Topic 8 summary

The topic is about kunti devi and karna. Soorasena is the Birth father of Kunti Devi.
Kuntibhoja is the Adopted father and King Pandu is the spouse of kunti devi. Kunti used the
mantra which is given by Dhurvasa and she invoked the god Surya and begot the child,
Karna, born with sacred armour. Out of the fear of her chastity getting defamed, Kunti
placed the child in a box and set it a float in a river. Kunti got married to King Pandu and
went into exile. Since the couple were childless, Kunti used the boon granted to her by Sage
Durvasa to bear three sons: Yudhishtira, by Dharmaraja-the god ofJustice; Bhima by Vayu–
the god of wind,  and Arjuna by Indradeva. But, as a result of Kindama's curse, after the
death of Pandu and Madri, Kunti took care of all five children taking them back to
Hastinapur. Kunti was a strong, insightful and a woman of discrimination who always
enhanced the courage of her children during difficult periods of their life. Kunti’s
compassion, sense of gratefulness, shrewdness and a good mother who always taught noble
values and good conduct in her children. Kunti had great amount of respect to her elders
and served them with her whole being. When the Pandavas lose the kingdom in a dice game
and are forced to go into exile for thirteen years, Kunti is forced by King Dhritarashtra to
remain in the capital. She chose to stay in Vidura’s house rather than the royal palace. This
shows the virtue of Kunti, not being attached to worldly comforts and pleasures. Karna
follows mitra dharma and putra dharma to uphold one’s own promise but at the cost of
higher dharma. One night after the war had become certain, Surya Deva, his real father,
appeared in Karna’s dream and warned him about Indra’s plan to take away Karna’s armour
and ear-jewel, kavachaand kundala. Karna was born with them, and he was invincible due to
them. Surya Deva asked Karnan ever to part with the two, but Karna receives in return the
shakthi weapon from Indra Deva, which can be used only once by Karna. Once Kunti went to
Karna who was then offering prayers to the evening sun on the bank of holy river, the
Ganges. Introducing herself, Kunti requested Karna to leave the Kaurava side and join the
Pandavas, being the eldest of Pandava brothers. Kunti’s purpose of coming became clear to
Karna but frustrating her and out of deep sense of gratitude to Duryodhana, Karna declined
to be a renegade. But Karna gave word to Kunti that he would spare all Pandavas except
Arjuna. Thus, Karna kept his word and spared the lives of Yudhishtira, Bheema, Nakula and
Sahadeva during the Kurushetra war. Once, out of anger, Karna bate a calf of a Brahmin to
death for the reason that the calf had eaten up flowers of his garden. That Brahmin cursed
—“wheels of your chariot would be grabbed in the soil during the time of war”. That also
happened most pathetically. During the war, in futile efforts to pull out the wheels of his
chariot from the eternal grab of soil , Karna tells Arjuna, “Oh Arjuna, you are a pious man.
Please allow me time to pull out the wheels of my chariot”. Krishna responds to this request
reminding Karna of all his unrighteous actions and declares that he cannot seek the
protection of dharma, as Karnahimself has not followed dharma in his life.