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Chapter 8. Karna
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Mahabharata, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Dharma
Pursuing Enlightenment
Heroism and Warfare
Grief, Loss, and Mourning
Stories and Storytelling
Summary
Analysis
After Karna’s death, Duryodhana appoints Salya as the next commander, but soon after, Yudhishthira kills him. Not long after, Bhima slays Duryodhana. Some surviving Kauravas surprise the Pandavas at night, and there are heavy casualties. By the end, seven Pandavas survive (the five brothers plus Satyaki and Krishna) and three Kauravas survive (Kripa, Kritarvarma and Aśvatthaman). Dhritarashtra is devastated by this report and asks Samjaya to tell him the whole story.
With the death of Duryodhana, the war ends, but as this passage hints, the war isn’t a complete triumph for the Pandavas, with only a handful of survivors left on each side. Despite how glorious the fighting has been throughout the war, the ultimate outcome is death and destruction. Aśvatthaman’s night raid further disrupts the narrative of a glorious war, providing an example of a sneaky, successful attack that differs significantly from the honorable battlefield heroics in the previous books.
Themes
Samjaya starts narrating again. Some of Duryodhana’s allies believe it is dharma for him to keep fighting, while others believe the only rational option is to surrender to the Pandavas. Aśvatthaman recommends Salya as a replacement for Karna. Salya leads the Kauravas into battle on the 18th day, but the Pandavas force them to retreat.
Now that Samjaya has already revealed the ending of the battle to Dhritarashtra, a doomed air of inevitability hangs over his narration of the events. Without the suspense of what happens next, the story becomes more about how each combatant decides to accept their fate.
Themes
After regrouping, the Kauravas attack again, and this time Salya kills many Pandavas, angering Yudhishthira. He vows that either he’ll kill Salya on the battlefield or vice versa. The two of them do battle against each other, sending arrows flying back and forth. Meanwhile, Bhima fights Duryodhana.
As the battle comes toward a conclusion, each of the two main leaders—Yudhishthira and Duryodhana—get the spotlight. The last major day of battle follows a similar pattern to the earlier ones, with the events in the morning resulting in a stalemate but foreshadowing more consequential fights later on, like the eventual duel between Bhima and Duryodhana.
Themes
Salya manages to pierce Yudhishthira with an arrow, but despite his serious injury, Yudhishthira fires back. Salya presses his attack, killing Yudhishthira’s horses, so Bhima intervenes, firing enough arrows to make Salya almost faint and lose his armor. Salya comes down from his chariot to fight with his sword, but Bhima cuts his sword off at the hilt with an arrow.
By killing Yudhishthira’s horses, Salya gets rid of his mobility and makes him more vulnerable to attack. But just as on the previous day Arjuna responded to Karna’s attack with an even harder attack, Bhima now steps in to give Salya a taste of his own medicine, knocking him off his chariot and destroying his sword—both of which make him helpless.
Themes
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Yudhishthira now focuses again on killing Salya. He throws a special spear originally designed for Śiva, and it pierces Salya’s vital organs. The earth itself seems to rise up to greet Salya as he falls, and he dies bleeding on the ground. The death of Salya frightens many of the Kauravas, who flee the battlefield. Duryodhana fights alone, even as he sees the rest of his army retreating. All the Pandavas praise Yudhishthira.
Although Yudhishthira’s battle with Salya ends with an appropriately earth-shaking conclusion, his victory was only possible due to Bhima’s intervention. The heroic pageantry of the early days increasingly gets replaced by more pragmatic and at times even dirty tactics, reflecting how the true nature of war may not be as glorious as it once seemed.
Themes
DURYODHANA ENTERS THE LAKE. The surviving Kauravas debate strategy as the Pandavas keep destroying them. Bhima slays 21,000 followers of Duryodhana with just a club. Still, some Kauravas manage to continue killing Pandava warriors. Bhima then slays what remains of Dhritarashtra’s sons (aside from Duryodhana). Sahadeva manages to decapitate Śakuni. Seeing no allies around, Duryodhana goes to a nearby lake to reflect on how Vidura’s predictions of a grievous loss came true. Eventually, the last surviving Kauravas (Aśvatthaman, Kritarvarma, Kripa, and Sanjaya) meet up with Duryodhana, then they all head back to camp.
Duryodhana’s retreat to the lake seems unusually introspective of him, given how vocal he was previously about charging into battle, even when it wasn’t wise. This passage shows how grief and loss can affect even the most stubborn people, including Duryodhana. Water has many spiritual connections in the poem, usually to purification and new life, and Duryodhana’s trip to the lake seems to be a much-too-late attempt for him to reflect on his actions and perhaps even atone for them.
Themes
THE PILGRIMAGE. Balarama, the older brother of Krishna, wanders the world on a pilgrimage visiting many sacred bathing places. He stayed neutral during the war, due to connections to both sides, but he comes to the field of battle to witness the battle between Bhima and Duryodhana.
Balarama’s pilgrimage to the bathing places parallels Duryodhana’s recent trip to the lake (as well as Yudhishthira’s earlier trip to the bathing places during the exile of the Pandavas). Balarama’s neutrality is yet another detail that calls attention to the morally ambiguous nature of the war, since Balarama is honorable and he has friends on both sides.
Themes
THE DUEL WITH CLUBS. As Bhima and Duryodhana prepare to fight, Balarama proposes a duel with clubs. The two men fight each other violently, with Duryodhana knocking Bhima down, though Bhima gets right back up. From the sidelines, Arjuna asks Krishna who’s stronger, and Krishna says that while they’re similarly powerful, Bhima is stronger, though Duryodhana is more practiced. Krishna concludes that Bhima will only win if he abandons dharma and uses trickery, which he should, since gods often use deceit to kill demons.
The brothers Balarama and Krishna provide an interesting counterpoint to each other in this scene. As the neutral observer, Balarama proposes a duel of clubs that seems fair to all. But in an unusual moment, Krishna contradicts his brother and dharma itself, suggesting that it’s so important for the Pandavas to win that it’s best for Bhima to cheat. There is no simple way to explain Krishna’s seeming contradictions: he is one of the most moral figures in the story and yet he also frequently advocates for underhanded tactics.
Themes
Krishna advises Arjuna that Bhima should strike Duryodhana’s thigh, as he promised to do long ago during the gambling competition. Arjuna slaps his own thigh, and Bhima understands the signal. Bhima and Duryodhana both maneuver around each other to try to gain an advantage. Each gets weary, and due to blood loss, Bhima comes close to passing out. But Bhima stays on his feet, and suddenly he brings his club down like a thunderbolt on Duryodhana’s thighs.
Although Bhima’s attack on Duryodhana’s thigh may not be honorable, this passage nevertheless provides some justification for it by presenting it as the inevitable result of a promise Bhima made long ago. Bhima’s strike may not be justified in isolation, but Duryodhana’s unjust gambling competition, which started the whole war in the first place, has created a moral situation in which Bhima can do whatever it takes to help the Pandavas reclaim their lost kingdom.
Themes
Duryodhana falls, and the whole earth trembles. Bhima puts his foot on Duryodhana’s head and says that this is all punishment for how he treated Draupadi like a slave after the gambling competition. Yudhishthira scolds Bhima, telling him not to disrespect Duryodhana by trampling him. Balarama too curses Bhima for his actions. He says that Bhima should not have breached dharma as Krishna advised him.
While Bhima may have been justified with his trick of attacking Duryodhana’s thigh, in this passage, he clearly goes too far, insulting Duryodhana and getting caught up on past grudges rather than giving Duryodhana an honorable death. The disagreement between Balarama and Krishna continues to illustrate the difficulty of living a moral life, since even two of the wisest figures in the poem can’t agree on the same course of action.
Themes
Afterwards, the Pandavas go to Duryodhana’s deserted camp. Krishna has to leave for important business in Hastinapura. There, he sees Gandhari and urges her not to be angry about the death of her sons, and she understands, agreeing the Kauravas brought the tragedy on themselves. Meanwhile, Duryodhana says that Aśvatthaman should be the new commander of the few remaining Kauravas.
It would seem that the war is winding down, with Duryodhana not quite dead but soundly defeated in battle and not many allies remaining. However, the next book deals with one of the most consequential attacks in the whole book, as the war continues to break down from a grand spectacle to something more pragmatic and less glamorous.
Themes
