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Karma, Karna, Mahabharata, Nara, Narayana, Sahasrakavacha, Story
I love reading stories. I think stories are the best form of parting knowledge and wisdom to anyone. One of the ideas I had for this blog was to tell the untold stories from the hindu mythology and its interpretations. I was asking a friend of mine to start a blog to tell stories of with her take on it when I realized that I dont have any stories in my blog. So here is a beautiful unknown story from my favorite epic – The Mahabharata; favorite subject – Karma; favorite character – Karna or Radheya.
His story is a unique one with topcis like friendship, dharma, compassion and charity moulded together. he was known for his charity through out the Mahabharata. He kind of sacrificed his life even before the war just for his friendship towards Duryodhana by giving away his “born with” armor and earrings. Though he knew that his side would loose the war, he still fought for his friend on the wrong side. I read somewhere that he had a blessing that anyone who read about true story would have a special liking for him. He was a HERO, the most powerful one, the bravest and yet the most tragic warrior of the Mahabharata. He was the son of the Sun god, Surya. Not many know about the real story of Karna- who he was in the previous life, how did he get the armor and why did he have go through so much of pain. It is a fascinating tale which is very closely tied to the birth of Lord Krishna and Arjuna. Read it below and enjoy!
Long long ago(my favorite line in any story!), even before the Mahabharata, there lived an asura(demon) named Dambhodbhava. He wanted to become immortal and so prayed to the Sun god, Surya. Pleased with his penance, Surya appeared before him. Dambhodbhava asked Surya to make him immortal. But Surya couldnt grant this boon since anything, anyone who was born on this planet will have to die. Surya offered him to ask for something else instead of immortality. Dambhodbhava thought of a different way to gain immortality and came up with this request.
‘My Lord! I want to be protected by a thousand armors! The thousand armors can be broken only by someone who performs penance for a thousand years! Whoever breaks my armor should die immediately!’
Surya was horribly worried. He knew that Dambhodbhava had performed a very powerful penance and that he could get the entire boon he had asked for. And Surya had a feeling that Dambhodbhava was not going to use his powers for good. However having no choice in the matter, Surya granted Dambhodbhava the boon. But deep down Surya still admired Dambhodbhava for the devotion with which he prayed to him.
Immediately after getting the boon from Surya, Dambhodbhava started wrecking havoc on people. People were scared of fighting with him. There was no way of defeating him. Anybody who stood in his way was crushed by him. People started calling him Sahasrakavacha [meaning one who has a thousand armours]. It was around this time that King Daksha [the father of Sati, the first wife of Shiva] got one of his daughters Murti married to Dharma – one of the ‘Mind’ sons of Lord Brahma, the God of Creation [It is said that Lord Brahma created his mind sons or Manas putras from his thoughts].
Murti had also heard of Sahasrakavacha and wanted to put an end to his menace. So she prayed to Lord Vishnu to come and help the people. Lord Vishnu pleased with her appeared before her and said
‘I am pleased with your devotion! I will come and slay Sahasrakavacha! Because you have prayed to me, you would be the reason for slaying Sahasrakavacha!’.
Murti gave birth to not one child, but twins- Narayana and Nara. Narayana and Nara grew up in the ashrama surrounded by the forests. They enjoyed praying to Lord Shiva. The two brothers learnt the art of warfare.The two brothers were inseparable. What one thought the other was always able to finish. Both of them trusted each other implicitly and never questioned the other.
As time went on, Sahasrakavacha started attacking the forest ares surrounding Badrinath, where both Narayana and Nara were staying. As Narayana was meditating, Nara went and challenged Sahasrakavacha for a fight. Sahasrakavacha looked at the calm eyes of Nara and for the first time since he got his boon, felt fear building inside him. He said nervously, ‘I can be killed only by performing penance for a thousand years. You cannot….’ Nara looked at Sahasrakavacha and spoke with you. ‘I have not done any penance….My brother Narayana is doing it for me! And instead of him, I come to fight with you!’
Sahasrakavacha faced the attack of Nara and was astounded. He found that Nara was powerful and had indeed got a lot of power from the penance of his brother. As the fight went on, Sahasrakavacha realized that the penance of Narayana was giving Nara strength. As Sahasrakavacha’s first armour broke he realized that Nara and Narayana were for all purposes one. They were just two persons having the same soul. But Sahasrakavacha was not too worried. He had lost one of his armours. He watched in glee as Nara dropped dead, the minute one of his armours broke!
As Nara fell down dead, Narayana came running towards him. By his years of penance and pleasing Lord Shiva, he had gained the Maha Mritunjaya mantra – a mantra which brought back dead to life. Now Narayana took the fighting with Sahasrakavacha while Nara meditated! After thousand years, Narayana broke another armor and dropped dead while nara came back and revived him. This went on until 999 armors were down. Sahasrakavacha realized that he could never beat the two brothers and ran away seeking refuge with Surya. When Nara and Narayana approached Surya to give him up, Surya did not since he was protecting his devotee. Nara cursed Surya to be born as a human for this act and Surya accepted the curse for this devotee.
All this happened at the end of Treta yuga. [In Hindu mythology there are four yugas – the Satya Yuga, the Dwapara Yuga, Treta Yuga and the Kali Yuga. Each Yuga steadily results in the deterioration of human values with the worst in the Kali Yuga. At the end of each yuga, nature starts afresh.] Immediately after Surya refused to part with Sahasrakavacha, the Treta Yuga ended and the third Yuga started. To fulfil the promise to destroying Sahasrakavacha, Narayana and Nara were reborn – this time as Krishna and Arjuna.
Due to the curse, Dambhodbhava and Surya together were born as Karna, the eldest son of Kunti! Karna was born with one of armours as a natural protection, the last one left of Sahasrakavacha. As Arjuna would have died if Karna had had the armour, Indra [Arjuna’s father] went in disguise and got the last armor of Karna, much before the war began. As Karna was actually the monster Dambodbhava in his previous life, he led a very difficult life to pay for all the sins committed by him in his past life. But Karna also had Surya, the Sun God inside him, so Karna was a hero as well! It was Karna’s karma from his previous life that he had to be with Duryodhana and take part of the all the evil things he did. But the Surya in him made him brave, strong, fearless and charitable. It brought him long lasting fame.
Karna
THere are many many stories about Karna in the Mahabharata which are heart rendering, touching but also sometimes evil and wrong. This was because of the conflict of the qualities of a deva, Surya and asura, Sahasrakavacha in him. This reminds me of the conflict in all of us. Sometimes we do good but sometimes we take to the other side. Everyone has got these both qualities inside them – the godly qualities and the animalistic ones. How we tame the animalistic qualities and let our good ones spread determine how “good” we are. The other thingI got from the story is no matter what the situation is there is always a way out – sometimes it takes just one to get there and sometimes two- like Nara and Narayana.
The one question that was unanswered for me was -how did Sahasrakavacha die in the first place to be reborn? He still had one more armor to go and was protected by Surya! Well, I couldnt find this answer anywhere.
I hope you enjoyed reading this long story of Karna!
Thanks to http://hindumythologyforgennext.blogspot.com/ from where I was able to read this story!
Art of Living, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and My Self! 
Bala said:
Very nicely written. I enjoyed it.
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Sharad Shah said:
After my retirement, I have written a play, a brief synopsis is as under.
In Mahabharata, Shri Krishna sdvises the Pandavas, one of the two clans claiming the throne of Hastinapur to go to a war that ends in a total Holocaust of the Kaurava dynasty. Initially Arjuna, on whom the Pandavas are depending for victory, is unwilling to take up arms against his cousins but is persuaded by Shri Krishna on the battle field that it was his duty (Dharma) to fight his cousins to establish rule of Dharma in the country. Shri Krishna tells Arjuna that he is God and has taken birth in the human form to cleanse the earth of sins and that Arjuna is his chosen instrument to achieve his purpose. This preaching has become the fundamental basis of Hinduism is known as Bhagwad Gita. Arjuna accepts Shri Krishna’s advice and the cousins go to war which results in a holocaust in which almost everyone is killed.
In my alternate version, Arjuna is not persuaded by the preaching of Shri Krishna and sticks to his decision not to fight and advises his brothers to accept the mediation of family patriarch Bhishma.
Bhishma knows that Kunti, mother of Pandavas has a love child brought up by his charioteer, known as Sutaputra (one born in low cast) who is the rightful heir to the throne and selects him as the next King of Hastinapur. Dussala, Duryodhana’a sister had always wanted to marry Karna who was an accomplished archer and horseman. The two are married and a catastrophic war is avoided. Mine is a Mahabharata without the war of Kurukshetra.
I can send a soft copy on request.
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ishita said:
please send me that soft copy
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Vijay said:
But anyway Krishna has revealed that He is the supreme lord. Then who are you to decide the history.
Krishna also tells in Gita that Time He is. Then again, He will chose the course of History and not you.
At the most you can chose your course by siding with krishna or against Him.
All the best.
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varrunashok said:
wow… this is a very interesting article!
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Viral said:
Beautiful story, Aravind!
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Kkpr50k@gmail.com Kumar said:
Good to my heart, as I also much affected by a misfortune man though being a great hero always helped adharm and cursed his life. I enjoyed much knowing his previous life
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Yathagat Khanna said:
Where has written in Mahabharata about this story about Karna’s previous birth?
How can you malign the Noble Character of Mahabharata, by your concocted& fictitious stories , about whom even your Favorite so called Lord Krishna , ved vyasa, durvasha and even Bhishma praised a lot and Your lord krishna paid lots of respect & did his last ritual (cremated) on his own Right Palm.?
Do you have any knowledge about morals values like Honesty, loyalty, promises, truth etc…?
Krishna always respect Karna and Praised Him, so do the Karna to Krishna.
Read Below the link , what said your beloved Krishna in Bhagvatam about Karna.
http://www.trinetra.org.uk/#/suryaputra-karna/4555678236
‘ I told Arjuna about the Dharma of a Kshatriya warrior in the Gita, but I cannot help but realise that Karna is the one walking that path.’
– Shri Krishna
You kind of people have not right to defame any character by your fictitious story, and little knowledge….Do deep research of Mahabharata and puranas, which have been corrupted by Shrewd Brahmins or Vishnu WOrshiper…
Read “Vyas Parv” by Durga Bhagvat, Read Rashmi rathi by Ramdhari singh Dinkar, Mirtuyanjay By Shivaji samant.
I just want to know , can you believe in 1000 kavcha theory, is it logical,? how many years it took for nara & naryana for destroying 999 kavcha, around 1000000 years, is it true? in which yuga this kind of person lived for so many years? Are you people mad? is it possible…or logical?
if Karna was egoistic. disobedient, falsehood, disloyal etc…
Then What was Krishna? to whom you call God….
Krishna was Most shrewd, coward, opportunist, voluptuary person? run away from mathura and built dwarka from fear of jarashand, handed over his sister to his cousin brother Arjuna for keeping him to his side? killed jarashand/duryodhna by deception, cheating….
what you think about other characters like , Arjuna, yudhistra, Bheema, Bheeshma, vidhur,Daronacharya, Indra, daropti, kunti, satyavati etc… were they neat and clean, and loyal, honest, non-egostic..
All characters of Mahabharata are Grey even Ved Vyas…
Well said, History has ell said, History has been written by those who won in their own interest,
Duryodhna well said to Krishna in End, That We all got dead and you few left alived, so you would write history as per your own interest & wish, you would not show our good sides?
What was good in pandvas? Yudhisters put his own wife on stack in gamble , who was responsible for that, was Duryodhna or Karna or shkuni?
Who told Dropti to Insult Karna in swamyber…and Duryodhna In Her own home or Palace, is it respectable to Dropti who was also called Sati by your Lord Krishna?
So Better learn to do analysis who is right and who is wrong under different situation and circumstance, forget about demon and Devta’s No-one was Demon and devtas, if they were human being then they have both traits Good & bad, Not even Rama Has all good Traits….or Ravana Has all Bad Traits.
http://www.indiadivine.org/audarya/hinduism-forum/24549-karna-greatest-archer-4.html
For more detail and Read the articles of Ombakth:
There were no demons and things like this. There was an
Iranian tribe called Assyrians who were termed as Assuras. Even they were Aryans. IThey used to pray to Aura Mahzda and used to consider devas as vilians whereas ndo-Aryans and Greek another branch used to consider Devas as heroes whereas Assuras as Villians.
But some Indo-Aryans gave importance to Brahmins whereas Greeks and others rejected the authority of Brahmins.
Vedas were created by many ancient Dharmic Shramans and not Brahmins. Veda was a documentation which used to contain all database of all inventions and researches. Brahmins actually corrupted Vedas by adding all nonsense to it by adding all mythical character. They Diverted the Historical characters into Mythical character due to which now people don’t belive in our ancient heroes.
Sri Ram, Sri Krishna were Historical figures. Shri is the termed used for Shriman so it is Shriman Ram and Shriman Krishna which means Mr. Ram and Mr. Krishna.
Sri Krishna very well knew about the surya grahan would occur at that particular time as per astrology. So he made a strategy in which he told Arjuna to announce that Arjuna will commit suicide if he does not manages to kill Jayadratha . Sri Krishna very well knew that Kauravas army will defend Jayadratha in all possible ways, Sri Krishna also knew that if the Kaurava army feels that Arjuna was not capable of killing Jayadratha then Jayadratha will become over confident and hence will be break his defence and come out in open. This was the reason why Sri Krishna asked Arjuna to take such a oath so that Jayadratha comes into open as soon as there will be solar eclipse.
Now Solar eclispe is a phenomenon of Nature and nature was created by God and Sri Krishna was considered as God hence it is obvious people would refer Solar eclipse was created by Sri Krishna. It could be possible that solar eclipse was created by Vishnu and Sri Krishna was the incarnation of Vishnu so it applies as Sri Krishna created Solar eclipse. For. e.g. In Mathematics if Triangle A is equal to Trinagle B and Triangle B is equal to Triangle C then Triangle A is equal to Triangle C.
Parashuram had declared that he himself is no longer a Brahmin when he learnt martial arts from Shiva. Parashuram was trained in Karalipayatuu(Indian Martial Arts). Parashuram kshetra is Kerala and south India.
Parashuram wanted to teach the martial arts to low caste people so that they can teach higher caste rulers and brahmins a lesson, whoever misused his rights and powers.
Parashuram was a shraman. Karna did not lied to him. Karna told him that he belongs to a low caste this was the reason why Parshuram taught him martial arts but later on Parashuram came to know that Karna belong to higher caste this was the reason why he cursed Karna.
Karna did not posed as Brahmin. Why these brahmins they keep on poking their nose into things that don’t belong to them. Brahims are main cause for the debacle of Dharmic religion. It was because of Brahmins why hindus are not united. It is because of selfishness of Brahmins why Dharmic religion ranks as number 3 among populationwise the world religion. Even Buddha and Mahavira rejected the authority of Brahmins.
Brahmin. Brahmin. Brahmin it is all Brahmah(Mythia).
There were no demons and things like this. There was an tribe called Assyrians who were termed as Assuras.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assyria
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kings_of_Assyria
But some Indo-Aryans gave importance to Brahmins whereas Greeks and others rejected the authority of Brahmins.
-Yathagat
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Aravind Venkatachalam said:
Hi Yathagat,
Thank you for your comment. This story and its intention does not malign Karna’s name. It was just to share a story that i had read about his previous life. Whether it is fictitious or real, i will leave it to the readers like you. You can take it anyway you want. I dont want to argue on whether the kavacha theory was myth or event possible because I dont know of any proof to this. To that matter I think no one can prove it to be true or prove it to be false.
On all the other questions you have posed, I will leave you to your opinion and will appreciate to leave mine to me. I will leave it to the readers again to decide what they want to believe. I apologize if this post had hurt you in any way.
Thank you for the links that you provided. It was a good read.
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Sharad Shah said:
You may like to read my play “SUTAPUTRA”. an alternate mythology, in which the hero is Karna and the villain is Shri Krishna. In this version, Arjuna does not buy the arguments of Shri Krishna that Krishna is an Avtar to cleanse the world of sin and that he, Arjuna, was his chosen instrument for this. Arjuna refuses to fight for his brothers and advises Yudhisthira to accept the mediation of Pitamaha.
Bhishma alone knows that Karna is the love child of Kunti and the eldest pandava. He selects Karna to be the next ruler of Hastinapur. Karna marries Dussala, sister of Durodhana, who is in love with him.
This is an alternate Mahabharata in which the holocaust of Kurukshetra is avoided by ignoring the advice of Krishna in Bhagvat Gita.
You can get a soft copy of the play by sending a request to sharad_23shah@hotmail.com.
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Sharad Shah said:
After my retirement, I have written a play, a brief synopsis is as under.
In Mahabharata, Shri Krishna sdvises the Pandavas, one of the two clans claiming the throne of Hastinapur to go to a war that ends in a total Holocaust of the Kaurava dynasty. Initially Arjuna, on whom the Pandavas are depending for victory, is unwilling to take up arms against his cousins but is persuaded by Shri Krishna on the battle field that it was his duty (Dharma) to fight his cousins to establish rule of Dharma in the country. Shri Krishna tells Arjuna that he is God and has taken birth in the human form to cleanse the earth of sins and that Arjuna is his chosen instrument to achieve his purpose. This preaching has become the fundamental basis of Hinduism is known as Bhagwad Gita. Arjuna accepts Shri Krishna’s advice and the cousins go to war which results in a holocaust in which almost everyone is killed.
In my alternate version, Arjuna is not persuaded by the preaching of Shri Krishna and sticks to his decision not to fight and advises his brothers to accept the mediation of family patriarch Bhishma.
Bhishma knows that Kunti, mother of Pandavas has a love child brought up by his charioteer, known as Sutaputra (one born in low cast) who is the rightful heir to the throne and selects him as the next King of Hastinapur. Dussala, Duryodhana’a sister had always wanted to marry Karna who was an accomplished archer and horseman. The two are married and a catastrophic war is avoided. Mine is a Mahabharata without the war of Kurukshetra.
I can send a soft copy on request.
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Aravind Venkatachalam said:
Sounds interesting Sharad! Please do send me a soft copy.
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Sharad Shah said:
You can download it from Pothi.com
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arunkumar said:
Nara narrowed his eyes angrily. He pulled out some water from his kamandalam and threw it on Surya and cursed him. ‘You have gone against my Narayana! He asked you for something and you refused! For this I curse you that you would be born as a human and suffer for this!’ Surya bowed his head. He knew that he should not have sheltered a monster but he was willing to pay the price for his devotee.Here the curse is only for lord surya not for SAHASRAKAVACH/DAMBHODBHAVA/TANASURA then how could you say that karna is SAHASRAKAVACH/DAMBHODBHAVA/TANASURA. Do you know the difference between karma and avatar. Lord narayana once had to kill RISHI BRIGHU’S WIFE who was not allowing him to ill few demons for they had obtained her hostage and so Vishnu had to kill her. Enraged brighu cursed lord that when he takes a human form he would be separated from the god’s life just like him. Later the avatar was LORD RAM but his karma was killing brighu’s wife. The same is the case of karna he is the avatar of lord surya with the karma of SAHASRAKAVACH/DAMBHODBHAVA/TANASURA.
IT IS EVIDENT FROM VYASA’S MAHABHARATH AS FOLLOWS
Know that Duryodhana was Kali, and Sakuni was Dwapara. O thou of good features, know that Dussasana and others were all Rakshasas. Bhimasena of great might, that chastiser of foes, is from the Maruts. Know that this Dhananjaya, the son of Pritha, is the ancient Rishi Nara. Hrishikesa is Narayana, and the twins are the Aswins. The foremost of heat-giving ones, viz., Surya, having divided his body in twain, continued with one portion to give heat to the worlds and with another to live (on Earth.) as Karna. He that took his birth as the son of Arjuna, that gladdener of all, that heir to the possessions of the Pandavas, who was slain by six great car-warriors (fighting together), was Soma. He was born of Subhadra. Through Yoga-puissance he had dividedhimself in twain. Dhrishtadyumna who sprung with Draupadi from the sacrificial fire, was an auspicious portion of the deity of fire. Sikhandin was a Rakshasa. Know that Drona was a portion of Vrihaspati, and that Drona’s son is born of a portion of Rudra. Know that Ganga’s son Bhishma was one of the Vasus that became born as a human being. Thus, O thou of great wisdom, the deities had taken birth as human beings, and after having accomplished.
LORD MURUGA KILLED SUURA PADMA AND HIS BROTHERS THATAKASSURAN AND SINGAMUGAN . THATAKASSURAN HAD THE HEAD OF AN ELEPHANT THEN IS THATAKASSURAN AN AVATAR OF LORD VINAYAKA …NO. SINGAMUGASSURA HAD THE HEAD OF A LION THEN IS SINGAMUGAN AN AVATAR OF LORD VISHNU(NARASIMMAM)…NO. SO THAT DEMON MAY HAVE GOT KAVACH KUNDAL BUT HE IS NOT KARNA.
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arunkumar said:
Dambhodbhava is not an asura he is a king.once there was a demon named SAHASRABHAGU . He had 1000 heads 2000 legs and 2000hands .goddess kali killed and swallowed him .since dambhodbhava got 1000 armors he was called SAHASRAKAVACH meaning the one with 1000 armors.karna is not SAHASRAKAVACH for he is an avatar of both lord surya and lord shani.surya was cursed by nara to lead a difficult life while shani was cursed by her mother
FOR MORE REFERENCE READ Shani Mahatamya , Shreemad Bhagwat Puaranam and Kashi Section , Skandha Puraan
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Vishnu Wani. Karna's bhakt. said:
He is a greatest warrior,Mritunjaya and the biggest charitable in the universe.
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Sathishkumar Dhamotharan said:
“The one question that was unanswered for me was -how did Sahasrakavacha die in the first place to be reborn? He still had one more armor to go and was protected by Surya! Well, I couldnt find this answer anywhere.”
I hope, I should be able to answer your query.
Surya, without knowing Nara and Narayana were looking for Sahasrakavacha, gave refugee to Sahasrakavacha in his lower abdomen. When Surya came to know that Nara and Narayana were in search of Sahasrakavacha, he respectfully refused to release him.
Nara and Narayana knew Surya cannot release Sahasrakachava as Surya should honor his words, as a deva and advised Surya deva to release Sahasrakachava through Kundi and he did so with the last kavacha and kundala with Sahasrakachava.
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