A child born out of the impulsive affair of a royal princess. A prince facing the humiliation of being set adrift at birth and being raised by a non achiever. A warrior who supported the losing side. A father who saw his son killed in front of his eyes. A man who understood the impracticality of giving away his security. A disciple who was unfairly cursed by his own teacher. A King who was never there for his people. A chauvinist to the core. A follower of Dharma who gave tacit support to adharma. A seeker who was forever seeking for what he should not seek for. An egotist who never believed that he could go wrong. A practical person who always gave in to impracticality. A great man but less than the greatest because of the company he kept and the environment of his growth. A bitter man with a chip on his shoulders. A supreme strategist who could never own up to his own faults.
Karna was all this and more…
Karna was the first in a stream of illegitimate sons that Kunti had. These children were luckier than Karna, in that they were conceived by the approval of Pandu. Kunti and her co wife - Madri had 5 more sons. Yudhistira, Bhim, Arjun, Nakul and Shahadev. They all excelled in a single quality each. Together they were like the 5 fingers that make up a fist. However, individually they all lacked in specific qualities. Karna was the son that Pandu could not have. He was his hearts desire from an union he did not know of. The irony was emphasized, in that Karna contained all the qualities that the other five had together. But, as practicality would have it..each of his qualities were lesser in extent to the whole that the 5 others represented as a group. So he was a strong … but not stronger than Bhima. He was a master warrior but not greater than Arjuna. He represented Dharma but not as much as Yudhistir did. So though he was more of a man than any of his brothers , he was less in one single quality that each represented as individuals. Karna was a weaker fist than the collective five that his brothers represented as a group. However, he possessed at least some qualities that his brothers did not represent individually.
He was the all rounder. Never a specialist, he did not realize his own weakness. He attempted to be the best at archery…but could not rise above Arjuna. He tried to be the strongest physically, but could not excel Bhima. He tried to be more devout and generous than Yudhistira and yet was never perceived to be a Dharmaraj. And yet, he believed himself to be more than the collective strength of the Pandavas, and that was his undoing. A team is always stronger than the individual and Karna was shadow captaining the wrong team. A moral emerges – Back the right team.
The glorification of Karna is - in as much as you would glorify an underdog, a martyr. We take his failures unhappily and attribute them to curses and conditions. Only 2 people could string the Gandiva, but Draupadi would not hear of marrying a Sutaputra. This shocks the modernity in us and we scream – But that is unfair…Draupadi is doing this because she has her heart set on Arjuna. The truth is probably different. As the daughter of a major Monarch, Draupadi was arrogant and snobbish, she would not marry a man whose antecedents were not clear. Strong as he was, he was not a match for Arjuna’s family line. The irony was that Arjuna’s antecedents were as dubious as that of Karna. Only, Pandu was aware of it and gave him a name. That name made the difference. That is the next moral of his story – You need a family.
Even during the war, Karna could never kill any of the Pandavas. We believe that he made a promise to Kunti “You will still have five sons after the war”….”I will kill only Arjuna and spare the rest”. The point is, that this promise lost the war for the Kauravas. So, even bound to Duryodhana, Karna betrayed the very basis on which he was on Duryodhana’s side. He defeated Yudhistira in a single combat and then spared his life, Bhim met the same fate as did a combined attack of Nakul and Shahadev. Imagine this, Arjuna would have been completely devastated if Karna had killed all his brothers. Arjuna would have lost his powers and the war. So Duryodhana lost the war because of the great betrayal of his best friend. The next moral – Do what you do with all your heart. Never take half measures. Eg Bhima did not hesitate before killing Vikarna …the third of the Kauravas and the only brother who stood up against the humiliation of Draupadi. While killing him, Bhima made a chilling confession – ‘Of all the Kauravas, I love you the most. You are a true man. I do not wish to kill you and yet I have to, because of the promise I have made. Any break in that promise may look like weakness on my part”. Karna had made a similar promise to Duryodhana – That of destroying the Pandavas. He did not succeed because he gave in to emotion.
Karna was celebrated as a warrior for defeating Bhim and Yudhistira, but Karna still lost the great war to the Pandavas because of an obstinate desire to better a man who could not be bettered in his chosen field. Karna did not see the signs, did not read the writing on the wall. He insisted on taking on the one man who would never lose to him..the one man who had beaten him hands down in the past. Karna did not know his limitations..and that was the next big moral of his story – Know your limitations.
Karna was known as one of the greatest philanthropists of his age. Even in this, he did not know the difference between ego and philanthropy. He knew that Indra was asking for his most prized physical possession. He knew that he would surely perish without his armour, and yet, it was his vanity that prevented him from turning Indra away. He would, under no circumstances show any sign of failure, of weakness. He wanted to show Indra, that armor or not, he was still confident of beating Arjuna. He wanted to cut a cavalier figure … a sort of Hector like fatalist. He did not realize that victories are not achieved through such empty shows of magnanimity. Imagine…would Arjuna ever give away his Gandiva? I dare say not. In fact Arjuna knew his limitations and went by them. At a very advanced age, when the Gandiva had outlived its purpose and given back to the powers that be, the same Arjuna, lost a battle to a mere bunch of highway robbers. However, by then, Arjuna had served his purpose. The kingdom had been won, a mere skirmish did not matter. Karna, by his so called philanthropy, lost the only battle that could have ever mattered.
Kunti came to him before the war started and tried to convince him to change sides. Krsna did the same. Karna, even then, admitted that this was a war that would end in disaster for the Kauravas…and yet he backed the losing side. One can see greatness in that , but one can also see the inability of recognizing good advice. Good advice is to be taken…not rejected. There is no glory in death and defeat. There is nothing more humiliating than death and nothing more insulting than a defeat that is conclusive. Karna had lost the war before he started fighting it. He was as good as dead…and yet his vanity won. He did not follow good advice. Good advice needs to be taken…specially when it comes from those who are better and more experienced than you.
Karna lost every bid for greatness he made. He was the quintessential ‘almost there’ guy. A man destined for greatness only because he attempted to scale the wall. He made valiant attempts but lost out because of these fatal failings listed above. His name became synonymous with sacrifice and that was his claim to fame.
In all of this, one totally missed out the objective of his sacrifices. Never has a man in mythology defended a cause so shallow, never has a warrior fought a war with his strength sapped so low. Never has a Hero so clearly defeated every cause that he held dear.
Karna is important for all of these reasons. Karna is great because of his sheer lack of greatness and the potential that he did not realize.
Karna is what every great man…should not aspire to be. That is then the importance of being …Karna.
