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Karna, The Cursed Warrior
Karna, The Cursed Warrior
Birth of Karna
Karna was the son of Princess Kunti and the Sun-God Surya Deva.
King Kuntibhoja was Kunti's foster father. Once Sage Durvasa decided to pay a visit to his palace. The king felt anxious as Durvasa was famous for his unpredictable and tempestuous temper. Nevertheless, he received the sage with reverence and obeyed his every command. Kunti, who was then barely fourteen, willingly took up the responsibility of looking after his needs. Kunti's dedication and devotion pleased Durvasa and he decided to give her a boon before leaving the palace. The boon was a powerful mantra uttering which Kunti could invoke any celestial god of her choice and bear his son.
Kunti, out of girlish curiosity, decided to test the power of the mantra. One morning she uttered the mantra and invoked Surya Deva. The Sun-God appeared and blessed her with a son who was born with natural gold armour and earrings. This son became famous as Karna.
Kunti was aware how severely society criticised an unwed mother. She and her family would be treated as outcasts. Even being a princess would not help her much in this matter. Hence, to save her own reputation and also that of her family she decided to abandon her newborn child. She placed Karna in a basket and set it afloat on the river Asva, a small tributary of the holy river Ganga.
Later he was rescued and brought up by Bheeshma's charioteer Adhirath and his wife Radha. He was named Vasusena but was more famous as Radheya (Radha's son).
Curse 1
Right from his childhood Karna dreamed of learning weaponry and become a warrior. But nurturing such a dream was sacrilege for someone belonging to a lowly non-Kshatriya Suta caste. Karna approached Guru Dronacharya but he refused to teach him on the pretext that he (Karna) was neither a prince nor a Kshatriya.
Karna soon realised that no guru would ever accept him knowing his true identity. He remembered having heard a Brahmin once say that one who had knowledge of the four Vedas, ie, Rig Veda, Saam Veda, Yajur Veda and Atharva Veda, was known as a Brahmagyani or Brahmin. The determined boy learnt the four Vedas. Then he went to Guru Parashuram and introduced himself as a Brahmin. Parashuram, who only accepted Brahmins as his disciples, was impressed with Karna's talent and his eagerness to learn. He trained Karna for many years and turned him into a great archer and invincible warrior.
One day...
Birth of Karna
Karna was the son of Princess Kunti and the Sun-God Surya Deva.
King Kuntibhoja was Kunti's foster father. Once Sage Durvasa decided to pay a visit to his palace. The king felt anxious as Durvasa was famous for his unpredictable and tempestuous temper. Nevertheless, he received the sage with reverence and obeyed his every command. Kunti, who was then barely fourteen, willingly took up the responsibility of looking after his needs. Kunti's dedication and devotion pleased Durvasa and he decided to give her a boon before leaving the palace. The boon was a powerful mantra uttering which Kunti could invoke any celestial god of her choice and bear his son.
Kunti, out of girlish curiosity, decided to test the power of the mantra. One morning she uttered the mantra and invoked Surya Deva. The Sun-God appeared and blessed her with a son who was born with natural gold armour and earrings. This son became famous as Karna.
Kunti was aware how severely society criticised an unwed mother. She and her family would be treated as outcasts. Even being a princess would not help her much in this matter. Hence, to save her own reputation and also that of her family she decided to abandon her newborn child. She placed Karna in a basket and set it afloat on the river Asva, a small tributary of the holy river Ganga.
Later he was rescued and brought up by Bheeshma's charioteer Adhirath and his wife Radha. He was named Vasusena but was more famous as Radheya (Radha's son).
Curse 1
Right from his childhood Karna dreamed of learning weaponry and become a warrior. But nurturing such a dream was sacrilege for someone belonging to a lowly non-Kshatriya Suta caste. Karna approached Guru Dronacharya but he refused to teach him on the pretext that he (Karna) was neither a prince nor a Kshatriya.
Karna soon realised that no guru would ever accept him knowing his true identity. He remembered having heard a Brahmin once say that one who had knowledge of the four Vedas, ie, Rig Veda, Saam Veda, Yajur Veda and Atharva Veda, was known as a Brahmagyani or Brahmin. The determined boy learnt the four Vedas. Then he went to Guru Parashuram and introduced himself as a Brahmin. Parashuram, who only accepted Brahmins as his disciples, was impressed with Karna's talent and his eagerness to learn. He trained Karna for many years and turned him into a great archer and invincible warrior.
One day...
