Karna the tragic hero of Mahabharat - Page 3

Well unlike many people here i dont see karna as a tragic hero. But more as tragic character but definitely not a hero. There are many heroes and villains in Mahabhart but karna for me isn't any one of them he is more of grey shaded character for me who wasn't either completely good(like pandavas) or completely evil like (Kauravas).He was more of grey shaded character. He did many heroic things but he also did many un heroic things.

Like everyone said his generosity was one of his admirable traits. I dont think he was generous to the point of stupidity .Yes if we see the fact that he donated kavach and kundal from today's standards and concepts it will see idiotic but we need to see that act as per that times concepts of dharma not today then it wont seem stupid. He stood by his promise of not killing any other pandav.

But he did many un heroic things also which were big sins and cant be forgotten. Like humiliating draupadi in court he was absolutely ok with her being disrobed. And a person who willingly humiliates a women is never hero in my eyes. He was also part of abhimnayu's killing. Other than that he was part of all of dhuryodhan's injustices right from laksha garah .That is the very reason why god himself kirshna ji asked Arjun to kill him in a 'Adharam' way because he was a 'adharami' as well because of all these reasons

So yes he is a tragic character but not definitely a hero

Originally posted by: Sabhayata

Like everyone said his generosity was one of his admirable traits. I dont think he was generous to the point of stupidity .Yes if we see the fact that he donated kavach and kundal from today's standards and concepts it will see idiotic but we need to see that act as per that times concepts of dharma not today then it wont seem stupid. He stood by his promise of not killing any other pandav.

So yes he is a tragic character but not definitely a hero

Originally posted by: -ShrNi-

Hello Nandini-good to see you here 😃

Loved your topic...Karnas character beautifully explained
And i agree too

Karna was a soft hearted charitable man-but owing to the fact that he was rejected by almost everyone
He craved for acceptance,which he got through Duryodhan
However his loyalty to Duryodhan landed him on the wrong side,which is one of the primary reasons why he had to be killed...

Karna i feel is a very human character,hes someone who you can identify with...

Karna was a victim of circumstances

Yet somewhere i feel that somewhere down the line he too was a cause of what all happened to him...

As you said him Publicly humiliating Draupadi-not coming forward to help a hapless woman
I think that there his ego,selfish nature came forward-all his charity is of no use if he couldn't even protect a woman,not to forget here he even doubted her character publicly

Karnas behavior here propelled him into the "bad gang"

Secondly,i feel Karnas Vengence towards the Pandavas-being able to go to any heights to defeat Arjun,or the Pandavas was also a reason for his downfall

Not that he was wrong,he was wronged-but at one point of time he forgot that he was crossing lines,going the wrong way just to achive that-not to forget him siding Duryodhan n he in turn fueling Karnas fire to his advantage didn't help either
He too broke some rules-like cheat Parshuram etc
He wasn't all innocent to me atleast

But i guess thats what makes Karnas character intresting-a good man who got on the wrong side,with wrong people in bad circumstances

PS:-i close my eyes n still think if Pankaj Dheer as Karna
The new actor is going to have a pretty tough job at hand!

Varaali

I think the reason why karan gave his kavach and kundal was because of a particular time in the day. I mean as far as i remember there was a particular time in every day either morning or something during which if anyone would ask karan for anything he would give it. And anything is anything. That is how he had conducted his life till date and that is a promise he made to himself that during that particular time of the day if anyone would ask something of him he wont refuse. That is why he didn't refuse Indira even though indira basically asked him for his life. Now it may seem stupid to you but to me it seems to be the main reason why he is known as 'Danveer' Karan. There are so many great and good character's in Mahabharata but only karan is known as danveer because he could give away anything even his life if some one asked him for that in a particular time of the day. Yes he hadn't taken this oath like Bhishma had but this is something he had been doing all his life and had promised to himself to do it.I remember his own father surya dev had come before indira and told him what indira was planning to do and surya had asked him to refuse and that is when karan said that he doesn't refuse anyone for anything during that time and hi didn't even if it meant life. Now was this his greatness or stupidity. Well i guess it depends on everyone's' POV. But for me it is part of his greatness that no matter what he stood by what he believed in

As for his agreeing not to kill any other pandav except for Arjun well i guess he was trying to do justice to both his mother and his friend duryodhan. If he would have done everything you said it would have been an intelligent strategist but that not who he was he was just a generous person who was trying to do justice to his newfound family and his long time friend. Yes he did make wrong decisions in the process of doing that but his intentions were good he didn't want to betray duryodhan neither did he want to hurt his mother so choose a middle ground. Right or wrong again depends but no one can deny that his intentions were good

BTW I don't believe I wrote so many good things about Karan I don't even like him

Originally posted by: Sabhayata

Varaali

I think the reason why karan gave his kavach and kundal was because of a particular time in the day. I mean as far as i remember there was a particular time in every day either morning or something during which if anyone would ask karan for anything he would give it. And anything is anything. That is how he had conducted his life till date and that is a promise he made to himself that during that particular time of the day if anyone would ask something of him he wont refuse. That is why he didn't refuse Indira even though indira basically asked him for his life. Now it may seem stupid to you but to me it seems to be the main reason why he is known as 'Danveer' Karan. There are so many great and good character's in Mahabharata but only karan is known as danveer because he could give away anything even his life if some one asked him for that in a particular time of the day. Yes he hadn't taken this oath like Bhishma had but this is something he had been doing all his life and had promised to himself to do it.I remember his own father surya dev had come before indira and told him what indira was planning to do and surya had asked him to refuse and that is when karan said that he doesn't refuse anyone for anything during that time and hi didn't even if it meant life. Now was this his greatness or stupidity. Well i guess it depends on everyone's' POV. But for me it is part of his greatness that no matter what he stood by what he believed in

As for his agreeing not to kill any other pandav except for Arjun well i guess he was trying to do justice to both his mother and his friend duryodhan. If he would have done everything you said it would have been an intelligent strategist but that not who he was he was just a generous person who was trying to do justice to his newfound family and his long time friend. Yes he did make wrong decisions in the process of doing that but his intentions were good he didn't want to betray duryodhan neither did he want to hurt his mother so choose a middle ground. Right or wrong again depends but no one can deny that his intentions were good

BTW I don't believe I wrote so many good things about Karan I don't even like him

Originally posted by: Sabhayata

Well unlike many people here i dont see karna as a tragic hero. But more as tragic character but definitely not a hero. There are many heroes and villains in Mahabhart but karna for me isn't any one of them he is more of grey shaded character for me who wasn't either completely good(like pandavas) or completely evil like (Kauravas).He was more of grey shaded character. He did many heroic things but he also did many un heroic things.

Originally posted by: swati1975us

Are we speaking of the same Yudhishthir who basically gambled away his wife in a game of dice?A That's supposed to be respectful to women? Karna didn't exactly cover himself in glory in this episode but neither did anyone else. You have to understand that the Mahabharat is a beautiful, complex layered story which is not about good and evil but about every one of the characters being grey.

Yep each one of them.