IS KARNA MORE SINNED AGAINST THAN SINNING?

                                          

Among the many important and interesting characters of the epic Mahabharatha, KARNA stands tall and outstanding. At the same time his life is the most pathetic! Though his birth is of divine origin he was deserted by his mother Kunthi as she was unmarried then. She had invoked the Sun God to test the efficacy of the powerful mantras given to her by the great sage Durvasa. Child Karna was kept in a basket and sent along the current of the river nearby. It so happened that the child was rescued by one named Suta, a driver of a chariot. His wife Radha became Karna’s foster mother and showered all her affection on him. Thus Karna came to be called as Radheya! Under the care and affection of his foster parents Karna grew up into a  strong youth. Thus he was deprived of his real mother’s love and affection though there was no lack of it in his adopted home.

      The most important and enervating part of karna’s career is his studentship  at the feet of the great sage Parasurama. He joined for training in archery by lying to his Guru that he was a Brahmin! Sage Parasurama did not accept students of other castes! Under the excellent guidance of the sage Karna learnt all aspects of ‘dhanurveda’ or archery and became a master of several mighty asthras. But fate dealt a cruel blow to Karna at this stage. One day Guru Parasurama was reclining on the thigh of his dear disciple Karna. Indra, the divine father of Arjuna, fearing Karna’s invincible power of archery came as a beetle and began drilling Karna’s thigh where Sage Parasurama had rested. Blood began flowing out in a stream but Karna endured the agony for fear of disturbing his master. Sensing the wetness, sage Parasurama  got up and was struck with wonder at the enduring capacity of his student! He demanded the truth of his birth as no Brahmin could bear such suffering calmly. Karna  revealed that he was a kshatriya  and had lied to him in order to learn archery at his feet. Sage Parasurama grew angry at this and cursed Karna that what all he had learned in archery would be forgotten at a very critical period in his life! Thus at the initial period of his life Karna had to return crest fallen and disappointed. The seeds of failure were sown already!

        Because he was the son of Suta, driver of chariot, Karna was looked down upon. In an open competition on the skill of archery between the young Pandavas and kauravas. karna was not allowed to exhibit his skill because he was not an equal  or kshatriya. He was terribly disappointed. Duryodhana, recognizing his merit crowned him as the king of Anga Desa and offered him dignity and status! Karna became the intimate friend and well wisher of the evil  genius  Duryodhana. Thus for no fault of his, he had to join the company of the unrighteous band of Kauravas and lay down his life in support of adharma! If only he knew of his birth and joined the pandavas things would have been entirely different!

          Indra, King of Gods , played another villainous role in the life of karna! In the guise of a poor Brahmin he begged for the “ Kavacha kundala” –Divine armor presented by the Sun God to Karna at his birth. Though surprised at this request, Karna gave it away as he never said no to anyone who came to beg! This made Karna vulnerable and weak. Before the beginning of the Kurukshetra war Kunthi approached Karna and revealed the secret of his birth. She wanted him to join the Pandavas but Karna refused. He promised that his target is Arjuna and that he will not kill the other brothers. He also promised that he will not use the deadly NAGASTHRA more than once! He was confident of killing Arjuna through the Nagasthra. But Lord Krishna, as the driver of Arjuna’s chariot, saved him by pressing the chariot down to make the Nagasthra miss the target Arjuna! Karna could not use the  Nagasthra again as he had given the word to his mother Kunthi.

            Karna had his own part in Killing unarmed Abhimanyu in the war. He had joined the others in abusing DRAUPADI while she was disrobed in the presence of others. The last moments of Karna are very pathetic. Arjuna disarmed him in a direct fight. The curse of Parasurama came into effect at this critical hour! Karna’s chariot went down as the wheels were buried in the ground. He tried his best to lift the chariot off the ground. The great mantras he had learnt failed him miserably! He forgot them completely. Arjuna killed him in that state mercilessly! Thus ended the momentous life of Karna. His sterling qualities of character like devotion to duty, intimate friendship with Duryodhanawho banked on him, enviable and charitable disposition notwithstanding, Karna’s life was a failure.  His association with evil minded Kauravas brought him to his doom! He was destined to lose and suffer. Circumstances conspired against him He is more sinned against than sinning!