The True Meaning of GAR
Meet Karna, a legendary badass from the Mahabharata.1 Never heard of him? It’s a damn shame. There are at least three crappy anime adaptions of Romance of the Three Kingdoms but none for the Mahabharata. It has so much potential, not just to become an epic anime, but to become a bestseller. One billion Indians would pay good money to watch it!2
You will never find a character more GAR character than Karna.
Karna’s birth is a long and complicated story.3 For the purposes of this post, you just need to know two things:
- Karna was born with the sun god’s earrings and armor attached to him, which basically made him immortal
- Karna was born to a princess who feared the social stigma of being an unwed mother
Karna was abandoned by his mother and adopted by a low-caste family.4 He grew up humbly and kicked ass at everything. Although he had the talent to become an elite warrior, he was denied the opportunity to train at a school for warriors due his caste. Karna wasn’t about to give up, so he did what any real man would do: he went to train in the mountains.
Of course, mountain training isn’t complete without instruction from a bitter old hermit. Unlike the school that rejected Karna for his low caste, this old hermit only refused to train nobles. Unaware of his true lineage, Karna promised he wasn’t a noble and submitted himself to the hermit’s training. The old hermit bitched Karna around.5 One day the hermit took a nap on Karna’s leg. Karna knew he’d fail if he woke up the hermit, so he remained absolutely still. While the hermit was napping, a beetle came along and bore into Karna’s thigh. Karna didn’t flinch. His profuse bleeding eventually woke up the hermit, who surmised that Karna was so GAR for toughing out the pain that he had to be a noble. The hermit got pissed off, kicked Karna out, and cursed him.
Now aware of his noble blood, Karna crashed a battle skills competition for princes and schooled them all, most notably Arjuna, the man6 who would become his rival. Everyone acknowledged that Karna was the mightiest warrior ever,7 yet nobody accepted him as a noble because he couldn’t identify his family. Then the prince who would someday become the evil emperor stepped forward and pronounced Karna the ruler of one of his recently conquered territories. Karna swore his friendship to the prince, thus binding him to the side of evil and ensuring his untimely demise.
Far from being corrupted by evil, Karna was renowned for his honesty, generosity, and humility. Although he was constantly treated like shit because of his background, Karna never bitched or cried, instead letting his actions speak for him. One time Karna attended an archery competition in order to win the hand of a princess.8 To win, a competitor would have to lift an infamously heavy bow, bend it far enough to string it, and then use it to shoot a revolving target while only looking at the target’s reflection.
Karna easily lifted and strung the bow, but before he could shoot, the princess declared that she wouldn’t marry him because of his commoner’s background. The princess ended up marrying Arjuna. Karna got his revenge several years later by calling her a whore as she was forcefully disrobed in front of the royal court.
When war about to break out, the gods realized that mankind was doomed as long as Karna was alive to fight for the side of evil. In order to render Karna mortal, they needed to somehow separate Karna from his armor and earrings. The rain god came up with a slick plan. He knew that Karna would never refuse a request at noon.9 One day the rain god disguised himself as a peasant, approached Karna at noon, and asked Karna for his armor and earrings. Without a moment of hesitation, Karna pulled out a dagger and severed the armor and earrings from his body.10 The rain god was so GAR for Karna that he impulsively gave Karna a divine weapon as compensation.
In an attempt to prevent the war, Karna’s mother met with Karna and revealed her true identity.11 She also told him that he was the true successor to the throne. Even though Karna could’ve prevented the war by accepting the crown, he declined because he was too honorable to betray his allegiance.
During the war, Karna and Arjuna faced off in a battle for the ages. It was more or less even12 until one of the wheels on Karna’s chariot got stuck in the mud.13 Typically it’s the charioteer’s job to free a stuck wheel, but Karna’s charioteer was a jerk, so Karna had to get out of the chariot to fix the wheel himself. According the the laws of war, the battle was supposed to be suspended until the chariot was fixed, but Arjuna realized that he couldn’t beat Karna in a fair duel and had to shoot him while he had his chance.14 Due to the hermit’s curse, Karna was unable to summon a divine weapon to protect himself. Instead, he accepted his fate, stood his ground, and took the decapitation like a man.
In sum, this is what it took to kill Karna:
- The second most powerful warrior in the world breaking the rules of war
- Voluntarily discarded immortality
- Two curses
- Divine intervention
- A jackass charioteer
- Acceptance that his death was necessary for the well-being of humanity
After the war was over, Karna’s mother revealed that Karna was her firstborn and the true successor to the throne. The current successor, her eldest living son, was so infuriated that he cursed all women to never be able to keep a secret again.15
Here’s why Karna is more GAR than any anime character I’ve seen:
- Golgo 13: Lacks Karna’s righteousness
- Kenshiro: Hesitant to fight his friends and brothers
- Maid Guy: Gets beaten by women
- Archer: Worse at archery
- Kamina: Died a much less manly death
If you’d like to draw a Mahabharata manga, contact me. Warning: I plan to retell the whole story in a completely different setting so nobody bitches at me for minor historical inaccuracies.16
- An ancient epic ten times longer than the Illiad and Odessy combined, and the only thing in the history of India that doesn’t suck [↩]
- Too bad 900 million Indians don’t have any money [↩]
- See Wikipedia [↩]
- A caste is basically a social class. For details, see Wikipedia [↩]
- The most effective way to teach anyone anything because it instills discipline [↩]
- not some Earth Maiden [↩]
- Yes, mightier than Conan [↩]
- How romantic <3 [↩]
- Owing his life to the sun god, Karna would always pray at noon (when the sun is at its highest point) [↩]
- OH SHIT! [↩]
- Spoiler: Karna and Arjuna were brothers. There is so much potential for a kickass anime here… [↩]
- Despite the fact that Arjuna’s charioteer was a god (who was a total badass in his own right) [↩]
- Due to a curse (not the hermit’s curse, another one he picked up. Poor Karna could never catch a break.) [↩]
- He was also pissed off that Karna killed his son. Karna was too brave to accept the kid’s surrender [↩]
- The curse holds true to this day [↩]
- Giant robots? [↩]
70 people love sucking up to me
Leave a Reply
Holy shit, a comment RSS feed!baka-raptor@baka-raptor.com
December 4th, 2008 at 8:49 pm
10/10 would read again
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December 4th, 2008 at 9:24 pm
This would rock so hard. Maybe when my VN is complete, I’ll contact you.
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December 4th, 2008 at 9:59 pm
http://www.baka-raptor.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/hanai.jpg
Oh. Its that School Rumble- Jackie-chan esque parody.
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December 4th, 2008 at 10:05 pm
The remake would probably genderbend all the characters and make them lesbians.
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December 4th, 2008 at 10:23 pm
@Kabitzin – Ikkitousen is that youuuuuuuu
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December 5th, 2008 at 12:27 am
Damn, I see you’ve shared my recent rekindling with the Mahabharat. I agree that Karna is in the top 5 for most badass characters in Mahabharat. Still, I maintain that the most badass, and my personal favorite, is Abhimanyu. He truly died like a man. It took 10 of the best soldiers in the world to surround and take him down, unarmed. Hell, even Karna, for all his badassery, showed cowardice and lost his balls in that fight.
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December 5th, 2008 at 12:44 am
Try Osamu Tezuka’s Buddha manga for more Anime/India goodness.
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December 5th, 2008 at 2:33 am
[...] of India. I’ve done so, and he appreciated it. In fact, why not give him a comment on his latest post about the Mahabharata? It’s less culturally insensitive than sending him a Christmas card I [...]
December 5th, 2008 at 4:08 am
Giant robots sounds good to me.
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December 5th, 2008 at 5:04 am
Love the footnotes.
It is a sad reflection on my current state that the second after I laughed at “Giant Robots?” I found myself thinking of all the ways it’d work.
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December 5th, 2008 at 8:30 am
TYPE-MOON should have used some influence from these epics as well. They missed out.
Awesome story, and awesome that someone else watched the Conan The Adventurer series. The OP was one of my favorites as a kid, but I hadn’t listened to it in years till now. Thank you.
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December 5th, 2008 at 9:17 am
New on reading list, as I love epic tales. Like One Piece. Also, you spelt Iliad wrong.
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December 5th, 2008 at 10:56 am
Giant robots truly make everything better.
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December 5th, 2008 at 11:11 am
GAR? GAO?
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December 5th, 2008 at 4:24 pm
Nonetheless, in order to be properly GAR, the character must have a good deal of fatherly (or at least big-brotherly) traits, not including beating children.
Enlighten me, if your narrative missed anything.
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December 5th, 2008 at 4:25 pm
Additionally: Where’d you get that kickass first image?
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December 5th, 2008 at 6:12 pm
Rediculously Fucking Gar is all I have to say.
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December 5th, 2008 at 7:20 pm
:’) HOLY CRAP !!! This was baka-raptor’s best post to date… It would made a baddass anime if MADHOUSE or some serious studio would do it…because if the makers of naruto puts the hands on such a BADDASS history like these…i can’t imagine how bad this could become…
As it has potential to have fillers too…
Or just have Dragon Ball Z hour span ( one hour = 63 episodes , which in fact gives us 21 earth hours)
anyway…
* claps *
Congrats baka-raptor, for the excelent post.
The only thing that was missing in this history is dinosaurs…
Chariots pulled by dinosaurs kick ass !
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December 6th, 2008 at 1:39 am
You hand this Indian epic over to the Japanese and you shall get one beach episode and one hot springs episode, gender-bent Karna and pantyshots of Karna from a certain angle while [s]he rides the chariot.
Do want. But people rather watch moe shows. But… still… do want.
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December 6th, 2008 at 10:50 am
@Owen: If you could sit through my summary, your next step is the Wikipedia page. Like my post, it’s still a “Mickey Mouse” version of the story but with proper names instead of clumsy placeholders like “evil emperor” and “bitter old hermit.”
@lolikitsune: In other words, never?
@Kairu: Season 1, episode 21.
@Kabitzin & The Sojourner: It’s true, I’ve seen Shiva genderbent time and time again in the Final Fantasy franchise. That’s why I need to draw the manga before the Japanese get their hands on it.
@Praz: Abhimanyu was a more talented fighter than Karna, but he had a fatal character flaw: cockiness. Karna had only two blemishes to his record: calling Drupadi a whore and taking part in the cheap killing of Abhimanyu.
@Asperger’s: Will do.
@IKnight, coburn, schneider: You guys probably know more about Giant Robots than I ever will, so answer me this: how can I add giant robots without diminishing the importance of archery to the story?
@TheBigN: To be honest, I don’t remember anything about the show other than the intro, which my brother and I used to reenact with toy swords.
@Omisyth: It’s pretty damn long. First see if you can handle this synopsis. There’s also an old live action version. The writing is great, but the visuals are awful. You can find the first 70 subbed eps on YouTube. The first episode starts a few generations before Karna’s story. It involves a king who marries a mysterious lady who makes him promise never to question anything she does. Then she starts drowning all their newborn children one by one…
@rollchan: GAO
@LJ: Got the pic here. A Google image search for Karna turned it up. I can’t recall many situations when Karna interacted with members of a younger generation (except when he killed Arjuna’s son). He was a great ruler if that counts as fatherly in any way. He was really more of a big brother character. He was the half-brother of Arjuna and the future emperor and half-cousin of the evil emperor. All of them respected him and admitted they would’ve accepted him as the true king.
@digitalboy: Ridiculously too.
@Laguna: Screw giant robots, I’m going with dinosaur chariots!
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December 6th, 2008 at 12:25 pm
So what about Ashoka? Is he GAR enough? lol
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December 6th, 2008 at 12:35 pm
Dinosaur chariots and GAR characters are fine and all, but if you’re going to anime-ize a story it also needs lesbians/ruri to complete the circle.
Otherwise very interesting story!
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December 6th, 2008 at 4:49 pm
Personally, I’m just waiting for an anime adaptation of Beowulf or the Prose Edda. And I prefer the Ramayana to the Mahabharata, specifically the versions where Sita actually takes on Kali’s qualities to fight the demons herself.
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December 7th, 2008 at 4:51 am
Archery? Add giant robots like Rain’s Rising Gundam from G Gundam, then.
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December 7th, 2008 at 6:26 am
The RahXephon had a giant ‘energy bow’. It glowed a lot and pierced the heavens.
Way I see it, a gun on a robot is just a big gun, a bow is connected to the direct strength of the robot. That makes it more powerful, because giant robots are always the ultimate power source. It’s the same logic that makes a mecha sword more deadly than a missile salvo – robotic physicality trumps all.
Plus, if it’s a physical action, our hero can train with his real body (GAR). So any old bloke can get into a large robot, not any old bloke combines giant robot skill with proficiency in archery.
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December 7th, 2008 at 4:23 pm
Awesome. I love mythology, so I’m contractually obligated to love this post. ; )
Seriously though, great. It makes me wonder, though — I think Cuchulainn might be more GAR. He fought an entire army by himself, purposely killing the people around the leaders to scare the shit out of them. And when I say army I mean it, two forces combined to raid Ulster held off by a dude.
Oh, and he swore to a chick that he’d get more badass (this is before the army-fighting), so he found a crazy hermit woman and learned from her.
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December 7th, 2008 at 10:50 pm
Wow. Wow.
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December 7th, 2008 at 11:47 pm
An Excellent Advent …. Just thought of addinga few pointers :–
1. Karna’s Chariot wheel Sunk — bcos–> … Once during his younger days he saw a small kid crying over spilt milk (literally)… To save her ass from her step mother Karna takes a chunk of the earth & squeezes every bit of the milk into the vessel …… Just when the vessel fills up ..he sees an image of the mother earth on the milk …. who promptly says ….” The milk was an offering for me, however unintentional … i know that you can offer me anything to replicate it .. but that is not my desire …Let it be known though ..that I would take an offering from you in the least moment you can give it ” … We are of course talking about the chariot weel that sunk into the battlefield …(After Karna died , the wheel came out ) …
2. Karna didnt kill Abhimanyu treachorously ..The whole game starts with the battle strategy “Chakravyuha” .. where a”tiger” is lured deep into a trap by a “goat” who escapes deeper into it . The goat HAS to be some great warrior who acts as if he is losing & retreats (Karna in this case) .. Seeing this, Abhimanyu ( thanks to his cockiness) .. assumes that he has defeated Karna and begins pursuing him .. only to be met with a atragic death at the hands of the son of a Enemy King ….. Its sheer ridiculous Crap when they say that he was killed unfairly ..as there was no Pandava inside the Chakravyuha ..and this theory of unfair killing was in all likelihood a rumour to encourage Arjuna to hasten the death of Karna ..( We all know who the badass might be )
Whew!! Sorry long post …. Old Habits die hard!! Hee Hee !!
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December 7th, 2008 at 11:56 pm
Ohh .. and one small wee point .. The Insect sting that Karna had ..well technically speaking ..Karna shouldn’t be bleeding ..as he has that impregnable body armour ..!!! ….So poor laddie thought that ” What the heck !!! It doesn’t pain me .. Why bother to scoot it out & disturb my master ? ” .. Sadly the old hermit didn’t take his viewpoint & drew the most wrse conclusion humanely possible …..and in a terrible fit of rage cursed him to lose his skills at the most needed point ….Later .. when he was brought to his senses by Karna who vouched that he was not a noble caste ..did the old hermit regret his curse …. Too bad , the curse couldn’t be countered ..but the old hermit assured him that he was an equal now …. ( Incidentally … the old hermit was the teacher of the teacher of Arjuna ( the one who killed Karna ).. Funny how things go !!
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December 8th, 2008 at 5:17 am
Where can I download this?
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December 9th, 2008 at 12:27 am
Perhaps GAR, but needs more lesbians.
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December 9th, 2008 at 3:58 am
@The Sojourner: Maybe. I won’t know unless I watch a movie about him.
@Epi & jcpenguin: Would I make a show without lesbians?
@Day: Never heard of that version of the Ramayana. It would certainly make a great anime, but I think the Mahabharata would be better. The Ramayana is a straightforward good vs. evil story. The Mahabharata is much more complex. However, I think the Ramayana would have better fight scenes. It’s gods vs. demons whereas the gods in the Mahabharata don’t take a fighting role in battle.
@IKnight & coburn: I haven’t seen either of those, but I’ll look into them.
@Cuchlann: Sounds pretty damn GAR to me. Now I question the army commander’s intelligence. Why not just have everyone try to run past him?
@Urchin: I know, right?
@Propheticverses: Thanks for the info, especially on the Chakravyuha. I’d never heard that side of it, but it certainly makes a lot of sense. One of the things I love about the Mahabharata is the extent of the interrelationships between the characters. Karna was taught by Parashurama who taught Drona who taught Arjuna whose son was defeated, in part, by Karna. Arjuna then defeats Karna thanks to Parashurama. And Karna and Arjuna were brothers all along. Great stuff.
@Shin: I don’t know where you can find a torrent, but if you can, good luck fitting it all on your hard drive. The are over 90 episodes at 45 minutes each. Just check it out on YouTube (see comment 20 @Omisyth).
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December 9th, 2008 at 4:22 am
@propheticverses: I dont know if Id be so fast to dismiss the death of Abhimanyu as ’sheer, ridiculous crap’. Even though no other pandavas were in the circle, there were plenty of other ways for information to leak out of the battlefield (ie, spies). Furthermore, the Pandavas could have found plenty of evidence of a gang beatdown by simply examining the corpse, such as a pattern of attack that would have been almost impossible for a single individual to pull off during battle. Incidentally, do you have a source for any of this?
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December 9th, 2008 at 9:57 am
The footnotes eerily remind me of lolikitsune’s. :3
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December 9th, 2008 at 3:19 pm
@Praz :
Ridiculous Crap –NOT — > Abhimanyu’s Death
Ridiculous Crap –> The so called label “unfair Killing ”
My Wee justification follows lest you unfortunately assume I am prejudiced towards “over-glorifying” Karna or undermining Abhimanyu ” .. I assure you my source is the original version … Here’s the link .. for the entire story http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/maha/index.htm .. I recommend you read the “Abhimanyu & Karna section ” …
The Slaughter goes like this — >
Kauravas design Chakravyuh to capture Yudhisther alive ..( considered impossible as Arjun is around ) …So,to side step Arjun .. a couple of buddies of Duryodhana ( The Sindhus ) agree to engage Arjuna elsewhere, leaving it open for Drona’s twisted plan .. Now , only 5 guys COMPLETELY know about this Chakravyuh thing ( Bhisma, Drona , Karna on Kaurav side …& … Arjuna & Krishna on Pandava side ) .. …
On seeing the changed lines of Kauravas , Yudhistir realizes that it is a trap but has no clue as to how to break it .. Abhimanyu who also witnesses it..suggests that it is the “so & so” trap ..I know how to enter it but how to exit it ( How he learnt it is a pretty amusing story in itself ) ..
Now the Pandavas suggest to him to enter the fray .. and that they will provide “Cover” fire ..Sadly just when our young chap enters the Trap .. the rest of the pandavas are cut by Jayadratha ( a typical villain ) .. who for some strange reason had been blessed with a boon to hold all Pandavas except Arjuna for one day !!! ( Seems very convenient , eh ? ) …
So this guy holds the Support group leaving Abhimanyu all alone in the trap .. However , it hardly causes a worry to our hero ..and he goes on “systematically decimating ” ( to quote one of my friends) the Kaurava army ..
Things go like this –>
1. Abhimanyu humilates Dushasana ….
2. Seeing his brother humilated Duryodhana goes afetr Abhimanyu ..
3. Seeing Duryodhana go after Abhimanyu , Drona orders the army to protect Duryodhana at all cost ..( Apparently he didn’t have much faith in Duryodhana’s skills)…
4. On Seeing Duryodhana go, Karna follows ..
5. On seeing Karna go , his younger brother ( his adopted parent’s real son ) goes after Abhimanyu ..
6. Abhimanyu and Karna exchange pleasantries ( arrows taking the dignified place of flowers !!)
7. Karna gets slightly raw deal ..( he is to be blamed .. for his own reason he does not seek to kill Abhimanyu but seeks to protect Duryodhana from Abhimanyu ) ..
8. On seeing Karna being thus hurt .. his younger brother joins the fray but sadly brotherly love doesn’t ensure him invulnerability against Abhimanyu …
9. On seeing this, Karna howls with depair & seems shell-shocked ..
10. On Seeing this ( lol, lotz of ’seeing’ here!! ).. Duryodhana comments as to who cn sefeat Abhimanyu if Karna is incapable ..and wishes to secede the battle … As he is about to convey the order … his son Lakshmana fights with Abhimanyu ..and Abhimanyu breaks one of his solemn oaths .!!!! ( He had taken an oath that he would not kill Kaurava’s children as his uncle had already beaten him to that oath .. and thus if he killed then ..his uncle’s oath would be null & void with disastrous consequences…. ) .. and in those days ..oaths apparently had a tremendous effect .. So ..he kills Lakshmana ..
11. A furious Duryodhana then orders the entire army “Slay him!! Slay Him !! ” ..
12. Still impossible to kill Abhimanyu .. and the Drona tell something …..” I have taught his dad how to make such impregnable armors”.. At a shocked look from Duryodhana, he narrates ” reserved for only the best student” .. Only the higher weapons can penetarte it ..but that is out of the picture as it would harm us more ..I suggest that Karna cut his bowstring .. and we will do the rest …
13 .. So Karna cuts the bowstring & disable all attempts of Abhimanyu to take any weapon … while Drona and other guys neutralize the steeds ..
14. Still he is up and roaring ..when Dushasana’s son comes into the picture and offers him a mace ( following the Kshatriya Code ) ..The two slug it out and finally Abhimanyu is killed by a blow on his crown …
Thus ends the saga
@ Baka : I apologize if I have put down too much into the paper .. but I felt it might be needed lest Praz assumes that i might be making a mockery of a great text.
And hey !! you might have heard it many times ..and I hope hearing it one time more won’t hurt !!! ” Your site rocks!! “
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December 10th, 2008 at 5:20 am
FRIGGIN’ AWESOME! I really haven’t got to read through Mahabharata so this is a BETTER way to tell things.
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December 11th, 2008 at 12:54 am
I’m GAR too.
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December 11th, 2008 at 6:53 pm
This is epicly GAR beyond reason. If I was a better artist I would have to contact you about this proposed manga. Time to hone my drawing skills.
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December 17th, 2008 at 10:15 am
@Michael: Get thee to a similarity.
@Propheticverses: It’s fine, I allow comments that are shorter than their corresponding posts. My post is about 1200 words; your comment is about 800. In any case, awesome comment.
@Rakuen: I do have a way with words, don’t I?
@blissmo: Sure you are.
@Funeral: Keep practicing (I still have no offers)
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December 23rd, 2008 at 6:39 pm
Little late to comment on this one, but i believe there are a few comic adaptations of Indian mythology, though no Japanese manga ones. Look up Virgin Comics.
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December 28th, 2008 at 12:12 pm
If you are interested in another indian epic which is animated by Japanese check these links out:-
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=7792
If you want to see the anime then here is the torrent link:-
http://www.mininova.org/tor/2108962
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December 28th, 2008 at 4:20 pm
Of course Golgo isn’t as righteous as Karna. Righteousness isn’t really a skill set for assassins.
Also, I would love to take you up on your offer, but I got way too many projects to take on another one…
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December 28th, 2008 at 10:27 pm
Quote>>Of course, mountain training isn’t complete without instruction from a bitter old hermit.
This “hermit” you speak of here is none other than Parasuram,he is nor old geek,nor a calm man
He is a more terrible than his disciple karna.
Check this pic
http://bp2.blogger.com/_E-hzI4FvOHg/Rxju3Frk2XI/AAAAAAAAACo/zmBuazLW2jM/s320/p+color.jpg
Intro
“Furious at his father’s murder, Parashurama killed all sons of Sahasrajuna(King) and their aides. His thirst for revenge unquenched, he went on killing every adult Kshatriya on earth, not once but 21 times, filling five ponds with blood. These are the actions which highlight his warrior characteristics.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parashurama
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December 31st, 2008 at 3:20 am
wtf. died while not in combat. truly is GAR, yes, yes, very truly.
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January 5th, 2009 at 2:19 am
I missed out it seems on the Mahabarata, I read Bhagavad-Gita where Arjuna was the lead (I realize now that B-G is but a story arc for Arjuna in Mahabarata). I had a point, but only when I was ignorant. Karna owns Arjuna, I concede.
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January 13th, 2009 at 2:39 pm
Hi,
Please email me, I think we need to talk. I have had plans of developing this for some time now, of course I had my own visions but it isn’t too far off what you want to re-create. Maybe we can colab.
Get in touch with the email provided here.
Look forward to hearing from you soon.
Vee.
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January 31st, 2009 at 6:20 pm
[...] not to say Indian characters can’t be cool. I almost liked Kougaiji. Then I noticed a shocking trend as the show [...]
February 25th, 2009 at 10:16 am
Check out this trailer of “Karna The Sixth” by Vimanika Digital comics..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6iBmKIkzXg&feature=channel_page
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April 20th, 2009 at 9:15 pm
Actually, I’ve always thought Karna would be the obvious choice for a Grail War Archer. It’s not like he’s lacking in Noble Phantasms: his armor, Vijaya, the Vasavi Shakti, and a crapload of divine astras (arrows, each significantly more badass than Caladbolg and Hrunting and the like).
Incidentally, Arjuna had a lot more divine astras and a fricking deity as his charioteer. In absolutely every way that battle was stacked against Karna and he still would in all probability have won if not for the TRIPLET (not pair) of curses that hit him simultaneously.
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May 15th, 2009 at 1:18 pm
Guys Check this Out!!!
http://www.bollywood.com/vimanika-release-graphic-novel-legendary-warrior-karna
Max
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June 1st, 2009 at 7:17 am
[...] Yes. I want to draw a futuristic Gankutsuou-type manga about the Mahabharata. If that doesn’t work out, I’ll draw a crappy slice of life 4-koma featuring four high [...]
July 31st, 2009 at 10:19 am
agreed that karna was an unparalleled archer …. but arjuna was no less…..
whoever is saying karna was better should also read about the VIRAT yudh… where bhrinlala(arjuna) decimated the whole karuava army all by himself. that army included BHISMA, DRONA, ASHWATHAMA, KRIPACHARYA, DURODHANA and everyones HERo KARNA himself. they all attacked him at once and in the end were no match to arjuna’s might.
b4 and during the war the KURU grandfather BHISMA (who had a boon to select the time of his own death)repeatedly said that if all of us combined couldnt handle arjuna then who is going to take care of him in this war.
moreover arjuna had lord SHIVA’s infallible weapon “PASHUPATA”… against which karna never stood a chance…. cuz there was no counter attack for this weapon.
karna had the bramastra but to counter arjuna was also capable of invoking the same weapon …..
but arjuna told lord krishna that he wouldnt use the DIVINE weapons as he didnt want the future to say that arjuna won the war using DIVINE weapons and not by his own archery skills….
those days an archer was measured by the number of arrow he would shoot to inflict an injury to the enemy….
in that regard too …. arjun used 7 arrows to find karna’s flesh …. where as karna had to shoot 13 arrows to achieve the same feat……
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Aymen Khan Reply:
November 4th, 2009 at 9:41 am
@ random…Arjuna was a greta warrior no doubt about that but why do you forget that Karna became a parallel to Arjuna WITHOUT the tutelage of Drona. Think what would have he been if he was tutored by Drona. In the war Krishna praises KArna 2-3 times upon which Arjuna gets miffed and asks that why does Krishna praises Karna when Arjuna’s arrows makes the chariot of Karna move back feets and upon beinmg hit by Karna’s arrows Arujuna’s chariot moves back just inches? upon this Krishna replies that in Arjuna’s chariot, he (Krishna), and with him the whole universe is seated in addition to Hanuman and even then Karna is able to move Arjuna’s chariot retreat a little while Karna’s chariot holds just Karna and Shalya.
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November 4th, 2009 at 9:40 am
Well…to start with, im a Muslim and mighty infatuated by Mahabharat and all its characters..more so by the unsung hero, Karna. Although a great warrior (greater even than Arjun), and by far the noblest of the princes who surrounded him, he was derided and humiliated time and time again by virtue of his lower birth. His grace, however, remained as immovable as his will. @ random…Arjuna was a greta warrior no doubt about that but why do you forget that Karna became a parallel to Arjuna WITHOUT the tutelage of Drona. Think what would have he been if he was tutored by Drona. In the war Krishna praises KArna 2-3 times upon which Arjuna gets miffed and asks that why does Krishna praises Karna when Arjuna’s arrows makes the chariot of Karna move back feets and upon beinmg hit by Karna’s arrows Arujuna’s chariot moves back just inches? upon this Krishna replies that in Arjuna’s chariot, he (Krishna), and with him the whole universe is seated in addition to Hanuman and even then Karna is able to move Arjuna’s chariot retreat a little while Karna’s chariot holds just Karna and Shalya.
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November 13th, 2009 at 12:36 am
[...] only thing moé about Kratos is the way he sold his soul instead of accepting death like a man. He also cried once, but I’m willing to excuse that under the doctrine of manly [...]
November 27th, 2009 at 12:32 am
In the end Karna is the hero.. arjun sucks..he is a coward..
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December 5th, 2009 at 2:04 pm
Well, to the most part its accurate, but I do, however suspect that 900 millions of us dont have money. Anyway, moving on, Karna is indeed one of the greatest antihero of all time. Actually its the case with the whole epic, each character, men, women, protagonists or antagonsists are created with litarary perfection. I take you viewed this epic from Karna’s perspective and hence missing some points about him. End of the day like every other character in that epic he wasnt without fault. He was proud of his skill to the limit of vanity, the insults he placed Upon Draupadi during the game which made Arjun pledge to kill him, were disgusting. And the episode with Abhimunyu, Arjun’s son who was killed by severel warriors including Karna is a huge black spot in his character. abhimunyu actually beaten him in straight combat that day before all of them attacked the teen together and murdered him.The death of abhimunyu was followed by one of the most brutal revenge story where arjun launched a vast attck killing more than 100000 people in a single day to reach whom he believed to be the reason of his son’s death. But thats another story. Now coming to his death, Arjun can be many things, a playboy stubborn, but you can hardly call him afraid. Remember, he broke Karna’s bow in Draupadi’s wedding party. That day, in war when Karna’s chariot’s wheel sank in ground, Arjun wanted to wait until Karna put ir back on ground. But it was lord Krishna who adviced him to shoot, remembering him how Karna killed helpless Abhimunyu.
Besides these small facts, great job anyway and still not convince though that 900 mil of us dont have any money.
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January 2nd, 2010 at 3:13 am
Jai Sri Krishna. My salutations to all readers
Karnas victories over Arjuna are far more impressive than any of Arjunas victories over Karna. On 15th day of battle Karna locked Arjunas hands behind the chariot and was about to kill him when sunset took place. Those days it was against the rules to fight after sunset and Karna being commander in chief of kauravas decided to respect that rule. In draupadis swayamvar Arjun was disguiesd as a brahmin and Karna respected brahmins hence his attack on Arjuna was half hearted (Please realise Indra too was disguiesd as a brahmin when he came to take Karnas kavach. Karnas bow being cut by arjun is shown only in T.V serials. Scholars like sanskritC. Rajagopalachari and R.C Dutt say that Krishna came to the pandavas rescue. Swami Vivekandas summary mentions Pandavas held out their own in that battle. There is no victory of Arjuna recorded here(there is a differance between holding out our own in a fight and defeating your opponent ). In Viraat yudha Karna did not fire his divine weapons possibly becoz when 2 divine weapons clash there is a harmful effect in nearby vicinity (this is explained when vyasa scold ashwatthama in then end) In virat battle field cows where there in vicinity hence this incident is called go rakshan. Its resonable to assume that with ordanary arrow also Karna could have been diffident as in his younger days he had accidently killed a cow – a holy animal for the hindus for which a brahmin had cursed him bitterly. Most of Karnas defeats remind me of a cricket match where an ordinary bowler is beating the master batsman regularly out side the offstump.
best regards
Niraj
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January 3rd, 2010 at 11:12 pm
Jai Sri Krishna. I criticize Karna for insulting Draupadi. But critisism for Karna stops right here. We cannot ignore the fact that Bhima and Draupadi themselves have uttered verbal insults to Karna and even Duryodhan. When he fell in the pond Draupadi laughed and said blind son of blind father. Karna never insulted Arjunas parents Bhima and Arjuna insulted Karnas father Adiratha. Coming to the Abhimanyu episode according to the Hindu philosophy a maharathi or a supreme warior is a person who can handle a large number of warriors single handedly at a radius of 360 degrees. C. Rajgopalacharis Mahabharat shows Satyaki and his ten sons attacking a warrior called Bhurishrava and this Bhurishrava without fussing and complaining tackled all of them single handedly. A supreme warrior does NOT need his bow also to fight of enemies. Ashwatthama took a small twig and charged it with the Brahmastraa and fired it at the Pandavas at the end of the war. Hence Abhimany being attacked by many warriors including Karna or Karna cutting Abhimanyus bow form behind cannot be sanctioned as a serious offence.
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January 4th, 2010 at 9:55 pm
[...] made this resolution two years ago and suspended it. I’ll probably get much farther now that I actually have something I want to draw. Still, judging by my latest artistic calamity, I’ve got a long way to [...]
January 5th, 2010 at 8:26 am
Okay, this is getting hillarious by each day. We are forgetting the basic idea of Mahabharata in the process of proving who is greater archer between Karna and Arjuna. Lets review some basic stats, shall we? Both are EQUAL in archry, period. Arjuna’s bow Gandiva (with its history and power) is surely better than Karna’s Vijaya. Both are armed to the teeth with divine weapons with Arjuna having a slight edge with Pashupata, and Parashurama’s curse on Karna. During the course of the epic they faced each other severel times, with Arjuna winning some of the encounters (call them or compare them with whatever you wish, the fact is they happened, and if you dont agree then read your Mahabharata one more time:-))and Karna winning some as well(ditto like before). Killing Abbhimunyu is viewed as one of gravest crime commintted by Kuru army, and there is no way one can justify that and trying is ridiculous and hilarious at same time. Next day Arjun killed Karna’s son right infront of his father with Karna watching helplessly. But all this is pointless when it came to the final battle. That particular day, every other confrontation between them that happened priviously became insignificant. What really counted there, is the choice of the both warriors. Karna choosed( this word is in quotes) to be with the wrong side. To follow one dharama he broke all the others. Again remind you Arjuna wanted to wait till Karna lifts his wheel but it was on Krishna’s suggestion and reminding of the death of his son made him released Anjalika.
But come on, think for a sec, like all the death in that war Karna’s death also supplemented something much more cosmic and the simple rule of action-reaction(except Abhimunyu’s, which was pure adharma, but it was necessary to create a path for what rule-breaking was to follow). Everyone, on both side, were connected to this and whenever they performed something wrong, they had to paid for that, and in same savage way.
I actually find this healthy, that after severel thousands years we are still arguing about it. But just remember what Mahabharata is actually about. That just will do:-)!
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January 5th, 2010 at 11:55 pm
Jai Shri Krishna. My salutations to everyone
Agreed entirely with above posting. But Mahabharat is so vast every event has 2 or 3 versions. Sanskrit Scholar K. M Ganguly mentions the final confrontation as follows. When Karna jumps to extact his wheel he sees Arjuna taking aim and pleads that this is against the rules. Arjuna feels sorry for Karna ( Arjunas greatness is proven )Sri Krishna chastises Karna and mentions this as a weak excuse and instigates Arjuna to fire at Karna. According to Proffesor Ganguly Karna jumps back on his chariot and fires a powerful arrow on Arjuna and renders him unconsouis and then jumps down to attend to his chariot wheel. Here greatness of Karna is proven. Despite the fact that it was made clear to him that he will be killed even by unfair means because he has not follow dharma he did NOT kill Arjuna in that unconcious state and instead chose to attend to his chariot wheel. Later Arjuna recovere and fired the Anjalika weopen. Karna was incaple to answer it due to Sri Parshuramas curse and hence got killed. Coming to Karnas sons scenario. Prof K. M Gangulies Mahabharat mentions Karnas sons taking part in the war. Ditto for Shivaji sawants novel Mrityunjay. But C. Rajgopalchari who was under the direct influence of great people like Gandhiji does not mention any son of Karna getting killed. R.C Dutt was a disciple of Rabindranath Tagore he also does NOT mention any son of Karna getting killed. Sant Dnyaneshwar one of the greatest saint of India has written the Gyaneshwari which is based on the Gita. In this book he has made a record of all the significant and insignificant warriors taking part in the kurukshetra battle. No mention of Karnas any son is there. I doubt is Srimad Bhagwatam mentions Karna sons but it mentions that Parikshit the son of Abhimanyu acknowledging Bheesma dorna and Karn superior to Arjuna and Sri Ved Vyasa disciple agreeing with him
Best regards
Niraj
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Niraj Reply:
February 21st, 2010 at 6:16 am
Jai Sri Krishna. I am sorry I made a mistake. Mr R.C Dutt was not a disciple of Sri Rabindra natha Tagore but Its Sri Tagore who worked under Mr. R.C Dutt. Mr. R.C.C Dutt served as the first president of Bangiya Sahitya Parishad (Bengali: বঙ্গীয় সাহিত্য পরিষদ) in 1894, while Rabindranath Tagore and Navinchandra Sen were the vice-presidents of the society.
Best regards
Niraj
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January 6th, 2010 at 12:37 am
Jai Sri Krishna
below are the confessions of Sanskrit Professor K. Ganguly who mentions Karnas sons getting killed ” The entire translation
is practically the work of one hand. In portions of the Adi and the Sabha
Parvas, I was assisted by Babu Charu Charan Mookerjee. About four forms of the Sabha Parva were done by Professor Krishna Kamal Bhattacharya, and
about half a fasciculus during my illness, was done by another hand. I
should however state that before passing to the printer the copy received
from these gentlemen I carefully compared every sentence with the original,making such alterations as were needed for securing a uniformity of stylewith the rest of the work.
Quoting him. I should here observe that in rendering the Mahabharata into English I have derived very little aid from the three Bengali versions that are supposed to have been executed with care. Every one of these is full of inaccuracies and blunders of every description.
I cannot lay claim to infallibility. There are verses in the Mahabharata
that are exceedingly difficult to construe. I have derived much aid from
the great commentator Nilakantha. ” As you can see friends that Prof Ganguly himself mentions that he has erred and his version in his own opinion cannot be considered authentic.
best regard
Niraj
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January 6th, 2010 at 2:33 am
Jai Sri Krishna. Coming to the bow scenario The ultimate test of a warrior is wielding or firing arrows from a bow given by Sri Parshurama. This is evident in Sitajis swayamvar. Even though Sri Ram broke the bow of Lord Shiva, Sri Parshuram was NOT impressed. He challanged Sri Ram by saying take my bow and fire an arrow from it then I will be convinced that you are the greatest warrior- which Sri Ram did. In the Mahabharata there is only one warrior who wielded a bow given by Parshuramji and that is Karna. His bow Vijay dhanush was given by Parshuramji. Parshuram was a hard taskmaster and whatever weopens he had with him were always the best of the best. Thats precisely the reason he gave Sri Ram his bow. Indirectly Karna duplicated Sri Rams feat. So you can see that handling Karnas bow was no joke. Coming to weapons Yes Arjuna had the Pashupat astre but Karna also has recorded firing divine weapons like Bhargava astra and Vaishnav astra. Its a recorded fact in Mahabharata that at the end of the war Arjuna chariot blew up to smithereens when Lord Krishna got of the chariot and when Hanumanji also left it.
Enough said.
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January 6th, 2010 at 4:44 am
Thing is there always will be one logic and another to counteer. Amazing thing about great literatures such as Mahabharata, Macbeth, Streetcar named desire etc is the numbers of interpretations can be made of them. With all due respects to the scholers mentioned above, their versions of the story is simply that, “an interpretation”. Again, I am NOT saying Arjuna was better than Karna. And I would never say Arjuna was better than Dronarchya or Bheeshma. Jishnu himself would probably say that they were much greater warrior than him. The character of Karna was created in the form of an archetype antehero, a classic tragedy, like Macbeth. He was born in great things with great gifts. But his choices combined with a fierce hand of fate was what that destroyed him. Point of Mahabharata is not who was better warrior. Point of the epic is the choices you make between good and evil and its consequences. I am not going into the stats again because I think I made my point clear on my last post. Granted, there were severel sages who considered Karna as better between the two, but there were enough also who said it was Arjuna who was better. In the last apocalyptic battle between the two, both were evenly matched until Karna’s wheel sank in ground. Like every death in that war this too was caused by dharma. If Arjuna didnt fired, then who knows, either could have win.
Dont waste time on arguing who was better. As I said sometimes it was Arjuna who excelled and sometimes it was Karna. But at the end it was much more profound thing that caused Karna’s death than a mere broadheaded arrow. Just like Duryodhana’s death it wasnt just a mere broken thigh, it was much more complex than that.
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January 6th, 2010 at 10:38 pm
Jai Sri Krishna. Your point ” Thing is there always will be one logic and another to counteer Amazing thing about great literatures ” is wellmade. Your message Dont waste time on arguing who was better is also correct. In the end dharma had to prevail and hence for humanity sake the noble saintly Pandavas had to be victorious. But you must realise that what prompted stalwarts like Bheeshma, Drona and Karna to side with the evil Duryodhna was a philosophy NOT evil nature. Bheeshma had pledge eternal loyalty to Hastinapur throne. Drona was suffering from poverty and his own friend Drupad deserted him thats when Dhrithrashtra – duryodhans father gave him a job opportunity as a Guru. Hence he had to repay that debt. Karna was indepted to Duryodhan as duryodhan had come to his rescue when embarrasing questions were asked to him about his birth. If you study Mahabharata well you will realise that these 3 gentlemen were better than many people like Drupad who was with the Pandava army and ditto for Drishtadyumna. They were not bothered about dharma. They were assiting the Pandavas for their own selfish reasons ie killing Drona for revenge. Mark my words if Drona would have joined the Pandavas you would have seen both these peaople hand in hand with Duryodhan so that they could kill Drona. Even today coaches of great sportsman are honoured with dronacharya award there is no Drishtadyumna award or Drupad award whatsoever. Great philanthropists are compared to Karna not Drupad.
best regards
Niraj Sharma
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January 7th, 2010 at 3:35 am
There is no arguement there that it was indeed one of Drupad’s intentions was when he joined pandava army. But come on, it is not as simple as it may appear, that drupad’s intention was only his revenge on Dronarchya when he joined panadavas. Granted, he wanted Arjuna as the son-in -law to get the revenge on Drona, because he knew that there is only one person who can stand against the teacher is his best student. But if pride and honour is in question (that was the very thing for what Drupad seeked revenge as he believed he lost them when his own kingdom was given to him by Drona in charity), one’s daughter’s, and one’s sister’s honour is much more imprtant in Indian history. Thing is no matter what Drupad would have joined pandavas, and no matter what Drona would have joined Kauravas. First reason..it was to make it appear that the odds are against Pandavas (which wasnt really the case, as the Preserver himself was driving the chariot of the peerless Bowman for them), second reason….no matter how much we argue end of the day, Arjuna is center character of the epic. Just look at the passages after passages dedicated to him, and to his skills, you will know. Even his enemies, including Karna and Ashwatthama, the other two great archers of the generation has praised him severel times. Anyway, returning to the point, Drupad was no match for Drona, as he was killed by him. Dhristadyumna, whose very existence was to destroy Drona couldnt have killed him either. But here Abhimunyu’s death again comes into play. The part that Drona played in it and consequences that he must suffer for it. Drona met a violent and not a noble end. Dhristadyumna himself wasnt spared either, his death was equally violent. Point is, that war was a decisive war between good and evil, and no matter which side you fought for, your actions will bring adequate consequences.
I would never say it was for their characteristics that those five( Bheeshma, Kripa, Drona, Karna, and Ashwatthama)joined Kauravas. Each had their own reasons. But three of them suffered for thier actions on the battlefield. Bheeshma suffered for something that he had done two generation ago. See if these people were evil, Arjuna wouldnt have doubts before the war and Sri Krishna didnt need to utter Gita to him:-).
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January 7th, 2010 at 4:16 am
There is no plain white and black characters in Mahabharata, but they are gray to the core, with leaning on good and evil sides. Karna, the antehero although in severel aspects was a great human being, but in some others his actions were qustionable. Although he was the son of sun god, he was also a partial reencarnation of a demon. Duryodhana, although was devious and wicked in his plots against pandavas, he was alos a just ruler. Even Shakuni, had reasons for all his actions. Same goes for pandavas as well. Everyone of them had fallen from grace one time or another. Funny isnt it, the decisive battle between good and evil was fought between people who are quintessentially humans?
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January 7th, 2010 at 12:50 pm
Jai Sri Krishna
You are absolutely right. I agree with you.
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