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Puranic encyclopaedia

by Vettam Mani | 1975 | 609,556 words | ISBN-10: 0842608222

This page describes the Story of Karna included the Puranic encyclopaedia by Vettam Mani that was translated into English in 1975. The Puranas have for centuries profoundly influenced Indian life and Culture and are defined by their characteristic features (panca-lakshana, literally, ‘the five characteristics of a Purana�).

Story of ṇa

The eldest son of ܲԳī. Though he was the brother of the ṇḍ he joined sides with the Kauravas and became the King of ṅg. So the name of ṇa comes in the genealogy of the ṅg royal family.

Genealogy.

Descending in order from վṣṇ:�-Atri-Candra-Budha-ʳܰū-Āܲ-ṣa-۲پ-Turvasu-Vahni-Bharga-Գ-հԳ-Karandhama-Marutta-(Marutta had no son and he adopted ٳṣyԳٲ)-ٳṣyԳٲ-ղūٳ-ṇḍī-Ի-Kola-Druhyu-Babhrusetu-Purovasu-Gharma-ҳṛt-վṣa-Pracetas-Բ-Բ-ṛñjⲹ-ʳܰñᲹⲹ-Janamejaya-Ѳ-Ѳ峾Բ-śīԲ-վپṣu-ṣaٳ-Paila-Sutapas-Bali-ṅg-(The ṅg dynasty begins)-ٲ󾱱󲹲Բ-ٰīٳ-Dharmaratha-Citraratha-Satyaratha-dz岹-䲹ٳܰṅg-ṛtܱṣa-Campa-Ჹⲹṅg-Bhadraratha-ṛhٰ첹-ṛhԳ-ṛhٳ-Jayadratha-ṛhٳ-վśᾱ-ṇa.

Birth of ṇa.

ṇḍ, a King of 䲹Իṃśa, married ܲԳī, daughter of King ŚūԲ. This girl was brought up even from childhood by a King called Kuntibhoja. She grew up in the palace of the King. She was once put in charge of attending to the welfare of those engaged in religious duties. The sage ٳܰ came there then and stayed for four months as the king’s guest. ܲԳī served the sage during his stay there with so much care, patience and devotion that the sage was immensely pleased and gave her at the time of his departure a divine mantra. If she called upon any god repeating that mantra once, that god would manifest himself to her and bless her with a son equal to him in glory. The mantra was to be used only five times. ܲԳī was young and wanted to test the power of the mantra. So she recited the mantra meditating on the Sun. Instantly she felt she saw a divine person coming to her from the sun. She was perplexed. But the divine form embraced her and consoled her saying that she would never lose her virginity even if she bore a son from him. None excepting her step-mother knew about this. In due course ܲԳī delivered a male child and with the help of her step-mother she put that child in a box and floated it on the river ś.

That box leaving the river ś entered the ۲ܲ river and leaving ۲ܲ it entered the river Ҳṅg. Drifting slowly the box reached 䲹ܰī, a country of ūٲ. Adhiratha born of the ūٲvaṃśa and an ally of the Kauravas, saw a box floating on the river while he went for his bath and took it home. , wife of Adhiratha, who was childless was greatly pleased to see a babe inside the box and they adopted it and brought it up. The boy was named ղṣeṇa. It was this babe that became the celebrated ṇa afterwards. (Four chapters from 305, Vana Parva).

Education of ṇa.

ṇa grew up in the house of Adhiratha in the country of ṅg bearing the names ղṣeṇa and ṛṣ. ܲԳī knew this through spies. When the time came for imparting education to ṇa Adhiratha sent him to Ჹپܰ to the presence of ٰṇa for teaching him archery. ṇa studied under ṛp and ʲśܰ峾 also. After his education he entered into a treaty with Duryodhana. (Chapter 309, Vana Parva).

ṇa is cursed.

ṇa was cursed by a brahmin and ʲśܰ峾. The story is given below.

Even while they were studying archery Arjuna and ṇa vied with each other. ṇa once requested ٰṇa to teach him in private the secret of the missile to fight against Arjuna. But ٰṇa did not accede to his request.

ṇa then went to Mahendragiri and bowed before ʲśܰ峾 and represented himself as a member of the ṛg family. He said he had come to him to be his disciple and learn the secret of the missile from him. ʲśܰ峾 believed him and accepting him as his disciple taught him many new techniques in archery. Once ṇa was wandering in the vicinity of the ś when he saw a lonely cow grazing there and ṇa without knowing that it belonged to a brahmin sent an arrow and killed it. The brahmin got furious and cursed ṇa thus "Oh, sinner, the wheel of your chariot would go down in the mud when you face the enemy to fight against whom you are now taking training. Then, when you stand perplexed, your opponent would cut off your head." ṇa requested for a removal of the curse but the brahmin refused to show any mercy.

ʲśܰ峾 taught ṇa the secret of the missile. One day tired after a day’s fast and a walk around the ś with his disciples ʲśܰ峾 slept resting his head on the lap of ṇa. Then a beetle named Alarka attacked ṇa and started sucking blood from his thigh. Blood was oozing from his thigh and still ṇa did not stir from his position lest it should disturb his guru in his nap. Suddenly ʲśܰ峾 awoke and stared at the beetle and the beetle fell dead. It then took the form of a demon and rising up in the air said "! I was once a demon called ٲṃśa. Once I carried away by force the wife of the sage ṛg and the angered sage cursed me and made me a beetle. When I craved for pardon he said that I would be given my original form by ʲśܰ峾."

When the demon disappeared saying so much ʲśܰ峾 turned to ṇa who stood with respect, his dress all covered with blood. ʲśܰ峾 said: "No brahmin can bear so much pain with such patience. Surely, you are not a brahmin. Let me know the truth." Trembling with fear ṇa revealed his identity and then ʲśܰ峾 cursed him saying "You will forget the secret of the missile at the time when you want to use it against your enemy." (Chapters 2 and 3, ŚԳپ Parva).

How ṇa became the King of ṅg.

The ṇḍ and Kauravas were studying archery under ٰṇācⲹ together and ṇa also was among them. When their education was complete a day was fixed to exhibit the skill of the students. The public also was invited to see the skill of the princes. Everybody showed his best and Arjuna displayed super-human skill so that the vast assemblage was lost in wonder and admiration. Then strode ṇa to the scene and not only did he duplicate with ease Arjuna’s feats but he did show something more. The assemblage was dumbfounded. Arjuna turnned pale. At this moment ṛp stood up and questioned the right of ṇa to compete with those with royal blood in them. Then rose Duryodhana and said: "If the combat is not in order simply because ṇa is not a prince it is easily remedied. I crown ṇa as the King of ṅg". Then there came to the scene the aged Adhiratha, the foster-father of ṇa, and as ṇa saw him coming he went and bowed before him and Adhiratha embraced him with tears in his eyes. (Chapters 134 to 136, Ādi Parva, Ѳٲ).

ṇa’s armour and ear-rings.

ṇa was born with an armour on his body and rings in his ears. Chapter 99 of Adi Parva says thus: "To ܲԳī was born of ūⲹ the mighty ṇa. Even at his birth he was adorned with an armour over his body and rings in his ears."

ūⲹ had ordained that as long as ṇa wore the armour and ear-rings he would be unconquerable. Indra knew this and wanted to get ṇa rid of these so that Arjuna, his son, might gain a victory over ṇa. ṇa was reputed for his charity and Indra under the garb of a brahmin went to ṇa and begged of him his ear-rings and armour. The Sun god had already warned him in a dream that Indra would thus try to deceive him. Still ṇa could not bring himself to refuse any gift that was asked of him and so he cut off the ear-rings and armour with which he was born and gave them to the 󳾲ṇa. The only request that the noble ṇa did make was that in separating the ornaments from his body no wound should be made. Indra did it with great skill neither hurting him nor making even a scratch on this body. Indra bade ṇa ask for any boon he wanted. The Sun god had also advised him to ask for a good weapon in return in case he gave away his assets and so he requested Indra the best of the weapons he possessed. Indra gave him his weapon, the Śپ, called ղᲹⲹԳī also. ṇa had to use that weapon to kill the great ҳṭoٰ첹 in the Ѳٲ battle.

Other details.

(i) ṇa was present at the ⲹṃv of ٰܱ貹ī. (Śǰ첹 4, Chapter 185, Ādi Parva).

(ii) ī defeated ṇa once in a single combat. (Śǰ첹 20, Chapter 34. Parva).

(iii) ṇa took part in the Ჹūⲹ of ۳ܻṣṭ󾱰. (Śǰ첹 7, Chapter 34, ŚԳپ Parva).

(iv) ṇa defeated Ի once in a single combat. Chapter 44, Parva).

(v) ṇa defeated in his victory march many kings like Drupada, Bhagadatta and Kerala. (Chapter 254, ṇy Parva).

(vi) ṇa conquered the cities of ī and and annexed them to the country of ṅg. (Chapter 5, ṇa Parva).

(vii) ṇa prompted Duryodhana to tease the ṇḍ living in the forest. (Chapter 7, Vana Parva).

(viii) ṇa swore that he would kill Arjuna. (Chapter 257, Vana Parva).

(ix) ṇa lost his clothes during a fight against the king of վṭa. (Chapter 65, վṭa Parva).

(x) Kāṇḍapṛṣṭham īs the name of ṇa’s bow.

ṇa and the ܰܰṣeٰ battle.

The great battle of Ѳٲ lasted for eighteen days and some of the incidents touching ṇa during that period are given below:

(i) Before the great war started ܲԳī went alone to the shores of Ҳṅg and met ṇa. She then confessed to him that she was his mother and that the ṇḍ were his brothers. She advised ṇa to join sides with the ṇḍ and the Sun god approved of it. But ṇa refused to do so. He said he would never forsake Duryodhana who had brought him up from his childhood at a time when he was in peril. But he promised his mother that he would never kill any of her other four sons but would kill Arjuna in the battle-field. (Chapter 146 Udyoga Parva).

(ii) ṇa started his fight against the ṇḍ after taking blessings from īṣm. (Chapter 3, ٰṇa Parva).

(iii) ṇa fought against the princes of Kekaya, Arjuna, ī, ٳṛṣṭaܳԲ and Śātyaki in single combat. (Chapter 32, ٰṇa Parva).

(iv) Abhimanyu defeated ṇa in a single combat. (Chapter 40, ٰṇa Parva).

(v) ṇa made ī unconscious. (Chapter 139, ٰṇa Parva).

(vi) ṇa once withdrew a bit when hit by the arrow of Arjuna. (Chapter 139, ٰṇa Parva).

(vii) ṇa insulted ṛp峦ⲹ at one time. (Chapter 158, ٰṇa Parva).

(viii) ṇa killed ҳṭoٰ첹 with the weapon Śپ which Indra had given him in exchange for the armour and ear-rings which he had given Indra. (Chapter 180, ٰṇa Parva).

(ix) ṇa ran away from the battlefield when he heard that ٰṇa was dead. (Chapter 193, ṇa Parva).

(x) ṇa was made the Generalissimo of the Kaurava army when ٰṇa died. (Chapter 10, ṇa Parva).

(xi) Śⲹ became the charioteer of ṇa (Chapter 86, ṇa Parva).

(xii) The beautiful headwear of Arjuna fell down to the ground by the snake-faced arrow of ṇa. (Chapter 90, ṇa Parva).

(xiii) When Arjuna was fighting against ṇa the chariot-wheels of ṇa sank into the ground. (Chapter 90, ṇa Parva).

(xiv) Arjuna slew ṇa. (Śǰ첹 50, Chapter 91, ṇa Parva).

(xv) ṇa had three sons named Citrasena, Satyasena and ṣeṇa. All the three were killed at ܰܰṣeٰ by Nakula. (Śǰ첹s 19 to 50, Chapter 10, Śⲹ Parva).

ṇa goes to heaven.

After his death ṇa went to heaven and merged with his father, the Sun god. (Śǰ첹 20, Chapter 5, Svargārohaṇa Parva).

Names of ṇa.

(i) Because ṇa was born with an effulgence (Vasu) he was first given the name ղṣeṇa.

(ii) Because he was born with ṇḍ (ear-rings) in his ṇas (ears) he was called ṇa. (Chapter 302. ṇy Parva).

(iii) Besides these two he had many other names. A few are given below:

Ādhirathi, Ādityanandana. Ādityatanaya, ṅgrāja, Aṅgeśvara, Arkaputra, Bharatarṣabha, Goputra, Kaunteya. ܲԳīsuta, Kurūdvaha, Kurupṛtanāpati, ܱܰī, Kuruyodha, ٳ, Vṛṣātmaja suta, tmaja, , Ravisūnu, Sauti, 屹ٰ, ūⲹja, ūⲹputra, ūⲹsambhava, ūٲ, ūٲnandana, ūٲputra, ūٲūnu, ūٲuta, ūٲtanaya. Vaikartana, Vaivasvata and ṛṣ.

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