Surely, no reader would say that or like that. Would any reader accept about him/herself that he/she has remained constant and static throughout his/her life? That, what he/she has been in her teen days, he/she has remained the same in her 20s or 30s or 40s or 50s…? Would any reader in his/her ripe days like to be judged by his/her action of green days? Naturally, we have “different” Arjunas and Karnas here. Let us not forget that we have seen Arjuna and Karna from their birth to death. One thing we frequently forget about Mahabharatan characters is that they are “growing” or “evolving” and not “flat.” Yet, when we engage our pious souls in judging them we often do a Flat Treatment.
What Karna could not achieve with advantage of years, Arjuna had achieved with advantage of Gunas. Thus, Karna’s jealousy was founded on frustration of being lesser to Arjuna. Long before that, Karna had been Drona and Krpa’s disciple and he had always been jealous of Arjuna.Īnd we must also remember that Karna was elder to Arjuna by several years. (I will not discuss here the Kurukshetra War duel because I have already dealt with it in my article Mahabharata: The Myth of the Death of Bhisma, Drona, Karna, Duryodhana)Ĭontrary to popular belief, Drona’s weapon-skill examination was not the first time when Karna was seeking an encounter with Arjuna.
We need to examine whether there is any real ambiguity or it is a matter of perception. But before that, let us note again that Vyasa introduces doubt and ambiguity in all the Arjuna-Karna duels before Kurukshetra War. We can of course question the very concept of “greatness” – and we shall do that. As is the mark of all great Kavis, Vyasa and later poets seem to deliberately keep ambiguity regarding the matter of greatness.Īnd it is this perceived “unresolved tension” that is the secret of attraction of the debate – Arjuna or Karna, who? The Kurukshetra War and several other wars preceding that – like the one during Draupadi's Svayamvara, during Gho sha-Yaatraa and in Viraata Parvan - decided the question in favour of Arjuna – but not without doubt.