Karna the tragic hero of Mahabharat

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koolsadhu1000

@koolsadhu1000

Stunner

+ 3

Posted: 12 years ago

#81

Originally posted by: candidfrisky

Really..?? 😲 Bheem insulted Karna..?? 😲 did he insult Karna of his low birth..?? If he insulted him for this reason then from now onwards, I have a grudge on Bheem..I dislike those who insult someone for their caste.. 😈

my dear , he was Duryodhan's friend...the same Duryodhan who had poisoned him . Look at it from his pov .😊

Bheema was frank , he did not know how to pretend , loving husband [ it was his tragedy that he loved Draupadi immensely but she loved Arjun more ] loving son [ he carried Kunti on his shoulders whenever she was tired through out the forest exile ] extremely fond of food and a voracious eater [ called Vrikodara] .

Today caste may not be important , it was then . There is no narrow mind if one believed in it ...the society was based on Varna ashrama . If u see ALL asked about it .

Parshuram [ he trained only brahmins]

Draupadi [ she refused to let someone of a lowly caste compete for her hand as she did not want to go in a lowly kul from a higher kul]

Drona [ he refused Karna as he was a suta]

Kripacharya [ who enquired about the caste at the skills display]

U see , it was a social necessity . With the advent of the kaliyug the varna ashrama was destroyed . But the yug they lived in , it was there . One cannot expect them to behave like they were born in kaliyug .

Bhim himself was taunted a lot by Duryodhan for not being Pandu's biological son .

The only difference was

Pandavas were only taunted by Duryodhan and his gang while Karna had to answer ALL IN THE SOCIETY .

Tempers were high and there was friction between the Kauravas and Pandavas .

So ...enjoy Bheem as u watch the Mahabharat . He and Arjun killed the maximum in the Mahabharat war ...Bheem the most sons of Dritharashtra . Both Dushasan and Duryodhan were killed by him . Hence Drithrashtra crushed his statue with anger .

He felt remorseful after Karna's death .

Edited by koolsadhu1000 - 12 years ago

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Soni2496

@Soni2496

Beginner

Posted: 12 years ago

#82

One of the most unlucky characters in. Mahabharat according to me is Karan.he was just like the pandavas ( invoked from surya) , Kshatriya like the pandavas and as gifted as the pandavas but he had the roughest path of all. Was wondering if Kunti had acknowledged him at birth -she could have always said she found the baby in the river/forest or acknowledged Karan after she found out who he was ,would the story be different ?

Would he be considered a Pandava and being the eldest he may even have been the king and of course his equation with draupadi would also change.

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Apu

@butterturnips

Rocker

Posted: 12 years ago

#83

Nice post..agree with whatever you said ! 😊 We are like puppets in the hands of God !

Edited by candidfrisky - 12 years ago

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Khyati

@cherryberry293

Dazzler

Posted: 12 years ago

#84

Beautiful post #Nandini.
Everything related to Karna is fascinating.

Like all humans he had few flaws one of them was his love his frnd. But there's no match to him.

I read a book written on Karna , "Mrityunjay" ... It's one of the BEST books I have ever read.
I cried while reading the chapter where he gave away his 'Kavach - Kundala , when he knew its a trap for him.

And the last part where he died was so touchy that even now my eyes gets wet remembering how Great Giver he was...
Arjuna's arrow cut his throat, he was dying at that time one old Brahmin came to him , dat old , poor Brahmin had lost his young son in Kurukshetra war... And he didn't had enough money for his sons funeral. Poor Brahmin came to dying Karna and asked, "hey Danveer Karna, can u give some dan to this poor an who had lost his son , his hope of life in this war.. t o complete his funeral??"

To this Karna ordered his son to take a stone and break his golden tooth and to give that golden tooth to dat Brahmin as Daan...

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merrydock

@merrydock

Voyager

+ 6

Posted: 12 years ago

#85

Karna is the most tragic hero of the Mahabharat. he deserved a lot more that he got. yes circumstance were against him. but what really was his downfall was his very own choices.

Karna was known for his loyalty to duryodhan. but wasn't it blind loyalty. he sides with the kauravas in the druitkrida knowing all the time that the kauravas were cheating with shakuni help. he too insulted the Pandavs and drupadi. and Drupadis vastraharran was the most shameful act ever. and instead of advising his friend, he urged him and activaly participated in insulting a woman in front of everybody.

duryodhan lead and karan followed, with out using his own judgment of right and wrong. these seasoned men grouped like a pack of wolves and didn't even give a quater to 15 year old Abhimanyu, Arjun's son who was for all purpose only a child. but they attacked him together even when he requested them to fight him one at a time.

karans plead to Arjune to act honorably, was useless because karna had not been honourable.

Karna dishonorable deeds, were the reason for his ultimate downfall.

besides of course Lord Krishna knew exactely who was going to die and how. he was the ultimate director. Lord Krishna being Lord Vishun himself, knew everything.

Karna life gives us a lot of lessons, loyalty is good but blind loyalty only leads to downfall for everyone involved. karna had good virtues and values, but not all he deeds were honourable.

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413226

Suspended

Posted: 12 years ago

#86

Originally posted by: koolsadhu1000
I will put it this way

He can be called the anti hero of the epic

if Arjun was the hero

Duryodhan the villain

Karna was the tragic anti hero .

The anti hero always has more grey in him .

But i will not be very harsh with him . Its his mother i blame the most .

If he was born of a tejasvi god

if his natural genes bubbled like volcanic lava and were not satisfied being a mere charioteer

if the craving for archery was in his genes

and yet he was cruelly condemned to lead a stifling life , puzzled at his own oddities when they were but natural reactions , unknown to him

it was more the fault of his mother who put him in a basket and sent him defenceless down the river

then he himself .

It is all very well to say all had some problem or the other but they came out shining but

not one of them led his life ...they were princes who had security as they were born into what was rightfully their state

while he was placed in a state that was lower , rather , left to DIE .

i would not feel this sympathy for him if he was a charoiteer's son and was ambitious .

But he was being true to his genes .

If Eklavya was trying for something ambitiously

Karna was giving in to natural tendencies ...he could NOT be anything else .

2 children were sent in baskets down the river

Moses

Karna .

In the story of Moses the mother did it as it was her best shot at saving her child . He would have been killed anyways by the Pharaoh's soldiers .

In the story of Karna the mother did it to save HER name from stigma . Getting a boon to preserve her virginity , she did away with the baby that was an embarassment and went on to marry and have a life when

instead of sending the innocent baby down the river she could have drowned herself in the river . She didn't do that .

All his life he battled with the caste stigma as he didn't fit in . Why he didn't fit in ? All knew it ...all . Bheeshma and Vidur knew it ...Vyasa had told them . Kunti knew it . Krishna knew it .

If he had the Sun god's tej in his blood he simply couldn't be accused of getting too big for his boots . He was adhering to the truth while others were squashing him is the story .

Where his nobility is unparalleled

in giving Indra the kavach kundalas inspite of recognising him

in telling Kunti that he will NOT be now known as a Kounteya but will always be Radheya

in acknowledging his parents at the skills display competition although recognition would be detrimental for his chances among the caste conscious pundits

in telling Kunti that her 5 sons will forever live

in leaving his brothers but making it ultimately only between him and Arjun

in refusing Krishna's ultimate temptation ...to have the glory of being the eldest Pandava and having Draupadi as his wife ...Draupadi who had only looked down on him .

All was refused by him .

There is character there .

Regarding the point ...was he really a good friend

Bheeshma too sided with Duryodhan ...does it lessen his nobility ?

Duryodhan was a king with his own firm mind . He had helped Karna who was loyal to the salt till the end though many temptations were advanced by Sri Krishna purposefully .

His loyalty even impressed Krishna .

but Krishna's purpose was achieved . He wanted to create emotional turmoil in him and he did it . He knew exactly how Karna would react , he was such an accurate judge of character.All he wanted was the emotional blackmail .

I fault him for the vastra haran behaviour where he shows his personal anger towards Draupadi ...justified or not , no woman deserves THIS . About the purposeful law breaking in Abhimanyu's case i am confused even today as ALL broke laws ...some for dharma , some for adharma ...and when breaking of rules starts , it very dangerous and ambiguous .

Arjun tried to make up for all this unfair senseless horror by caring for Karna's son Vrishketu after Karna's death . He was in Arjun's company a lot , and it is said Arjun was especially affectionate to him . He accompanied Arjun on his campaigns to annex kingdoms during Yudhishtir's Ashwamedha yagna and Arjun taught him archery personally and made him the best archer .

This is what i know .

Great post koolsadhu. Very well summed up! 👏

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413226

Suspended

Posted: 12 years ago

#87

Originally posted by: bgargate
Beautiful write up Nandini 👏👏

I have read the Mahabharat from POV of Karna in a Marathi Novel "Mrtyunjay" ... its beautiful...

Just had to add one thing ...

I had read in it that Karna was against the game of dice ... he told Duryodhan to directly challenge Pandavas for a war ... but Shakuni convinced Duryodhan for this game and planned to cheat Pandavas ... Karna was not even present during the game but when he got to know about Draupadi's insult he actually came there to help Draupadi ...

He entered the hall and Draupadi who was running around and pleading to all the elders to help her, came in front of Karna, she thought that Karna being from Duryodhan's side he will never help her so she moved away from him without asking or help... This enraged Karna ... He thought Draupadi to be arrogant and found it insulting that she didn't ask him for help for which he actually came there ... and that is what triggered him to make that "Wh**e" comment on her...

And as for Draupadi being in love with Karna ... ummm... cant say love... but yes ... she liked him ... and this thought had crossed her mind that if she had allowed Karna to participate in her swayamvar ... she wouldn't have had to marry these 5 brothers...

@ bold- Interesting bit that! Never knew this. It was great if Karna felt the unfairness of Draupadi's situation and had the first impulse of helping out. The tragedy is taht he succumbed to his past grudges and sense of injustice done to him and could not rise above those. In my opinion this was his greatest shortcoming which dictated and overrode his initial righteous impulses and ultimately paid a heavy price for it.

If he had been able to overcome his own anger and irritation he would have ben able to see things from Draupadi's perspective at that time. She was in anguish and looked towards the elders for justice. Karna wasnt exactly an elder like Bheeshma, Drona, Kripacharya or Dhriti besides being Duri's closest friend. so how could anyone expect Draupadi to appeal to karna for help against Duri's excesses when all other elders had kept silent! In that moment of her need if only Karna had kept aside his own grudges and anger and come to her rescue he would have been considered a greater hero. After all Draupadi did manage to stop Krishna from killing Ashwasthama even though he had killed all her five sons while they were asleep. She could overcome her anguish and thought about Ashwasthama\s mother's anguish that could be prevented and acted in a more magnanimous manner than Karna -the danveer!

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Jayashree

@jay5

Voyager

Posted: 12 years ago

#88

ok i agree that karna was abandoned by her own mother had to live with rejection bt that does not mean u will join the cunning he knew that duryadhan was doing wrong bt he supported him in his every wrong deeds that makes karna much bigger culprit than duryadhan lets come to real life there are many abandoned children who does nt hv parents have to face much more what karna faced bt that doesn't mean that all will become gundas why human beings r considered r superior than other living beings bec we hv abrain to think nd major thing he was weak frm his heart the problem wid him is that his anger his inferiority complex just overshadowed all his good as bheesm said how strong he maybe in his skills bt he was a weaker person who knowingly got into wrong path