Karna

Rare card · No. 41221

Karna (Sanskrit: कर्णः, IAST: Karṇa), also known as Vasusena, Anga-Raja, Sutaputra and Radheya, is one of the major characters in the Hindu epic Mahābhārata. He is the son of Surya (the solar deity) and princess Kunti (later the Pandava mother). His birth occurred after Kunti invoked a divine boon to test its power in her youth; fearing societal stigma over her premarital motherhood, she is forced to abandon the infant in a basket on the Ganges. He is discovered and fostered by Radha and Adhiratha Nandana, the sūta (charioteer) of King Dhritarashtra. Karna grows up to be an accomplished warrior of extraordinary abilities, and a gifted speaker. He becomes a loyal friend of Duryodhana, and is appointed the king of Anga (Bihar-Bengal) by the prince. Karna joins the Kaurava side of the Kurukshetra War, and is ultimately slain by Arjuna. He is a tragic hero in the Mahabharata, in a manner similar to Aristotle's literary category of "flawed good man". He meets his biological mother late in the...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Arjuna_and_His_Charioteer_Krishna_Confront_Karna.jpg: Artist/maker unknown, India, Himachal Pradesh or Jammu and Kashmir derivative work: RajeshUnuppally, Public domain