Here’s a little known story of Karna’s previous birth. The Mahabharata mentions that Karna was a demon named Dambhodbhava in his previous life. This demon had terrorized the universe on the strength of a blessing he had received from the sun-god. He had been blessed to have a thousand kavachas which had the following characteristics.
They could only be destroyed one at a time.
They could only be destroyed by someone who had performed a thousand years of austerity.
They would cause the immediate death of the destroyer of the kavacha.
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This combination of blessings made him undefeatable till he met his match in the form of the divine sages Nara-Narayaaa, who are considered non-different from each other. They fought with him alternately, one fighting while the other performed austerity – both doing so for a thousand years. When the warrior would destroy one kavacha and fall dead, the ascetic would revive him by the power of his austerities and then they would swap places. The warrior would fight and finally destroy another kavacha after a thousand years till the ascetic acquired enough merit through austerity to take up the fight for another thousand years and destroy one more kavacha.
By this resourceful and arduous arrangement, those sages destroyed nine hundred and ninety nine kavachas. When just one kavacha remained, the demon fled to the shelter of the sun-god, who due to attachment to his worshiper refused to hand the fugitive over to Nara-Narayana. Eventually, the demon was impregnated by the sun-god into the womb of Kunti and he was born as Karna. Simultaneously, Nara-Narayana appeared as Arjuna and Krishna to complete their unfinished mission of ridding the universe of the terrible demon.
Does the past of karna begins with this only . or even before were there many more. These are janma rahasyas .Hard indeed to unfathom these details.It would be interesting to dive into details of janama and karma of great masters which is carried for a long time. Like Karna other characters in Mahabharata could have strong past. Ekalavya could be one example who caused the fear in Drona that his boon to Arjuna would be futile. With fears the Mahabharata is filled . It is all to protect and straighten the Dharma marga culminating into Moklsha. artha kamas are sandwiched between dharma and Moksha.The History is never ending.
The place chosen for the battle by the Lord was Badari kshetra. Here a penance of one day is equal to a thousand day penance
Hence they fought for one day and swapped role the next day( where the other would do penance while one is fighting )and the austerity of Lord revived them after they presumed to be dead after destroying the kavacha.
Very good story. But a small fault, ” Simultaneously, Nara-Narayana appeared as Arjuna and Karna to complete their unfinished mission of ridding the universe of the terrible demon.” Nara Narayanana took birth as Arjuna and Shri. Krishna.
This story is quite consoling as one finds Karna very often disagreeing with Sakuni’s Plans and he advises Dhuryodhana to follow the true warrior’s path.But he still was badly punished for being friendly with Dhuryodhana. This story justifies it to some extent.
There is a Typo in the last line. It should be Arjuna & Krishna. Nice story.
good
Unknown Story of Karna’s Previous Birth
In this article there as two serious misprints
At the beginning of the article ‘Naaraayana’ is misspelled
Towards the end when Karna was reborn Nara-Naaraayana were born as Arjuna and Krishna (not Arjuna and Karna as is printed)
Appeared as Arjuna and Krsna (not Karna)…
In the article there is a small mistake in the last paragraph Nara-Narayana appeared as Arjun and Krishna. Please don’t misunderstand me
Karna was an unsung hero. He was unfortunately on the wrong side.
Dear Friends-
It might not be fair to put a ‘demon’ label to Karna (although his previous birth may have been so) and summarizing that a demon’s account was then settled for good.
We may remember that he gave away his invincible body armour to Lord Indra with full devotion, respect – fully knowing that fighting without it will be fatal for Karna’s life during war. This act of sacrifice – a “demon” may never have done.
So, Karna’s remaining sins stemmed from : (1). Karna’s strong warrior-to-warrior rivalry with Arjuna and (2). Karna’s debt to Duryodhana that made him cooperate with Duryodhana’s wickedness
Excepting for the above 2,
his previous birth’s demonaic traits were almost erased by virtue of his life full of insults and an unhappy childhood. Popular versions of the epic narrate that Lord Krishna gave Moksha to Karna – which may not have been possible for a soul still containing demonaic traits inside at time of death. This is my humble opinion – scholars may differ.
Thank you.
Bharath Kumar K.
we are extemely grateful for such rare articles and right opinions shared. i wish our youngsters read nd appreciate our tradition and culture.
I recently bought a DVD from Isha Yoga centre, Coimbatore. The subject was “KARNA – The Fates Child”. Amazing, unbiased view on Karna. Just moved me to years and gave a lot of insight into life. Hope you all buy it and benefit from the same. If you feel this is some kind of an advertising gimmic, please don’t buy it. I myself came across this site after Googling the name he had provided as the previous birth of Karna. Till then I never knew about it. Thanks.
Yes I agree with Pruthviji : As it’s stated in the Maha Shiv Purana, that Naraand Narayana did a sevier tapasya and Lord shiva granted them a boon of been born again as Arjun and Sri Krishna. it also mean that the very in carnation that destroyed Karna the giver are also the same is Arjun and Krishna there should be confusion in this. Hari oum
Very nice article .Facts were not know, to me .I am too much obliged of such a nice information . I would prefer to get more e and more informations of this nature .