Karna: The warrior

Karna was one of the greatest warriors and the only warrior believed to be able to defeat Arjuna in battle, an admiration expressed by Lord Krishna and Bhishma.

Karna was the closest friend of Duryodhana and fought on his behalf against the Pandavas (his brothers) in the Kurukshetra War.

Birth 

Karna was the son of Surya, born to Kunti before her marriage. As a young woman Kunti, the princess of the Kunti Kingdom, had been granted a boon by Durvasa muni that she can able to invoke any deity to give her a child. Eager to test the power, while still unmarried, she called upon the solar deity Surya and was handed a son Karna wearing armour (Kavacha) and a pair of earrings (Kundala).

 Afraid of being an unwed mother, Kunti placed the baby in a basket and set him afloat on a river. The child was found by Adhiratha(a charioteer of King Dhritarashtra of Hastinapur) and his wife radha.

Education

Karna became interested in the art of warfare and approached Dronacharya, an established teacher who taught the Kuru princes. But he refused to take Karna as his student, since Karna was not a Kshatriya.After being refused by Drona, Karna wanted to learn advanced skills of archery and hence he decided to learn from Parashurama (Drona's own guru).  

As Parshurama only taught to Brahmins, Karna appeared before him as such. Parasurama knew that he is not brahman but because he was a worthy student Parashurama  accepted him and trained him to such a point that he declared Karna to be equal to himself in the art of warfare and archery.

Curses on karna

On a day towards the end of his training, Karna happened to offer Parashurama his lap so his guru could rest his head and take a nap. But while Parashurama was asleep, a bee stung Karna's thigh. Despite the pain, Karna did not move, so as not to disturb his guru.

With blood oozing from his wound, Parashurama woke up and at once deduced that Karna was not a Brahmin. Enraged, Parashurama accused Karna of stealing knowledge, and laid curse upon Karna that Karna would only lose the knowledge when he needed it most when fighting against an equal warrior. Rewarding Karna's diligence, he gave him his personal celestial weapon Bhargavastra which no one else possessed. Repenting over a curse made in anger, and in order to nullify said curse, Parashurama gave Karna his personal bow Vijaya to be ever victorious in battle and blessed Karna with greatness.

Karna was also cursed by a Brahmin for killing his cow while practising his skills with bow and arrows. The Brahmin got angry and cursed him that he would become helpless and die in the same way the innocent cow had become, by his chariot wheels getting stuck in the ground.

Friendship with Duryodhana 

To display the skills of the Kuru princes, guru Dronacharya arranged a friendly tournament. Karna arrived at this tournament, uninvited, and surpassing Arjuna's feats, challenged him to a dual.

Kripacharya refused Karna his duel, asking first for his clan and kingdom; for according to the rules of duelling, only a prince could challenge Arjuna to a duel. Due to his low standing, Karna was not allowed to fight Arjuna. Duryodhana immediately offered Karna the throne of the kingdom of Anga, making him a king and hence eligible to fight a duel with Arjuna, When Karna asked him what he could do to repay him, Duryodhana told him that all he wanted was his friendship.

 Draupadi Swayamvara:  Draupadi refused to allow him to take part, rejecting him for being a "suta-putra".The entire kings and the assembled people insulted Karna for his low birth; only Duryodhana supported and argued for Karna, saying Great Sages, Philosophers, and Warriors have no source. They are made great, not born great.

Later karna did Digvijaya Yatra, conquering all kings in every direction and establish Duryodhana as the emperor of the world. again Karna helped Duryodhana to perform the Vaishnava yagna to please Vishnu and crown Duryodhana as "Emperor of the World". No person in the entire universe, except Lord Vishnu and Indrajit ( son of Ravana )had performed this Vaishnava sacrifice before.

It is said that, Duryodhana never shed a single tear drop for any of his real brothers who were killed in the battlefield, but when his beloved friend Karna was slain, he was inconsolable.

During Kurukshetra war

• Indra realized that Karna would be invincible in battle and unable to be killed as long as he had his Kavach and Kundal. He approaches Karna as a poor Brahmin during Karna's sun-worship. Surya warned Karna of Indra's intentions, but Karna thanked Surya and explained that he was bound by his word and could not send anyone from his door empty-handed and given his kavach and kundal as daan for lord indra.

• Kunti revealed the truth about Karna's birth. Surya Deva also validated the words of Kunti and Karna was emotionally weakened and she asked Karna to join the Pandavas, Karna refuses these offers over Duryodhana's friendship. Kunti extracted couple of promises from Karna that he will not kill any of the Pandavas except Arjuna and against Arjuna you should not use the same celestial weapon twice. thats why he did not use Nagastra and Rudraastra twice against Arjuna in battle. 

• Bhishma the commander-in-chief of the Kaurava army giving the reason that Karna had humiliated Draupadi and disrespected their shared guru Parashurama, he refuses to take him in the Kaurava army. Secretly, he knows of Karna’s birth and doesn't want Karna to fight his own brothers.Duryodhana wants Karna to fight in the war from the beginning, but Bhishma threatens that he will not fight if Karna is in the army, So Karna decides that he will not fight until the fall of Bhishma.

• On the morning of 11th day of battle ( but dronacharya as commander-in-chief ) , Surya offered his invincible chariot and his charioteer to Karna, just like Lord Indra who gave his chariot to Arjuna. The chariot of Surya was brilliant as the sun, yoked with 7 horses of different colors and only a person with divine vision could look into it. Karna rejects this offer, saying he didn't want to be remembered as a person who depended upon others strength to gain victory, indirectly referring to Arjuna who depended upon Lord Krishna.
  

• the battle on 14th day extended into the dark hours. Taking advantage of that was Ghatotkacha, Bhima’s half-Asura son, as asuras gained extraordinary power at night time. Ghatotkacha’s destroyed the Kaurava force and also injured Dronacharya. Seeing the desperate situation, following the order of duryodhana Karna used his Vasava Shakti (Kept it for Arjun) against Ghatotkacha and killed him. 
  

  
  

• On 16th Day As promised to Kunti, Karna aimed at killing only Arjuna. He fought with all the Pandava brothers except Arjuna and defeated them all in direct combat. After the terrible death of Dussasana, he ordered his charioteer Shalya to move towards Arjuna, deciding to finish him off for once and all. Karna used Nagastra, (celestial weapon that was used by Indrajit against Rama) but Krishna saved Arjuna from death by lowering their chariot wheel into the earth; the arrow strikes Arjuna's helmet instead of his head. 
  
  As promised to Kunti, Karna did not use the same weapon again. Regaining the upper hand, Karna has a chance to kill Arjuna but Lord Krishna realized that only miracles can save Arjuna from death and caused the Sun to set prematurely.

• On 17th Day Karna took his Vijaya bow for the first time in battle. Lord Krishna made plans to kill Karna by cheating. Karna used Bhargavastra against the Pandava army.

When Bhargavastra was invoked into existence for the 1sttime in history no one knows the counter weapon for it, Whoever opposes the weapon become dead and the entire Pandava army ran away from the battlefield fearing this weapon. there appeared millions and millions of ultra sharp arrows with blazing appearance. The sky was so filled with arrows that it appears like a cloud of arrows and even visibility was lost in the rain of arrows. The earth trembles and these arrows hit and killed hundreds of thousands of men, steeds, elephants and destroyed countless chariots. Even Krishna and Arjuna had to run away from the battle field in order to escape from that weapon.Seeing their plight, Karna repeatedly challenged Krishna and Arjuna to come face him in battle, but Krishna kept Arjuna away from the battlefield.

After the Bhargavastra was withdrawn, the battle resumed. Insulted by Yudhisthira, Arjuna returned to battle field.The two foes, Karna and Arjuna faced each other once more. Both Pandava and Kauvarava forces stopped their fight and assembled on there respective sides to witness the battle. All the Kauvarva's and Pandava's cheered their side and awaited the eagerly for witnessing the battle between Karna and Arjuna. As the battle started, the warriors on the battlefield and the Devas in heaven watched the battle in speechless amazement and terrified admiration of the strength and skill of these greatest of warriors.

Karna cut the string of Arjuna’s bow many times. As the battle intensified, Arjuna pushed back Karna's chariot 10 steps backward every time by the energy of the arrows, but Karna was only able to push Arjuna's chariot 2 steps backward. Seeing this Lord Krishna praised Karna and admired the skill of Karna. When questioned by Arjuna, Krishna said it is impossible for any human ever to push his chariot backwards because the chariot of Arjuna contains both Hanuman and Krishna, thus holding the entire weight of the universe. Even to shake the chariot is an impossible task, and Karna is pushing it 2 feet (0.61 m) every time by the energy of his arrows. Krishna said no human ever had or ever will attain this feat as it is impossible even to shake the chariot containing Maha Vishnu.

 Karna's chariot wheel was trapped in the mud as a result of the curse he had received earlier from a Brahmin. He still defended himself, but at the crucial moment, forgot the incantations to invoke Brahmanda astra, as a result of his guru Parashurama's curse. Karna got down from his chariot to free the wheel and asked Arjuna to pause, reminding him of the etiquette of war. But Krishna spurred Arjuna to attack Karna against the rules of engagement of the war, and the enraged Arjuna attacked Karna while he was trying to lift his sunken chariot wheel. Karna defended himself and invoked Rudraastra, hitting Arjuna on his chest.

wooning, Arjuna lost his grip on his Gandiva, which fell down from his hand for the first time. Following the rules of engagement of war, Karna did not try to kill the unconscious Arjuna but instead tried to utilize the time in extracting the wheels of his chariot. Arjuna recovered and using the Anjalika astra, decapitated the weaponless Karna, who was still trying to lift the sunken chariot wheel. 

Dharma-Devata's protection: when Arjuna used the Anjalika astra on weaponless Karna, Krishna found that Karna was still alive even though seriously wounded. Krishna found that Dharma-Devata, the Goddess responsible for protecting Dharma, was guarding Karna from death and resisting every arrows sent by Arjuna. Krishna explained to Arjuna that the Dharma-Devata herself was protecting Karna from death because of the massive good merit Karna earned by giving charity during his lifetime. Krishna said wherever Dharma is present there is victory and this time Dharma was with the side of Karna. So Krishna went down from his chariot and appeared as a Brahmin and asked for Karna's punya or merit, to him as charity. Karna gave his entire merits as charity to the Brahmin in the form of his blood and once Karna gifted his life's merit to him, Krishna rewarded Karna with the view of Krishna's Vishwaroopa. Krishna told that only this way it was possible to kill Karna and when Karna gave away his life's merit to Krishna, Dharma-Devata disappeared.

Though it was highly forbidden according to the rules of engagement of the war to attack a weaponless warrior or to attack an enemy from the back, Arjuna attacked Karna from the back and killed him as suggested by Krishna. It was later revealed that Karna could be killed only when all the 3 curses acted together upon him, and this made Krishna employ deceit to kill Karna.

Karna declared as the Superior Son

One tale relates that as Karna lays dying on the battlefield, Lord Surya and Arjuna's father Indra fall into a debate as to who among their sons is superior. They decide to test Karna's generosity and appear before him as Brahmins asking for alms. Karna says that at this point he had nothing to give them while one of the Brahmins remarks that he has some gold in his teeth. Realizing this, Karna promptly takes a stone and breaks his teeth, handing them over to the Brahmins, thus proving his superiority.

Samudra manthan

Reason behind Samundra Manthana

Indra, the King of Devas (gods), while riding on the elephant Airavata, came across Sage Durvasa who offered him a special garland (only person who has no ego can wear this mala) given to him by the God Shiva.

Indra accepted the garland and placed it on the trunk of the elephant as a test to prove that he was not an egoistic god. The elephant, knowing that Indra had no control over his own ego, threw the garland to the ground. This enraged the durvasa muni as the garland was to be treated as a prasada and he cursed Indra and all devas to be bereft of all strength, energy, and fortune. and all the three loka's should be in darkness without wealth.

After this incident, the Devas were defeated by  Asuras (demons) led by King Bali, gained control of the universe and they dropped amrutha into the ocean.

Then devas sought help from the Supreme God Vishnu who advised them to treat asuras in a diplomatic manner. Devas formed an alliance with asuras to jointly churn the ocean for Amrutha (the nectar of immortality) and to share it among them. However, Vishnu told the Devas that he would arrange that they alone obtain the nectar.

During Samundra Manthana

The churning of the Ocean of Milk was an elaborate process. Mount Mandara was used as the churning rod, and Vasuki, the king of serpents, who abides on Shiva's neck, became the churning rope.
When the mountain was placed on the ocean, it began to sink. Vishnu, in the form of a turtle Kurma, came to their rescue and supported the mountain on his back.

The demons demanded to hold the head of the snake, while the gods, taking advice from Vishnu, agreed to hold its tail. As a result, the demons were poisoned by fumes emitted by Vasuki. Despite this, the gods and demons pulled back and forth on the snake's body alternately, causing the mountain to rotate, which in turn churned the ocean. 


The Samudra Manthan process released a number of things from the Ocean of Milk. One was the lethal poison known as Halahala, which in some versions of the story, escaped from the mouth of the serpent king as the demons and gods churned. This terrified the gods and demons because the poison was so powerful that it could destroy all of creation. Then the gods approached Shiva for protection. 

Shiva consumed the poison in an act to protect the universe, and his wife Parvati grabbed Shiva's throat in an effort to prevent him from swallowing the poison, which was the most deadly poison in existence, harmful even to a god. As a result, Shiva's throat turned blue. For this reason, Lord Shiva is also called Neelakanta.

14 Ratnas were produced during samudra manthana 

At first Lakshmi , the Goddess of Fortune and Wealth - who accepted Vishnu as Her eternal consort.

All kinds of herbs were cast into the ocean and fourteen Ratnas (gems or treasures) were produced from the ocean and were divided between asuras and gods. 

According to the quality of the treasures produced, they were accepted by Vishnu, the devas, and the asuras. 

There were three categories of Goddesses which emerged from the ocean;

• Apsaras, various divine nymphs like Rambha, Menaka, Punjisthala etc. - chose the demigods as their companions
• Varuni - taken - somewhat reluctantly (she appeared dishevelled and argumentative) - accepted the demons.

Likewise, three types of supernatural animals appeared;

• Kamadhenu or Surabhi (Sanskrit:kāmadhuk), the wish-granting divine cow - taken by Vishnu, and given to sages so ghee from her milk could be used for Yajna and similar rituals.
• Airavata, and several other elephants, taken by Indra, leader of the Deva.
• Uchhaishravas, the divine 7-headed horse - given to the indra.
  

There were three valuables;

• Kaustubha, the most valuable Ratna in the world, worn by lord Vishnu.
• Parijat, the divine flowering tree with blossoms that never fade or wilt - taken to Indraloka by the Devas.
• Sharanga, A powerful bow - symbolic of the demon's belligerence.

Additionally produced were;

• Chandra, the moon which adorned Shiva's head
• Dhanvantari, the Vaidya of the Deva's with Amrita the nectar of immortality. (At times, considered as two different Ratna)
• Halahala, the poison swallowed by the lord Shiva.

The nectar of immortality:

Finally, Dhanvantari, the heavenly physician, emerged with a pot containing Amrita, the heavenly nectar of immortality. Fierce fighting ensued between Devas and Asuras for the nectar. To protect the nectar from Asuras, the divine Garuda took the pot, and flew away from the battle-scene.

The Devas appealed to Vishnu, who then took the form of Mohini and as a beautiful and enchanting damsel, Mohini distracted the asuras, took the amrita, and distributed it among the Devas.

 Asura RahuKetu, disguised himself as a deva and drank some nectar. Due to their luminous nature, the sun god Surya and the moon god Chandra noticed the switching of sides. They informed Mohini. But before the nectar could pass his throat, Mohini cut off his head with her divine discus, the Sudarshana Chakra. But as the nectar had gone down his throat he did not die.

From that day, his head was called Rahu and body was called Ketu. Later Rahu and Ketu became planets. The story ends with the rejuvenated Devas defeating the asuras.

The Rotating Cities Destroyed By Lord Shiva (Tripura)

Tripura meaning three cities, was constructed by the great Asura architect Mayasura. They were great cities of prosperity, power and dominance over the world.

• The three cities were made of iron, silver and gold and were located on earth, in the sky and in heaven, respectively.
• The cities were extremely luxurious and prosperous

History of Tripura:

Following the death of Tarakasura, who was killed by Kartikeya, his sons Tarakaksha, Vidyunmali and Viryavana undertook severe penances by which they pleased Lord Brahma.

They requested that they may become immortal, resisting it, Brahma said to them that nothing can be immortal, then they requested to create 3 fast moving cities(planets) which should be too difficult to destroy, then Brahma granted that boon and warned that the destruction of the cities could be done by a single arrow when and only all the 3 cities come in the same line(one-arrow-one-shot and cities should be destroyed). 

Asura's hoping that it was impossible for anyone to shoot such an arrow.

The three cities were moving in such a way that they would never be in a single line. For around a thousand years they will be aligned in a single line, that too only for some amount of time.

Reason for the fall of Tripura:

After several years of joy, the demons attacked sages and the Devas and shattered the peace of the worlds. Finally, when Indra and the rest of the Devas despondently approached Lord Brahma for help, Lord Brahma redirected them to Shiva.

The destruction of Tripura:

Shiva ordered that a chariot be made from which he would battle the three demons.

The war-chariot designed for Shiva was different. 

The Earth or Prithvi became the chariot with the Sun and Moon its wheels. Brahma was holding the reins. Mount Meru became the bow and the serpent Vasuki was the bow string. Vishnu was the arrow, and Agni was the tip of the arrow. Vayu was inside the feathers on rear of the arrow. All other Devas had their own places and forms in the chariot.

Just as the cities aligned, when the Pushya nakshatra positioned appropriately, Lord Shiva was about to strung the mighty bow, the Pinaka with the arrow, the Devas were overjoyed that Tripura was going to be destroyed because of them (because they were part of the war-chariot, without which Shiva cannot destroy).

Lord Shiva, knowing what the Devas were thinking and did not fire the arrow instead he just smiled then all the three cities were started burning immediately. 

Shocked at this act, Brahma said that Devas thought wrong and requested Shiva to forgive devas and release the arrow, or else the Devas would have a permanent bad name and the reason behind making this chariot would become meaningless. Shiva then fired the arrow on the already burning Cities.

The Devas then understood:

•   Lord Shiva does not require a huge Chariot with Mount Meru as bow, Vishnu as arrow etc. He could simply destroy/create anything even without moving his eyes.

• Shiva can take the power of anyone/anything because it is his power that is already existing in first place.

•  Even though the boon granted was "one-arrow-one-shot and cities should be destroyed", Shiva has the ultimate power to rule them over.

The Weapon's of Lord Shiva and their Power

Trishul : Shiva, the Destroyer

The Trident of Lord Shiva. Infallible, cannot be stopped by anyone, except Lord Shiva himself.

Vijaya (bow): Shiva, the Destroyer 

Also called as Shiva Dhanush, the Vijaya Dhanusha was the personal bow of Lord Shiva, which was regarded as the foremost of bows.  Lord Shiva left it in the care of Indra Dev who on instruction from Lord Shiva happily gave it to Lord Parashurama.  Lord Parashurama kept is as his personal bow and being pleased with the devotion of his student Karna, gave the Vijaya Dhanusha to Karna.  The Sanskrit name ‘Vijaya’ means ‘victory’ and this bow is said to give sure victory to the possessor.  The string of Vijaya Dhanush cannot be broken by any kind of astra (weapon) or divya astra (divine weapon), nor by anyone and it is so heavy that a normal person in any yuga cannot not lift it.  Every time an arrow is released from this bow, it created a terrible twang, which is said to be loud as thunder causing terrible fear in enemies and produces flashes of light as brilliant as lightning, which blinds the enemy.  Every time an arrow is aimed, the energy of the arrow is amplified by multiple times as Vijaya Dhanush is charged with sacred mantras.  Vijaya Dhanush is unparalleled and except Lord Parasurama, Karna or an equally or more powerful warrior, nobody can even lift it.  No weapon, not even the mighty Pashupatastra, can harm a warrior who has Vijaya Dhanush in his hand, as the name Vijaya implies victory to the wielder.  The only time Karna ever fought using the Vijaya Dhanusha was on the 17th day of the Kurukshetra war when he fought against and overpowered Arjuna who was using Gandiva bow.  Karna came to be known by the name 'Vijayadhari' meaning 'wielder of the Vijaya bow'.

Pinaka (bow): Shiva, the Destroyer

Also called as Shiva Dhanush, was the bow of Lord Shiva, which he used to kill countless Asuras in battle (The city of Tripura was destroyed by Lord Shiva using the Pinaka).  Was given to Parashurama By Lord Shiva, which was passed down to King Janaka, the father of Devi Sita, and was broken by Lord Ram in her swayamvara.

Maheshwarastra: Shiva, the Destroyer

Contains the power of Shiva's third eye.  Shoots a really fast fiery beam which can turn even celestial beings to complete ashes. Infallible and unstoppable.  It has the power to turn the entire creation to ashes.

Rudra Astra: Shiva, the Destroyer

Contains the power of a Rudra.  When it is used, it invokes the power of a Rudra out of the Ekadasha (Eleven) Rudras and destroys the target.  In Mahabharata era only Arjuna possessed the knowledge to invoke this weapon. Arjun invokes the mighty Raudra weapon of Mahadev against karna in final battle but Brahmin's curse saved karna from getting killed by Raudra weapon.

Pashupatastra: Shiva, the Destroyer

Would destroy target completely, irrespective of target's nature.  When released, the weapon summons several monsters and a huge spirit which personifies the weapon.  Each time the weapon is summoned, its head is never the same.  This weapon had to be obtained from Shiva directly.  It is Infallible and without any parallel which cannot be stopped by anyone except by Lord        Shiva.  Indrajit, the son of Ravan possessed this weapon in Ramayana and Arjuna in Mahabharata.

 Parashu (axe): Shiva, the Destroyer

The Parashu (axe) was an unconquerable and indestructible divine weapon given to Lord Parashurama by his Guru Lord Shiva along with other divine weapons due to the extreme devotion of Lord Parashurama.  Lord Parashurama later gave this axe to Lord Ganesha.  Parashurama means Rama who wields the axe as Rama was the name Lord Parashuramawas known by till he acquired the axe from Lord Shiva.

Chandrahas: Shiva, the Destroyer

The divine sword Chandrahas (Chandra-Moon, Has-laugh, literally 'the laughter of the moon' but referring to the shape formed by a crescent moon which resembles a smile) was given to Raavan with a warning . The warning is that if it was used for unjust causes, it would return to the three-eyed Lord Shiva and Ravana's days would be numbered.

Lord Shiva's Teen Baan (three infallible arrows) : Shiva, The Destroyer

Lord Shiva gave Barbarika three infallible arrows (Teen Baan). A single arrow was enough to destroy all opponents in any war, and it would then return to Barbarika's quiver.  The first arrow is used to mark all the things that Barbarika wants to destroy.  On releasing the third arrow, it would destroy all the things that are marked and will then return to Barbarika's quiver.  If Barbarika uses the second arrow, then the second arrow will mark all the things that Barbarika wants to save . On using the third arrow, it will destroy all the things that are not marked.  In other words, with one arrow Barbarika can fix all his targets and with the other he can destroy them.  Krishna disguised as a Brahmin stopped Barbarika to examine his strength. When asked how many days he would take to finish the Kurukshetra War alone, Barbarika answered that he could finish it within few moments. Barbarika came to be known by the appellation Teen Baandhaari, the "Bearer of Three Arrows".Barbarika was the son of Ghatotkacha, and a grandson of Bhima (second of the Pandava brothers) and Hidimbi.