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Image Details: Karna and Indra, Source: flickr
It is a crisp, cold morning. A young couple are walking along the shore of the river. The young woman, Radha, notices a small box floating down the river. “Honey, do you see that box?” Her husband, Adhiratha, looks in the direction of where her hand is pointing to. Adhiratha walks toward the river and wades into the water. He grabs ahold of the box and peers into it. His jaw drops as he looks at the content of the box and calls out to his wife. “Radha, come here and see what I found.”
Radha joins her husband in the water and peers into the box to find a small baby wrapped in a silk blanket. The baby has a suit of gold armor on his chest as well as gold earrings. Adhiratha looks at his wife. “Radha, god has blessed us. He knows that we have no children and has given us a child.”
The couple adopts the child and names him Karna. Karna is educated in Hastinapura. However, due to him being from a lower caste and a poorer family, Karna is often subjected to ridicule and harassment from his classmates. After a few years, Karna seeks out a mentor to teach him martial arts and meets Parasurama. Parasurama was a revered mentor in martial arts; however he had a condition for his students. Parasurama refused to teach a Kshatriya and since Karna was from a lower class, he agreed to teach him. However, unknown to Karna, he is actually the son of the sun god Surya and Kunti which would make him a Kshatriya. Parasurama accepts Karna as his protege and begins to teach him different disciplines in martial arts, particularly archery.
One day while Karna and Parasurama are training, Parasurama becomes tired. Parasurama sits down. “Karna, I am very tired. May I rest on your lap to regain my energy?”
Karna accepts and while Parasurama rests, the god, Indra, takes the form of a bug and bites Karna’s thigh. As the bug burrows into Karna’s thigh, blood begins to ooze across the freshly cut grass. Although in immense pain, Karna stifles his moan, not wanting to awaken his mentor. However, it’s not long before Parasurama wakes up, feeling the sense of blood on his skin. Parasurama leaps up and notices the blood leaking from his thigh. “Karna, what happened and why are you bleeding?”
Karna looks down. “Master, I did not want to awaken you, but a bug crept up on me and was biting my thigh.” Parasurama looks at Karna in disbelief. “This isn’t possible. There is no way that you could have withstood that much pain, unless if you are…a Kshatriya!”
Karna shakes his head. “But, master, I am not a Kshatriya. My mother and father are of a lower class.” Parasurama refuses to believe Karna. “You lied to me about being a Kshatriya and since you lied to me, the same skills that I have taught you will cause your downfall one day.” However, Parasurama realizes that Karna is Sutaputra, meaning that he was the son of a "suta" or a chariot-driver. Parasurama apologizes for his behavior. “Karna, I cannot take back my curse that I placed on you, but I can give you a bow, conch, and chariot as well as my blessings.” Karna thanks Parasurama for his help and moves to the capital city.
However, Indra still causes many problems for Karna. At one point, he takes the form of a lion and kills the cow of a Brahmin. Karna kills the lion in order to protect the cow, but the cow dies and the Brahmin curses Karna. “You will also die in a helpless situation like my cow did.” Karna apologizes for his actions, but the Brahmin refuses to take back his curse.
In the capital city, Karna bumps into a young girl carrying a small bowl of clarified butter, also known as ghee. The ghee falls on the ground and is absorbed into the soil. The girl begins to cry. “Look what you did! What am I going to tell my mother?”
Karna looks at the girl. “Please don’t cry. Let me fix this.” Karna grabs a handful of soil and squeezes the ghee out of the soil. Karna gives the bowl of ghee to the little girl; however, Karna gets cursed by the Bhudevi, the goddess mother earth, for his actions. She tells him that he will be insulted in the future by crashing his chariot wheel into the earth. Although Karna pleads with Bhudevi, she refuses to listen to him and Karna heads to the kingdom of Hastinapura.
Bibiography:
1) R.K. Narayan, Mahabharata: A shortened modern prose version of the Indian epic, 1978.
2) Karna
Author's Note:
For this story, I wanted to primarily focus on Karna’s childhood and what led him to becoming a skilled warrior. Parasurama plays a vital role in Karna’s development as a warrior as he becomes his guide and mentor. However, when Parasurama believes that Karna is a kshatriya, he denounces him as his pupil and curses him. This is a trait that is most commonly seen throughout Karna’s life as he is often misunderstood and cursed by those around him. Even though he has the best of intentions, he finds himself in situations that lead others to not understand his true intentions. This could be a reason as to why Karna has an immense loyalty towards Duryodhana as he is the first person to see Karna for who he is and looks beyond his flaws. Also, Duryodhana is the only person besides his adoptive parents who accepts him and treats him as an equal. Throughout the Mahabharata, Karna is involved in what some could say are unrighteous and immoral acts, even though he believes that he is doing this as a part of his dharma or his duty. I included the fact that since he was a child, Karna has been harassed and bullied by others due to his caste. I believe that Karna’s hatred for the Pandavas later on in the Mahabharata could stem from his mistreatment and abuse since he was a child.
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