Many of us remember righteousness only when we are at the receiving end. When all is well with us, we don’t care for right and wrong. But, when we are helpless, suddenly we remember righteousness and start preaching others about how they should act!
That is what happened to Karna.
After Arjuna swore to kill Karna before sunset that day, a terrible fight started. Karna was no ordinary hero. He was equal to or may be superior to Arjuna in many ways. He was quite capable of killing Arjuna. He had all the weapons at his disposal. He had unwavering valor. He was fearless. But as they say, when fate refuses to side with you, all your strengths are in vain.
Both Arjuna and Karna used fierce weapons against each other. These weapons were kept on the reserve, as if, especially for this ultimate encounter between he two. Arjuna had earned several divine weapons by propitiating various Gods. So also, Karna. He had many weapons that he received from his great teacher Parashurama.
The way their fight went on, was more like our modern nuclear war. Each hurled a divine weapon against the other; these divine weapons multiplied in thousands in an explosive way, spitting violent flames, shaking the entire universe, before engulfing their opponents. Thousands and thousands of warriors and soldiers were killed on the way. They were weapons of mass destruction.
But each knew how to protect themselves from these fierce weapons. They had antidote for each weapon their enemy hurled at them. So, the war went on, unabated.
Neither of the two appeared to be yielding. Karna had a deadly weapon in his quiver. It was a vengeful snake disguised as an arrow. This deadly snake was a prince whose mother had been killed by Arjuna long ago. So, this snake prince was waiting to avenge his mother’s death. It wanted to kill Arjuna at any cost. Probably, it would have been successful in its attempt, if fate had not acted otherwise.
Karna was not aware of this snake prince. But he aimed that arrow, as usual, at Arjuna’s head with an intent to kill him. Probably, Karna’s charioteer knew about the truth of this arrow. He advised Karna to aim the arrow slightly lower, to Arjuna’s chest instead of head. But, as fate had it, Karna did not listen to him and went ahead and shot the arrow. The arrow would have definitely chopped off Arjuna’s head. But…
Krishna, the knower of everything, knew that the arrow would not miss its target. So, he did a clever thing. He forced his horses to duck at the right moment.
The arrow came at a great speed. But since the horses had ducked and the chariot slightly tilted down, the arrow missed its target. Instead of chopping off Arjuna’s head, it flew off carrying Arjuna’s headgear. Arjuna remained unharmed, thanks to Krishna.
The vengeful snake prince was not in a mood to give up. He returned back to Karna and asked him to try once again. But Karna refused. Afterall, he had promised his mother Kunti that he would never use the same weapon more than once.
Karna took out other fierce weapons he had in his store. Each of them was quite capable of killing Arjuna. Each of them was a divine weapon that needed to be energized by uttering proper Mantras. But as fate had it, Karna could not remember the exact Mantra to be invoked.
Remember the curse Karna had by his teacher Parashurama? We had discussed that in a previous episode. Parashurama had cursed Karna that all the weapons that were taught by him would be useless when Karna needed them the most.
Karna cursed his fate. He was questioning the virtue of leading a righteous life. He felt that he had been righteous all through his life, and he wondered, what use was that when it was not helping him in his bad moments.
To make matters worse, Karna’s charioteer abandoned the chariot since he was irked by Karna’s refusal to heed to his advice. Karna somehow managed to continue, attacking Arjuna with all his might.
Arjuna was severely injured by Karna’s relentless attacks. It appeared as if Arjuna was about to be vanquished by Karna. Krishna kept cheering Arjuna and encouraging him to fight with more vigor.
But Karna’s fate was totally against him. One of the wheels of his chariot started sinking into the earth. With a tilted and unstable chariot Karna was unable to fight properly. So, he jumped down from the chariot with an intent to pull out the sunken wheel and restore the chariot to a stable position.
Karna requested Arjuna to hold on for a moment, till he restored his chariot back. He told him that it was unrighteous to attack a person who was unarmed and who was not seated in his chariot. He reminded Arjuna that as a very righteous person it was his duty to give Karna some time to mend his chariot before attacking him. Afterall, the fight should be between two equals and none should attack the one who is helpless.
Arjuna probably would have heeded to Karna. But Krishna did not. He laughed at Karna for talking about right and wrong. He said that those words did not suite a totally unrighteous person like Karna! Krishna shot a volley of questions at Karna, reminding him all his past deeds where he had acted in an unrighteous way.
Krishna further asked, what right Karna had to talk about righteousness when he never cared for right and wrong!
So, finally, on Krishna’s insistence, Arjuna shot at the totally helpless Karna, totally unarmed, busy lifting his chariot wheel. He ruthlessly beheaded Karna. Sun had set literally, on the Kurukshetra war field, right at noon that day.
Do you think it was all right? Was Krishna justified in doing what he did?
After Arjuna swore to kill Karna before sunset that day, a terrible fight started. Karna was no ordinary hero. He was equal to or may be superior to Arjuna in many ways. He was quite capable of killing Arjuna. He had all the weapons at his disposal. He had unwavering valor. He was fearless. But as they say, when fate refuses to side with you, all your strengths are in vain.
Both Arjuna and Karna used fierce weapons against each other. These weapons were kept on the reserve, as if, especially for this ultimate encounter between he two. Arjuna had earned several divine weapons by propitiating various Gods. So also, Karna. He had many weapons that he received from his great teacher Parashurama.
The way their fight went on, was more like our modern nuclear war. Each hurled a divine weapon against the other; these divine weapons multiplied in thousands in an explosive way, spitting violent flames, shaking the entire universe, before engulfing their opponents. Thousands and thousands of warriors and soldiers were killed on the way. They were weapons of mass destruction.
But each knew how to protect themselves from these fierce weapons. They had antidote for each weapon their enemy hurled at them. So, the war went on, unabated.
Neither of the two appeared to be yielding. Karna had a deadly weapon in his quiver. It was a vengeful snake disguised as an arrow. This deadly snake was a prince whose mother had been killed by Arjuna long ago. So, this snake prince was waiting to avenge his mother’s death. It wanted to kill Arjuna at any cost. Probably, it would have been successful in its attempt, if fate had not acted otherwise.
Karna was not aware of this snake prince. But he aimed that arrow, as usual, at Arjuna’s head with an intent to kill him. Probably, Karna’s charioteer knew about the truth of this arrow. He advised Karna to aim the arrow slightly lower, to Arjuna’s chest instead of head. But, as fate had it, Karna did not listen to him and went ahead and shot the arrow. The arrow would have definitely chopped off Arjuna’s head. But…
Krishna, the knower of everything, knew that the arrow would not miss its target. So, he did a clever thing. He forced his horses to duck at the right moment.
The arrow came at a great speed. But since the horses had ducked and the chariot slightly tilted down, the arrow missed its target. Instead of chopping off Arjuna’s head, it flew off carrying Arjuna’s headgear. Arjuna remained unharmed, thanks to Krishna.
The vengeful snake prince was not in a mood to give up. He returned back to Karna and asked him to try once again. But Karna refused. Afterall, he had promised his mother Kunti that he would never use the same weapon more than once.
Karna took out other fierce weapons he had in his store. Each of them was quite capable of killing Arjuna. Each of them was a divine weapon that needed to be energized by uttering proper Mantras. But as fate had it, Karna could not remember the exact Mantra to be invoked.
Remember the curse Karna had by his teacher Parashurama? We had discussed that in a previous episode. Parashurama had cursed Karna that all the weapons that were taught by him would be useless when Karna needed them the most.
Karna cursed his fate. He was questioning the virtue of leading a righteous life. He felt that he had been righteous all through his life, and he wondered, what use was that when it was not helping him in his bad moments.
To make matters worse, Karna’s charioteer abandoned the chariot since he was irked by Karna’s refusal to heed to his advice. Karna somehow managed to continue, attacking Arjuna with all his might.
Arjuna was severely injured by Karna’s relentless attacks. It appeared as if Arjuna was about to be vanquished by Karna. Krishna kept cheering Arjuna and encouraging him to fight with more vigor.
But Karna’s fate was totally against him. One of the wheels of his chariot started sinking into the earth. With a tilted and unstable chariot Karna was unable to fight properly. So, he jumped down from the chariot with an intent to pull out the sunken wheel and restore the chariot to a stable position.
Karna requested Arjuna to hold on for a moment, till he restored his chariot back. He told him that it was unrighteous to attack a person who was unarmed and who was not seated in his chariot. He reminded Arjuna that as a very righteous person it was his duty to give Karna some time to mend his chariot before attacking him. Afterall, the fight should be between two equals and none should attack the one who is helpless.
When Duryodhana set fire to the palace when Pandavas were asleep, Karna had not considered that to be unrighteous.
When Duryodhana enticed Yudhishthira to a deceitful game of dice and usurped all his kingdom, was that a righteous act?
When Duryodhana’s brother almost disrobed helpless Draupadi – wife of Pandavas – in front of everyone in a fully packed court, Karna was a mute spectator. He did not object to that act as unrighteous. Instead, he ridiculed Draupadi by asking her to choose any one of them as her husband instead of the defeated Pandavas. Was that a righteous act?
When a small boy Abhimanyu – hardly a teenager – was trapped in the array built by the Kauravas, it was Karna who coaxed others to attack him in deceit. They even killed him mercilessly when he was totally unarmed. Where was Karna’s sense of morality at that time? Krishna asked.
Krishna further asked, what right Karna had to talk about righteousness when he never cared for right and wrong!
So, finally, on Krishna’s insistence, Arjuna shot at the totally helpless Karna, totally unarmed, busy lifting his chariot wheel. He ruthlessly beheaded Karna. Sun had set literally, on the Kurukshetra war field, right at noon that day.
Do you think it was all right? Was Krishna justified in doing what he did?
That was Mahabharata episode 17
Based on the 5000 year old Indian Epic namely Mahabharata. © Dr.King 2019.
Righteous!....what a variable term interpreted differently by different people!! There are times when like karna i feel is it right to be righteous???
ReplyDeleteBut don't follow Karna ;-)
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