In the previous episode, we had witnessed the continuation of the marquee battle between Arjuna and Karna. After the conversation between Karna and Bhagawan Krishna comes to an end, Bhagawan Krishna orders Arjuna not to show any mercy on Karna and continues attacking him relentlessly. This infuriates Karna even more and he retaliates every arrow of Arjuna with counters. At one stage, Karna’s fury knows no bounds and he once again starts attacking Arjuna with several “Asthrams” that he remembers at this point. In return, Arjuna also retaliates with several “Prathya-Asthrams” (Counters to Karna’s “Asthrams”) and the war goes on and on unabated. Infuriated more, Karna directs one powerful arrow towards Arjuna’s chest and this arrow makes him fall down on his chariot, completely unconscious! As Arjuna composes himself again, in the meanwhile, Karna is trying to re-adjust his chariot’s wheels, so that he could get over it and start fighting again with full force.
However, even as Karna tries his best, the chariot wheels refuse to come back to the ground in the normal state. This, if it would have been an ordinary day, given Karna’s extreme prowess, he could have lifted the chariot to normalcy single-handedly within minutes! However, now the situation is different – He doesn’t have the “Deiva Balam” with him right now. Bhagawan Krishna is sitting right opposite to him and He’s ensuring that Karna’s prowess doesn’t play a role here in lifting up the chariot. Hence, even though Karna tries his best, he is unable to lift the chariot even for a few inches above the ground. Now in the meanwhile, even as Karna is trying his best, Arjuna regains consciousness after a few minutes and looks at Karna with intense fury. He thinks now that there’s no point in leaving this Karna alive any further. He feels that if he leaves Karna alive for more and more time, this war is not going to come to an end anytime sooner. The only task now in Arjuna’s hand is to somehow finish Karna off as soon as possible.
Thus, as Bhagawan Krishna is also constantly motivating him from the side, Arjuna’s first task now is to destroy Karna’s flag which is flying high on top of his chariot. Normally in those days, if the flag was destroyed, it meant a lot of demotivation for the warrior who was on that chariot. Hence, Arjuna decides that the only way to bring down Karna’s motivation is to destroy the flag that is over his chariot. We know that the chariot has already got stuck and Karna is already struggling with it. Now Arjuna, with his sharp arrow, targets Karna’s chariot flag and destroys it completely! As the flag falls down, Karna is shocked to bits! This flag destruction signifies a warrior’s loss! Thus, upon seeing his flag falling down on the ground, burnt to pieces, Karna loses his motivation completely to fight any further!
Finally, Arjuna takes the next sharp arrow, pledges it in front of Bhagawan Krishna and locks it in his Gaandeepa. Arjuna pledges thus, “Oh! If my “Bhakti” towards Bhishmachaarya, Guru Dhronachaarya etc. are true; If my ardent devotion and surrender towards Bhagawan Krishna who is seated by my side at all times is true, let this one arrow go and pierce Karna to death! Saying this aloud in front of everyone, Arjuna releases the arrow. It now travels towards Karna with fire in its tips. As Karna sees this arrow with a lot of power behind it, Karna decides to surrender! He has had enough! He doesn’t have anything more to fight! Thus, the arrow comes and hits Karna on his head, chops it off and puts it on the ground! With this, a great warrior called Karna falls on the ground dead! Upon seeing Karna falling on the ground, Surya Bhagawan is aggrieved! We should remember here that Karna is none other than Surya Bhagawan’s son. Upon seeing his son dead, Surya Bhagawan weeps bitterly, however, this has happened for the good of the world. Indra and the other Devas console Surya Bhagawan and at this point, meanwhile, King Shalya comes back to see what happened! Upon seeing Karna dead on the ground, tears roll down King Shalya’s eyes!
Meanwhile, the Kaurava army is scampering around with a lot of grief, chaos and confusion as Karna falls on the ground dead! This is a very emotional scene in the Mahabharata war at Kurukshetra, wherein a fierce warrior has been sacrificed for one person’s ego. So for today, let us understand up to this point and let us join hands with everyone to mourn Karna’s demise. We shall wait till the next episode to continue this further! Stay tuned!
The Indian Dharma 