Thread:Valeth/@comment-118.70.177.74-20170801015239/@comment-28209103-20170802093542

I goggled BORI project and just found out that it's a thing.

well first thing first Mahabharata began from oral tradition and it had many  version spin-off or/and side story, I never bother to check the differences between version and version because I figured that there's just minor tweak here and there.,and there's also few anecdote that is added much later but that's OOT. So far I have contact with 3 different version, one of it is callae Bharathayudha from Javanese which is the most extreme in differences but the general plot still hold.

The Mahabharat I read is from K.M Ganguli, I read it cuz it's the free one available and from what I heard it's pretty faithful translation however I never really took note of it seriously cuz I read it as a leisure activity, The rest I heard from the orally from my middle school period in India and some common knowledge. Never read the modern book so no idea bout the differences. I don't know bout the critical edition but at least the Ganguli version said so.

Now some part to address, Karna are indeed never once win against Arjuna, he's on the side of Adharma afterall, however on the other hand it is clear that Karna is still the superior one, the troll Vishnu avatar Khrisna had admited it that even with his Armor and curse, the presence of Vashavi shakti made Karna unbeatable by anyone, however he also said that without the good luck of Karna losing K&K, and without the curse then Karna is unbeatable (Since this is the original question I went extra length to retrive it, here and here) and Arjuna once got scolded by Yudhistira from abandoning Bhima, and running away from Karna in Bharatayudha even tho the real motivation is to remind Arjuna what is on stake on the war and generally Yudhistira are just irritated from wounded and insulted by Karna.. Now I tried to look for it based on my unreliable memory, at least I remember that part as the part where Arjuna slay Karna son and so I kind of remember it happened before that and hereit is.

Arjuna cannot win against Bhisma, he had to ask Bhisma as to how to defeat him and the key to defeating him is Shikandi due to Dharma. similarly Drona are not slain by Arjuna but by someone using the famous anecdote of "aswhattama is dead" the anecdote is pretty well known so I'm sure of this one.

The part bout Sahadeva (not Khrisna) scold Karna bout his hypocrite use of Dharma are true, I remember that, however it is due to his loyalty to the adharma side of Kaurava, none of the fault Sahadeva pointed out is something Karna did, but rather it's the deed he did not do to intervene the Adharma of the Kaurava's. In fact Karna also spare Arjuna when he let go of his weapon later during the whole chariot stuck fiasco, Karna managed to disarm Arjuna but opt to pull the chariot wheel rather than attacking him, ultimately it is Khrisna that keep pushing Arjuna to struck the defenseless Karna.

Being struck by arrow is like flesh wound in Mahabharata, Arjuna are also shot by Karna quite a lot of time, the biggest damage to Karna is when Yama approach him during the battle with Arjuna informing him that the end is near, he lose his wits and throwing tantrum for the Dharma had failed him.

Karna are destined to die by back stabbing is also true due to a Karma I don't remember the details but in previous life he shoot Rama in the back or something. Khrisna already said to Arjuna that long ago that shooting Karna when his chariot is stuck and he'll give the sign. , again it's written in the Ganguli translation. Both Arjuna and Karna are full of Dharma however Karna sided with the Adharma thus earning him his defeat. It is also had connection with his past life although I'm not sure if that one is addition or part of the original.

Also I don't know bout the other boon or critical version but Karna definitely received Shakti from Indra dev, I don't know what the critical edition write but I encountered 2 version of it, the first is that Indra gave it to him out of shame and the 2nd is that Indra offered it to him because he's touched by Karna generousity, however all version are consistent that Indra asked for the armor during his daily prayer to Surya disguised as Brahmin, and Karna already been informed before hand by Surya.

In other word, I don't know what version you read or what is the differences but I had read the Ganguli version, and are in contact with it orally thus everything I know originated from there. I only recite what I know so yeah if some text said Arjuna is superior then it might be so afterall It's a folklore and I know how chaotic it is, even more for something that huge.. even small folklore can have several different version so no surprise there.