Karṇa Made Commander (Karṇa-senāpatya)

Classical

Droṇa has fallen on the fifteenth day, and the Kaurava army has run in panic. Duryodhana rallies it by sheer will, fights on until twilight, and then has the trumpets sound the withdrawal. Back in the camp the surviving leaders sit on rich couches and ask what must be done next. Bhishma and Droṇa, the two commanders in whom everyone trusted, are gone, and the mood is grim.

Aśvatthāman speaks first. Enterprise, opportunity, skill and policy, he says, are the tools of success, but all of them depend on destiny, so there is no reason to despair. His proposal is that Karṇa, the one remaining warrior of the first rank, be made commander. Duryodhana grasps at the idea. Hearing it from Droṇa's own son, he feels hope return: surely Karṇa can do what the old teachers did not.

Duryodhana then addresses Karṇa directly and with some candour. Bhishma and Droṇa, he admits, were old, and they were partial to Arjuna. Bhishma spared the Pāṇḍavas for ten days out of kinship, and Droṇa spared them as his pupils. Only Karṇa, he says, has no such soft spot, and he asks him to take the burden of the army as Skanda once led the gods.

Karṇa accepts in a few plain words. He had already promised to defeat the Pāṇḍavas together with Kṛṣṇa, and now he says he regards them as already beaten. The kings stand and perform the installation by the scriptural rule. Golden and clay jars of mantra-hallowed water, elephant tusks, rhinoceros horns and jewelled vessels are brought, and Karṇa sits on a seat of udumbara wood covered in silk to be bathed. Brahmins, kṣatriyas, vaiśyas and respectable śūdras all praise him.

Karṇa gives gifts of coins and cattle, hears the blessings of the priests, and orders the army arrayed at sunrise. Sañjaya calls him resplendent as a second sun. Dhṛtarāṣṭra's son, he adds, was already driven by Death when he felt his purpose achieved. The consecration opens the two-day command of Karṇa, which leads to the charioteering of Śalya, the fall of Duḥśāsana and the duel with Arjuna.

Told by Sañjaya → Dhṛtarāṣṭra

Who: Karṇa, Duryodhana, Aśvatthāman, Droṇa, Bhīṣma

Bound to

Karna's curses: the beetle, the cow, and the sinking wheel mirror

Śalya Becomes Karṇa's Charioteer origin

The Fall of Karṇa: the Sinking Wheel origin

Bhīma Kills Duḥśāsana origin

Places: Kuru camp, Kurukṣetra

Where this comes from

read for this telling · Mahabharata, Ganguli translation (text as scanned on archive.org; mahabharataonline.com section pages could not be opened from the working environment) Karna Parva, Section X (Karna's installation as commander)

See it on the tree · All stories

← Netwar: the village that took Karna as its deity · Śalya Becomes Karṇa's Charioteer →