Suryaputra Karna

THE WAR

Sitting out

Bhishma is appointed as the commander-in-chief of the Kaurava army. But giving the reason that Karna had humiliated Draupadi and disrespected their shared guru Parashurama, Bhishma refuses to take him in the Kaurava army. Secretly, he knows of Karna's lineage and doesn't want Karna to fight his own brothers. At the tale of Rathi's and Atirathi's, Bhishma further insults Karna and declares him as just an Ardha Rathi(Half a Rathi) warrior. But in real Karna was equal to 2 Maharatha warrior. Bhishma done this to weaken the energy of Karna when fighting against his brothers, Pandavas. Bhishma also know that if Karna fight from day one then the war will end in 2 days as the Pandavas cannot deal with the overwhelming power of Kaurava Maharathas. Bhishma already gave the blessing of victory to Pandavas so it was his duty to ensure the victory to Pandavas by keeping Karna away from battlefield. Duryodhan wants Karna to fight in the war from the beginning, but Bhishma threatens that he will not fight if Karna is in the army. Duryodhan considers instead installing Karna as the commander, but due to Karna's low birth, he knows that many kings would threaten not to fight under Karna when people like Bhishma and Dronacharya are present. So Karna decides that he will not fight until the fall of Bhishma. Knowing the Karna's situation on Kurukshtra war that Karna will not fight till Bhishma was present, Lord Krishna requested Karna to stay with him and Pandavas in Pandavas camp and insists Karna that he may join Kaurava side whenever the Bhishma has slain. But Karna politely dismissed Lord Krishna's appeal that he has dedicated his life to fight for his friend Duryodhan and will not do anything that is unpleasant to him. Only after Bhishma falls on the eleventh day did Karna enter the war. After the fall of Bhishma, Karna visits him on the bed of arrows and Bhishma reveals his knowledge about Karna's birth. He then explains his previous attitude, praises Karna's prowess, relates Karna's exploits, and gives Karna his blessings.

Joining the battle

On the morning of 11th day of battle, Surya offered his invincible chariot and his charioteer Aruṇa to Karna, just like Lord Indra who gave his chariot to Arjun. The chariot of Surya was brilliant as the sun, yoked with 7 horses of different colors
and only a person with divine vision could look into it. Confident in his own skills, Karna rejects this offer, saying he didn't want to be remembered as a person who depended upon others strength to gain victory, indirectly referring to Arjun who depended upon Lord Krishna. Drona took the commander-in-chief position.

Killing Ghatotkacha

Uncharacteristically, the battle on fourteenth day extended into the dark hours. Taking advantage of that was Ghatotkacha, Bheem's half-Asura son, as asuras gained extraordinary power at night time. Ghatotkacha's destroyed the Kaurava force and also injured Dronacharya. Seeing the desperate situation, Karna used his Vasava Shakti against Ghatotkacha, killing him. Krishna is pleased with the fact that Karna could no longer use the weapon against Arjun. Lord Krishna told Satyaki that he had applied his maya or illusion on Karna in order to protect Arjun from Karna's celestial weapons, preventing them from engaging in direct combat.

Later Lord Krishna reminded Arjun
about the life and past heroic actions of Karna. Lord Krishna warned Arjun about the power of Karna that are incapable of being vanquished even for Maha Vishnu with his discus called Sudarshana Chakra.

As promised to Kunti, Karna aimed at killing only Arjun. On the sixteenth day, he fought with all the Pandava brothers but Arjun, defeated them all in direct combat and spared each one of them after insulting them with harsh words. After the terrible death of Dushasan, he ordered his charioteer Shalya to move towards Arjun, Karna deciding to finish him off for once and all. So violent and offensive were Karna's attacks that Arjun's defenses soon crumbled before it. Karna then moved in for the kill. He arms his Naga Astra, the same celestial weapon that was used by Indrajit against Rama in Ramayana. Intervening, Shalya tells him to aim at Arjun's chest. Frustrated at Shalya's constant insults, Karna believes that the advice must be bad, and instead aims at Arjun's head. Krishna saved Arjun from certain death by lowering their chariot wheel into the earth; the arrow strikes Arjun's helmet instead of his head. Karna and Arjun then waged a rough war against each other. As promised to Kunti, Karna used a celestial weapon only once against Arjun. Regaining the upper hand, Karna has a chance to kill Arjun but spares the latter as the sun was about to set. In some versions, Lord Krishna realized that only miracles can save his ward Arjun from death and caused the Sun to set prematurely.