Karna & Arjun - The Union of Brothers

1. The Calling of the Sun

"Is that all you have got, Son?" Lord Parashuram said with a certain ease and a relaxed smile as his favorite disciple was trying to push him out of the red soil circle that was designed to practice wrestling. It was raining heavily in Mahendragiri and both the warriors were covered with wet soil. It had been five years since Karna started training under the guidance of Lord Parashuram. Since Dronacharya refused to teach him the mantras to invoke Brahmastra, considering Karna's competitiveness with Arjun and him belonging to the Suta caste, Karna had approached Lord Parshuram to learn warfare. It wasn't easy to convince the sixth incarnation of Shree Narayan, who had wiped out the Kshatriya clan from the face of earth for as many as twenty-one times. Karna had to lie to Lord Parashuram about his caste as he was open to provide the knowledge of warfare to Brahmins only. There wasn't a single day that went without him regretting his act of lying.

The young Karna was among the strongest warriors of his generation, but he lacked the brute strength to push the immortal warrior of Treta yug. But that didn't affect his determination, and he shouted out aloud with his effort. The rain showers started to fizzle out and soon there was no rain. The cloud cover got clear and the Sun was spreading its light all over the mountains. While the rain had cleared the mud on Karna's body, the arrival of Sun infused a portion of divine energy in his body. His entire body started to glitter like gold. This was Lord Parshuram's first encounter with Karna's natural armor in its full glory. Karna tightened his grip around his preceptor's torso and lifted him in the air. Lord Parshuram also used his divine powers to increase his strength and break out that grip. While the grip was fine, Karna started losing his balance because of the high frequency vibrations generated by Lord Parshuram. Karna knew that the fall was inevitable, but he didn't want his teacher to get hurt. Hence, he took the fall on his back and technically lost that round to his Guru.

"Incredible. Your natural armor seems to be made of Amrit and those earings can make it difficult for anybody to directly look at your vibrant face," Lord Parshuram said with a smile of appreciation as he helped Karna get up.

"Thanks Gurudev. I was born with these gifts. I don't know the reason though," Karna responded.

"The reason is your generosity. You sacrificed your potential victory to protect your Guru. Only a generous warrior like you is worthy of such divine gifts. Tell me son, what do you want?" Lord Parshuram asked.

"Gurudev, you have already accepted me as your student and are sharing the knowledge that you received from Mahadev himself. What more could I ask from you?" Karna expressed his gratitude.

"You are a very special warrior Karna. I would like to give you an opportunity to show your talent to the world. I would like to send you to the Vishwa Yodha Pratiyogita. Let me share the details over the lunch," Lord Parshuram said as both walked towards the aashram.