Karna and Arjuna are the prominent characters in Wayang. Wayang is a traditional drama portrayed in puppets or even can be the real human act as the characters in Wayang. An online dictionary defines wayang as a Javanese puppet drama that uses the shadows thrown by puppets manipulated rods against the translucent screen lit from behind. There are some forms of wayang, i.e, Wayang Kulit, Wayang Wong, and Wayang Golek. The story of wayang is taken from India. There are two main stories on it, they are Ramayana and Mahabarata. The story being played in Wayang tells us many things. Though not many people understand the language in as much as it uses the very old traditional language of Javanese, they can still read the books about it, listen to some interpreters or read the sequels from the internet. In the story of Wayang there are two characters that are remarkably dominant in Mahabarata, Arjuna and Karna. Arjuna and Karna are actually brothers, because they have the same mother but different father. Arjuna’s father is Krisna, one of powerful and wise deity. While Karna’s father is a solar deity, Surya. Both Arjuna and Karna have the differences as well as similarities.
The first difference between Karna and Arjuna is the place where they lived and were brought up. Karna Junior enjoyed his living with his foster parents since her mother threw him away on the river when he was baby. However, his warrior quality never vanished. He was the offspring of the Solar Deity; as a result, he inherited the natural power as well as the armour and a pair of earrings since he was born*. The hard lives he got from his family teaches him to not to be a spoiled boy. His foster father was just a charioteer; therefore, he must help his dad to earn living. His dad, Adhirata, knew that his Son, Karna, will soon become a great leader. For this reason, he brought Karna to a great teacher to learn about self-defense skills and the art of war. Thus, he became a skilful, strong and generous warrior. Arjuna on the other hands, he was born in a peaceful and well off family. He always got sufficient care and love from his mother and the surroundings. However, this condition did not make him to be a spoiled boy. He made use the situation to study hard and to improve his personal leadership skills. Besides, he also showed his generosity by helping others. He and his brothers, Pendawa Lima, easily got a good education such as self-defense, warfare and the archery skills. This made Arjuna became so strong, miraculous and charismatic figure that anyone could not defeat him but Karna.
Another difference between Karna and Arjuna is on their alliance. Karna decided to stand in the kurawa’s side, the evil group. The decision of Karna results from his pledge with Duryudana, the king of Kurawa . One day, Dorna (the archery teacher) held an archery competition. Karna heard this news and decided to join the competition. Nevertheless, he was refused since he is only the son of charioteer. If he wanted to join the competition he had to become a king. Knowing this, Duryudhana, the oldest the Kurawa (the one hundred sons of the blind king of Dhirtarasta), came to acknowledged him as a warrior and set him as a king of Anga. Karna felt the he owed Duryudhana much not only because he gave him a kingdom but also his strong believe who trust Karna as a great warrior instead of a son of charioteer. Because of Duryudhana’s deed, Karna could win the archery competition against Arjuna. Since then, he pledged to the king Duryudhana to always be loyal with him whenever and wherever he was. Actually, Karna once had been warned by Khirsna, the king of gods and also Arjunas father, to stand on the Pandawa’s side. He would negotiate to Pandawa to give the throne to Karna. However, because he had been pledged to Duryudhana he refused it and decided to keep his promise. Arjuna on the contrary, he decided to always struggle for the goods and to destroy the evils. Therefore to prepare the Great War Mahabarata, he always trained himself to master the warfare and archery skills in order to win the battle. He knew that he will face Karna, who has the same or even higher level than him. Arjuna believed even though Pandawa in quatities (Five sons) wass less than Kurawa (one hundred sons), Pandawa would win the war for they struggle for the goody instead of evils.
The destiny between the two is considered being the last difference. Karna is always in misfortune. First, he was set afloat on the river since his birth. He was set afloat by his own mother since he was baby. Karna is just like the Prophet Isa. Her mother do not really pregnant when the solar deity, Surya. Kunti, Karna’s mother, didn’t want to be accused as unmarried mother therefore with the help of his maid; she set the baby afloat on the river. The second misfortune is he was rejected by Dorna, warfare and archery teacher, since he is not from the Ksatria or Warrior family. The third misfortune is that he got two curses; the first curses is from his own teacher, Parashurama (Parashurama is Dorna’s teacher). This is because Parashurama will not teach everyone but Bhrahmin (Religious/monk family), and because of this Karna appeared before Parashurama as a Brahmin. After several years, Parashurama knew that Karna is a deceiver and therefore he cursed Karna that he will not able to use his mantra when he really wanted to use. The second curse is from the Brahmin family, since one day he suddenly killed the Brahmin’s cow. The Brahmin was poor and the only way he made his living was by the cow. Brahmin cursed Karna that he would one day be killed helpless and unarmed just exactly the same as the cow he killed. Arjuna however, he was always fortunate; he was born in the good family, he was thought by Drona without any refusals and difficulties, and he never got any curses*.
Although Karna and Arjuna have several differences, they both also share some similarities. The first similarity is that both of them are great warrior. Only Karna who had the same level of the warfare and archery as Arjuna did, and only Arjuna who could kill Karna. The second similarity is both Karna and Arjuna had to fight their own family. The last similarity is both of them have the same level of leadership. Karna and Arjuna were great leaders ever.
Inspite of the differences and similarities of Karna and Arjuna, Javanese people still considered Karna and Arjuna as the Hero. Javanese knew that Karna stand in evils side, but this is because he wants to be consistent with his own promise. Although, Karna support Kurawa but he always shows his care and generosity to others. Even Arjuna who killed him, praised Karna for his brave. Karna is now become a popular Hindu male name, he is also remembered as a great warrior in the wrong side.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ By Dion Eprijum Ginanto ___________________________________________________________ *)
References
Anonym (2010) Adipati Karna/Radheya/Suryaputra/Basusena/Bismantaka [online] http://wayang.wordpress.com/2010/07/21/adipati-karna-radheya-suryaputra-basusena-bismantaka. taken from the internet on December 2012
Anonym (n.d) Karna [online] www.wikipedia.com/karna. taken from the internet on December 2012 http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/wayang
