Karna (mythology)
Karna ( Sanskrit कर्ण Karṇa ) or Radheya is one of the central and at the same time tragic figures of the Hindu epic Mahabharata . He is the illegitimate son of the Kunti with the sun god Surya and is abandoned by Kunti on the Ganges after his birth . He grows up with his foster parents Adhiratha and Radha , who were childless and took care of the foundling. He was trained as a warrior and archer by the Rishi Parashurama and was just as skilled in it as the Pandava Arjuna . In the awkward position of not being able to name his origin, Duryodhana makes him king of Anga . He gratefully serves himself to Duryodhana. On the 15th and 16th day of the Battle of Kurukshetra he was the general of the Kauravas . He is defeated in the fight against Arjuna and is killed by this.
literature
- Georg von Simson (ed.): Mahabharata. The Great Tale of the Bharatas. Translated, summarized and commented in excerpts from Sanskrit. Verlag der Welteligionen, Berlin 2011, ISBN 978-3-458-70031-9 .
- Gitta Haselbacher: Mahabharata. A retelling . Yantra, Bregenz 2006, ISBN 3-901226-39-7 (simplified short version for children)
