Karna

This article is about the figure in the Hindu epic Mahabharata. For other uses, see Karna (disambiguation).

Karna
Karna
A 19th-century artist's imagination of Karna
Information
AliasesVasusena, Angaraja, Radheya
GenderMale
TitleKing of Anga
WeaponBow and arrows
SpousesUnnamed Sūta women[a]
ChildrenVrishasena, Sushena, Vrishaketu and other sons
Relatives

Karna (Sanskrit: कर्ण, IAST: Karṇa), also known as Vasusena, Anga-Raja, Sutaputra and Radheya,[2] is one of the major characters in the Hindu epic Mahābhārata.[3][4] He is the son of Surya (the Sun deity) and princess Kunti (later the Pandava queen). Kunti was granted the boon to bear a child with desired divine qualities from the gods and without much knowledge, Kunti invoked the sun god to confirm it if it was true indeed. Karna was secretly born to an unmarried Kunti in her teenage years, and fearing outrage and backlash from society over her premarital pregnancy, Kunti had to abandon the newly born Karna adrift in a basket on the Ganges.[3][5] The basket is discovered floating on the Ganges River. He is adopted and raised by foster Suta parents named Radha and Adhiratha Nandana[2] of the charioteer and poet profession working for king Dhritarashtra.[3] Karna grows up to be an accomplished warrior of extraordinary abilities, a gifted speaker and becomes a loyal friend of Duryodhana.[3][6] He is appointed the king of Anga (Bihar-Bengal)[7] by Duryodhana.[2] Karna joins the losing Duryodhana side of the Mahabharata war. He is a key antagonist who aims to kill Arjuna but dies in a battle with him during the Kurushetra war.[3][4]

He is a tragic hero in the Mahabharata, in a manner similar to Aristotle's literary category of "flawed good man".[8] He meets his biological mother late in the epic then discovers that he is the older half-brother of those he is fighting against.[6] Karna is a symbol of someone who is rejected by those who should love him but do not given the circumstances, yet becomes a man of exceptional abilities willing to give his love and life as a loyal friend. His character is developed in the epic to raise and discuss major emotional and dharma (duty, ethics, moral) dilemmas.[9][10][11] His story has inspired many secondary works, poetry and dramatic plays in the Hindu arts tradition, both in India and in southeast Asia.[9][12][13]

A regional tradition believes that Karna founded the city of Karnal, in contemporary Haryana.[14]


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  1. ^ McGrath 2004, p. 132.
  2. ^ a b c Charles Russell Coulter & Patricia Turner 2013, pp. 262–263.
  3. ^ a b c d e McGrath 2004, pp. 1–3.
  4. ^ a b David Lemming 2005.
  5. ^ David Dean Shulman 2014, pp. 381–382.
  6. ^ a b W.J. Johnson 2009.
  7. ^ Klaus K. Klostermaier 1998, pp. 95–96.
  8. ^ Alf Hiltebeitel 2011, p. 457.
  9. ^ a b David Dean Shulman 2014, pp. 380–389.
  10. ^ Aditya Adarkar 2005, pp. 119–228, context: chapter 9.
  11. ^ Matilal 2002, pp. 90–118.
  12. ^ de Bruin & Brakel-Papenyzen 1992, pp. 38–39, 47–49, 53–54.
  13. ^ Terrence 1995, pp. 134–135.
  14. ^ "Karnal". District of Karnal. Retrieved 26 November 2013.