The Story of Karna is presented here in brief.

One fine day , a Brahmana of fierce energy and tall stature, bearing a beard and matted locks, and carrying a staff in his hand appeared before the King Kuntibhoja. He said to the king " I wish to live as a guest in thy house feeding on the food obtained as alms from thee".Kuntibhoja spoke unto him these words cheerfully, 'Be it so, and more.' And he again said unto him, 'O thou of great wisdom, I have an illustrious daughter named Pritha(Kunti). And she beareth an excellent character, is observant of vow, chaste, and of subdued senses. And she shall attend on thee and minister unto thee with reverence. And thou wilt be pleased with her disposition."

Kunti served here with dedication and the Brahamana was very pleased. Before leaving he gifts Kunti some great yogic mantra, with which she can invoke the celestials! They will appear before her and be under her power. either willing or not.

Not knowing much, she then invokes Lord Surya The Son god. Then Sun god appears before her and asks her to surrender herself to the Lord. Then Kunti requested him in various ways. Then Lord told her that she will be Virgin and blesses her with son as graceful as The Lord himself with natural mail and earrings of Amrita. And the heroic Karna was the first of all wielders of weapons, blessed with good fortune, and endued with the beauty of a celestial child. And after the birth of this child, the illustrious Tapana granted unto Pritha her maidenhood and ascended to heaven. And the princess of the Vrishni race beholding with sorrow that son born of her, reflected intently upon what was then the best for her to do. And from fear of her relatives she resolved to conceal that evidence of her folly. And she cast her offspring endued with great physical strength into the water. Then the well-known husband of Radha, of the Suta caste, took up the child thus cast into the water, and he and his wife brought him up as their own son. And Radha and her husband bestowed on him the name of Vasusena (born with wealth) because he was born with a natural armour and ear-rings. And endued as he was born with great strength, as he grew up, he became skilled in all weapons.He was a portion of the hot-beamed Sun and his energy and prowess were like unto those of the lion, or the bull, or the leader of a herd of elephants. In splendour he resembled the Sun, in loveliness the Moon, and in energy the fire. Begotten by the Sun himself, he was tall in stature like a golden palm tree, and, endued with the vigour of youth, he was capable of slaying a lion. Handsome in features, he was possessed of countless accomplishments.

And that powerful youth contracted a friendship with Duryodhana.He was made the king of Anga. And having acquired all the four kinds of weapons from Drona, Kripa, and Rama, he became famous in the world as a mighty bowman. And after having contracted a friendship with Dhritarashtra's son, he became intent on injuring the sons of Pritha(Kunti). And he was always desirous of fighting with the high-souled Falguna(Arjuna). ever since they first saw each other, Karna always used to challenge Arjuna, and Arjuna, on his part, used to challenge him.

 Karna after rising from the water, used at mid-day to worship the effulgent Surya with joined hands, the Brahmanas used to solicit him for wealth. And at that time there was nothing that he would not give away to the twice-born ones. And Indra, assuming the guise of a Brahmana, appeared before him (at such a time) and said, 'Give me!' And thereupon Radha's son replied unto him, 'Thou art welcome!'.' Thereupon the Brahmana replied, 'I ask thee not to give me either a necklace of gold, or fair damsels, or any other agreeable object. To those do thou give them that ask for them. If, O sinless one, thou art sincere in thy vow, then wilt thou, cutting off (from thy person) this coat of mail born with thy body, and these ear-rings also, bestow them on me! I desire, O chastiser of foes, that thou mayst speedily give me these; for, this one gain of mine will be considered as superior to every other gain!' Although thus urged with various words by Karna, still, that Brahmana did not ask for any other boon.

Then Karna Understood that he was none other than Indra and he came for his earrings and mail, because it makes Karna unslayable and is threat to Pandavas. Then Karna said 'Oh Lord, I will defiently give my mail coat and earrings. But Being the creator you have to give something in return.'. Then Indra said that he can ask for anything except for his thunder bolt weapon (Vajrayudham). Then Karna asks for , a dart incapable of being baffled, and competent to destroy hosts of enemies when arrayed in order of battle. Indra blesses him with 'Sakti/Vasavi' The Missile weapon and said that it can be only used once on a single enemy.And Karna betrayed no contortions of face while peeling his mail. And beholding that hero among men thus cutting his body with an weapon, smiling ever and anon, celestial kettle-drums began to be played upon and celestial flowers began to be showered on him. And Karna cutting off the excellent mail from his person, gave it to Vasava, still dripping. And cutting off his ear-rings also from off his ears, he made them over to Indra. And it is for this fact that he came to be called Karna. And Sakra, having thus beguiled Karna that made him famous in the world, thought with a smile that the business of the sons of Pandu had already been completed. And having done all this, he ascended to heaven.Thats the greatness of Karna, that for a word he don't mind himself getting teared by a sword..

Knowing of the weapon, on night Lord Krishna hurls Ghatotkacha, the son of Bheema sena, against Kauravas at the night during the Kurukshetra war. Ghatotkacha was well acquainted with many spells and he started killing the Duryodhana's army in the sleep of night.In the encounter between Karna and Ghatotkacha, that Sakti was hurled against Ghatotkacha by Karna, the same which was certainly to have slain Arjuna in battle.

The story of plight of Karna in Battle is included in other articl.