Karna: The Tragic Hero of the Mahabharata - Loyalty, Honor, and Identity
Karna was the eldest son of Kunti and Sun god Surya. He was abandoned by his unwed mother and brought up by charioteer Adhirath and his wife Radha as a half caste Suta who was shunned by the Kshatriya society. He became a powerful warrior and great archer under the tutolage of guru Parashuram.
Because of the several interpolations in the original Vyasa Mahabharat down the ages, Karna's character got distorted to a large extent. This made certain people come to the conclusion that Karna was the wicked sidekick of Duryodhan who participated in all his evil actions against the “poor” Pandavas.
It is a well known fact that history is always written by the winners, portraying themselves as the tortured souls struggling to survive against the out and out villainy of the antagonists.
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