The choices made by Karna and his opponents must then be reflected upon both in terms of the circumstances and the mesh of multiple relative goods or bads, by characters each with different combinations of human strengths and weaknesses.Īccording to Adarkar, the Karna story also illustrates a different paradigm, one that transcends the Oedipal theories and evolutionary models of human behavior. During violence and war, where all sides are motivated in part by their own beliefs in what constitutes righteousness, coupled with anger, frustration, and fear, the circumstances are ever more complex, actions irreversible, choices difficult. According to the Mahabharata, human conflicts such as those illustrated through Karna-Arjuna conflict are inherently complicated and come with circumstantial depth. Under these circumstances, there is an inherent subjective weighing of one moral duty against another. When circumstances lead to a conflict between two choices that are both right in their own premises, then following one duty becomes 'contrary to the duty according to the other'. These circumstances make the evaluation of the choices complicated and a decision difficult, subjective. This idea was first discussed by the philologist, who remarked that similar mythology and details are found in other ancient Indo-European stories. As another example of parallels, Surya too has a birth mother (Night) who abandons him in the Vedic texts and he too considers his adoptive mother (Dawn) who raises him to his bright self as the true mother just like Karna. Indra cripples Surya in the Vedic mythology by detaching his wheel, while Arjuna kills Karna while he tries to fix the wheel that is stuck in the ground.
According to McGrath, the Vedic mythology is loaded with the legendary and symbolism-filled conflict between Surya (sun) and Indra (clouds, thunder, rain). Themes and symbolism Vedic and Indo-European parallelism The Karna-Arjuna story has parallels in the Vedic literature and may have emerged from these more ancient themes. Arjuna – whose own son was killed by the Kauravas a day ago while he was trying to unstick his chariot's wheel – takes this moment to launch the fatal attack. Karna steps out of his chariot and is distracted while trying to unstick it. Karna disregards this warning and says that if the king of gods Indra comes to beg before him, and if he charitably gives to Indra, it will bring him 'renown and fame', then argues that 'fame is more important to him than anything else'. Surya meets Karna and warns him of Indra's plan to appear disguised as a Brahmin to divest him of his earrings and breastplate, and thereby his immortality. In parallel, Arjuna's brothers and – the father of Arjuna and a major Vedic deity – plan ways to make Karna mortal. As the battle-to-death between Karna and Arjuna becomes certain, Kunti – the mother of both, faints and later weeps in sorrow that her boys are bent on killing each other. However, despite being warned, Karna prefers to lose these natural gifts in order to uphold his reputation as the one who always gives (charity), particularly to Brahmins, as being more important than his own life. At martial sporting events, Arjuna and Karna were often equal, though in his self-bragging style Karna once announced, states McGrath, that 'he will perform any feat that Arjuna has accomplished and do it better'.ĭeath Karna was born with aspects of his divine father Surya – the earrings and armor breastplate – that made him an immortal at birth. The Mahabharata mentions Karna as the main challenger of Arjuna at sporting and skills competitions. Hostilities with the Pandavas The relationship between Karna and the Pandavas, particularly Arjuna, were hostile. Yet, states the Mahabharata scholar Alf Hiltebeitel, 'remarkably, Karna regrets his harsh words to Draupadi and Pandavas', in verse 5.139.45, where he confesses he spoke so to please Duryodhana. It is Karna's language and insults that hurt the Pandavas and Draupadi the most, a sentiment that is noted in numerous verses of the Mahabharata such as 3.13.113 and 5.93.11. He humiliates the Pandavas with his gift of speech and mocks Draupadi, then calls her a 'whore' and asks Duhshasana to strip her off her clothes. With Duryodhana, Karna is a key participant in insulting the Pandavas.
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