Hindu Itihāsa Series: A tale about jealousy

Prologue

The princes of Hastinapur had by now started their school under the great Dronāchārya. Contrary to what is believed widely, Karna too was a student of Guru Drona amongst the other princes. Adinath, his father had requested the gurus Kripā and Drona to take his son as a pupil and the gurus did oblige. The princes would be taught equally. However, there was one whose devotion won over Drona. Arjuna, with his extreme devotion to the art and excruciating practice he put himself through impressed not just the other princes but the teachers as well. It’s well known that teachers too have favorites and Arjuna was Drona’s.

The story starts…

Arjuna’s closeness to Drona invited admirers and enemies alike. Supported and aided by Duryodhana, Karna envied Arjuna as well as the other Pandavas. Not a moment would pass by when Karna did not try to prove himself better than Arjuna. Like the infamous character of Sardar Khan from the popular Hindi movie Gangs of Wasseypur, Karna too had only one goal in life. Destruction of Arjuna, to prove to all that it was him who was the best archer in Aryavarta(old name for the Indian subcontinent).

One fine day, Karna approached Guru Drona in private and said, “O guru! Dhananjaya is superior to all of us in the science of weapons. I wish to learn about the Brahma weapon. I want to know all about it, as with its power I shall be invincible.”

Curious to know his motives, Drona asked him what he intended to do with it as he already was a skilled warrior, second only to the great Phālguna. Karna replied, “I want to battle Arjuna with it!!”

It was now that the great guru denied him the knowledge of the Brahmāstra. Only a brāhamana who has fulfilled all his vows or a kshatriya who had practiced austere penances shall be worthy of knowing about such a powerful weapon, he mentioned.

Denied by his guru, the jealousy in Karna’s heart took a greater form. He at once decided to find Parashurāma, one of the greatest warriors alive in the world. He left for Mahendragiri mountains which was known to be the home for the great descendant of Bhrigu. It’s here that Karna told Bhārgava that he was a brāhmana and wished his tutelage and knowing about the Brahma weapon. A lie that would be caught later on when one day his teacher would be sleeping with his head in Karna’s lap and Karna wouldn’t move one bit even though a flesh eating insect was digging into his thigh muscle.

Only a kshatriya is capable of enduring such high levels of pain and the great warrior was able to spot it. Having spotted it, he would curse Karna about forgetting the knowledge which he earned by lying to his teacher.

Lesson

Jealousy, like the other seven deadly sins can be a great motivator but also confirms one’s failure ahead. Karna, though a great warrior wanted to better Arjuna so much that he made it his life’s goal. It is due to this that his mind got corrupted. At every step of the way, he tried his best to gain any advantage he could over his foe by any means thereby corrupting his dharma.

Karna had flourished well, even better than Arjuna had he focused on himself and was devoted to learning the skills instead of bettering Arjuna. Similar to Karna in life, we too are often faced with the same circumstance where we come across folks who are perceived better than us and it fills us with a sense of jealousy.

In times, like these it’s important that we act like Arjuna rather than Karna and work on bettering ourselves keeping our progress in mind instead of pulling down the other person. Similar to the game of “prisoner’s dilemma”, winning together is the best option one has.