GroovyCupcake

Who is your favourite character in Mahabharata and why?

I am watching old Mahabharata (BR Chopra one) again. Every time I watch, I realise that every character is so complex and suffers from dilemma. And my perspective of characters/situations changes every time I watch!

3mo ago

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GigglyQuokka

PayTM3mo

I had not watched BR one, but watched the star plus one twice. In my view karna was the one who was the bestest of them all and i have utmost respect for him.

He was born in royal family still denied education, he was devoted to his archery went to learn on from the great Parshuram(avatar to Lord Shiva) but somehow he also cursed him that education he took will not be fruitful. He was disrespected by draupadi swayamvar and wasn't allowed to contest but it was duryodhan who stood up for him when the world was against him. If someone would ask me I would say he did correct as he stood with that one person who took stand for him in need. He was never given any chance to prove his worth and his kavach was also taken by Indra emotionally befooling him, what one can think of such a person. He died fighting for the bad but was always loyal to the person who took stand for him. His audacity and loyal behaviour towards duryodhan, his kind nature and perseverance towards his education is what inspires me the most. All hail Lord Krishna and Karna.

GroovyCupcake

Stealth3mo

@SoggyBasil4 nicely explained. Though I am of the view that standing by Duryodhan who did wrong to Draupadi was absolutely wrong. Plus he himself insulted Draupadi too.

PeppyMochi

Stealth3mo

Few cents here on Karna:

No doubt, he wasn't treated good and looked down upon yet he tried hard to gain his respect.
Though he was kshatriya, he didn't knew his whereabouts, and always considered himself a suta putra as he was taken care by Radha maa. He was the oldest son of Kunti mata , known as Surya putra karna.
Though he didn't knew about where exactly he came from, he lied to lord Parashurama that he was a son of Brahmin as lord Parashurama only used to teach Brahmin kids for Kshatriya Vidya. When Lo d Parashurama saw karna's patience and his skill of taking enormous amount of pain when bitten by a scorpion, he knew karna was a kshatriya. And that's why he was cursed, that karna will forget his Vidya in the most crucial of moments. And that's he suffered his fate in Mahabharata the way it happened.
The most important quality one can take from karna is his Danveerta. He is known as Danveer Karna and revered today by this name. This quality is very purest if one does with their full nishtha and purity.
Though Duryodhana gave Karna the chance, remember Duryodhana had his own ill intentions and he wasn't a good friend. Because even though both of them knew dharma, yet none of them tried to do the right thing. Even for once, karna didn't tried to oppose duryodhana that what he is doing is wrong. Yet he was there with him in his ill work.
But he didn't left duryodhana's side whe Sri Krishna reveals his true identity and remains till the end with kaurvas until he dies.
My view: No doubt, Karna was a Danveer and a great maharathi. Yet there are learnings from his wrongs and something right from his karma that we should take. The character should be viewed as a whole and then only consider it's points rather than pinpoint and get to the conclusion because that somehow leads to the wrong perception of things as whole. Jai shri krishna 🙏

PeppyMochi

Stealth3mo

Here's my take on Mahabharata:

It's one of the grandest and greatest epics in our history which basically tells us how one should protect dharma at all costs rather than protecting their own individual dharma from which any person is tied. It's one of the best examples out there to teach us, how one should behave towards injustice and bad happening either in your family or in society as a whole. Ofcourse there is Shrimad Bhagavad Gita as well, which as a part of it, which tells us the way how one should lead a life and people get their all kinds of answers for their questions.
There is a lot to learn from Mahabharata and it's characters, so trying to list them down as I love this epic as a whole. I learn something new, whenever I see it or listen to it.

Sri Krishna: He/She is the Narayana himself. Every part of the universe is within him/her. One should learn the teachings of bhagwad gita that he provided to Arjuna before the battle of Mahabharata and it will pave the way for all of us till eternity. Though there is everything to be learned from Sri Krishna, his kindness, truth and just everything. One thing I will particularly mention. His will to protect dharma even after breaking his own words by not carrying any weapons, yet he was ready to kill Pitamah Bhishma, when initially Arjun wasn't able to overcome his emotions, to establish dharma. That attitude where he doesn't care what anyone thinks bcos his ultimate goal was to protect dharma at all costs. I will never forget this.
Pitamah Bhishma: True to his righteousness, words and loyal to his kingdoms and parents. He is the one whom I like because of his firmness as a North Star. A great warrior of such calibre that even teeno lok knew about his Aurora and valour. Gangaputra Bheeshma, he truly justified his name. But one thing that led to his downfall, he prioritised his own dharma rather than doing prioritising actual dharm, which later on Sri Krishna showed him in the Mahabharata battle.
Abhimanyu: The one who tackled everyone single handedly from kaurvas to protect his army, The one from Pandavas army , jisko shaurya prapt hua. Such valour, fearlessness, boldness and wit with his words. He is such a great example, that no matter the circumstances or how outnumbered enemy has made you, you still have your courage and kshatriya dharma to face it eye to eye, sword to sword.
Arjun: The ultimate archer of dwapur yuga and again one of my favourites. One could learn how to get themselves focused, disciplined and concentrated towards his goal. Not to forget, he did tapasya a lot of times not only to gain divyastra knowledge but also to redeem himself when he entered yudhishthir and draupadi's room to defeat Naga takshak. And also, one can learn the lesson of friendship from his and lord Krishna's friendship as well. Though I know, Kunti mata was bua of lord Krishna, it just my POV.
Yudhishthir: Dharamraj yudhisthira, the one who rightfully looks after the Akhand Bharath after the battle of Mahabharata. Though his decisions were definitely not agreed upon during Dyut sabha, yet he never leaves his dharma for even a moment, whether it was in battle or either elsewhere. Even when he was in exile for 1 year of agyat vaas, he served as mahamantri for virat's kingdom and when he was the last one to reach heaven, a dog accompanied till the last with him, where he first asks to let the dog enter and then himself revealing he was truly dharmaraja.
Ghatothkach: He was hidimba and Bhima's son and Mahabharata wasn't his battle, yet he sacrificed himself to save Arjuna from the pashupath astra of Karna which if launched once on anyone will kill that person for sure without any miss. One could learn from his sacrifice for sure.
Kunti mata: No doubt, she suffered the most during the entire dwapur yuga, yet she is so humbled, she cries over everything when the battle is over and asks Sri Krishna to give her more pain and misery so that she couldn't deviate from her parh of Bhakti.
I can go on and on and on with this saga and history, my thirst to see and discuss about it never ends. The ultimate thing is one should see Mahabharata as a whole taking into consideration all it's points and not just nit picking things. It's grandeur nature and in depth teachings are here to teach us how we can navigate through kalyug. The ones who have such an understanding of Ramayana and Mahabharata as a whole surely understand the way of how to live a life and how to break the norms when it is required.
Apologies for this long comment, but couldn't contain myself here.
Happy janmashtami everyone, Jai shri krishna.

PeppyMochi

Stealth3mo

Two more to add:
8. Vidur: One of the most wisdomous and intelligent beings in Mahabharata. He confronted drithshastra many a times and knew where dharma existed. He was a true server to his kingdom though he was also forced to serve under drithshastra since he also sworn to serve hastinapur.
9. Vidur s wife: I don't know her name, yet I have seen in serials and heard about her simplicity and pure nature. When Sri Krishna arrived in hastinapur for shanti prastav, she fed him with banana peels instead of actual bananas. Shri krishna saw her bhakti and love, and just ate those banana peels. When vidur ji saw this, he stopped her and asked what is she doing. When vidur ji offered bananas to Sri Krishna, Sri Krishna said " the kind of love and affection I was getting while kaki was feeding me, that kind of affection is missing". Sri Krishna, even though it was banana peels would loved to eat those because it was filled with love and affection. Her simplicity and true nature towards bhagwan can be taken up as a value to imbibe in our lives. Jai sri krishna.

GroovyCupcake

Stealth3mo

@SpeedyConstellation beautiful explanation 🙏 why apologise for a comment if it is long. No need at all. Every word of yours I agree with and explains thec characters beautifully. Thankyou for commenting 🙏🙂

GigglyQuokka

PayTM3mo

@PinkHedge @SpeedyConstellation I respect your thoughts. Being said that I'm not aware of whether he disrespected draupadi or not.

Karna was devoted to duryodhan as he stood by him but he never supported him to persue the mahabharat fight, but it was duryodhan who said that listen if you consider me your true friend and are loyal towards me then you have to be with me in my decisions whether good or bad.

Though Karna agreed as he wanted to prove his loyalty and dedication towards duryodhan but he was never in favour of what duryodhan was persuing. Same goes with great bhishma pitamah. Some even say that Karna and bhishma pitamah attained moksha through this as planned by Lord Krishna 🙏🏻.

PeppyMochi

Stealth3mo

Karna did disrespected Draupadi during dyuta sabha. He flowed with the way things were going then. He couldn't join Pandavas after that because of 3 reasons :
1.1: You correctly pointed out Karna's loyalty towards Duryodhana and being his friend he couldn't leave his side.
1.2: Karna wanted to validate himself as the ultimate archer of dwapur yuga by competing with Arjuna, which he was looking to do throughout as he wanted to duel in archery with Arjuna. 1.3 Karna after Dyut sabha himself realised that he did committed a great great mistake for which he couldn't see eye to eye with Draupadi, which contributed to it as well.

2.1: Pitamah Bhishma was tied to his Pratigya of first not leaving hastinapur and looking after his welfare throughout his life and he will not marry his whole life.
2.2: Addition to this, Drithshastra deceitfully made him promised to never leave his side and protect his sons at all costs no matter what happens. This is the king bcos of which he couldn't go against Duryodhana and which led to his downfall as well.

Thanks for your penning your thoughts, it's great to see such discussions happening. Jai sri krishna 🙏

GigglyQuokka

PayTM3mo

@SpeedyConstellation Thanks to you as well for providing these in depth insights and having such kinds of discussion.

If i were to say Karna was a loyal, determined and fierce warrior who was superior to Arjun's but it was in the fate of Arjun's to be on correct side and karna's fate to be fighting for wrong side. Karna even knew this as at one point his father figure Lord Surya stepped in to alert him but he knowingly donated his kavach else he would have been immortal and single handedly defeated the Pandavas. Moreover, in the last talks just before Karna was killed by Arjuna, Lord Krishna himself appreciated Karna and blessed him boon that you will be remembered as a better warrior then arjuna and your name will always be taken with utmost respect.

Coming to pitamah he was another person who could have single handedly defeated the Pandavas but shikhandi was given boon by Lord Shiva himself that you will become reason for pitamah's death. So, he knew this before the war even started and told this to duryodhan as well but he didn't listened to him. Lord Krishna here as well appreciated Pitamah for his demeanor and loyal behavior and provided him moksha.

In short we can conclude that how powerful you are if you try to ho against wishes of God you will not be able to conquer anything. Do your best leave it to the almighty and if it was in your fate you will get it. All hail Lord Krishna 🙏🏻.

GroovyCupcake

Stealth3mo

@FreshDew5 @SpeedyConstellation Karna was also involved in wrongful killing of Abhimanyu. He was one of the warriors among Duryodhana, Drona, Ashwatthama to have killed him during Vyuh chakra.