Karna's
story would be incomplete without mentioning Shalya. Shalya, the king
of Madra and the brother of Madri, was the maternal uncle of Nakula
and Sahadeva, the Pandava twins.
After
Krishna's mission to bring peace between Pandavas and the
Kauravas failed, the two sides called in all their supporters for
fighting the war. The king of Madra collected his army and was on the
way to join his army on the side of the Pandavas. However destiny had
other plans....
Duryodhana
called his men with specific instructions. 'Intercept Shalya before
he reaches his destination. Serve him lavishly but do not
tell him who is his host!'
Duryodhana's
men were puzzled but they did not ask any questions.
And so
Shalya never reached the destination. He saw beautiful tents put up
on the way. He stopped his group and all of them enjoyed the lavish
hospitality.....
Later he
called the servant. 'Call your master! I am extraordinarily pleased
with him! I will pledge my army to him right now!'
Duryodhana
who was waiting for this opportunity smiled as he stood before
Shalya.
Shalya was
shocked out of his wits. 'You....It was you, who did all this!'
Duryodhana
smiled quietly. 'My servant tells me that you wanted to pledge your
army to me!'
I did
not know that you were the host...Shalya
wanted to yell but he kept quiet. He had as good given his word to
Duryodhana to fight for him. Shalya took a deep breath. 'My word is
my honour! I will fight the war for you! But Duryodhana....' Shalya
took another breath to control himself. 'I need to meet the Pandavas
and tell them about this...I promise I would be back!'
Duryodhana
smiled. 'Please...I know you are are a honourable man! Please go and
tell your nephews and come back....'
An unhappy
Shalya went to the Pandavas. There he told Yudhishtara everything.
Everyone was dismayed. Shalya was a very good archer and an
incredibly effective mace wielder though he was not a very heavy man.
And the man never lost him calm. Though it was not advertised much,
Shalya was a charioteer par excellence.
Yudhishtara
decided that what was done was done, now it was time for damage
control. He took Shalya aside. 'I know that you have given your word
and that you will fight against us....However there is something I
want you to do....'
Shalya was
puzzled in the whispering voice of Yudhishtara but did not say
anything. 'You are an excellent charioteer! I am sure that Duryodhana
would use it!'
Shalya
frowned not understanding.
'Arjuna's
charioteer is none other than Krishna himself and in the war, there
will be a time when there will be a battle between Karna and Arjuna!
And the outcome of the entire war will depend on that battle!'
Yudhishtara declared as he trembled. Shalya frowned but said nothing.
Yudhishtara continued. 'I am not concerned about anyone in the
Kaurava army, other than Karna!' Yudhishtara declared for the first
time a fear which had been gnawing him for the past thirteen years.
Ever since Yudhishtara had seen Karna, Yudhishtara could not get it
outside his head that Karna was as good a warrior as
Arjuna....Probably even better.....
Shalya for
the first time realized that Yudhishtara was genuinely scared of
Karna. 'What do you want me to do?' Shalya asked.
Yudhishtara
took a deep breath. 'I know that what I am asking you is....is...not
an honourable thing, but I think this must be done if Arjuna's life
is to saved!'
'What do
you want me to do?' Shalya repeated getting more and more confused.
'I am sure
that for fighting Krishna and Arjuna, Karna will at some time during
the war ask you to be his
charioteer. When that happens, I want you to dishearten Karna!' (In
those days, the position of being a warrior's charioteer was given
only to persons who were extremely trustworthy because more often
than not, the life of the warrior depended as much on his own
fighting skills and on the driving skills of his charioteer. The
charioteer not only protected the life of the warrior, the warrior
also discussed the means of attack and defence with the charioteer)
'WHAT?'
Shalya demanded.
'When you
act as Karna's charioteer I want you to talk to man and discourage
him and praise Arjuna! That way, Karna would never fight his best and
there is probably a chance that Arjuna's life would be saved!'
Shalya
looked at Yudhishtara grimly and did not speak for a long time.
Yudhishtara watched Shalya worriedly who finally looked at him and
smiled. 'Probably it is just as well that Duryodhana wants me to
fight for him! I will help you and I will do exactly what you want me
to do! By the time I get through with Karna, he would be in no
position to even stand near Arjuna, let alone fight him!'
************
Because of
Bhishma's condition, Karna did not participate in the first ten days
of the Mahabharatha war. As per his word, Bhishma did not kill the
five Pandavas, but he caused mass havoc among the Pandava army.
However the Pandavas with the help of Shikhandi finally brought
Bhishma down on the tenth day of the war.
Watching
Bhishma lying in the bed of arrows, his face contorted with pain, at
first the Kauravas did not know what to do....But one thought
which entered almost everyone's mind was Karna....Now Karna was
going to participate in the war....The
respect which everyone had for Bhishma automatically transferred to
the King of Anga.
Karna
watched the fallen Bhishma his thoughts in disarray...As
long as you are around, I WILL NOT FIGHT!
Karna remembered that he had yelled at Bhishma. But if you
manage to bring down the Pandavas, I will....I will retire to the
forests and never come back....But if I ever fight this war, I will
defeat every single person from the opposite side...Every single
person whom you considered to be greater warrior than me!
Karna remembered his words well and now looking at the Bhishma he
knew that his time to make good his promise had come....
Karna
looked down at the fallen hero and touched Bhishma's feet as a tear
trickled down his eyes. The fallen monarch woke up suddenly and Karna
winced as he saw the pain in Bhishma's eyes. 'I am sorry, I have
disturbed you! I am Radha's....'
'No you are
not!' Karna was shocked with the soft words coming from the wizened
features. 'You are not Radha's son, Karna!' Karna looked shocked as
he looked at Bhishma like as if he was looking at him for the first
time in his life. 'Sage Narada and Veda Vyasa, both have told me who
you are! Who you really are!' Bhishma took a deep breath to control
the pain. 'You are Kunti and Surya Deva's son!' Bhishma said. The
fallen monarch called Karna forward and tightly hugged the man. Karna
was shocked beyond words. Bhishma knew about him....
Bhishma
shook his head sadly. 'That was the reason I spoke harshly to you! I
did not want you to talk ill of your own brothers!That was the reason
I did not want you to fight the war! I wanted to make sure you never
fought with your own brothers!' Bhishma looked sad and defeated as he
studied the fine man sobbing, standing before him. 'But
fate....destiny is more powerful than either of us!'
Karna took
a deep breath as he pulled himself together. 'I will not go against
Duryodhana. He is my friend and I will fight for him! I will try to
kill the Pandavas for him!'
Bhishma
smiled sadly. Probably he already knew Karna's answer. 'Then go and
fight, my son! Fight to the best of your capabilities and fight
without any anger or vindictiveness! Fight because it is your Dharma
to fight for Duryodhana!'
For the
first time in his life Karna fell at Bhishma's feet with complete
love and devotion...
Karna went
back to the camp and talked to the Kaurava brothers who were badly
shaken up by the death of the Bhishma. Karna spoke to the army of the
Kauravas and boosted their morale by his heart rendering speech. The
Kaurava army was back and ready to fight again....
Duryodhana
saw his army and smiled at Karna. 'My friend! Now I am sure we
are going to win the war! Please....come and lead us and let us show
the Pandavas what we can really do!'
Karna shook
his head. 'After Bhisma, the oldest person in the Kaurava army is
Dronacharya! I am sure he is the one who has to lead your army! We will
all follow him!' Karna displayed his shrewdness and his genuine
willingness to fight to win the war for Duryodhana by the statement.
If Karna himself had become the general of the army, it was a
certainty that the other kings and princes who joined the war to
fight for Duryodhana would have grumbled because he was their same
age and there was also the touchy issue of him being the son of a
charioteer. However nobody would mind following the orders of
Dronacharya who was after all the teacher of the entire royal house
of Hastinapur.
And so
Drona led the Kaurava forces to battle.
During the
first two days that Drona led the army, the main focus of the
Kauravas was to imprison Yudhishtara. Duryodhana believed that if
Yudhishtara was imprisoned and bought before them, Yudhishtara would
concede defeat and give up the rights to his kingdom. However both
the times Drona was thwarted by Arjuna. After the attempt failed for
the second time, Duryodhana was so angry that he goaded his teacher
very badly. Dronacharya was very badly rattled and decided that the
next day he would either imprison Yudhishtara or kill a Maharatha
from the Pandava army. (Based on their fighting prowess, warriors
were classified as either Ratha or Maharatha)
And so the
next day the Kauravas set up the Chakravyugha. The Samshaptakas led
Arjuna away from Yudhishtara. The problem was that the only persons
in the Pandava army who could breach a Chakravyugha were Arjuna and
Krishna. With them gone, Yudhishtara could not fight against the
Kauravas.
That was
when Abhimanyu came up to his uncle. (Abhimanyu was the son of Arjuna
and Subhadra, Krishna's sister.) 'I know how to break into the
Chakravyugha,but the problem is, I do not know how to come out of
it!'
Bheema
smiled. 'Get us the opening! We will follow you ,son!'
Abhimanyu
made the opening and the other Pandavas followed him or atleast tried
following. (During the exile of the Pandavas, Jayadratha once tried
to kidnap Draupadi. The Pandavas caught Jayadratha and humiliated
him. In anger Jayadratha performed penance toward Lord Shiva and
obtained a boon that he could single handedly stop the other four
Pandavas, if Arjuna was not with them)
Jayadratha
used his boon on this occasion and none of the other Pandavas could
follow Abhimanyu. Abhimanyu went inside the Chakravyugha all alone.
However that did not deter Abhimanyu at all. He single-handedly laid
waste to almost half the Kaurava army as he plodded through the
Chakravyugha.
'As long as
he has a bow and arrow, we can do nothing to him!' Drona looked
horrified at the destruction one sixteen year old was causing to the
Kaurava army.
'….And he
cannot be bested in a single combat by anybody...' Dusshasana
said as his hands were bleeding after just finishing a fight with
Abhimanyu.
'DO
SOMETHING!' Duryodhana shouted, almost delirious with pain. 'THAT
BOY....' Duryodhana spat angrily. 'He just spared my life because he
wanted his uncle Bheema to keep up his vow of killing all the hundred
Kaurava brothers....'
And so the
Kauravas decided that Abhimanyu could not be attacked alone. Karna
went towards the boy and he broke Abhimanyu's bow. At the same time
Kripacharya killed Abhimanyu's charioteer and all his horses.
Abhimanyu
pulled out his sword and started attacking the Kauravas around him.
With great difficulty Drona broke the hilt of Abhimanyu's sword.
Abhimanyu
was bleeding badly but undeterred he continued fighting. The Kauravas
warriors watched horrified as Abhimanyu pulled out the wheel from one
of the thousand chariots he had destroyed and started hitting the
warriors near him. All the Kauravas surrounded him and together
attacked the young Abhimanyu. Abhimanyu fought and finally unable to
fight all the warriors collapsed and fell dead on the field.....
For a
second the entire field was calm and suddenly the entire Kaurava army
broke out into loud cheers. The great warriors of the Kaurava army
danced around the body of the young Abhimanyu.....
********
The next
day was probably the most gory day in the war. Arjuna vowed to kill
Jayadratha the very next day or decided that he would forfeit his
life if he failed. The Kauravas realizing that if Arjuna failed it
would as well mean the end of the war and protected Jayadratha to the
best of their ability.
Despite his
clinical decimation of the Kaurava army, Arjuna all but failed but
thanks to Krishna who effectively exploited the fact that the day was
an eclipse, Arjuna was able to fulfill his vow...
Duryodhana
was unable to believe that despite the best protection, Jayadratha
still lay dead.
That day
was the first day when the war did not end with sunset. Incensed at
his failure to protect Jayadratha, Duryodhana let the war continue
even after sunset. The Pandavas used Gadothgaja in reply to the
Kauravas for the evening war. While Arjuna was fighting with Drona,
Karna massacred the Pandava army. Arjuna then decided to stop his
battle with Drona and go to face Karna. However the Dark Lord stopped
him. Krishna turned to Gadothgaja. Gadothgaja was the son of Bheema
and Hidimba and was a Rakshasa. 'Only two people can kill Karna. One
of them is Arjuna and the other is you! I want you to face Karna,
because it is night now!'
Gadothgaja
looked proudly at Krishna as he nodded his head. As a Rakshasa his
powers were heightened after sunset. And Gadothgaja wrecked havoc on
the Kaurava army. It went so bad that Duryodhana for a second
actually feared that the son of Bheema was going to win the war for
the Pandavas on that day.
He went to
his trusted friend. 'KARNA! Do something! Please....just....just do
something....If we do not stop Gadothgaja...' Duryodhana gasped
unable to finish the sentence.
Karna
looked worriedly because he knew exactly how to stop
Gadothgaja. He mumbled something when Duryodhana yelled at him. 'If
you know what to do, just do it!'
'I have the
Shakti with me! It would kill Gadothgaja....'
'THEN USE
IT!' Duryodhana screamed.
'I was
saving it for using it on Arjuna....' Karna mumbled. 'I can use it
only once....'
'ARJUNA!
YOU THINK ARJUNA IS IMPORTANT NOW!' Duryodhana shouted again. 'I WILL
MAKE THIS CLEAR TO YOU...IF WE DO NOT DO ANYTHING NOW, THERE WILL BE
NO TOMORROW FOR THE WAR...USE THE SHAKTI!' Duryodhana shouted as he
stared at Gadothgaja who had now changed his size to that of a
mountain.
Having no
choice in the matter, Karna used the Shakti. The weapon which Indra
had granted Karna in return of his armour and earrings. The weapon flew straight
to Gadothgaja's chest and after fatally wounding the warrior, flew
back to Indra.
'FALL ON
THE KAURAVA ARMY!' Bheema screamed, his eyes in tears as his brothers
watched in utter horror as Gadothgaja fell down
With tears
stricken eyes Bheema rushed forward but he could not miss the sad
smile on Krishna's face. 'Why are you smiling, Krishna?' Arjuna
demanded hugging Gadothgaja. 'My son is dead and you are
smiling...Why...'
'Bheema's
son has done more than just fight the war! He has practically won the
war for you!' Krishna said quietly. 'The only person in the Kaurava
army who has the capacity to win the war was Karna and he could do it
if he used his Shakti on Arjuna!' Krishna took in a deep breath as he
continued. 'And today Karna has used the weapon and he cannot use it
again.....Gadothgaja has just won the war for you!' Krishna repeated
looking proudly at the dead warrior. 'Now my friend, you are ready to
go and fight Karna!'
******
The next
day was the day Dronacharya was killed in the battlefield and this
time there was no question, Karna was automatically placed as the
commander-in-chief of the army. Duryodhana looked at Karna with his
eyes shining. 'Friend! Bhishma protected the Pandavas because he was
their grandfather and Dronacharya also favoured them....You....you
are going to win this war for me!'
Karna
looked at the love-filled eyes of Duryodhana and slowly nodded his
head. 'Yes! I will win the war for you!'
Karna
deployed his men and the Pandavas had a counter-strategy ready for
them. However today was the day when Nakula picked Karna as his
opponent. Nakula fought brilliantly but he was nowhere in the same
class as Karna. Nakula fought as fast as he could but before he could
even let loose his arrow Karna broke his bow. Nakula tried picking up
his shaft but Karna broke that too. As an offensive,Karna killed
Nakula's charioteer. Nakula stared wide eyed as Karna took the arrow
and aimed it straight at his chest. Astonishingly Nakula saw Karna
lower his arrow and give him a queer smile. 'You are just not worthy
of fighting me! Go and hide behind your elder brother Arjuna and
Krishna!'
Nakula was
embarrassed and tried to raise his weapon but Karna just moved away
from there, as if he was no longer worthy of his attention....
However on
that day Arjuna massacred the Kaurava army and it went so bad that
the Kaurava soldiers actually ran away on seeing Arjuna's chariot
even at a distance. So that night the Kauravas had a meeting.
'Arjuna and
me are equal in all aspects and I can easily take him....The problem
is Krishna! He is such a brilliant charioteer that more than half of
Arjuna's work is done by Krishna just driving the chariot....'
Duryodhana
looked surprised. 'What do you want me to do about it?'
Karna
looked straight at Duryodhana with a faint smile on his lips. 'I want
as good a charioteer as Arjuna!' Both of them turned almost at the
same time towards Shalya, the king of Madra.
Shalya
looked angrily at the two of them. 'There is no way I am going to be
the charioteer to him....He is not even a warrior!'
Duryodhana
looked straight at Shalya. 'Listen to me king! The problem right now
is Arjuna! He is destroying the Kaurava army not because he is a
better warrior but because he has a better charioteer. Karna can kill
Arjuna, if....if he has someone as good as Krishna....And the only
person who satisfies that condition is you!'
Shalya
looked quiet for a few seconds his eyes lighting up with pride.
Finally taking a deep breath Shalya nodded his head. 'I will be your
charioteer! But.....'
Both
Duryodhana and Karna looked apprehensively as Shalya gave them a
strange smile. 'I should be able to speak my mind to Karna! I will
tell him exactly what I think, whether he gets hurt or not....'
Karna
looked at Shalya for a long time and finally nodded his head. Then he
smiled beautifully. 'Then tomorrow I am going to kill Pandavas!'
Shalya was
irked by the over-confident smile on Karna's face and smirked. 'You
think you can single handedly destroy the Pandavas?' Shalya shook his
head with a mocking smile on his face.
And so the
war started for the next day. Karna turned to his soldiers. 'Any
person who points out where Arjuna is will be rewarded!'
Shalya who
was minding the horses rolled his eyes. 'I am your charioteer! Of
course, I can take you to Arjuna....But seriously you think you can
bring down Arjuna.....A rabbit can never bring down an elephant!'
Karna
looked angrily at Shalya. 'You have no idea of who I am! I can single
handedly bring down all the Pandavas! So please do not tell me what I
can and cannot do!
Shalya was
however devastatingly efficient. He kept his tirade against Karna and
continued to praise Arjuna. Karna turned to him with barely contained
fury.'I can see Yudhishtara there! Take me there!'
Shalya
realized that it was direct order and drove the horses to
Yudhishtara. Karna challenged Yudhishtara to a duel and when the
fight actually started, Karna literally toyed with Yudhishtara. He
hurt Yudhishtara so badly that Yudhishtara had to retire to his camp
immediately. As Yudhishtara was being driven off Karna yelled loudly. 'You are not worthy of fighting me! Someday, tell your children that you fought with Karna and lost!'
Arjuna and Krishna heard about the fight between Yudhishtara and Karna and rushed back to the
camp to meet Yudhishtara.
Yudhishtara
had long since nursed a fear of Karna. He could not explain it, not
even to himself, but Yudhishtara always felt that Karna could
singlehandedly turn around the war....And today's duel with Karna had
definitely not improved things. Yudhishtara sat in his tent nursing
his wounds wondering how it was possible to bring Karna down. He
heard Arjuna's chariot and nursed a silly notion that Arjuna had
already defeated Karna. He rushed outside. 'Arjuna! You have done it!
You have defeated Karna, have you not?'
Arjuna
looked surprised. 'No! I thought that....I heard that you were
wounded I came to see you!'
'What for?
What do you want to see me for?' Yudhishtara sneered angrily. 'You
want to see exactly how badly Karna has hurt me?' Anger made
Yudhishtara very reckless. 'I seriously do not think you are a match
for Karna. Karna with his Vijaya (Karna's bow is called Vijaya) is
more powerful than you with your Gandiva! What is the use of having
the Gandiva, if you cannot even use it properly....'
That was
just as far as he got. Arjuna pulled out his sword and pulled it
straight at Yudhishtara's throat. Yudhishtara stared at the sword
wide-eyed, unable to even understand.
'I have a
vow that I will kill anyone who insults my Gandiva! Today you have
just insulted my Gandiva....' Arjuna said with an almost detached
tone pushing the sword further.
Things
would have gone really bad, if not for Krishna. Krishna effectively
calmed down both the brothers and made the two of them apologize to
each other.
Krishna and
Arjuna went outside the tent. 'Krishna, please take me to Karna!'
*********
Elsewhere
in the field Karna challenged Bhima to a fight and Bhima fought brilliantly and disarmed Karna. In fact Bhima became so caught up in firing the arrow that one of is arrows struck Karna straight in the chest. Karna fell unconscious. Wanting to protect Karna, Salya drove Karna away from the battlefield to protect the unconscious Karna.
Bhima tried
chasing Karna but was suddenly intercepted by Dusshasana. Remembering
his promise at the dice game, Bhima challenged Dusshansana to the
duel and the two of them were engaged in fighting with the mace.
Unfortunately for Dusshasana, he had met Bhima when Bhima was very
angry. Bhima practically went berserk and killed Dusshasana. Bhima
then drank Dusshasana's blood exactly as he had promised Draupadi
that he would.....
Karna left Bhima to his devices and went towards the Panchalas army and there he struck....and he started his attack with a clinical efficiency and the Pandava army started running away when they even heard the chariot sounds of Karna....
*********
Before the
battle between Karna and Arjuna started, another small thing also
happened. Shalya watched Karna fight and his grudging respect for Karna grew. Shalya was
about to say something when Karna shook his head. 'I know what you
are trying to do! I should have guessed it before, but I had to
choose only you as my charioteer because I know of no one else who
can drive the chariot as well as you! I know I am going to die
today....Please just keep quiet and let me fight!'
Shalya for
a minute was tongue tied. Though he kept up his rant, Karna had
already won him over....
********
On the way to battle Karna, Arjuna met another warrior who was waiting to fight with him. It was Vrishasena, Karna's son. Vrishasena fought brilliantly and he pierced Arjuna's left hand with many arrows. Even Krishna was not spared. Recovering, Arjuna pulled out an arrow and Karna watched as Arjuna hit Vrishasena repeatedly with his powerful arrows and Vrishasena fell dead.
Screaming Karna came forward and attacked Arjuna. It is said that
even the Gods and the rishis from the heavens came down to watch the
battle.
The two of
them fought with ordinary weapons at first and the air was thick
with arrows that almost nothing was visible from the two sides. Karna
fired his arrows with such devastating efficiency that even Krishna
was not fast enough to move the chariot....A few arrows pierced Krishna.
Then the
two warriors started using celestial weapons each as powerful as the
other.
Ashwattama
saw the battle and hurriedly turned to Duryodhana. 'In all my years,
I have never seen anything like this Duryodhana, I am afraid, the two
of them would end the world...Please call off the battle.....Make
peace with the Pandavas!'
Duryodhana
watched the scene with quiet pride in his eyes and shook his head.
'Karna will win! My Karna will win!'
As the two of them fought, Shalya's respect for Karna grew to immense proportions. 'I am sorry!' Shalya said quietly.
Karna smiled. 'I will try to kill Arjuna, but my friend, if I fail what would you do?'
'I will find Dhananjay (Arjuna) and Krishna and I will kill them!' Shalya said with utter sincerity in his voice.
'Please....please do that! My Duryodhana needs someone to fight for him, after I am gone!' Karna said smiling beautifully.
However the fight between Arjuna and Karna was interrupted in the general hubhub of the war. It happened such that Karna was wanted in another part of the battlefield and Arjuna found himself face to face with another son of Karna - Vikartana. However this battle though fierce lasted for a very short time as Vikartana was also killed by Arjuna.
Now looking mad through and through, Karna met Arjuna again in the battlefield and this time both of them knew that this was for the last time....There could be only one person who walked away from this battle....
Karna fired the arrows so fast that one could hardly see Karna pick up the arrow and fire it. It all seemed to blur into one single action. However what was even more surprising was that all the arrows which were fired were cut off by Arjuna with the same speed. The air surrounding the place where the two arrows met became dark and almost nothing was visible to either side...
Karna used his Varunastra and fired it at Arjuna. Both Arjuna and Krishna were drenched in the sudden rain from the astra. However Arjuna immediately fired a Vayavastra and dispelled the showers which disappeared almost as soon as they had appeared. However Arjuna did not pause even for a single second. He kept firing his arrows and within a matter of a few seconds, the nalikas and the anjalikas (the names of the weapons used by Arjuna) pierced almost the entire upper half of Karna. Ignoring the pain, Karna closed his eyes and pulled out the Bhargava astra. It is said that the Bhargava astra was handed over to Karna by his teacher Parashurama. Firing the arrows rapidly one after the other Karna destroyed the arrow which Arjuna was about to fire. Krishna rapidly moved away from the other arrows and the other arrows went and hit the Pandava army which was standing there. The soldiers, the elephants and the horses which were standing there.....none of them survived the attack.....
Bhima was shocked watching his brother getting hurt by Karna and could not bear it. 'How is it even possible that the son of a charioteer is better than you? This cannot be allowed! Fight brother, fight and do anything....but kill him!'
Incensed by his brother, Arjuna fought like never before. Now not only was Karna getting hit by the arrows, the entire Kaurava army was being decimated by Arjuna. Karna realizing that Arjuna had raised the level of the game and that he had to do something to keep up the morale of his men ordered Shalya to go right in front of Arjuna so that he would be able to prevent further damage to his army.
Both the warriors fired celestial weapons at will. Karna
pulled out his Nagastra and aimed it straight at Arjuna's head was about to fire it when he was interrupted by Shalya. 'Karna! Do not aim for the head....Aim for the chest!' Shalya shouted.
In the heat of the battle, Karna unfortunately did not heed Shalya's warning....or probably he thought that Shalya was still trying to distract him by degrading him and fired the nagastra straight at Arjuna's head.
Arjuna was not quick enough and could not defend against it. Krishna
saw the astra coming as if in slow motion and right at the last
minute when the weapon was almost among them, he pushed the chariot
down and so....the weapon which came for the head went with the
crown....
'Use the
weapon again!' A voice came to Karna. Karna saw astonished as the
astra looked at him in the shape of a snake. 'This Arjuna has killed
my family in the Khandava forest...Use me again and this time I shall
kill Arjuna!'
Karna
looked angrily at the astra. 'The only person I trust is myself....I
do not trust anyone else to fight for me! Go away!'
The astra
itself shot straight at Arjuna, however Arjuna brought it down
without any hesitation.
The fight between Arjuna and Karna was getting ugly as the two warriors were beginning to hurt each other with the powerful arrows. Their armours no longer afforded the protection that it was supposed to give the warriors and the two warriors were bleeding profusely....
Karna
pulled out his Brahmaastra and closed his eyes to read out the mantra
and to his horror, he found that he could not remember anything. He
tried again and again, but still nothing came to his mind. He was
about to let out another weapon when suddenly Karna's chariot
shuddered. Karna saw in utter horror as the chariot slowly sank in
the soft mud beneath it.
Cursing
himself Karna knew that his movements would now become sluggish because of the soft mud under the chariot. Karna started firing arrows one after the other and it is said that he cut the string of Arjuna's bow eleven times and Arjuna retied the string all the eleven times and he did it with such a speed that even Karna could not identify when Arjuna retied the string....
However now the chariot was sinking even deeper inside the mud and the chariot had completely stopped. Karna jumped out of the chariot and tried to pull it. Arjuna was about to aim the arrow at him but then he hesitated. Arjuna was too much of a warrior to hurt a man when he was not fighting......Karna looked at Arjuna with pleading eyes. 'Please give me some time! I am not
fit to fight right now! You are a virtuous man! You will attack a man like this'
Krishna however laughed. 'Did Abhimanyu not deserve a little more kindness from you
when he was all alone in the Chakravyugha?' Krishna was almost
blazing with anger. 'He was sixteen! Did you not think that Drauapdi
was helpless in the dice game? Still that did not prevent you from
speaking harsh words to her! Why should Arjuna hesitate to kill you
now?'
Karna looked wordlessly at Krishna because he knew that there was no excuse for what he had done back then.
On hearing
Abhimanyu's name, Arjuna's lips hardened into a grim line. He pulled
back his Anjalika astra and sent it straight at Karna's head. As usual there was no mistake in his aim......The astra beheaded Karna.....
TO BE
CONCLUDED
