Adhiratha

The foster father of Karna in the great
Hindu epic, the Mahabharata. Karna is
born when his mother, Kunti, uses a
special mantra given to her by the sage
Durvasas, which gives a woman the
power to conceive and bear children by
the gods. Kunti impulsively uses the
mantra to invoke the Sun, by whom she
conceives and bears Karna. In her panic
at unexpectedly becoming a mother—
she is still unmarried, and concerned
about what people might think—she
puts the child in a box and abandons him
in the Ganges. When Adhiratha goes to
the Ganges to bathe (snana), he finds the
child, and since he and his wife are childless, they raise the boy as their own.
There are a number of interesting
aspects to the story of Adhiratha.
Although he is not of high status, he
becomes the king of the country. He
comes from a social group whose traditional occupation is driving chariots.
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Adharma
One can read this dissonance in the
epic’s recognition that the hierarchical,
occupationally based social model is an
idealized projection and not always the
reality. It can also be argued that since
Adhiratha is not fulfilling his particular
religious duty (dharma) but has
usurped that of the ruling class, both he
and the country are destined for ruin.
The reality of his family’s lowly status
and the uncertainty about his birth
trouble Karna for most of his life.