Indra Disguised as Brahmana Begs Karna's Armour

At noon, Karna stood in the water, facing the sun. His hands were joined in salutation, his body still, his mind fixed on the radiant disc that had blessed him since birth with the divine armour and earrings he wore — the kavach and kundala that made him invincible in battle. This was his daily ritual. And at this hour, brahmanas who desired riches would approach him. Karna refused nothing to any brahmana who came. It was not a policy he had adopted. It was simply what he did — a reflex as ingrained as drawing a bow. Indra, king of the gods, knew this. He also knew what Karna's armour and earrings meant: as long as Karna wore them, no weapon could kill him. And Karna was allied with Duryodhana, sworn enemy of the Pandavas, whom Indra favoured. So Indra assumed the form of a brahmana — old, bent, deserving — and approached Karna at the water's edge. "Give me," he said. "You are welcome," replied Radheya — Karna, son of Radha, the suta's wife who had raised him. The words were simple. The moment was not. Karna had just welcomed the god who had come to take the only things that made him immortal.