( The 'n' in this name is pronounced like the hard 'n' in 'morning' .)
If unfortunate is the word to use, that little describes Karna . ( Note: One of the hundred kourava brothers was also named Karna . Do not get confused with these names . )
Karna was the principal pivotal role in Mahaabhaaratham. The saying is that Mahaabhaaratham rests on his head. He was such a character that a mix of high and mean qualities as in him can nowhere be found.
Karna, also named Vasushena and Vrisha, was really the first son of Kunthi but that fact came into the knowledge of the world only after his death. Till then that remained within a small group of three or five.
Kunthi's original name was Pritha. She was given in adoption to her father's cousin Kunthi or Kunthibhoja. That got her the name Kunthi which stuck on. When she was in her adopted father's house, a very irascible sage named Durvaasas visited them and her father employed her to serve him. Attending him was just like walking on the edge of a knife. The sage himself was very much pleased with her flawless devotion to his service and awarded her a divine hymn that brings to her any god of her choice to gift her a son. Such a strange award to an unmarried girl that too given by a learned sage was a mysterious occurance.
Kunthi, on her part, got curious about the peculiar nature of the hymn and she wanted to test its power. She prayed to the sun god and wished for a son as radiant as himself with a naturally in-built armour and ear-rings. The sun god appeared before her to her bewilderment and forced her to accept the gift. She had no choice . ( Here, the epic was very clear that she bore the pregnancy for ten full months and that fact was cautiously guarded by her confidant maid though it was known to nobody due to Sun god's grace. Yet, in our Telugu translation, Nannaya wrote that it was in instant birth whereas Errana wrote according to the source.) .Being an unmarried girl then, she feared defamation. Much against her will, she kept the new born baby in a casket alongwith a lot of gold and secretly dropped it in a river nearby.
The casket took the course of the river and finally entered the river Yamuna. Adhiratha, one of the charioteers of Dhritharaashtra was bathing in the river alongwith his wife Raadha and saw the floating casket. He got it brought ashore and surprised to see the male baby and gold equally shining inside. As they were childless, they took the baby home and brought him up. They named him Vasushena ( obtained alongwith gold) and Karna ( alluding to his ear-rings, karna=ear). He was also refered to as Raadheya (son of Raadha).
Thus, though born to a god and a princess, Karna was known to be the son of a charioteer. That was the firm beginning of his misfortune.
At Hastipuram ( Capital of Kouravas), Drona was training the princes in archery and other military arts. When he arranged a performance of his disciples before the elders, Karna challenged Arjuna for a duel. He was denied the chance on the grounds of his birth in a lower caste. But many found in him an equal to Arjuna. Duryodhana was only pleased to invite him to his side and made him the king of Anga country to shun the criticism about low birth of Karna. That huge face-saving act bound Karna inseparably to Duryodhana with a heavy feeling of gratitude and indebtedness. This diplomatic stroke successfully turned things in Duryodhana's favour, counterweighing the advantage of Paandavas in the form of Arjuna.
Since then, Karna was the principal lieutenant to Duryodhana in all his evil plans to harass the Paandavas. His role in the episode of disrobing Droupadi was unbecoming of a gentleman. He purposely insulted Paandavas and Droupadi just to please his King. He encouraged Duryodhana for the picinc to the place of cow herds to tantalise the Paandavas by exhibiting his grandeour before them. That lead of course to an ignominous insult in the end. He undertook an overhauling campaign on behalf of Duryodhana with great success against many kings, during the exile of the Paandavas. Also, on the occassion of the marriage of Kalinga princess, he defeated the mighty Jaraasandha in a hand-to-hand fight.
Misfortune was an inseverable part of his life. Ill luck mocked at him every instant .
With a view to surpass Arjuna, he approached Parashuraama for mastering archery. Since the sage would not take anyone but a Braahmana as a student, Karna lied to him that he was a Braahmana. But after a long period of study there, Indra played a trick which made the lie known to the irate Parashuraama who got infuriated for being cheated and cursed Karna that what he learnt from him would not occur to his mind in the hour of need.
While practising shots, Karna accidentally hit a Braahmana's cow which fell dead on the spot. Its master could not hold his grief and cursed him that his chariot wheel would get stuck in the earth at a crucial moment of war with his prime enemy.
Despite these many disadvantages weighing heavily against Karna, Yudhishthira was terribly afraid of Karna's prowess. His prime worry was asto how to face Karna in the coming war, which was not dispelled even by strong assurances from Krishna. Indra, the lord of gods devised a plan to snatch the natural armour and ear-rings of Karna. Knowing that it was Karna's vow not to refuse anything asked by Braahmanas, he approached Karna in the guise of a Braahmana and asked for them as alms. The sun god, on his part, had forewarned Karna about that, prevailing upon Karna not to part with those two things at any cost. Accordingly, Karna tried to satisfy the pseudo braahman with other things of his choice. Despite Karna's pleadings to ask for anything as a substitute, Indra was adamant. At last, Karna peeled off the armour from his body and gave it to him. That tremendous sacrifice stunned even Indra who awarded him a weapon shakthi that would kill only one opponent except, however, Arjuna. That act of great sacrifice got him an epithet Vaikarthana (=he who peeled off skin ).
Karna was the principal strength of Duryodhana. It was Karna's assurance of killing Arjuna that made him firmly stick to war rather than truce. Karna too was very sincere in his faithfulness to his king. Evenwhen Krishna tried to entice him towards the Paandavas disclosing his birth secret and showing the bait of kingship, he outright rejected the proposal. But, when he was pleaded by Kunthi herself, he softened himself a little bit and promised not to kill other Paandavas ( other than Arjuna). However, he kept this promise a secret to himself. He stood by that promise and spared all the four other Paandavas in the war despite his having a chance to kill them.
Karna received a set back even before the war began. Bheeshma was asked by Duryodhana to grade the warriors on either side according to their skill and valour. In that rating, Bheeshma reckoned Karna as a low-grader ( Artha-ratha), while holding Arjuna far superior ( Athi-ratha). That made Karna exasperated and abondoned the war until Bheeshma's fall. After Bheeshma fell in the war, Karna himself suggested to Duryodhana that Drona be made the chief. Following Drona's end in war, he himself was made the army chief. He brought havoc on the Paandavas' forces causing more destruction than what the two earlier generals put together had done. Again, his misfortune took away his chances when he himself asked Duryodhana to persuade Shalya to drive his chariot in the war against his arch rival Arjuna on the 17 th day, assuming that Shalya's excellence would counterweigh for his opponent's invaluable charioteer Krishna. He did not know that Shalya was a confidant of Yudhishthira who had his word to discourage Karna in the war by despiriting him. Shalya kept his word given to Yudhishthira to his best. He left no terms to disparage Karna and to praise Arjuna, disturbing the gallant fighter's psychological stamina. Yet, Karna could defeat Nakula and Sahadeva . He inflicted not only a thorough defeat but a biting taunt too on Yudhishthira on the seventeenth day which forced the king to retire to his camp hurt in body and soul. Arjuna rushed towards Karna to face him but was taken aback by his opponent's unimaginable fury, despite Krishna's encouragement. Arjuna preferred not to face Karna for that moment and in stead, he chose to go to his brother's camp to console him . But that was only to be utterly derided by the wounded and wailing king . Yudhishthira's indignant diatribe of insulting remarks aroused Arjuna's pride and valor and he returned to the battle field with a vow to kill Karna by sun set . Thus, the duo of the lead fighters of either side engaged in the final fight .
Karna had by that time consumed , against Ghatothkacha , his one-time usable Shakthi missile given by Indra. His serpent-arrow missile missed Arjuna's head by a few inches, just burning off the crown , thanks to Shalya's harassment and Krishna's alert prudence . All the mighty asthras learnt from Parashuraama did not occur to his mind. He could not protect Dushshaasana from Bheema. Ultimately, his chariot wheel stuck into the earth and made him hopeless against such mighty adversary as Arjuna. He tried invain to lift the wheel all the while continuing the fight to the utter astonishment of the men on both the sides. The story says that he could snap the string of Arjuna's bow eleven times even in those miserable conditions . Finally it took the indignant Bheema's warnings and the intolerant Krishna's goading to provoke Arjuna's latent anger to settle the score with Karna by dispatching him with a mighty shot of an arrow. Yudhishthira was so overwhelmed with joy that he went in person to see Karna's corpse to his pleasure . The fall of his beloved friend and chief dependable source of victory absolutely dismantled Duryodhana's already waning hopes .
Karna was manifestation of a demon named Sahasrakavacha (= having thousand mails on his body). Gods prayed to the divine sages Nara and Naaraayana to kill him for their safety as the Gods could not fight with him. Nara and Naaraayana adopted a strategy that one of them should engage the demon in battle while the other should go on penance to acquire strength. Thus Nara fought the demon for a thousand years while Naaraayana took up penance during that period. In the next turn, they exchanged their jobs for another thousand years. Thus, in each term of fight of a thousand years they could break through one of the mails of the demon. In the end, when only one armour remained, Sahasrakavacha left the battle and merged in the Sun to hide from the duo of his formidable foes. When Kunthi prayed the Sun for a son, the Sun god gave the demon as a son to her. This son was Karna himself. He fought Arjuna and Krishna ( incarnations of Nara and Naaraayana ) for two days and was killed . When he fell dead in the battle field, a fluent radiance emerged from his body and merged in the setting Sun god.
It is said that Krishna remarked to Arjuna that Karna was killed by six persons. Arjuna, the real killer; Krishna who sapped off his pshychological strength by disclosing his kinship with the Paandavas at the worst moment; Kunthi who demoralised him by persuading to join his real brothers, the Paandavas;Indra who robbed off the natural armour and ear-rings; the earth that viced up his chariot wheel (due to a braahmana's curse to Karna); and the unbearablly disparaging driver Shalya; these were the six adversaries that worked against Karna. The terrible curse of the sage Parashuraama that deprived him of the mighty asthras was of no less importance , of course.
True, Karna was no inferior to anyone. His generousity was unparallel. Still, generous people are referred to as Daana-Karna ( Karna in generousity ). His truthfulness was praised by all. His respect towards Kunthi, though she was known to him as his mother for a few days, was as good as anybody's to his mother. His determination of sticking to his word even in the shade of death, was more than commendable. Not yielding to the lurings of tantalising forces - power and kingdom - was the highlight of his character. Yet, it was the cause he stood for that militated against the respect that he would have otherwise deserved. Many critics find fault with him that he almost betrayed his thick friend and benefactor Duryodhana by promising to Kunthi to spare other Paandavas whom he should kill at any cost , per his promise given to Duryodhana earlier. But the argument might not hold water since Karna's prime burden was to kill Arjuna but not others. No one supports his role in the incident of disrobing Droupadi and on other occassions of harassing the Paandavas for sheer pleasure of his king. He was always too censorious to the elders like Bheeshma, Drona and Kripa. In fact, it was his share in Duryodhana's misdeeds that made him meet his nemesis.Despite his behavior with some indelible stigma, Karna was undoubtedly a character of a high rank. Only his conduct with the Paandavas and Droupadi was unworthy . Barring that , he was worth respect by any standards. Even Yudhishthira knew this. That was why his grief knew no bounds when he learnt that Karna was his elder brother. He lamented that Kunthi should have told that fact earlier . In his boundless anger , he cursed the women gender as a whole that they would be unable to hold any secrets. He could not be consoled even by such elders as Vyaasa and Bheeshma .
Modern men should learn a lot from him about truthfulness,generousity, perseverence,strength and courage. The main point we should realise from his life is that one's cause too is to be as agreeable to the world as his commitment to it. A thorough study of his life suggests that fortune not only favours the brave but may even disfavour the wrong. Nevertheless, an impartial critic of the story comes to the opinion that he was the right man in the wrong party. All his life, he was to incur the disfavour of human and super-human elements. His brave journey of life against insurmountable odds , never losing the nerve, must befit any praise. It can only be strange if his story doesn't bring tears to the reader's eyes.