M117 - Birth of Karna and his Previous Life

The chief of the Yadu dynasty was Surasena. He was the father of the magnanimous Vasudeva. He also had a daughter named Pritha, who was unrivaled in beauty among earth women. As per a promise he had made to his cousin Kuntibhoja, Surasena gave his daughter in adoption to him.She was adopted by King Kuntibhoja, who had no children. This was an agreement made previously by the two Kings. Thus Pritha, who later became known as Kunti, lived in the palace of King Kuntibhoja and looked after the duties of greeting important guests and brahmanas.

Once, during her youthful years, the easily angered Sage Durvasa visited Kuntibhoja Kingdom. Kunti  looked after his needs diligently as she would of any other guest. Durvasa gratified by her care and attention of Kunti. Gave her a benediction that she could call any celestial being from the heavenly regions to produce children of the highest quality. Kunti, while still a virgin girl, once called, out of curiosity, Surya, the sun god to test the boon granted by sage Durvasa. 

 When she chanted the mantra, the sun god immediately appeared before her saying, I have come before you, O lotus-eyed lady. Please fulfill the purpose of the mantra. Kunti was stunned and told the sun god, I simply tested the mantra given to me by Durvasa Muni. O lord, please forgive my offense. Surya replied, Once I have been called by this mantra, the result cannot go in vain; it must bear a fruit. Since you have summoned me, I can’t leave without granting you a child., still you shall remain a virgin girl.

Thus succumbing to the desires of the Surya deva, Kunti immediately conceived and bore a child that was equal to the sun god himself. The child was born with natural golden armor and glittering earrings. To keep her virginity intact, the sun god arranged that the child be born from Kunti's ear, and for this reason the child was named Karna. The sun god immediately ascended to heaven. Kunti not knowing what to do with the child, placed the child in a basket and set it afloat on the Ganges.

She prayed to the sun god to protect the child. The child floated down the river for some time and was eventually picked up by a charioteer  named Adiratha. In great happiness he took the newly found child to his wife Radha, who was childless. Together, both mother and father began to care for the child considering him a gift of providence. Unfortunately, Kunti had to give the child up out of fear of society.

Karna was actually the asura called Dambodbhava in his previous life and the story of his previous life goes as.........

Long ago in Tretha yuga , there lived as asura called Dambhodbhava. Dambhodbhava wanted to be powerful. So he prayed to Surya, the Sun God. 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 tricking the sun god and came up  with a tricky request.

Dambhodbhava bowed to Surya and asked,  'My Lord! If you cannot make me immortal atleast grant me this boon!' Surya looked suspiciously as Dambhodbhava continued, 'I want to be protected by a thousand armours!' , Surya looked at Dambhodbhava with surprise as the asura continued, 'The thousand armours can be broken only by someone who performs penance for a thousand years! And that is not all...' Surya looked at Dambhodbhava with horror as he continued, 'Whoever breaks my armour 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. Surya's worries were however correct. 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 the time of 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 penance and appeared before her, 'Murti! 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 was happy and subsequently she gave birth to not one child, but twin sons. She named them as Nara and Narayana. They grew up in the ashrama surrounded by the forests. Their mother encouraged them to learn warfares. The two brothers learnt the art of warfare and inseparable. Both of them trusted each other implicitly and never questioned the other.

As time went on, Sahasrakavacha started attacking the forest area surrounding Badrinath, where both Nara and Narayana were residing. Nara went to Sahasrakavacha and said 'Sahasrakavacha! I challenge you to a fight!'. Sahasrakavacha bellowed looking at Nara, 'You pathetic human! You really think you can defeat me! ME! The great Sahasrakavacha! Do you even know how I am protected! Do you know anything about me!' Nara smiled and said calmly, 'You want to talk some more or are you willing to fight me?'. 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 said 'I have not done any penance....But my brother Narayana is doing it for me! And instead of him, I come to fight with you!'
Sahasrakavacha frowned and then started laughing, 'Seriously, you cannot think that your brother's penance would come to help you...! He is separate! He is not you! That does not count.'

Fight between Sahasrakavacha and Nara has started. 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 for next 1000 years, 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 out of 1000. He watched in glee as Nara dropped dead, the minute one of his armors broke!

But Sahasrakavacha was not prepared for what happened next! He blinked his eyes as he saw Nara run towards him! Sahasrakavacha could not believe what he was seeing. He had just seen Nara die before his eyes!. Sahasrakavacha focused again and saw that the sage was not running towards him but towards the fallen Nara! Sahasrakavacha remembered what Nara had told him about his twin brother Narayana.....Sahasrakavacha looked at the running sage and bellowed at him, 'Your brother is dead! And all for what?' Sahasrakavacha sneered at Narayana. 'Just to destroy one of my armours!'  mocked at Narayana. 'Could you not make your brother see sense? Did he really think it was worth dying just to destroy one of armors?'

Narayana smiled and looked at his brother. He closed his eyes and muttered a mantra. Sahasrakavacha could not believe his eyes when he saw Nara wake up! Sahasrakavacha cringed as he realized that Narayana had performed penance for a thousand years and had hence obtained the 'mritunjay mantra' (It was a mantra to bring back the dead to life). Sahasrakavacha realized that he was doomed when Narayana picked up his brother's weapon and challenged him to a fight. Nara now retired to the forest to perform the penance for the strength of his brother for the next 1000 years.

This went on cyclic. Both Nara and Narayana performed penance for a thousand years while the other fought with Sahasrakavacha. The minute Sahasrakavacha's armour was broken, the person fighting with him fell dead only to be brought back to life by the other. Sahasrakavacha lost 999 of his armours to the twins. Realizing that he could never beat the two brothers, Sahasrakavacha gave up the fight and ran away. He decided to take refuge with the Surya, the Sun God as he was the one who had granted him the boon in the first place.

Narayana and Nara both went to Surya and asked to, Hand over the asura to them. Surya slowly shook his head and said 'My Lord! Despite everything this man has done, he is my devotee! He has worshiped me with unparalleled devotion! And he has come to me for help!' Surya vigorously shook his head. 'I cannot just turn him away now!'

Nara angrily pulled out some water from his kamandalam and cursed surya by threw it 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 in acceptance. He knew that he should not have protected Sahasrakavacha but he was willing to pay the price for his devotee. This incident took place at the end of the Treta yuga.

Immediately after Surya refused to part with Sahasrakavacha, the Treta Yuga ended and the third Yuga Dwapara yuga started. To fulfil the promise of 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 to Kunthi with one of armours as a natural protection, the last one left of Sahasrakavacha.