Kunti invoked Surya through a divine mantra before her marriage, and Karna was born wearing golden armor and earrings. Unwed and afraid of scandal, Kunti set the infant adrift on a river.
Karna and Vrushali's eldest son Vrishasena rode into the Kurukshetra war at his father's side and was slain by Arjuna on the seventeenth day, dying before Karna's own eyes moments before the father fell to the same bow.
Adhiratha, a charioteer of the Suta caste, found the infant Karna drifting on the river in a basket, still clad in his birth-armor and earrings, and raised the divine child as his own son alongside his wife Radha — giving Karna the patronymic Radheya.
Duryodhana crowned Karna king of Anga when all others rejected him for his low birth. This act of friendship bound Karna to Duryodhana with unbreakable loyalty, and Karna fought for the Kauravas at Kurukshetra in repayment.
Arjuna and Karna were lifelong rivals and the greatest archers of their age. Their rivalry began at Drona's tournament and culminated at Kurukshetra, where Arjuna killed Karna, not knowing they were half-brothers.
Karna and Bhima traded blows and insults across seventeen days at Kurukshetra — Karna defeated Bhima multiple times but spared his life each time, taunting him as a glutton unfit for a warrior's death, a mercy that burned Bhima worse than any wound.
Bhishma scorned Karna as half a warrior and barred him from the battlefield for the first ten days of Kurukshetra, and Karna in turn vowed never to fight while Bhishma drew breath — only when the grandsire fell did Karna finally take up arms.
Draupadi rejected Karna at her svayamvara, denying him the chance to compete for her hand — a humiliation Karna repaid by calling her a public woman during the dice game and urging the Kauravas to strip her naked in court.
Arjuna slew Karna at Kurukshetra with the Anjalika arrow while Karna struggled to free his chariot wheel from the mud, fulfilling their lifelong rivalry.
Drona deployed the Chakravyuha knowing only Abhimanyu among the Pandava side could breach it but not escape. Once inside, Abhimanyu was surrounded and slain through combined assault by Drona, Karna, Kripa, Ashvatthama, and others who violated the rules of single combat to overwhelm the sixteen-year-old warrior.
Karna hurled the infallible Shakti weapon — a gift from Indra meant for Arjuna — at the rampaging Ghatotkacha, who had been terrorizing the Kaurava army with his rakshasa sorcery on the fourteenth night of Kurukshetra, killing him instantly and sacrificing his one sure means of slaying his true rival.
Drona turned Karna away from advanced weapons training because of his supposed low birth as a charioteer's son — a rejection that drove Karna to seek Parashurama and deepened the wound of caste that cut through his entire life.
Indra disguised himself as a brahmin and asked Karna for his divine kavach and kundal, knowing they made him invulnerable. Despite Surya's warning, Karna gave them freely, and Indra, moved by his sacrifice, gave him the one-use Shakti weapon in return.
Krishna revealed to Karna before the war that he was Kunti's firstborn and rightful heir to the Pandava throne. Karna refused to switch sides, choosing loyalty to Duryodhana over his blood claim.
Kunti secretly visited Karna before Kurukshetra and revealed he was her firstborn. Karna refused to abandon Duryodhana but promised to spare all Pandavas except Arjuna, ensuring Kunti would keep five sons regardless of the outcome.
Parashurama taught Karna the Brahmastra and celestial weapons, believing his student to be a brahmin — until a scorpion bored into Karna's thigh and he endured the pain without flinching, revealing kshatriya blood. Parashurama cursed him to forget the Brahmastra at the moment he would need it most.
Shalya served as Karna's charioteer on the seventeenth day of Kurukshetra, but at Krishna's arrangement he spent the battle praising Arjuna's prowess and mocking Karna's pretensions, systematically eroding the great warrior's confidence in his final hours.
Surya warned his son Karna that Indra would come disguised to steal his divine armor and earrings. Despite knowing the truth, Karna gave them away, honoring his vow of generosity even at the cost of his own invulnerability.
After Kurukshetra, Kunti revealed that Karna had been her firstborn son, abandoned at birth. Yudhishthira was shattered to learn he had waged war against his own eldest brother and cursed all women to be unable to keep secrets.
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