Book 8 of 18 · The Mahabharata
Karna Parva
कर्ण पर्व
Karṇa Parva
The Book of Karna
What is the Karna Parva?
The Karna Parva (कर्ण पर्व) is the eighth of the eighteen books of the Mahabharata. Its name means “Book of Karna”, and this site tells 6 stories drawn from it.
Karna Parva Summary
Karna commands for two days with Shalya as his unwilling charioteer, and the war narrows to the duel the whole epic has been building toward. Bhima corners Dushasana and fulfils the oath he swore over Draupadi's loosened hair. On the seventeenth day Karna's chariot wheel sinks into the earth, the curses of Parashurama and the brahmin fall due together, and Arjuna kills him as he struggles to lift it. Between the fighting the book holds Krishna's teaching on the subtlety of truth and the legend of the burning of the three cities.
What This Book Is About
- fate
- curses
- loyalty
- oaths
- tragedy
Stories from the Karna Parva
6 stories on this site are told inside this book, in canonical reading order.
- The Blood VowBhima fulfills the oath sworn over Draupadi's hair
- The Truth That KilledRigid truth without compassion becomes sin
- The Burning of the Three CitiesShiva, the Ender of Tripura
- The Death of KarnaThe chariot wheel, the curses, and the fall of the sun
- The Fallen SunKarna's life is the greatest tragedy of the Mahabharata.
- The Fallen SunKarna's story is the Mahabharata's deepest meditation on the cruelty of fate and the power of loyalty.
Where This Book Sits
The Karna Parva is book 8 of the eighteen parvas. It follows the Drona Parva, the book of drona. The Shalya Parva, the book of shalya, comes next.
See all eighteen parvas of the MahabharataFollow the epic as a timeline