Unsung Hero Of Mahabharata

There are some lesser known stories about Karna

When Karna was on his death bed, Krishna came to test him. He disguised himself as a Brahmin saint , and asked Karna for some offering in the name of Dharma. Karna cited his debilitated condition and asked Krishna, "O Lord Brahmin, what can I offer you in this capitulated condition". Krishna teased him, "I thought you were the greatest philanthropist on earth, are you not going to offer anything to this old brahmin?"

Karna thought for a while and then grabbed a stone from his macabre surroundings. He then thwarted the stone into his mouth and although his brutally beaten frame was cursing every movement he was afflicting upon himself, he kept doing that continuously. Meanwhile Krishna was surprised as well as awed by courage of this great warrior. After many strong blows, Karna was able to break two golden teeth he had, and offered them to the disguised Krishna. Krishna being extremely impressed by the valor of this great warrior , did not show any visible emotions. Instead he cursed Karna(to test him again) on how he was offering such saliva ridden teeth to such a pious brahmin. Karna deeply engraved by this statement, tried to crawl up to his bow and arrow. His bow was in tatters and the thread supporting it was nowhere to be seen. He cursed himself upon the defeat he faced to Arjuna in the earlier part of the day, and kept crawling to find an auxiliary thread to support his bow. Luckily he found one a few feet away from him. Every inch that he crawled made his wounds even more blood stained, and he was slowly losing his consciousness. But he kept crawling as the legend of Karna will not have an apt ending if this saint would not be satiated by him. Finally having reached the supporting thread he drew the thread in his bow. Meanwhile his hand continued to bleed profusely, and his nerves were on the verge of bursting up. He finally launched the final assault on his body and caressed the final arrow of his life into the ground. Subsequently, a stream of water came bursting out of the ground. He washed those saliva and blood stained teeth in this pristine stream of water and offered them to the disguised saint. Krishna embarrassed and visibly taken aback, gave up his disguised identity and came in his original form. Bowing to the great warrior he said, "Karna, if you want I can make you alive at this moment and make the world bow at your feet. Until you are there at the face of this earth, I am assured that Adharma shall never ever reign on this planet". Karna replied, "O Lord Krishna, you are the creator and are omnipresent everywhere. Don't insult me by bowing in front of me. I have had enough of travails and hardships in my life, so much that even the most ebullient luxuries are not able to lure me back into this life again. Let me die in peace and assure me that the legend of Karna may inspire generations to come. I beg forgiveness for all the wrongs that I have done unintentionally. Let the world turn into a righteous place, where the reign of Dharma shall ensure prosperity to everyone irrespective of their not caste and their not so noble beginnings”. Krishna silently nodded in agreement and blessed the warrior prince

The greatest justice that this Indian society can actually do to the legend of Karna, is that children are still named Karan(inspired by Karna). Although the original form is still not used, and some historians still curse him for being in the favour of Adharma, he truly showed how morality can be practiced even in the clutches of darkness. I hope the story of this warrior prince shall be celebrated as much as his contemporaries.