HERE'S THE FIGHT SEQUENCE OF KARNA WITH GANDHARVAS:-
Vana Parva, Section-230 ( BORI CE )
Debroy translation:-
‘On seeing the gandharvas swiftly descend on them with raised weapons, the sons of Dhritarashtra could be seen to flee in all the directions. On seeing that the sons of Dhritarashtra were fleeing from the field of battle, the brave Vaikartana33 was the only one who wasn’t reluctant to do battle. On seeing the great army of gandharvas descend on him, Radheya repulsed them with a mighty shower of arrows. With great lightness of hand, the suta’s son killed hundreds of gandharvas with kshurapras,34 vishikhas,35 bhallas,36 vatsadantas37 and iron arrows. The maharatha sliced off the heads of many gandharvas and in a short while, dispersed all of Chitrasena’s army. Although the gandharvas were killed by the intelligent son of the suta, they returned again in hundreds and thousands. In a short instant, the earth was covered with gandharvas and Chitrasena’s soldiers descended with great force. Then King Duryodhana, Shakuni Soubala, Duhshasana, Vikarna and other sons of Dhritarashtra ascended chariots that screeched like Garuda and began to kill those soldiers. They fought again, placing Karna at the forefront. There was the giant roar of chariots and the stamping of the feet of horses. Supporting Vaikartana, they repulsed the gandharvas. Then all the gandharvas descended on the Kouravas and the battle that raged was extremely terrible. It made the body hair stand up. Oppressed by the arrows, the gandharvas began to wilt. On seeing that the gandharvas were suffering, the Kouravyas roared loudly. On seeing that the gandharvas were frightened, Chitrasena was overcome with anger. He angrily flew up from his seat, resolving to kill them. That brave one began to fight with weapons of maya, following wonderful paths. The Kouravyas were bewildered because of Chitrasena’s maya. O descendant of the Bharata lineage! It seemed as if each one of Dhritrarashtra’s sons was assailed and surrounded by ten gandharvas.‘O king! Being thus oppressed by a great army, they were frightened. They fled the field of battle and went to where King Yudhishthira was, seeking refuge with him. Everywhere, the soldiers of the sons of Dhritarashtra were being destroyed. O king! Vaikartana Karna was the only one who stood immobile like a mountain. Duryodhana, Karna and Shakuni Soubala were severely wounded in the field of battle, but kept fighting the gandharvas. With a desire to kill Karna in battle, hundreds and thousands of gandharvas rushed collectively towards him. With a desire to kill the son of the suta, the immensely strong ones surrounded him from all sides, with swords, javelins, spears and maces. Some sliced off the yoke,38 others brought down the flagpole. Some brought down the shafts, the horses and the charioteer. Some sliced down the umbrella, others the fenders39 and the diadem. In many thousands, the gandharvas shattered the chariot. Holding a sword and a shield in his hand, the son of the suta jumped down from the chariot. He leapt onto Vikarna’s chariot and whipped the horses, so that he might escape.
HERE’S THE FIGHT SEQUENCE OF ARJUNA WITH GANDHARVAS:-
Vana Parva Section-234 (BORI CE)
Debroy translation:-
Vaishampayana said, ‘The gandharvas were bedecked with golden garlands and possessed celestial weapons. They enveloped them with blazing arrows from all the directions. There were four brave Pandavas and thousands of gandharvas. O king! They attacked each other in that battle and it was extraordinary. Just as the gandharvas had shattered the chariots of Karna and the sons of Dhritarashtra into a hundred pieces, they attempted to do it again. O king! Hundreds of gandharvas attacked them in that battle and the tigers among men repulsed them with many showers of arrows. Repulsed by showers of arrows in all the directions, those travellers of the sky could not approach near the sons of Pandu. On seeing that the gandharvas were angered, Arjuna used great and celestial weapons against them. In that war, insolent about his strength, Arjuna used his agneya weapon to send a million gandharvas to Yama’s abode. O king! With his sharp arrows, Bhima, the great archer and supreme among strong ones in battle, killed hundreds of gandharvas. O king! Insolent of their strength, Madri’s two sons fought and captured and killed hundreds of enemies. When the gandharvas were thus killed by the great-souled ones with celestial weapons, they took to the sky and took the sons of Dhritarashtra with them. But Kunti’s son, Dhananjaya, saw them arise. He surrounded them on all sides with a great net of arrows. Having been tied down by that net of arrows, they were like birds in a cage. They angrily hurled showers of maces, spears and swords at Arjuna. But Dhananjaya pierced the bodies of the gandharvas with bhallas. Heads, legs and arms55 fell down from above like a shower of rocks and the others took fright. When the gandharvas were being killed by the great-souled Pandava, who was on the ground, they showered down arrows on him from the sky. But Savyasachi, the energetic scorcher of enemies, repulsed all of them with his own weapons and began to pierce the gandharvas. Arjuna, the descendant of the Kuru lineage, unleashed his weapons—sthunakarna, indrajala, soura, agneya and soumya.56 The gandharvas were burnt up by the arrows of Kunti’s son. They were in supreme despondence, like the daityas at Shakra’s hands. When they tried to escape upwards, his net of arrows restrained them. When they tried to slither away, Savyasachi restrained them with his bhallas. ‘O descendant of the Bharata lineage! On seeing the gandharvas terrified by Kunti’s intelligent son, Chitrasena grasped a mace and rushed towards Savyasachi. In that battle, he held the iron mace in his hand. But with his arrows, Partha sliced the mace into seven pieces. On seeing that the mace had been cut into many pieces by the arrows of the nimble one, he57 made himself invisible and began to fight with Pandava. Established in the sky, he repulsed those celestial weapons. The powerful king of the gandharvas hid himself through his powers of maya. Arjuna saw that he was invisible and was striking. He therefore attacked him with divine weapons that could travel in the sky, invoked with mantras. Arjuna was angered. Dhananjaya used the weapon known as shabdabheda58 and restrained his disappearance into many different forms. Pierced by the weapons of the great-souled Arjuna, the gandharva revealed himself to his beloved friend.59 On seeing his friend Chitrasena, fighting feebly in battle,60 the bull among the Pandavas withdrew the weapon he had released. When all the other Pandavas saw that Dhananjaya had withdrawn his weapons, they too restrained their swift steeds and their bows and arrows. Chitrasena, Bhima, Savyasachi and the twins then asked about each other’s welfare, while they were astride their respective chariots.’
POINT TO BE NOTED FROM BOTH ABOVE NARRATIVE:-
Point no.1)- Karna managed to repulse/kill some Gandharvas in the fight but many Gandharvas again returned to fight Karna and this times those Gandharvas broke the chariot of Karna and made him run away from battlefield to save his life.
Point no.2)- It should be noted that Karna faced only few thousands of Gandharvas but got defeated by them but Arjuna alone faced 1 million(4.5 akshouni) Gandharvas in single times still defeated them
Notice this line:- Arjuna used his agneya weapon to send a million gandharvas to Yama’s abode.
Point no.3)- Gandharvas tried to break the chariot of Arjuna also but failed to do so because of Arjuna being 10 times greater warrior to Karna and all the Kauravas combined.
Point no.4)- Gandharvas tried to escape from Arjuna but Arjuna trapped them using net of his arrows so Karna could have done the same if he had enough skills.
Point no.5)- Gandharvas were angry on Arjuna
Point no.6)- Arjuna managed to create a condition of using celestial weapons by not letting the repulsed Gandharvas reaching the chariots of him and his brothers using ordinary arrows but Karna failed to do so and that's why he was unable to use celestial weapons.
Point no.7)- Arjuna easily killed a million Gandharvas using his excellent military skills and tactics but Karna killed only thousand Gandharvas due to poor skills and tactics.
Point no.8)- Chitrasena used his illusion powers Indra his fight with Arjuna also like he did in his fight with Karna ( but in a different way due to the great slaughter of his army done by Arjuna ) but only Arjuna succeded in countering those illusions due to his superior skills.
Point no.9)- Arjuna made Gandharvas feeble in fight by injuring them using his weapons.
Point no.10)- Karna had his divine armour and ear rings gifted to him by Surya as a boon to Kunti so the logic of Karna not having celestial advantage is useless here.
So it's clear like water that the fight of Karna with the Gandharvas clearly shows the superiority of Gandharvas over Karna and superiority of Arjuna over Gandharvas and Karna.
But there are some misconceptions in the minds of people due to misinterpratation of texts. So here are the refutation of all those misconceptions :-
Misconception No.1)- Karna actually defeated Gandharvas and made them retreat atleast twice, they kept coming back again and again infinitely and again unlike with Pandavas where the war was stopped which is explained in 2nd point. So technically Karna fought three wars with them and he lost only 3rd time.
Refutation :-
No Karna never ever defeated the Gandharvas as defeated, vanquished, retreated, fled away and ran away aren't used for Gandharvas.
And repulsing is not a defeat, By the way Arjuna also repulsed the Gandharvas and made them incapable to even reach to his chariot forget breaking it.
Misconception No.2)- Gandharvas were no ordinary warriors, the Pandava ancestor Chitrasena the brother of Vichitravirya was defeated and taken forever by the Gandharvas. Here Gandharvas themselves fought feebly (weakly) with Pandavas and they themselves accepted they had come to protect Pandavas so again Arjuna’s victory is nothing here.
Refutation :- Chitrasena just told Arjuna what Indra told him but he never accepted that he actually tried to protect Arjuna. Gandharvas angrily attacked Arjuna hence they weren't mild on him hence Arjuna fought wild Gandharvas not mild Gandharvas.
Gandharvas fought feebly at the end because of their injuries caused by Arjuna and the most important fact is whenever any warrior fought mildly it is mentioned by the narrator for example Sanjaya mentioned Karna fighting mildly in one of his fights with Bhima on 14th day but the same isn't mentioned in the case of Gandharvas because they used their full power against Arjuna.
Misconception No.3)- Karna shattered way stronger illusion of Gatotkacha that even Drona, Ashwathama and others badly failed to counter. Karna only used Shakti Dart because of Krishna’s illusions.
Refutation :- The soldiers of Ghatotkacha destroyed Karna and only Ashvatthama stood to face them
Drona Parva Section-131 (BORI CE)
Debroy translation:-
Once twilight has passed, the rakshasas become even more powerful on earth. In every direction, they brought down a shower of boulders. Iron wheels, catapults, lances, javelins, spears, shataghnis and battleaxes showered down incessantly. On seeing the fierce and terrible state in the field of battle, the kings, your sons and Karna were distressed and fled in different directions.
Secondly, apart from Arjuna nobody countered the illusions of Gandharvas and Arjuna never failed to counter the illusions of Ghatotkacha and he proved invulnerable against demons also ( Nivatkavachas and Kalakeyas ) so there's no evidence which says that Ghatotkacha's illusions were more powerful than that of Gandharvas. Also Karna failed to counter many illusions of Ghatotkacha on 14th night if you want the evidance then you can ask in comment section.
Misconception No.4)- Arjuna faced similar attack as Karna faced but from human soldiers Samspatakas but no Arjuna fan would ever agree to this but you yourself can decide from the verse, It was Krishna who saved Arjuna
Refutation :- Firstly In BORI CE, Nowhere written that Lord Krishna threw away those Samsaptakas too who had seized Arjuna then we can say that according to BORI CE, It is a interpolation.
But for the sake of some peoples , i am considering this interpolation incident (fake claim) as a true incident. Actually Lord Krishna didn't save Arjuna from Samsaptakas because reacting faster and saving are two different things. Arjuna wasn't troubled when Samsaptakas seized him hence he didn't react just like Lord Krishna wasn't troubled in Khandava war so he also didn't react
Adi Parva Section-218
Narr:- At that, the gods, the gandharvas, the yakshas, the rakshasas and the serpents rose up, uttering loud roars and desiring to fight. They were armed with iron clubs, chakras and bhushundis,34 with lightning in them. They were intent on killing Krishna and Partha, their great energy benumbed by their anger. Though they unleashed a fearful shower of weapons, Bibhatsu churned their upper limbs with his sharp arrows.
Here, Arjuna killed those gods, gandharvas, the yakshas, the rakshasas and the serpents who wanted to kill Lord Krishna also but that doesn't mean that Arjuna rescued Lord Krishna and Lord Krishna was unable to kill them.
Misconception No.5)- Unlike Karna Arjuna had celestial bow,celestial quiver and many celestial weapons and equipments hence the comparison of Karna and Arjuna is unfair.
Refutation :-
Why does the art of fighting with weapons is taught to humans not animals ? Because using superior weapons to end the war with least casualties is a sign of superior tactics. What is the use of letting warriors sacrificing their lives in the name of bravery ?
Arjuna had only 3 supporters in Ghosh Yatra i.e Bhima, Nakula and Sehdeva but Karna had many supporters Kauravas, Sakuni and Kuru soldiers.
NOTICE THIS LINE:- There was the giant roar of chariots and the stamping of the feet of horses. Supporting Vaikartana, they repulsed the gandharvas.
Karna let Duryodhana getting captured by Gandharvas at the name of bravery ( only if still anyone thinks that using ordinary weapons is a sign of bravery ) but Arjuna didn't let those Gandharvas even touch his brothers forget about capturing them and using those celestial weapons and equipments he freed Duryodhana also.
Even Lord Krishna used his Sudarshana against Shishupala who didn't had celestial weapons and equipments so does it questions Lord Krishna's prowess against Shishupala ?
Secondly, celestial weapons requires higher strength and skills also. Arjuna said that ordinary bows aren't strong enough to hold the true strength of his arms and if Gandiva was stronger than ordinary bows then it's wielder also needed to possess extraordinary strength.
So Karna not using celestial weapons and equipments proves his lack of skills and tactics.
Now here's the final blow :-
1st another defeat of Gandharvas by Arjuna :-
Adi Parva Section-158
Vaishampayana said, ‘Hearing these words, Angaraparna became very angry. He drew his bow and shot flaming arrows that were like extremely venomous snakes. With the torch in his hand, Pandava Dhananjaya warded off the arrows with his excellent shield. Arjuna said, “O gandharva! Don’t try to frighten those who are skilled in the use of weapons, because weapons unleashed at them disappear like froth. O gandharva! I know that gandharvas are superior to men. Therefore, I will fight you with divine weapons, not with the use of maya. In ancient times, this agneya missile was given by Brihaspati, Shatakratu’s38 preceptor, to Bharadvaja. From Bharadvaja it went to Agniveshya and from Agniveshya to my preceptor. Drona, supreme among Brahmanas, gave it to me.” Having said this, the angry Pandava unleashed the blazing agneya weapon at the gandharva and it instantly burnt down his chariot. Knocked unconscious from the energy of the missile, the immensely powerful gandharva fell face down, dislodged from his chariot.Dhananjaya seized him by the hair on his head, which was adorned with garlands, and dragged the one knocked unconscious from the missile towards his brothers. On seeing this, his wife, who was named Kumbhinasi, sought refuge with Yudhishthira so that her husband might be saved.
Here, Arjuna defeated Gandharva Angarpana without even using a bow.
2nd another defeat of Gandharvas by Arjuna :-
Sabha Parva Section-25
On reaching Manasa, the lord Pandava conquered the regions around Hataka, protected by the gandharvas. As tribute, he obtained from the city of the gandharvas supreme horses that were the colour of partridges and speckled, with eyes like those of frogs.
In his Digvijaya, Arjuna defeated Gandharvas in order to conquer Manasa
So Arjuna not being superior to entire race of Gandharvas is completely out of context if we take authentic Mahabharata into consideration.
Source:- BORI CE
Nice bakwas.
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