Is Karna capable of defeating Indra?

Is Karna capable of defeating Indra? At first, let me jot down some of Indra’s qualities : Indra is the king of the immortals including the 33 gods, gandharvas and apsaras. As a king, he is knowledgabe in various aspects of Raja-dharma and others as well. Indra is from Satya yuga and thus physically, mentally and spiritually more powerful than warriors of Dvapara yuga. Indra defeated Vritra in a fearful battle when most of the gods fled from the battle. He also defeated various demons such as Namuchi, Paka, Bala, etc. Indra is a yogi who has mastered all of his senses and is in possession of the 8 major siddhis Indra is a very good learner. He always tries to learn about his enemies, their strategies, their strengths and weaknesses. Indra is a elite warrior who has mastered all of the types of warfare weapons and techniques. He knows about the 5 modes of archery and is in possession with several mighty divine weapons. He also knows how to fight efficiently using illusions. He is a great tactician and is a master in the use of various policies. Because he has fought various kinds of powerful enemies, his experience level is too much high. Now, let’s see some of the qualities of Karna : Karna was trained by Kripa, Drona and Parashurama and had the knowledge of 4 modes of archery along with various other types of warfare weapons and techniques[1] He was also in possession of various divine weapons with Brahmastra being the foremost along with a divine bow Vijaya[2] Karna also was an experienced warrior. He defeated multiple kings and kingdoms in his military conquest. If there is a battle between Indra and Karna, then surely Indra will be the victorious one. There is a limit to Karna’s weapons and experience whereas this is not the case with Indra. Surely, Karna will use his divine weapons against Indra but all will be countered by Indra. And not only this, Indra’s weapons will be more powerful in strength comparable to Karna because of his high spiritual power. If someone thinks against this and relies on Shri Krishna’s statement about Karna in Ghatotkacha-Vadha parva that Karna had the capability to defeat the immortals. Citation : Had Karna possessed the spear in his hand, no man in the world would have been able to stand before him. He would have been stationed like Kartikeya in the battle. It is through good fortune that his armour has gone. It is through good fortune that his earrings have been robbed. It is through good fortune that the invincible spear has been used up on Ghatotkacha. Had he possessed the armour and had he possessed the earrings, the powerful Karna would have been able to defeat everyone in the three worlds, even the immortals. Vasava, Kubera, Varuna, lord of the waters, and Yama would not have ventured against Karna in an encounter. Had that bull among men possessed those, you with your Gandiva and I with my sudarshana chakra would not have had the capacity to defeat him in a battle. Reference : Drona Parva Section Seventy-One Drona-Vadha Parva Chapter 1132(155) This statement is an exaggeration of Karna’s prowess and is contradictory. Here, Shri Krishna tells that Karna was invincible because of his armour and earrings which were made from Amrita and it would have been impossible even for the 4 lokapals to defeat him. Coming to the contradiction : If Karna was invincible because of his armour and earrings (which covered only a part of his body) because they were made from amrita. Then, why aren’t Indra, Kubera, Varuna and Yama also considered as invincible as they have drunk amrita and thus made their whole body invincible. Everyone is familiar with Shri Krishna’s military conquest where he defeated Indra for the sake of a Parijata tree and spared Varuna’s life for some cows. If amrita is the only factor which decided that even Shri Krishna would have been unable to defeat Karna, then why this factor was absent when Shri Krishna defeated Indra. What happened to this amrita factor when some Gandharvas defeated him? Taking Shri Krishna’s words into consideration : Gandharvas > Karna > Shri Krishna > Indra. And if we include Arjuna who defeated the Gandharvas, then it becomes : Arjuna > Gandharvas > Karna > Shri Krishna > Indra. At this point, everything becomes a joke. Some other points : If we check Karna’s entire military career, then among all of the warriors he faced, the strongest were Arjuna, Gandharva king Chitrasena, Ghatotkacha and Pradyumna. These 4 warriors forced Karna to revise his battle strategy and sometimes even forced him to run for his life. Keeping Arjuna aside, and considering his battle with Chitrasena and Ghatotkacha, I would say Karna is at a disadvantage against Indra. Initially, when Karna was fighting with the Gandharvas in Ghosha-yatra parva, he was at a dominating position but when Chitrasena started using his illusions, he became helpless and had to flee from there. Similarly, in his battle with Ghatotkacha, he was successfully countering Ghatotkacha’s weapons and was holding him off but when the rakshasa started using his illusions, he again became helpless. Though, Karna was able to protect himself from the rakshasa but at the same time, Duryodhana’s army was facing heavy destruction. It must be understand that in this battle, Karna actually was able to put up a great fight against Ghatotkacha but he was nowhere at a position of killing him. And that is why, he had to use the infallible spear of Indra to kill Ghatotkacha. This battle gives us a clear picture of the limitations of Karna’s weapons. Though the battle of Pradyumna and Karna is deleted from the critical edition but in a possible battle, the result would have been the same. In non-critical editions, we see Pradyumna trapping Karna with other maharathas in a cave of illusions. In these 3 battles, one thing is common - Karna’s inability to fight against illusions. Now, coming to a hypothetical battle and the possible series of events. (It is assumed that Karna is wearing his armour and earrings and his fighting with his divine Vijaya bow) : Karna attacks Indra and showers a rain of arrows which Indra counters and vice-versa. Karna invokes divine weapons and released them towards Indra which Indra counters. Brahmastra with Brahmastra, Bhargavastra with Aindrastra, Agneyastra with Varunastra and so on. Now, Indra takes up Vajra and threw it towards Karna and knocks him out. Karna regains its senses and again starts fighting. Now Indra becomes angry and uses his illusions, Karna becomes confused and there is a high possibility of Karna fleeing from there. Therefore, Karna cannot defeat Indra in any battle because of his limited knowledge of divine weapons and nearly no knowledge of countering illusions. Source : The Critical Edition of Mahabharata Footnotes