Mahabharata – 92

By 

Sankar Mukherjee

&

Dr Ramesh Chandra Mukhopadhyaya
                                            Aadivamsavatarana Parva

O Maharaja, the mighty car-warrior Dhrishtadyumna was a portion of Agni. Also that Sikhandi, who was at first a female & later became a male, was the incarnation of a Rakshasa. And they who became the five sons of Draupadi, were the gods known as the Viswas. Their names were Pritivindhya by yudhisthira, Sutasoma by Bhima, Srutakirti by Arjuna, Satanika by Nakula, and Srutasena by Sahadeva.

Sura of the Yadus, was the father of Vasudeva. He had a daughter called Pritha, who for her beauty, was unparallelled on earth. And that Sura, had promised that he would give his firstborn child to Kuntibhoja, the son of his paternal aunt, who was without offspring.Here Sura’s first born child was a daughter & he  gave his daughter to Kuntibhoja  according to his earlier promise. And  in the house of  her adoptive father, engaged in attending upon Brahmanas & guests. One day she met  a  cruel ascetic of rigid vows, Durvasa by name.He was fully conversant with all the theories of religion. And Pritha with all possible care satisfied the furious ascetic whose soul & senses were under his complete control. The holy one, satisfied with the attentions given to him by Kunti, told her, 'I am satisfied with you O fortunate one, By this mantra you shall be able to call any god  you like. And by their grace you shall  also obtain a male child.

 Thus addressed, the girl being a maiden, out of curiosity, summoned the god Surya at once. And the Sun then only made her conceive.And in course of time she gave birth  to a son  with ear-rings & armour. And he had the beauty  of a divine child.In splendour he was like  the Sun. Every part of his body was  well decked with ornaments.In course of time the child became the best of the warriors.

Kunti however threw away the child into the waters least her parents could find her out. But the child thus thrown into the water was rescued by the  husband of Radha. He thought that this would be the son of his wife Radha. And the couple called  him  by the name Vasusena & the child  became known all over the land by the name Vasusena. And, as he grew he became exceedingly strong.He was a great votary of the Brahmins. During his study time there was nothing he would not  give away to the Brahmanas. At that time Indra, moved by the desire of the well being of  his own son Arjuna, assumed the guise of a Brahmana, & came to him, and begged  his ear-rings and natural armour. And then Karna taking off his ear-rings and armour gave them away to the Brahmana. The ear – ring & the amulet of an armour were organically related to the Karnas body.When Karna gave away them to Indra what he really did was to cut off a particular limb of his body & gave it away to Indra in the disguise of a Brahmin.And Indra  presented him with a lethal weapon being  surprised , and addressed him in these words, O great Karna! This weapon that I give you can kill any one under the Sun be it a man or a demon or the demi gods like the gandarvas or the nagas. And the son of Surya was at first known in the world by the name of Vasusena. But, for his deeds of giving away the armour & the ear - ring  he subsequently came to be called Karna or Vaikartana. And, the great prowess  began to grow up in the house of Adhiratha. And that Karna—the best among the men being the  part of the Sun god the slayer of foes,a terrible warrior became the friend and counsellor of Duryodhana.