“Do not blame yourself for Karna’s death,” said sage Narada to Yudhishthira, “He himself was responsible for it. I tell you the story behind it.” Right from boyhood Karna was more interested in warfare than in driving a chariot like his father Adhiratha. So, he went to learn the use of the weapons from preceptor Drona, who said it was only taught to the princes. Preceptor Drona was teaching the Kuru princes the use of weapons at that time. Thereafter, Karna disguised himself as a Brahmin and became a disciple of sage Parashurama who would teach only the Brahmins. Sage Parashurama taught him the use of several weapons.
One afternoon, sage Parashurama was resting, placing his head on Karna’s thigh. All of a sudden, a scorpion bit Karna’s other thigh and wounded it. Karna bore with the utter pain lest he should disturb the sleep of the sage. When the sage woke up after some time. he saw blood oozing out of the wound. He thought, ‘Only a Kshatriya can bear with a scorpion-bite.’ Then he cursed Karna saying, “When you need my teaching the most, you shall forget it.”
Once during the practice of the divine weapons, Karna killed the cow of a Brahmin who cursed him saying that the wheel of his chariot would stick in mud during the decisive battle and he would become helpless like the cow.
The story comforted Yudhishthira a bit but he was still in low spirits. One day, Kunti told Yudhishthira that she had asked Karna to join the Pandavas. Even his father, the Sun-god, had advised him to do the right thing by joining the Pandavas. But Yudhishthira was upset that Kunti had hidden the truth about Karna’s birth from them. She had caused them to commit the great sin of killing their own elder brother. Yudhishthira wished to go into the forest to do penance for his sin. Each of the Pandavas tried to reason with him.
Draupadi said that punishing the wicked was a part of the duties of a king. There was no need for him to feel sorrow at having punished those who had done wrong. Finally, amidst the able guidance of the learned saints and sages Yudhishthira was crowned king in a simple ceremony. Thereafter all of them accompanied the Pandava to seek the blessings of Bhishma.
