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91.THE DEATH OF KARNA
You conspired with the wicked men who
sought to poison and kill Bhima. You
acquiesced in the plot to burn the
Pandavas alive when sleeping in the
palace of wax into which they had been
lured. What had happened to dharma all
that time? What did dharma tell you when
violent hands were laid on Draupadi and
you were looking on enjoying the sight?
Did you not then mock at her saying:
'Your husbands have left you unprotected,
go and marry another husband'? The
tongue that was not ashamed to utter those
words now talks of chivalry. Chivalry
indeed! When a mob of you surrounded
the young Abhimanyu and shamelessly
slew him, was that chivalry? Wicked man,
do not talk now of chivalry and fairplay,
for you have never honored them!"
When Krishna was denouncing him in this
manner in order to urge Arjuna to prompt
action, Karna bent his head in shame and
uttered not a word. Karna silently
ascended the chariot leaving the wheel
still stuck in the mud and took his bow
and sent an arrow at Arjuna with unerring
aim and such power that it stunned him
for a moment.
Karna utilised the respite won, to jump
down again and hurriedly tried to lift the
chariot wheel up. But the curse was too
strong for him and fortune had deserted
the great warrior.
The wheel would not budge, though he
strove with all his great strength. Then he
tried to recall the mantras of mighty astras
he had learnt from Parasurama, but his
memory failed in the hour of his need,
even as Parasurama had foretold.
"Waste no more time, Arjuna," cried
Madhava. "Send your shaft and slay your
wicked enemy."
Arjuna's mind was wavering. His hand
hesitated to do what was not chivalrous.
But when Krishna said this, the poet says:
"Arjuna accepted this command of the
Lord and sent an arrow which cut and
severed the head of the Radheya."
The poet had not the heart to impute this
act to Arjuna who was the embodiment of
nobility. It was the Lord Krishna that
incited Arjuna to kill Karna when he was
vainly trying to raise his chariot out of the
mud in which it had stuck. According to
the code of honor and laws of war
prevailing then, it was wholly wrong.
Who could bear the responsibility for
breaches of dharma except the Lord
Himself? The lesson is that it is vanity to
hope, through physical violence and war,
to put down wrong. The battle for right,
conducted through physical force leads to
numerous wrongs and, in the net result,
adharma increases.
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