English
Karna's Birth and the Gift of His Armour
Source: Mahabharata, Adi Parva (Sambhava Parva) and Vana Parva (Kundalaharana Parva)
King Kuntibhoja had an adopted daughter, Pritha, whom we know as Kunti. Once the sage Durvasa came to stay as a guest. Kunti served him with all her heart, and, pleased, Durvasa gave her a mantra: "Whichever god you call with this, by his grace you will have a son."
Out of curiosity, the young Kunti one day looked at the rising sun and recited the mantra, and the Sun god truly appeared before her. Kunti was frightened, but the summons of a god could not be in vain. The Sun assured her that her maidenhood would remain intact.
Kunti gave birth to a radiant son, born wearing divine armour and earrings. But afraid of what people would say, Kunti, weeping, placed the baby in a box and set it afloat on a river.
The box was found by a charioteer named Adhiratha and his wife Radha. The childless couple raised him as their own son and named him Vasushena. This boy grew up to be known as Karna: a great archer, and so generous that no Brahmin ever left his door empty-handed.
Years later, while the Pandavas were in exile in the forest, the Sun god warned Karna in a dream: "Son, for Arjuna's sake, Indra will come disguised as a Brahmin to ask for your armour and earrings. As long as you have them, no one can kill you. Do not give them away."
Karna replied, humbly but firmly, "If a Brahmin asks and I refuse, that I cannot do. My good name is dearer to me than my life."
And then one midday, as Karna rose from his worship of the Sun, a Brahmin stood before him: "Give me your armour and your earrings as alms."
Karna recognised who this was. Still, he said respectfully, "Revered Brahmin, I can give you land, cows, wealth, whatever you wish. But this armour and these earrings were born with my body; because of them I cannot be killed." But the Brahmin refused to take anything else.
Then Karna smiled: "King of the gods, I know who you are. You are yourself a giver of boons. It is not fitting that you should ask and give nothing in return. Even so, I will not refuse. Only give me your unfailing Shakti in exchange." This was what the Sun god had advised in the dream.
Indra gave the Shakti with a condition: "You can use it only once. It will surely kill one enemy and then return to me. But if you hurl it while other weapons remain, or when your life is not in danger, it will fall on you. And the one you wish to kill is protected by Shri Krishna himself."
Karna made one more request: "Let my body not be disfigured." Indra granted that too.
Then Karna began to cut away the armour joined to his body with a sharp blade. Gods and men watched, but not a trace of pain crossed his face. He placed the blood-soaked armour, and the earrings cut from his ears, in Indra's hands. Flowers fell from the sky, and Indra, smiling, returned to heaven.
Because he cut the armour from his own body, Karna also came to be called Vaikartana.
Karna kept that unfailing Shakti for Arjuna. But in the Kurukshetra war, to save the Kaurava army from Ghatotkacha's fierce assault, he had to use it on Ghatotkacha.
Karna knew this gift could open the door to his death. Yet he valued his word and his good name above his life. That is why, even today, when a great giver is named, the first to come to mind is Karna the generous.
What this story teaches
A true giver does not break his word even when he knows the cost. For Karna, his word and his good name mattered more than life itself.
Karna's birth is told briefly in the Adi Parva and at length in the Vana Parva; according to the Vana Parva, Kunti set the box afloat on the river Ashva. The use of the Shakti on Ghatotkacha is told in the Drona Parva.
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