Rita's Compendium

Karna was born from the daughter of a human king, Kunti, and the sun god, Surya. Kunti was the wife of the Kuru king Pandu, but he was under a curse that prevented him from producing children, so his queens each had no choice but other methods to bear children. Kunti was a woman who had a Mantra that allowed her to copulate with and bear the child of any god and, by those means, gave Pandu children, but before she became the king's wife, she tested the mantra and bore a single child. That child was Karna, the golden hero who was born from relations with the sun god Surya. Kunti was a determined woman and, afraid of her first birth and anxiety over whether the god would acknowledge his own child.

"I want proof that this child is your son."
—Kunti prayed to Surya.

Surya heard Kunti's words and gave until the child, as he was born, his own power and attributes. As proof of being the son of Surya, he was given a golden armor and this is the source of the golden armor that made Karna invulnerable. Karna was born to become a great hero. Though she was shown such grace and faithfulness, Kunti abandoned her first son. For her, who was to become the queen of Kuru king Pandu, the existence of her son nothing but unnecessary. This is how Karna, who was thrown away by his owner mother, came to be ignorant of his own birth, but he lived with only the things he had been given by his father, the sun god Surya, held in his chest. Karna grew up with a low social status.

The form of Karna, who didn't know his own mother's face and who questioned whether his mother was motivated by dishonesty, couldn't be called beautiful. Though he possessed his father's brilliant authority, his form was stained black. His countenance was cruel, and his every action was violent. Because of his lack of human mother, he didn't learn the subtleties of human emotion and spent his days being considered a nuisance by the people around him. That was how Karna was raised, but he didn't hate his mother or his surroundings. Instead, he accepted everything. His mother and father were the ones who gave him life so he thought that no matter what kind of person his mother was, he did not hold contempt for her, as if there is anything he had to hate was himself alone. In contrast to his appearance, Karna was an exceedingly virtuous and perceptive child. Possibly the cause of that was because, while he was the child of a god, he was also a child without a single relative. Karna was blessed with the opportunity to question the poor, their lives, and their value. As a result, he chose, of his own free will, the path where he persisted in his own fastidiousness. He believed that as he was born with more than people should display a 'proof of my life' greater than those of people, if he doesn't do so, the people without power will not be rewarded. What Karna had was simply the conviction to live without bringing dishonor to his father's authority and without shaming the people who compensated him. "Though he may be relentless and ruthless, he is also full of majesty," is Karna's stance given form.

-Adolescence

And Karna, who had grown to be a young man, participated in a conference of the Kuru family. At this conference, the five Pandava brothers indulged themselves in the martial arts they were so proud of and so famous for. The third son Arjuna's skill at the bow was especially magnificent, to the point that he was praised as having no equal. When the grounds were united as one voice looking for someone to equal the Pandavas, Karna leapt up to participate and displayed martial arts of the same rank as Arjuna's. Karna challenged Arjuna to determine which of them was superior. But to challenge Arjuna, a member of the royal family, one must be higher than a Kshatriya (military or royalty) and Karna seemed to be a Vaishya (merchant class) or a Shudra (a slave). Karna, whose challenge was refused due to the difference in status, was a laughingstock. The one who saved Karna in this situation was the eldest of the one hundred princes of the Kaurava clan, who opposed the Pandavas, Duryodhana. He became interested in Karna and made him a king at that place.

This is how Karna was saved from disgrace, but his foster father, who had heard of his promotion, appeared and established his origins. The five Pandava brothers further ridiculed Karna, who displayed martial arts superior to their own, saying, "The son of a charioteer should have a sense of shame." These words enraged Karna. If it were about himself, he would accept and be resigned to anything, but he would not allow insults toward his foster father. Even if it was a foster father who announced himself out of greed, to Karna, he was the father who raised him, who Karna should take pride in. The antagonism between Karna and the five Pandava brothers had become something he could not step back from, but sunset had come and the curtain was drawn on the conference. From then again, Karna, as the friend of Duryodhana, who saved him and treated him as a king, lived as a guest of honor of the one hundred princes of the Kaurava clan.

-Kurukshetra War

What awaited him beyond that was a cruel battle against the five Pandava brothers, and more specifically, against the great hero Arjuna. The antagonism between the Kauravas whom Karna entrusted his bow as a soldier and the Pandavas that Arjuna led intensified and finally became a war with their territory in the balance. That war is called the Kurukshetra War, and that is where Karna's life came to an end. Karna continued to wield his strength so that the one hundred Kaurava princes, and consequently Duryodhana, would be victorious. On the Pandava side, the only one who could oppose Karna was Arjuna, but even Arjuna could only be resigned to the fact that facing Karna directly was death.

Through several conflicts, pretexts, and mutual hatred, the war between this two camps arrived at Kurukshetra. Things having reached this point, Karna's mother, Kunti, wagered one last gamble: to reveal his lineage to Karna and draw him to the Pandava camp. Kunti told only Krishna, who was a friend of Arjuna in the guise of a normal person, of this situation, and the two of them went alone to meet Karna. Kunti revealed that she was Karna's mother, spoke how fighting with the five Pandava brothers would yield no benefits whilst weeping, and persuaded him that by fighting together with Arjuna, he would attain glory. Karna, without failing to show the friend of his arch-enemy Arjuna, Krishna, thanks, quietly listened to his mother's arguments.

Afterwards he said: "I understand your words. To join hands with the five brothers and return to my proper form. That would be a story filled with light, without a single fault." Then, facing the rejoicing Kunti, Karna continued speaking in an even softer voice: "But I wish for you to answer one thing. Do you not feel that those words of yours were too late?" She was too late in declaring she was his mother. She was too late in looking back upon Karna. "If you do not feel that this is a shame, then please answer. You, who declare yourself my mother, if you yourself have done no wrong, then accept the past without feeling ashamed of yourself."

While Kunti was a selfish woman, that was due to her natural innocence and simple-mindedness; she was most definitely not a shameless woman. She knew her own deeds, throwing away Karna, who had just been born, for her own sake, were full of selfishness and reproached herself for that. And for that reason, she possessed a minimum amount of pride. She could not tell to Karna, who had been raised alone until now, who was grateful to his foster family, who had never once embraced hatred toward another, a horrible lie. Kunti broke off the negotiation without answering.

"That is a deception, a complacent love. The only one your love can save is you. Your love is directed at no one but yourself. But I shall answer that feeling. From hereon, during the war, I will not kill any of the brothers who come to match me. I will only use all my power against my arch-enemy Arjuna."
—Karna said this to Kunti, who stood with her head hanging.

Karna swore not to lay a hand on the brothers of the Pandava family who were inferior to him in strength. The countless times Karna allowed the five brothers to go after this was due to this pledge. After that he concluded: "Return to the place that you obtained with your own hands. ...Though it was only once, I am grateful that you called me your son." Karna opened the castle gate and escorted Kunti out. That was the love that Karna bore for his mother, Kunti. It was not love for his mother at this late point in time but Kunti's resolution to raise "her feelings as mother" in the end... even if it wasn't genuine... That is what he answered. Kunti risked the danger of having her past come to light. To the hero of generosity Karna, such determination is worthy of compensation.

And so, just before the final battle. Arjuna's father, Indra the Thunder God, who understood that Karna could not be persuaded, took the form of a Brahmin, contacts Karna, and takes his golden armor. Though Karna had lost the property of being unkillable that he received from his father, he never said he would stop proceeding to the battlefield. He did not care that when he had lost his golden armor he had hastened his own death. Indra, who was touched by how gallant a figure Karna struck, asked why. Why did he continue to the battlefield, having lost his armor, but without reproaching Indra, who had hatched this scheme out of love for Arjuna?

"There is no need to hate you. It is simply a matter of being a step ahead. In fact--yes. Though you are a god, you are also a father. Such a thing brings me joy."
—Karna answered to Indra.

Then why do you advance toward the battlefield, asked Indra, to which he was responded: "To me, defeat is bringing shame upon my father. Even though death awaits me, I cannot run away." That was how Karna always lived. To him, who lived his life with pride in those who gave him life and raised him, his life was not his own.

"I owe Duryodhana a debt. For some reason, that impudent and timid man is so bright to me. It may be blasphemy against my father but, occasionally, I feel that that sweet light is the warmth of the sun."
—Karna

It was not the fire of the sun that Karna carried nor the absolute brilliance of Surya; to Karna, the sun was the imperfect charm that humans displayed. Indra, who saw the divinity of Surya himself in that form, gave Karna his spear. He had taken from this noble hero something greater than his life. Unless he gave something as compensation, his honor would be stained; above all—he was charmed with him: if it were this man, he could wield the greatest spear, that Indra had not given even to his own son. After, Karna sent off the Brahmin, having lost his armor (flesh), and headed to the battlefield, as thin as a ghost.

-Death

The final battle with Arjuna. Karna was already without allies; his charioteer, whom he trusted with his body, was already an enemy, in collusion with the Pandavas. He had a large number of heavy burdens, his feelings towards his younger half-brothers. Due to his curse, the wheel of Karna's chariot was stuck in a rut. The string of Arjuna's bow was drawn back to its limits. These brothers who, for a long time, were manipulated by an unseen destiny to compete for supremacy, could only in this moment strike one another with all their might and sure enough, Arjuna's bow shot down the sun. However, Karna did not hate anyone and accepted his death.

It is said that after his death, Karna became one with his father Surya. Called "the Hero of Generosity," he was a saint with the creed of not refusing when people came to ask or rely on him. The hero who, while possessing exceedingly high abilities, was within a tragedy where he was the enemy of his brothers by blood, received various curses, and lost his life without showing his true worth—that is Karna. This is a digression, but it is impossible to determine if Arjuna knew the truth that Karna was his older brother or not. It seems the only people who definitely knew that Karna was Kunti's son were Karna and Kunti, Krishna, and the sun god Surya.