#karna is not the folkhero he is portrayed as!

[ambidextrousarcher]

Arjuna- Fortune’s favorite child?

@an-oranophobic-maniac, this post is dedicated to our mutual Karna fan.

Recently, I read Arjuna by Anuja Chandramouli, which was a good book, but one aspect of the book bothered me. Then, I had the misfortune to stumble upon StarBharat’s eulogy of Karna. This is me giving vent to my frustrations that arose from these, apologies if I offend anyone.

Also, if I am wrong about any citation, you are welcome to correct me from equally authentic sources (My source is Ramesh Menon’s rendition of the KMG, and a little bit of the Bori CE)

Let’s come to the part that bothered me, shall we? The author Anuja called Arjuna Fortune’s favorite, while Karna was supposed to have a star-crossed destiny. As for StarBharat, Karna was outright a good character, even protesting against the Varnavrat scheme.

Warning: Long post under the cut.

First things first: Is Arjuna actually Fortune’s favorite, and Karna a victim of destiny? I don’t think so, and here’s why:

Yes, Kunti abandoned Karna is a baby. She gets a lot of flak for that, and even I hated her for the same, but then I read the Mahabharata. 

Kunti was a child (11-13 years of age) when Durvasa blessed her with the infamous boon and when she called Surya using the same. He came to her, and stipulated that he will give her a child. Kunti, scared, begged him not to, for she was an unmarried virgin and she had called him out of nothing but childish curiosity. Surya does not budge. He tells her that if he leaves without doing what he was called for, childish curiosity or not, he will be ridiculed amongst the Gods. Kunti, seeing no way out of it, agrees on the condition that the child gets divine protection. Basically, he rapes her.

That’s right, Kunti is the reason that Karna has his famed Kavacha and Kundala!

Kunti casts Karna on a river, and Adiratha and his wife find him, and give him a loving family. Unlike popular perception, Sutas were not low caste. In fact, they were pretty high caste. Proof: Virata’s Queen is a Suta, Plus, Adiratha was indirectly connected to Anga’s royal family. (Check out Sacredtexts.com)

So, anyway. Karna gets a wealthy family (Adiratha was Dhritarashtra’s friend to boot), and a loving upbringing.

Meanwhile, Kunti has her swayamvar, and marries Pandu. He marries Madri, gets cursed by the Deer Rishis, and leaves for exile. It is in exile that the Pandavas are born. By the time Arjuna is born, Karna is 18 (He’s 16 years older than Yudhisthir). The Pandavas have a childhood in the forest, as opposed to Karna’s earlier years, and then Pandu dies.

Madri does Sati with him, so Kunti is left a single mother with five young children, who she brings to Hastinapur. The Pandava/Kaurava rivalry starts pretty quickly, with Bheema as the bully of the bunch. The Kauravas are quick to retaliate, poisoning Bheema. He does return, but that was the childhood that Arjuna (and his brothers) had. Surrounded by hate rather than love.

Then the princes meet Dronacharya, and it’s time for their gurukul shiksha. Karna is also a student of Drona. It is mentioned clearly in the Mahabharata, along with the fact that he’s Duryodhana’s friend. Arjuna outshines everybody, becoming an Athirathi in the gurukul itself, also becoming the Guru’s favorite through sheer determination. He alone saves Drona from the crocodile, something even Drona’s beloved Ashwathamma is hesitant to do. Karna is envious of him.

Here we come to the infamous Ekalavya incident, one that is used to blacken Arjuna’s character often. Yes, Arjuna was irritated, but it was that of a child who is promised something he did not get. He did not ask for Ekalavya to be mutilated, that was Drona’s own decision. Arjuna’s feeling here is that of the hurt honor student asking his teacher if he is no longer the best.

For example, I myself have felt jealous of other students who were compared to me, but that doesn’t mean I want them dead and gone! So it probably was with Arjuna.

When their shiksha is finished, the royal princes exhibit their skills. Here, Arjuna shines...until Karna enters the fray, and replicates Arjuna’s feats. Duryodhana is very pleased and welcomes Karna as a friend, who goes on to challenge Arjuna to a duel.

I have a question here: If a grown man challenges a child just out of school for a duel, is it a matter of pride and prestige for the man? I find it laughable that Karna is lauded for replicating the feats of a boy less than half his age, and that many people think he is the greatest based simply on this. For this is indeed the situation here. Yudhisthir is 18, which makes Arjuna 16 and Karna 36. 

Arjuna is ready to duel Karna nonetheless, but then Drona and Kripa step in, asking Karna of his lineage. Here, it is Bheema and not Arjuna who insults Karna as a Sutaputra. (The title itself is not the insult, but Bheema’s intent surely is.) 

By the end of it, Karna is the King of Anga. For the rest of his life, he lives in palaces. Karna is also a student of Parashurama, and is cursed by him for lying about his identity. (Don’t give the thing about Parashurama and Brahmin students only. He taught Bhishma, who was Kshatriya). Oh, and did I mention that Drona did not teach him the Brahmastra not because of his suta status but because he was not worthy? Arjuna had to go through a test before he learnt the same.

Now, it is time for Drona’s Guru Dakshina. He asks his students to capture Draupada. The Kauravas and Karna together fail. Arjuna and Bhima alone succeed, with Arjuna defeating Draupada single-handedly. Arjuna is the person to give his Guru Dakshina, no one else.

Sometime later, Yudhishthir is crowned Crown Prince. What do the Dushtha Chautyam do? (In the Mahabharata, in the Vyasa’s own words, Shakuni, Duryodhana, Dushassana and Karna form the Evil Four.) They plan the Varnavrat fiasco. Karna is an avid part of the nefarious plan, and also of the previous tries to kill the Pandavas, especially Arjuna and Bheema.

Arjuna, on the other hand, does not even think of Karna after the almost-duel.

The Pandavas escape Varnavrat, and go into the forest as Brahmins. They live on alms. (Oh, Arjuna too. The guy who is ostensibly Fortune’s favorite was living as a mendicant, while the guy who is ostensibly with a star-crossed destiny was living it up in Hastinapur. You were saying?) Arjuna wins Draupadi’s swayamvar where she does not insult Karna according to the Critical edition. KMG says she did then goes on to contradict itself. So basically, Arjuna proved himself as a better archer than Karna, the permanent blower of trumpets.

The Pandavas return to Hastinapur, and beget Khandavprastha. Cue Khandavdahan. Arjuna (without Gandiva) and Krishna defeat almost all Gods. I think Arjuna defeats Indra in single combat. Not sure. but Arjuna and Krishna together defeat almost all Gods, please Agni and Arjuna gets Gandiva.

(Point to be noted: Arjuna gets Gandiva through hard work. It is not an advantage he was born with).

The Pandavas build Indraprastha. Arjuna conquers the North and returns as Dhananjaya (bringer of wealth). He is already Savyasachi (ambidextrous) in his gurukul days I think.

Somewhere during this time, Arjuna interrupts Draupadi and Yudhisthir to get Gandiva so that he can help a poor Brahmin, and is exiled for 12 years. During these years, he is kidnapped by Ulupi (I count it rape by coercion. He had no choice here.), and abducted Subhadra. (We do not have Subhadra’s own views on this, but it was supported by Krishna, and Arjuna and Subhadra seem to have a good relationship along with Draupadi too.)

Indraprastha prospers.

 Dushtha Chautyam get jealous and get Yudhisthir to play dice, whereupon he loses his Kingdom, his brothers, himself and finally his wife.

This is when Cheerharan occurs. Even though Arjuna and Bheema are slaves and cannot defend Draupadi, Bheema tries to physically (he is stopped by Arjuna who realizes that they cannot afford to break their unity, for then they are lost. Here is the only character flaw of Arjuna I have seen. His excessive obedience to his eldest brother.) Arjuna himself also rises a question on the validity of the stake, for Yudhisthir had already lost himself.

Karna, the beacon of morality, calls Draupadi a whore and initiates the disrobing. Fortunately, she is saved by Krishna.

This is where Arjuna starts hating Karna, as opposed to Karna himself who has hated Arjuna from the beginning, just because he was better.

So, the Pandavas leave for exile. (Side note: Arjuna spent nearly 26 years in exile.) Here, Arjuna does tapasya and manages to please the Gods, especially Shiva. (Becoming Gudakesha, the man who won over sleep on the way.) He ascends to heaven. Not because he is Indra’s son, but because he won the Gods over with his austerities. Even in Heaven, the Gods ask his help in defeating demons. Arjuna defeats the demons even the Gods couldn’t and learns celestial weapons, music and dance. According to the KMG, he is cursed by Urvashi during this time, but Critical Edition has removed it. Before Arjuna’s tapasaya, Karna and Duryodhana organize a Ghoshayatra to humiliate the Pandavas and Duryodhana ends up a prisoner of the Gandharvas. His friend, Karna, runs away to save his own skin, leaving Bheema and Arjuna to come to the rescue.

The Pandavas start Agyatvasa. Arjuna, the best warrior in the world, is disguised as an eunuch. (Yeah, he’s so fortune’s favorite). At the end of Agyatvasa, he defeat the entire Kuru army which includes Drona, Bhishma and Karna single-handedly. Did I mention Karna runs away once more?

Now, the Pandavas and Kauravas start preparing for war. Arjuna and Duryodhana arrive at Dwarka at the same time, Arjuna leaving with Krishna and Duryodhana with Krishna’s army.

Kurukshetra begins. Before the war begins, Indra asks for Karna’s Kavacha Kundala, which Karna, the Danveer, exchanges for the Vasavi Sakthi, so that he can kill Arjuna. (It is also documented that Karna starts doing Daan for one reason. So that he gets enough punya to kill Arjuna.) Indra does so to eliminate Karna’s unfair advantage (it was inborn, not hard-won.)

Arjuna’s son is killed by 6 men at once, while they distracted Arjuna himself with an army of suicidal killers, which he again, defeated single-handedly.

Karna, however, cannot defend his own son when Arjuna kills him in single combat in front of his father. Finally, the Arjuna-Karna showdown begins. Arjuna injures Karna badly. Karna is struggling to stand when his chariot sinks in the mud. He asks Arjuna to desist, citing rules of war. (Really? Where did the rules of war go when a chariotless Arjuna was attacked during the 14th day? When Abhimanyu was killed?) Still, Arjuna does, until Krishna reminds him of the insult to Draupadi at which he fires the Anjalika astra, killing Karna. Who, by the way, was armed. Many, many warriors, including Arjuna, have fought on on foot in the War. Why did Karna not do so? That decision was Karna’s alone, it is not Arjuna’s.

All his life, it was Arjuna who had an elder brother who did not give two hoots about his individuality (thanks, @ambitiousandcunning!), a brother who was envious of him and who called the man who gave Krishna and Shiva the credit for all his victories along with Yudhisthir himself as arrogant when he fell down from grief, not Karna, who had a good friend and a loving family.

At the end, I just want to say that there are ample examples of Karna’s less than exemplary conduct, both as a man and a warrior. There are also examples of Karna being luckier than basically all the Pandavas. Equally, there are examples of why Arjuna was not Fortune’s Favorite, and also of Arjuna as a peerless warrior, one who even Shiva called his equal.     

#arjuna #karna #anti-karna #mahabharata #karna is not the folkhero he is portrayed as!