Karna’s Sacrifice- A Healthy Sacrifice?

 Karna’s Sacrifice-  A Healthy Sacrifice?

Dr Swati Joshi 

Now the question arise is it a healthy sacrifice? Karna has given what has come with him by birth, essentially limbs of your being. How will you justify this sacrifice? 

“Don’t be alarmed. Forgive me, holy man. Listen again. My body armor was borne with my limbs, nor god nor fiend can pierce it with their weapons. Yet will I gladly give it thee, with both the ear- rings, if it please thee.”45

          The answer may be even in his giving there were resources of taking and what was he is taking that is “immortality”.  The intentions are questionable if a person does not want to justify the deed of action. The same thing is with Karna who is not able to ask a single question that why Indra in form of beggar wants this. It can be said that this gift giving of Karna makes it useless because there is no use. It cannot be reusable or re adjustable to other bodies. “He just wants to give it as a face saving activity.”

Relevance

   Even in contemporary society people are ready to give donation but without thinking that is it good for the opposite party who takes the donation. In contemporary society everybody who gives, gives for fame and to get a high position in society. 

           There is a big difference between action and intention same as civil offence and crime. This theory can be applicable for the character of Indra whose intention to take the armour of Karna is not good. To save the life of Pandava he has done this work and left Karna to die. This is highly relevant in the contemporary society where every human being is doing every work with intentions and the intentions may be good or evil. But every act and deed has intention even the donation

6 Karna from the Keren Horen perspective

There is a theory of Personality given by Keren Horney where Horney discusses that there are the three categories of people in the society. 

1 People who move towards society

2 Move away from the society.

3 Against the Society. 

In first category there are the people who are ready to do anything to get a prestigious position in the society. They are in the category of – for the society, by the society and of the society. They are ready to accept and to do anything to be the part of society. They are ready to go to the level of extremist. In the second condition where people move away from the society as saints do. The third condition is against the society in which people are in the rebellious form as terrorist, Hitler. Karna is in the category of person who moves towards society but in an extremist way. He just wants to prove that he is also an important part of society and even society is ready to accept him. They are the yes people of the society. 

Dr Swati Joshi

Gujarat