The Mahabharata Blog – I (Karna's mistake)

(From my archives: 14/09/2013)

Link to "The Mahabharata Blog - II (The Kurukshetra Trigger)

Watched the Tamil Classic “Karnan”, on the life of Karna – the first son of Kunti and elder brother of the Pandavas. Pity there were no subtitles … but I did get an essence of the plot since the Karna story is known to most Indians. Great acting by NTR in the role of Krishna.  Shivaji Ganesan seemed to overact at times – but if one considered the Karna psyche, Karna must have been a dramatizer all his life.

The ending is worthy of special mention – where a disguised Krishna goes to a dying Karna and begs for alms. When Karna says that he has nothing to give, Krishna asks for the results of all the good deeds that Karna had done in his life. Karna, the eternal donor, donates even that and dies. Krishna folds hands and begs forgiveness from Karna saying that Krishna himself was the architect of all circumstances and therefore, a large part of the blame for Karna’s misfortunes should lie on Krishna. Krishna salutes Karna.  The movie prodded me to think about the story of Karna and try to understand why everything happened the way they did.

I’ve always been fascinated by this Karna Character – who has been dramatized as an epitome of righteousness, who was wrongly ignored and compelled to join the wrong side in the Kurukshetra war, and finally killed in deceit. In spite of being the best, his achievements were limited to that of an ordinary warrior – perhaps because providence itself was against him. Most of us have a high regard for this character of the Mahabharata, and a soft corner sympathizing and questioning why life itself was against him.

I beg to be allowed to present a slightly different perspective here. Krishna in his wisdom could not have committed any wrong … so what led Karna to this destiny???

The world at that time did not know Karna’s roots. To them, he was the extremely talented son of a washerman – adept at archery and other weapons and with a radiance that befitted kings. His close acquaintances respected him for his merits. But they never saw him as the king simply because his royal birth was unknown.

Karna, in spite of all his merits, was an arrogant fellow who was driven mostly by his ego. His donations too must have had his own ego working somewhere in the background. But then, most people have their egos – and ego is useful if one is to be a king. Therefore, circumstances would tolerate his ego as long as he backed it with enough good deeds and exceptional merit.

So what was wrong in the Karna story? I do not believe that Krishna would let harm befall anyone that did not commit a mistake. What was Karna’s mistake?

When Karna challenged Arjuna in the archery contest, the royals barred him from the contest – saying that Karna was not of royal birth. At that time Duryodhana befriended Karna and made him a small-time King. Karna accepted and became indebted to Duryodhana for life.

Karna was gifted with enough intelligence to understand that Duryodhana was not helping him – but using him as a medium to score something over Arjuna. Karna was highly gifted and powerful – and with power comes a responsibility to use it wisely. Did Karna somehow lack in wisdom while joining Duryodhana by allowing his personal emotions to override what his inner voice must have told him? Was that Karna’s sole mistake (again blinded by his huge ego)? Karna willingly allowed himself to become an instrument at Duryodhana’s disposal. We know the rest of the story.

Perhaps Karna should have refused the Kingship (Could anyone really do this??). Maybe he should have tried to broker peace between the two sets of cousins. The true role of any powerful person is to achieve peace and Karna could have played a much bigger role by doing this. Maybe he tried and failed because Duryodhana was blinded by hatred and a legitimate¹ sense of revenge. At the very least, Karna should have remained neutral in the Mahabharata. Or was it that even here, Karna had his own compulsions². Perhaps Krishna had tried to advise him to remain neutral – but would a man with such a large ego listen to anyone else?

Coming back to the Tamil epic – I feel this point should also have been highlighted somewhere. This would have increased the merit of the movie and made it more real. But yes – movies are made to generate money. Populist thought will always want to see Karna in the light shown in the movie. Therefore full points to ‘Karnan’, the movie, and the people behind the making of this classic.

^{1, 2} See: “The Mahabharata Blog –II (The Kurukshetra Trigger)”