If Mahabharata has two characters who have received the most humiliation for no fault whatsoever, one is Draupadi and the other is Karna.
Karna was great. May be greater than Arjuna . He was called suta putra in spite of being surya putra and eldest of kunthi's sons.
He was never acknowledged whole in life.
Only person who acknowledged him was duriyodadana despite of his caste made him anga raj for that karna remained loyal to duriyodhan and never abandoned him knowing fact pandavas was his own blood.
It was about karna it is said never ask starting points of great rivers and great people.
This was karan to us.
So coming back to my point what was equation he shared with Draupadi.
What if draupadi had not rejected him in the first place.
Draupadi has longed for a husband who will have wisdom and moral values, will be strong and well built, a good archer, handsome and intelligent.
Karna is the only character in Mahabharata who has all these qualities. The gods knew Draupadi's wish well ahead of time and gave all these qualities to one man.
Its fate or destiny which parted Draupadi and Karna. He would have been a better only' husband for her than the five she got as he was as good as any of the pandavas when it came to virtues and valour.
But from the political and "Dharma's" point of view, she has to be married with Pandavas. Thats the plan.Karna negates Arjuna, which creates a balance.
Drupadi herself denied karna in swayamwar calling him sutaputra .hence embraced destiny that led to her only suffering nothing else.
This insult caused her own downfall court. An enranged karna took his revenge . karnaa may have stopped Drupadi s public humiliation in public
He has the power at that time. Instead he fuelled oil in fire.
Many years later, she learned from Krishna that Karna is not a suta putra but the eldest son of Kunti. To this, Draupadi regrets saying,
"If I had married him, I would not have been gambled away, publicly humiliated and called a wh**e. For he has all the qualities possessed by my 5 husbands."
So she ended up marrying a man who shared her with his brothers and failed to protect her when she needed him the most.
There is another legend which says that its Karna who prevented the rape of Draupadi by Vasuki. Vasuki could only be pacified by the eldest Kunti-putra (Karna).
Draupadi has always favored Arjuna but alas, Arjuna was not happy with the fact that he has to share the prize he has won with 4 brothers. Arjuna, on the other hand, favored Subhadra. Draupadi knew this too, which is why she starts having a soft corner for the next best archer, Karna.
Karna gives back to Draupadi
In the 12th day of the battle, Arjuna had made a vow to kill Jayadratha (Duryodhana's brother in law). This is because Jayadratha was instrumental in holding off all the other 4 Pandavas in the first gate of "Chakravyuh" , which caused the death of Arjuna's brave son, Abhimanyu.
Since Arjuna has made the vow that either he will kill Jayadratha or he will take "Agni Samadhi", Drona laid out this plan that by the time Arjuna is busy fighting Jayadratha, he can capture Yudhistira.
Bheema was appointed the defence of Yudhistira and hence Duryodhana asks Karna to involve Bheema, so that Drona can capture Yudhistira.
Karna challenges Bheema and fights bravely. He holds him through out the day. Bheema is superior to Karna in Gada (the mace) and Karna is superior to Bheema in archery. Hence, both of them decide to use a neutral weapon - the spear.
At the end of the day, Karna succeeds in defeating Bheema and there comes a point when Bheema is armless and Karna holds his spear towards Bheema's neck. But Karna decides not to kill Bheema.
There are two reasons why he doesn't kill Bheema, despite having all the options to do so.
1. Karna has given his word to Kunti, that his 5 sons will remain alive. If he kills Bheema, he can't kill Arjuna.
2. If Karna kills Bheema, he would do injustice to Draupadi's unstrangled hair. Draupadi has taken a vow that until and unless someone brings the blood of Dussasana's heart and wets her hair, she will never tie her hair. Bheema has made a vow that he will kill Dussasana and bring his hearts blood to Draupadi. If he kills Bheema in this battle, he will do injustice to Draupadi.
Furthermore, Karna had earlier protected Draupadi from Vasuki and then Draupadi had touched his feet saying
"Hey Angraj Karna, please forgive me for my innocence for unfairly denying you participation in my wedding competition and calling you "Suta Putra", I take back my words .Today you have protected my modesty. After Shree Krishna, it is you who have protected my modesty and hence, you have risen to a Godly level in my heart. I, panchali, the wife of Pandavas, the daughter of Drupad, the sister of Dhristadhumnya, the mother of 5 brave sons, respect you to equal level of my husbands."
To this Karna had said
"Hey Devi, hey Annapurna, hey Kalyani, forgive me too, for I had insulted you in the courtroom. I was blind in the agony of revenge and I didn't realize your worth. Please forgive me too. I will ensure justice is done to your hair."
Karna decides to walk away and not kill Bheema.
When Draupadi learns that Karna had spared the life of Bheema, her love and respect for Karna is magnified.
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