12/01/2022
Karnaprayag History:
In Kurukshetra war, When Arjuna used the Anjalika weapon on weaponless Karna, who was trying to lift the chariot wheel. Lord Krishna found that Karna was still alive even though seriously wounded. He found that Dharma-devi, is guarding Karna against death and resisting every arrow send by Arjuna. Krishna and Arjuna found it was impossible to kill Karna as the goddess was protecting Karna personally. Lord Krishna explained to Arjuna that the Dharma herself was protecting Karna from death because of the massive good merit Karna earned by giving charity during his lifetime and it was impossible to kill Karna. Krishna said wherever Dharma is present there are victory and, this time, Dharma was with the side of Karna. So Krishna went down from his chariot and disguised as a Brahmin and asked for Karna’s punya(merit) to him as Daan. Karna gave his entire merits as daan(charity) to the Brahmin in the form of his blood and once Karna gifted his life’s merit to him, Krishna wanted to give a boon to Karna. Then Karna asked Krishna to cremate him in a virgin land where nobody else is present. Later Krishna himself did the cremation of Karna at the place that is now known as Karnaprayag.