong side: Karna.