The Mahabharata describes several close
friendships: the friendship between Krishna and Arjuna, those between Krishna
and Draupadi, the sages Nara and Narayana, Ashwatthama and Duryodhana, Drona
and Drupada and so on, each uniquely fascinating in its own way. One of the
friendships that get a lot attention in the epic is that between Karna and
Duryodhana – between a man considered an ideal for high ethical principles, who
is willing to give up his life itself for his principles and a man for whom
power is the ultimate thing, for which he would sacrifice all ethics. This
friendship is of central importance to the story of the epic – because Karna is
Duryodhana’s greatest strength, the one man he can count on unconditionally,
based on whose strength he does all kinds of atrocities throughout his life and
finally goes to war with the Pandavas refusing to give them back as much land
as the tip of a needle. In this study we are going to take a look at the
journey of that friendship, the ups and downs it takes and many other
fascinating aspects that are not widely understood. This will also be the study
of a hero’s fascinating journey from darkness to light – ironically, the
journey of the son of the sun god from darkness to light.
Karna
with Duryodhana in Poisoning Child Bhima
To begin with, let’s get rid of a common
misunderstanding. It is generally believed that the friendship of Karna, the
son of the sun god and Kunti, and Duryodhana began in the arena where Duryodhana,
his brothers, his cousins and other princes, all students of Guru Drona, were
displaying their prowess in the martial arts they had learned under him. Towards
the end of this display Karna enters the place and challenges Arjuna, but he is
pronounced disqualified to make that challenge and ridiculed since he is not
royalty. At this stage Duryodhana steps in heroically and says one should not
look at the origin of rivers, saints and heroes, and hugging Karna and
declaring him his friend, crowns him king of Anga. This is how the lifelong
friendship begins – in popular perception.
But in reality, the friendship of the two
is much older. They were childhood friends. After all, Karna was the son of
Duryodhana’s father’s charioteer and it would be no wonder if Duryodhana had made
friends with this amazing youth, older than him by a couple of years, who
showed such great promise and great ambition.
An incident discussed in detail by the Adi
Parva of the epic is the poisoning of Bhima by Duryodhana at Pramanakoti.
Duryodhana is only a young boy when the
Pramanakoti episode takes place. The incident happens soon after Satyavati left
Hastinapura along with her two daughters-in-law, Ambika and Ambalika, on the
advice of her son Sage Vyasa, the author of the epic, who forewarned her of the
terrible times ahead that would result from the actions of her great-grandsons
and suggested that she should spend the rest of her life in the jungle in
austerities and meditation, as was the practice in ancient India.
Duryodhana never liked the arrival of his
cousins, the Pandavas, at Hastinapura following the death of their father
Pandu. Without a doubt they were a threat to his authority and succession –
after all, his own father Dhritarashtra was no more than a caretaker of the
kingdom, a regent, and their father Pandu was the last officially crowned king
of the Kurus. By traditional right the kingdom should pass down to Pandu’s
eldest son Yudhishthira and Duryodhana was keenly aware of this.
To add to his pains, the second of the
Pandavas, Bhima, was already emerging as more powerful than anyone of them and
smarter than him and all his brothers. While there was no doubt that he ate
more than any of them, he also had the best aim when they targeted objects, was
the fastest of them all when they chased something or just raced, and when they
played games like scattering dust, something very useful in combat, he outdid
them all. Perhaps what Duryodhana found even more difficult to tolerate was
that Bhima loved bullying them, laughing all the while, like by shaking trees
and making them fall down when they were on trees and by doing other naughty
things children with irrepressible energy do.
Considering all this, in the words of the
Mahabharata, Duryodhana readies himself for what the epic calls ‘an act of
sin’. His thoughts at this stage are made clear by the epic: he would eliminate
Bhima and then “reign on his own as the sole king without being troubled by
him.” The Mahabharata says what Bhima did to his cousins were the innocent acts
of a child who had too much energy – they were not acts born of malevolence. Whereas
what Duryodhana had in mind was not an impulsive act of a child, but a well
thought out malevolent plan with a clear long time selfish goal. And he goes
about the execution of his plan with thoroughness that would be admirable even
in an adult, had it not been such a wicked act.
The first thing he does is to give orders
for a beautiful mansion surrounded by rich gardens to be built at Pramanakoti
on the banks of the Ganga. Then, when it is all ready, he invites the Pandava
brothers for a picnic there – they shall have exquisite food and lots of fun
there, he tells them. Duryodhana, the young boy, has made special arrangements
to see that the food for Bhima is poisoned.
Duryodhana takes them all on a tour
of the gardens and pleasure groves, and then, to use once again the words of
the epic, “the wicked boy with honey on his tongue and a dagger in his heart”
invites all the brothers to enjoy the rich food that has been cooked and while
they do so, serves the3 unsuspecting Bhima the poisoned food. Following this,
they all sport in water – Bhima as always more active than anyone else,
constantly encouraging all to give themselves totally to the sport, as he
himself did. Eventually they all lie down on the bank of the river to rest and
relax – and Bhima easily goes into deep slumber, fatigued as he was with all
the swimming and encouraging others, the poison at work in his body all the
while.
That is precisely what Duryodhana has been
waiting for. While all the brothers were taking a nap, Duryodhana ties the
sleeping Bhima up with thick forest vines and then casts him into the river.
Bhima floats down the river and then slowly sinks to the bottom of the Ganga.
What we see here is Duryodhana’s evil
genius at work even at a very young age. Bhima is miraculously saved from
certain death by a combination of events and comes back days later from the
land of the Nagas where he reached, his strength multiplied many times.
But Duryodhana’s evil genius does not rest.
Once again Duryodhana plots to kill Bhima with poison more deadly than before.
Bhima is informed of this by Yuyutsu, Duryodhana’s half-brother who had become
friendly with the Pandavas realizing their goodness, and Bhima in spite of
knowing the food is poisoned, swallows it all without being harmed in the least
by it because of the medicinal treatments he had received in the land of the
Nagas. Attempt after attempt to end the life of the Pandavas – all of them, not
just Bhima – continues for long.
We are told by the Adi Parva of the
Mahabharata that Karna, along with Shakuni, was a part of all these evil acts.
evaṁ duryodhanaḥ karṇaḥ
śakuniś cāpi saubalaḥ
anekair abhyupāyais tāñ
jighāṁsanti sma pāṇḍavān
[MB BORI 01119042a-c]
Thus through numerous means Duryodhana,
Karna and Shakuni the son of Subala repeatedly kept trying to kill the
Pandavas.”
These incidents happen long before the
princes become students of Guru Drona – even before they become students of
Guru Kripa. Since the education of princes usually began at a young age, they
must have been really young.
Karna was with Duryodhana from the
beginning and he was part of the numerous wicked acts of the young boy whose
ambitions were thwarted by the arrival of the Pandavas at Hastinapura. He
planned these acts with Duryodhana and his uncle Shakuni and if he did so, in
all likelihood he must also have been part of their execution. The fierce
enmity that Karna displays in the arena does not begin with Drona’s
announcement of Arjuna as the best warrior among the princes – it has a long
history behind it. Along with Duryodhana, he hated the Pandavas right from the
beginning.
To be continued....
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