How and why Karna got his kavach kundal?

How and why Karna got his kavach kundal?

How and why Karna got his kavach kundal?

Karna’s kavach kundal are well known as he himself is. We know that they came to him from Surya dev. But do you know how Suryadev agreed to give them and where he got them from?

Kunti had a child before she was married to Pandu and that child later came to be known as Karna. She was herself a young maiden when she bore the child. She used a mantra given to her by Durvasa muni, unaware that it would result in pregnancy. But she chanted the mantra with Surya dev in mind and he appeared before the young maiden.  

He was bound by the mantra to give her a child. But Kunti was a young, unmarried girl. How could she have a child? Her protests were futile though. Suryadev was firm. Either he would give her a child or he would curse her father Kuntibhoja and the brahmana who had given her the mantra.

She was faced with an impossible choice. Kunti knew that she could neither anger Suryadev nor could she tell the world that she, an unmarried maiden, had borne a son, because her father, the king, would lose respect. She could not keep the baby with her.

But what was the fault of the baby? If she abandoned him, who would safeguard the helpless infant? She had to ensure that the baby would not come to harm even after she sent him away from herself.

And so she laid down a condition to Suryadev. He would have to give the baby protection in the form of the divine kavach- kundal. Suryadev agreed to give the baby-to-be-born divine protection in the form of kavach- kundal that were made of amrita. The kundal belonged to Mata Aditi herself. With these two with him, the baby would be safe and protected, he assured Kunti.

As he had promised, Kunti’s first child was born with the divine kavach- kundal made of amrita that protected him when she floated him down the  River Aswa. 
The baby was kept safe by the kavach- kundal until he reached the Ganga where Adiratha found and adopted him.
The childless Adiratha and his wife Radha was ecstatic to find a beautiful baby boy. They adopted him and named him Vasusena because of his golden kavach- kundal. He was also called Vrisha. 
So where did the name ‘Karna’ come from?
Let’s see in the next post.
Lesser Known Tales of Mahabharata