I am sure you would be surprised by this but please be patient. I am going to write few facts about Arjuna which are not unknown, and then you probably will agree with me.
1. He had to share his wife with his four brothers. Imagine someone winning the hand of the most beautiful girl in the land in a tough competition and then share her straight away.
2. Had to be exiled for no fault of his. In a bid to save a Brahmin’s cow, he entered the room which was shared by Draupadi and Yudhishthir. So he was banished by entering the room where his wife was present whose hand he had won.
3. His father in law was Drupad and teachcr was Drona. These two were worst enemies. Now you, put yourself in that position when your mentor and your wife’s father at loggerheads. It is like that place when you are stuck between a rock and a hard place.
4. When Krishna praised his rival Karna in Kurukshetra. Being the best archer in business, you suddenly realize that your best friend is praising someone else and that someone else is your chief enemy.
5. This is no brainer. You are faced with the inevitable to fight with your brothers, gurus and everyone you respected. This is why Lord Krishna has to recite Gita before him. Imagine killing the people he respected and loved, like Bhishma and Drona.
6. When he had to resort to not so straight methods of overpowering his opponents. He had to break the rules of battle to kill his enemies, e.g. Karna. Guided by Krishna, defeated Karna in a fierce battle. He exploited Karna’s vulnerabilities, including a curse that caused his chariot wheel to sink. When Karna was unarmed and vulnerable, Arjuna, urged by Krishna, delivered the final blow, decapitating him.
7. To be penalized for being decent l. In swargalok, when Urvashi proposed and later cursed him for denying a union with her. Poor him.
Above were some related facts about Arjuna of Mahabharata. Hope this makes an interesting reading for you. I have not listed the sorrow of losing his son, Abhimanyu here, as war takes away lives. Above facts are the ones where he had to fight with the education, system, principles he had been taught and was living with. How would someone cope with these contradictions. Think.
For all karna’s Fans:
(SOURCE-TRANSLATION OF ORIGINAL MAHABHARAT OF VYAS BY KESARI MOHAN GANGULY
& WHICH IS THE ONLY PRECISE TRANSLATION AVAILABLE ON PUBLIC DOMAIN):
Incident 1:Karna fled rom battlefield from Arjuna(Virata Yudh):
http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m04/m04060.htm
Incident 2:Karna defeated by Gandharwa chitrasena:
http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m03/m03239.htm
http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m03/m03240.htm
Incident 3:Arjuna defeat Ghandarwas & rescued Duryodhan & kurus:
http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m03/m03243.htm
http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m03/m03244.htm
Incident 4:Karna defeated & freightened by Abhimanyu in chakruvyuhu:
Hearing these words, Karna, afflicted with the shafts of Arjuna’s son, once more said unto Drona, ‘Exceedingly afflicted with the shafts of Abhimanyu, I am staying in battle, only because (as a warrior) I should stay here. Indeed, the arrows of this south of great energy are exceedingly fierce. Terrible as they are and possessed of the energy of fire, these arrows are weakening my heart.’
http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m07/m07045.htm
What Karna’s own friend Ashwathama & kripacharya think of karna:
http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m04/m04049.htm
http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m04/m04050.htm
what Lord Krishna think of karna’s bravery:
Krishna said(To Arjuna):.I swear by Truth to thee, O friend, that my limbs are burning at the thought that while the son of Subhadra was thus advancing, consuming the hostile army with his shafts, even on that occasion the wicked-souled Karna was engaged in acts of hostility to that hero,Unable, O Partha, to stay in that battle before Abhimanyu’s face, mangled with the shafts of Subhadra’s son, deprived of consciousness, and bathed in blood, Karna drew deep breaths, inflamed with rage. At last, afflicted with arrows, he was obliged to turn his back upon the field.
http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m08/m08073.htm
& Finally karna himself accepting Arjuna’s supeority:
Narrative:
“‘Karna said(about Arjuna), “As far as I have heard,
such a superior car-warrior has
never been born on earth! Behold
my prowess, since I will contend in
battle with even that Partha who is
such. This prince of Kuru’s line, this
foremost of car-warriors, careers in
battle, borne by his steeds white in
hue. Perhaps he will despatch me to
Yama’s abode today. Know, however,
that with Karna’s death, these all
will be exterminated. The two arms
of this prince are never covered with
sweat. They never tremble. They are
massive and covered with cicatrices.
Firm in the use of weapons, he is
possessed of great skill and endued
with great lightness of hands.
Indeed, there is no warrior equal to
the son of Pandu. He taketh a large
number of arrows and shooteth them
as if they were one. Quickly fixing
them on the bow-string, he
propelleth them to the distance of
two miles. They always fall on the
foe. What warriors is there on earth
that is equal to him? That Atiratha,
endued with great activity, with
Krishna as his ally, gratified the god
Agni at Khandava. There, on that
occasion, the high-souled Krishna
obtained his discus, and Savyasaci,
the son of Pandu, obtained his bow
Gandiva. There that mighty-armed
one, endued with might that knows
no decay, also obtained his terrible
car unto which are yoked those white
steeds, as also his two great
celestial and inexhaustible quivers,
and many celestial weapons, from
the God of Fire. In the region of
Indra he obtained his conch
Devadatta and slew innumerable
Daityas, and all the Kalakeyas. Who
is there on earth that is superior to
him? Possessed of greatness of soul,
he gratified Mahadeva himself in fair
fight, and obtained from him the
terrible and mighty weapon Pasupata
that is capable of destroying the
three worlds. The several Regents of
the world, united together gave him
their weapons of immeasurable
energy, with which that lion among
men quickly destroyed in battle
those united Asuras, the
Kalakhanjas.
So also, in Virata’s city,
moving on a single car he
vanquished all of us, and snatched
from us that wealth of kine, and took
from all the foremost of car-warriors
(portions of) their garments.
Challenging that foremost of
Kshatriyas, that hero having him of
Vrishni’s race for his ally, that
warrior who is endued with such
energy and such attributes, I regard
myself, O Shalya, to be the foremost
of persons in all the world in point
of courage. He is, again, protected by
that Keshava of great energy, who i
Narayana himself and who is without
a rival, that high-souled Vasudeva,
that ever-victorious Vishnu armed
with conch, discus, and mace, whose
attributes all the world united
together, cannot (in narrating)
exhaust in 10,000 years. Beholding
the two Krishnas together on the
same car, fear entereth my heart
together with courage. Partha is the
foremost of all bowmen!
Source:origial mahabharat by vyas..trans by km ganguly!
http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m08/m08079.htm
FINAL KARNA ARJUNA BATTLE(DAY 17 OF MAHABHARATA):
http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m08/m08089.htm
http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m08/m08090.htm
http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m08/m08091.htm
ACCORDING TO MY ANALYSIS OF THIS TRANSLATION IN THE FINAL BATTLE OF MAHABHARATA,ARJUNA & KARNA ASSAULTED EACH OTHER 35 TIMES WITH NUMEROUS, THOUSANDS & LAKHS OF ARROWS ………8 TIMES THEY NULLIFIED EACH OTHER ARROWS ,12 TIMES BOTH KARNA & ARJUNA PIERCED EACH OTHER BUT THE REMAINING 15 TIMES ARJUNA PIERCED KARNA IN EVERY PART OF HIS BODY & KARNA’S LIMBS,YOKE,STANDARD,STEEDS,CHARIOT WERE RIPPED APART & KARNA WAS LEFT MANGLED BATHED IN BLOOD & KARNA HAD NO ANSWER FOR ARJUNA’S ARROWS!!!
Authenciaty of vyas original mahabharat by km ganguly:
http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/maha/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kisari_Mohan_Ganguli
FOR ALL THOSE WHO CALL ARJUNA INFERIOR TO KARNA,VISIT THIS LINK & FIND OUT THE TRUTH YOURSELF FROM ORIGINAL VEDA VYAS’ MAHABHARATA TRANSLATION:
See ritu mahbharat is already fixed to happen earlier by the creature of this world, I would like to.give u one evidence of this, when lord ganesha lose his one tooth while fight with lord parsurama and when lord parsurama came to know that he is son of lord parvati and lord shiva and by virtue of their order he was gaursing the entrance, he gave gift to.gnaesha that he will be the writer of a great litetrature calld mahabharat which will show path to the human being to live life, hence dnt criticize them as per ur thinking since that had to happen for a specific purpose
I dnt find someone points to be cristicize… about arjun because most of things are not in hand to not to do…
I made a promise to myself that i wont get into this debate again after
years and years of postings,lol..its a eternal argument that has a deadlock usually..lol..
anyways
In defense of Karna
For those who say Arjuna is superior to Karna,i disagree.
Here are Karans strengths
Enormous will power
Extremely patient
Worked really hard to get what he wanted,but he got it
Unfairly treated all life but took it in his stride and worked towards his
goals and reached a higher state than he even wished.
Very magnanimous
Very brave
Very clever
More divine weapons and this is gained through penance and not just archery skills
Despite the curses from people who he hurt knowingly or unknowingly
Karna was always very magnanimous, kind and giving.
He never disrespected Arjuna and always wanted to either die in Arjunas hands or win, he just wanted his chance to show his prowess..
But im not going to use any of these qualities and justify his superiority or
his equal might to Arjuna,because he dont need that..
The reason he lost in Virat like Drona and Bhishma too was
Karan didnt know it was Arjuna who they are going to fight,so he wasnt prepared
He has a bow given by Parasurama for his sincerity and dedication that he didnt use
till the Kurukshetra war,that releases arrows like no other bow and is even superior to
Arjunas so that is why he lost
He lost to the Gandharvas because he was drunk,in fact he wasnt even arrested by them,he
comes after becoming sober but its too late as Duryodana is already busted by then
Karan lost to Arjuna in Draupadi swayamwar again because he didnt have a better bow.
So Karan is no way inferior,its the duty of the charioteer to drive the warrior away,Krishna did
the same,he safe guarded Arjuna till Karan exhausted the Shakti divine weapon on Gadodhgaj,so that is how Arjuna was saved.
Karan injured and hurt Arjuna so much despite Krishna and Hanuman protecting him being in his chariot
Whereas Arjuna couldnt kill Karan until he was unarmed.
Karan also spared Arjunas life the day before he was dead as it was Suryasthaman time when he had Arjuna pinned ,so it shows Karan is soo great
The two sins he did was Kill Abhimanyu and call Draupadi a whore..
But if u guys list the insults and hurts hurled at Karan by Pandavas and so called
greats like Bheeshma,Drona and Kripa then its nothing..
So its time Karan gets his due as not just the greatest warrior,who is equal if not greater than
Arjuna.
I mean he had weapons like
Nagasthra and Shakti for which ARjuna had no counter and these were not just gifted to him for free
He got it for severe penance and sacrifice..
Dear Mr.Kalyan,
I also admire the abilities and some of the qualities of Karna. No doubt, he is equal to any archer like Bhishma, Drona and Arjuna during that period. But with all his above mentioned
good qualities, he has many drawbacks tormenting his character. I will list them and comment on your write up above.
1. His hatred towards Arjuna from the day-1 was meaningless. Arjuna did not show that much hatred towards him.
2. He wanted to become No.1 Archer and defeat Arjuna at any cost and he lied to Parasuram about his cast.
3. When Duryodhana wanted to make him the king of Angadesh, he readily accepted without thinking why he was offering the Angadesh. Duryodhana really bribed him and Karna accepted the bribe. It was a quit pro situation. ( I am offering the kingdom and in return you support me against the pandavas.)
4. He supported Duryodhana during all his misdeeds because of the above reason.
5. Insulting Drupadi shows his hatred towards pandavas and Drupadi. It was just like a revenge. He lost his character there.
6. Taking part in killing Abhimanyu, he lost all his values as a warrior. Actually, the Kauravas were defeated by Abhimanyu on that day and they have no moral value to continue the war.
Now as a warrior :
1.During Draupadi swayamvara, it was Karna who challenged Arjuna and at that time Arjuna did not have Gandeev. He was having the bow provided at the swayamvara.It is shameful to say that Karna did not have a better bow THEN HOW DID HE CHALLENGE? Did he felt that the guy was only a brahmin and can be easily defeated
2.What do you say During war with Drupad? .Karna did not have a proper bow and without a proper bow did he go to capture Drupad. Arjuna did not have Gandeev at that time also.
3. Really shameful to say that Karna was in a drunken condition during fight with Gandharvas.
Arjuna was never in such a condition.
4. During Gograhan : It is really surprising to read your wards that Karna do not know with whom they are going to fight. It is really insulting Karna only because, the plan was to bring the Pandavas out from hiding as Kauravas suspected that they were in Virata kingdom and that is why they attacked from both sides.Karna was severely wounded twice by Arjuna during this war.
5. During Mahabharat war, Arjuna reciprocated asthras delivered by Karna but he did not apply any asthras like,Brahmastra, Brahmasira and Pasupatha on karna before hand.
6. Without the aid of Asthras, if you consider, Arjuna is a superior bow man to Karna if we go through the above events. Even during the 14th day war, Arjuna defeated Karna and advanced
On that day itself, Arjuna killed 50% of the kaurava army where as Karna could not kill even half of that during his six days he fought with Pandavas.
7. Arjuna was fighting from day-1 and Karna joined the war on the 11th day.
8. Arjuna wounded Karna severely during their final battle when compared to karna’s attack on
Arjuna
No doubt, Karna could have been the greatest soul on earth had he left the Jealousy, Hatred and greed.
You are not so supreme then God man