the lament of karna

thanks 2 for letting me use her image. [link]

karna, the ultimate fall guy is son of kunti, an young unwedded princess was granted the wish to have children of any god she chose. she looks at the sun and wishes for a son who is as brilliant and
presto, karna is born with ear rings that symbolize invincibility. the panic stricken maiden sets him afloat the ganges and he is picked promptly picked up by a charioteer who raises him.
kunti gets married and has 5 more children, the pandavas each gifted by a god and with special skills.
however they come into conflict with their cousins, the kauravas who are a 100 strong for the throne of the kingdom. while battle lines are drawn, karna is among leading warriors of the kauravas.
how this comes about is, karna is the brilliant student both in arts and war but he is never able 2 get the best of education die 2 his lack of pedigree
he lies about his birth and learns the skills of war from parasurama. one day parasurama sleeps on karnas lap and a bug starts sucking the blood from his thighs.
karna bears the pain so as not to awaken his teacher.
when parasurama wakes up, he finds the pool of blood and realises that karna has to be born in a warrior clan in order to withstand the pain. he curses him to forget his skills in his most important hour of need.
however having mastered the necessary karna is confident of his skills but does not have an avenue to
prove it. this arrives at a contest, attended by the best warriors in the land. the unknown karna dazzles the audience with his mastery and skill. he also draws the attention of arjuna, who is the acknowledged as the most skilled warior, and his third younger brother and challenges him. arjuna is saved the blushes by his peers who question karnas birth and his right to challenge a kshatriya warrior. karna leaves the place shamefaced.
duryodhana, the eldest kaurava, sees the power he requires to beat the pandavas in karna, and offers him a kingdom, thus in one master stroke eliminating
the question mark related to his blue blood. thus begins the friendship that would end in death to both.
duryodhana, plots to kill the pandavas but succeeds only in getting the banished to the forest. but not before, as a final insult, karna unsuccesfully tries to undress draupadi in court, who is wife to the five pandavas, and who had rejected him earlier due 2 his supposed low birth. she pledges the death to all kauravas and all who willingly and unwillingly participated in the act.
strengthened by karnas claim to kill all 5 pandavas himself, duryodhana starts the war. the god krishna, approaches karna and reveals his true identity. he asks him 2 switch sides and offers the throne as eldest pandava and rightful heir to the kingdom. karna rejects the offer owing allegiance to his friend who finally gave him respect and parents who lovingly brought him up.
at the battle front, karna is humilated again in his own side, by his grandfather bhishma who brings up the pedigree issue all over again, and refuses to fight alongside him. so karna sits out of batle during the first 10 days when the kauravas suffer heavy losses. on bhishmas death, he assumes charge as commander of the kaurava army he steers the battle in favour of the kauravas and finally it is time to fight his arch enemy and younger brother, arjuna.
on the day prior to this, his father, the sun god approaches him and warns him that indra, the father of arjuna, will appear to him in disguise and ask for his ear rings as alms.
now karna has a weakness.
whatever anyone asks he gives.
giving up the charm that he was born with will be one stupid move. indra appears on cue, asks for the ear rings and karna promptly gives it to him.
being a day of vistors, he has the third and most painful visitor, his mother. he soon realises she has come to beg him for the life of her 5 sons.
the unkindest cut of all.
he promises not to kill the 4 pandavas, but it will be either arjuna or him, so anyway, she was known as mother 2 five sons and so shall she remain.
the following day the battle with arjuna is fierce. krishna, conveniently forgets his pledge not to intefere in the battle and saves arjuna from being killed by karna. and then karnas chariot gets stuck in the mud. he gets down to set it back trusted by the norms of the day when an unarmed warrior is not attacked.
krisha asks arjuna to go for the kill
arjuna refuses
krishna offers the machiavelleian logic of all is fair in love and war and that it is arjunas calling to kill the foe in whatever state he is in.
thus karna is beheaded by arjunas arrow.