Was Karnan Refused Education, and Was He Really Equal to Arjuna?

Whenever Karnan is discussed, two questions are always raised. Was Guru Dronacharya wrong in refusing to teach him? And was Karnan really a warrior equal to Arjuna? I want to look at both questions in simple English, based on what is described in Vyasa Mahabharatham and what I have heard in upanyasams.

Every time we speak about Karnan, one point always comes up: was it right for Guru Dronacharya to refuse to tutor him?

Today, people often say, No means no. That is true. A person can say no for many reasons. But once he says no, we should not twist it and build any story we like around it.

I feel Drona may have had his own reason for refusing Karnan. We should also try to see the matter from Drona’s point of view.

Drona later asked his students for guru dakshina. He wanted the Dhaartharaashtras and the Pandavas to defeat King Drupada and bring him before him. I am intentionally using the word Dhaartharaashtras because I do not want to use the word Kauravas only for them, since logically the Pandavas too belong to the Kuru clan.

Now think about Drona’s plan. If someone like Karnan, who at that time was seen as the son of a charioteer, went and challenged a king like Drupada, would Drupada even agree to fight him? Most likely not.

Even in today’s world, can an ordinary person easily go and meet a Chief Minister, a minister, an MLA, or even a cinema actor? Usually no. Then how would a king like Drupada agree to fight Karnan?

But if the princes of Hastinapuram challenged him, that would be different. Drupada would definitely respond to them. So from Drona’s point of view, his long-standing revenge against Drupada could succeed only through royal students like the Pandavas and the Dhaartharaashtras. This could have been one practical reason for refusing Karnan.

Another question that is always brought up is this: was Karnan really a great warrior like Arjuna?

Let us look at a few important battle incidents.

1. Battle with Drupada

During the public display of weapons training, Karnan was brought forward by Duryodhana. After that, when Drona asked for guru dakshina, both the Pandavas and the Dhaartharaashtras went to fight Drupada. Karnan too went along on Duryodhana’s side.

But in that battle, Karnan was defeated. In fact, when he tried to retreat, Drupada struck him hard. In the end, it was the Pandavas who defeated Drupada.

This was one of Arjuna’s early battles, and Vyasa describes Arjuna’s skill beautifully. He says Arjuna shot arrows with both hands, which is why he is called Savyasachi, or ambidextrous in modern language. Vyasa also says Drupada himself was stunned by the speed of Arjuna’s arrows.

2. Battle with the Gandharvas

During the vanavasam, the Gandharvas captured the Dhaartharaashtras. Karnan went to rescue them, but he was defeated there too.

Later, Arjuna rescued them, and he did so only because Yudhishthira asked him to as its their own kith and kins.

3. Battle in Virata Parva

In the Virata Parva, during the agnyathavasam, Arjuna was living in disguise as Brihannala who wasn’t living the life of a warrior and haven’t touched his bow for a year.

When the army of Bhishma, Drona, Karnan, and the Dhaartharaashtras came against King Virata of Matsya kingdom, Arjuna alone fought them and defeated them. He even made great warriors like Bhishma, Drona, and Karnan lose consciousness.

4. Final Battle at Kurukshetra

This is the most discussed episode. Many people say Karnan was greater than Arjuna because Arjuna shot him when Karnan was trying to lift his stuck chariot wheel from the mud.

But would Karnan really have stood a chance against Arjuna, especially when the Sarvalokeshwaran himself was by Arjuna’s side?

It was Krishna who told Arjuna to strike Karnan at that moment. Krishna does not leave any act unanswered. He repays every deed, especially when it concerns those devoted to him. The war itself was tied to the wrongs done to Draupadi and the debt Krishna carried for her devotion.

There is also another beautiful episode that I cannot leave out. Before Krishna went to the court of the Dhaartharaashtras for peace talks, he met the five Pandavas and asked if any of them had a message for him to carry.

When he asked Sahadeva, the conversation is said to have gone like this:

Sahadeva: The war can be prevented only if you yourself are tied up.

Krishna: Will you tie me?

Sahadeva: Yes, if you remain as you once did when Yashoda tied you.

Krishna then stood with folded hands, and Sahadeva tied him with a flower garland.

Krishna: Now untie me.

Sahadeva: Why can’t you remove it yourself?

Krishna: I have never broken the bond of a devotee’s love, and I will not break this one either unless you yourself untie it.

This reminds me of the first pasuram of Madhurakavi Azhvar’s Kanninun Siruthambu:

kanninun chiruttambinal kattunna
panniya peru mayan ennappanil

கண்ணி நுண் சிறுத்தாம்பினால் கட்டுண்ணப்
பண்ணிய பெருமாயன் என் அப்பனில்

This means that the Lord, out of compassion and love, allowed himself to be bound by devotion.

Now think of Abhimanyu. He was not just Arjuna’s son. He was Subhadra’s son, Krishna’s own sister and abhimanyu is his own nephew, and a brave young warrior trained by great lord krishna himself. In the war, Abhimanyu was attacked unfairly and killed in a brutal way. Karnan was one of those involved.

How would Krishna leave that unpaid?

So when Karnan later asked Krishna whether it was dharma to attack an unarmed man, Krishna reminded him of Abhimanyu. He also reminded him of Draupadi’s humiliation. Where was Karnan’s dharma then?

Even today many people speak about Karnan after doing a little Google research or after watching films and serials. Yes, Karnan is often remembered as a great warrior, and that image became even stronger because of the famous film Karnan directed by B. R. Panthulu and acted by Sivaji Ganesan.

But my sincere request is this: please read what Vyasa Mahabharatham actually says, instead of depending only on serials or modern retellings. These days, many of us do not fully understand even our own mother tongue, so reading something as vast as the Mahabharatham which is in Sanskrit and then building our own version without proper guidance can easily lead to confusion.

The points written above are based on the upanyasams of Shri Velukkudi Krishnan, Shri Dushyanth Sridhar, and Shri Dr. Venkatesh.