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Lord Krishna (#2) while Karna was bathing cast His eye on a small beautiful cup which contained bathing oil and asked Karna for the cup. Without second thoughts, Karna simply handed the cup over to Krishna using his left hand**. Krishna immediately asked Karna how he could hand over something using his left hand. The answer from Karna prompted me to write this blog. He said "Oh Krishna, as you saw, the hand closest to the cup was my left hand, by the time, I brought my right hand over to the cup, who knows, may be, my mind might have changed. I couldn't risk that - that's why I gave the cup immediately to you using my left hand"
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Arjuna's rivalry with Karna is as center to the Mahabharata as the main epic itself. Krishna always praised Karna openly. This had always bothered Arjuna (#3)...
Once an old Brahmin who had just lost his wife came to Arjuna to seek something. He wanted to cremate his beloved dead wife using sandalwood. But, he couldn't find dry sandalwood as it had been raining heavily. He asked Arjuna to help him out. Arjuna promptly called out to his helpers and sent them out to look out and bring back dry sandalwood immediately. They went away in search but after a while returned empty handed. Arjuna turned to the old brahmin and apologetically said to him that he was unable to help him.
After a few days, Arjuna and Krishna, met the same brahmin and Krishna inquired if he was able to find dry sandalwood later. The brahmin responded "Oh yes, I found it later. After meeting with Arjuna, I went to Karna and requested him for dry sandalwood. Without second thought, he tore down a pillar in his palace on his own, quickly chopped it into pieces and asked me if that much was enough to cremate his wife. There is no one more charitable than Karna."
Hearing the old Brahmin sing the praise of Karna embarrassed Arjuna and along with it brought the understanding for why Karna was always praised by Krishna.
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==> I have been recently inspired and have embarked on a journey of reading the great Indian epics Ramayana and Mahabharata (in EN of course, sadly) - I hope to write more anecdotes here soon.
Some references:
** It is considered grossly disrespectful to give something using your left hand especially to someone worthy of respect
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