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11.KARNA
Still, Karna could not bring himself to
refuse any gift that was asked of him.
Hence he cut off the earrings and armor
with which he was born and gave them to
the brahmana.
Indra, the king of gods, was filled with
surprise and joy. After accepting the gift,
he praised Karna as having done what no
one else would do, and, shamed into
generosity, bade Karna ask for any boon
he wanted.
Karna replied: "I desire to get your
weapon, the Sakti, which has the power to
kill enemies." Indra granted the boon, but
with a fateful proviso. He said: "You can
use this weapon against but one enemy,
and it will kill him whosoever he may be.
But this killing done, this weapon will no
longer be available to you but will return
to me." With these words Indra
disappeared.
Karna went to Parasurama and became his
disciple by representing to him that he
was a brahmana. He learnt of Parasurama
the mantra for using the master weapon
known as Brahmastra.
One day Parasurama was reclining with
the head on Karna's lap when a stinging
worm burrowed into Karna's thigh. Blood
began to flow and the pain was terrible.
But Karna bore it without tremor lest he
should disturb the master's sleep.
Parasurama awoke and saw the blood that
had poured from the wound.
He said: "Dear pupil, you are not a
brahmana. A kshatriya alone can remain
unmoved under all bodily torments. Tell
me the truth."
Karna confessed that he had told a lie in
presenting himself as a brahmana and that
he was in fact the son of a charioteer.
Parasurama in his anger pronounced this
curse on him: "Since you deceived your
guru, the Brahmastra you have learnt shall
fail you at the fated moment. You will be
unable to recall the invocatory mantra
when your hour comes."
It was because of this curse that at the
crisis of his last fight with Arjuna, Karna
was not able to recall the Brahmastra
spell, though he had remembered it till
then. Karna was the faithful friend of
Duryodhana and remained loyally with
the Kauravas until the end.
After the fall of Bhishma and Drona,
Karna became the leader of the Kaurava
army and fought brilliantly for two days.
In the end, the wheel of his chariot stuck
in the ground and be was not able to lift it
free and drive the chariot along. While he
was in this predicament, Arjuna killed
him. Kunti was sunk in sorrow, all the
more poignant because she had, at that
time, to conceal it.
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