11.027
Core and Pancharatra: All women perform water rites for their loved ones on the banks of the river Ganga. Kunti discloses Karna as her son and asks the Pandavas to perform his last rites accordingly.
Vaiśampāyana said:
They reached the auspicious Ganga, which is suitable for the virtuous, filled with pools, having banks, and surrounded by great marshlands and forests.
Having removed the ornaments, upper garments, and wrappings, then (he gave them) to the fathers, grandsons, brothers, and his own people.
All the Kuru women, overwhelmed with grief and weeping, performed water libations for their sons, noble relatives, and husbands.
While the wives of the heroes performed the rites in the water, Gaṅgā, with her excellent fords, once again began to flow.
That bank of the Ganga, vast as the ocean, was joyless and without festivity, crowded with the wives of heroes, and appeared desolate.
Then Kuntī, overwhelmed by grief, suddenly began to weep and, in a faint voice, addressed her sons with these words, O king.
He who was a hero, a great archer, the chief among chariot-warriors, marked by the signs of a hero, was slain in battle by Arjuna.
O Pāṇḍavas, the one whom you call the son of the charioteer, Radheya, he shone in the midst of the army like the sun, a true lord.
He who once fought against all your followers, who shone while dragging the entire army of Duryodhana.
There is no one on earth equal in strength to him; he is true to his word, brave, and never flees in battle.
Offer water to that brother of tireless deeds. He is your elder brother, born from Bhāskara through me, adorned with earrings and armor, heroic, and radiant like the Sun.
But when all the Pāṇḍavas heard their mother's unpleasant words, they lamented only for Karna and became even more distressed.
Then Yudhiṣṭhira, the son of Kuntī and tiger among men, sighed like a serpent and spoke to his mother as a hero.
Of whom, when the fall of arrows was approached, no one except Dhananjaya could stand; how did your son, who is divine-born, exist formerly?
By whose arm's might we have been tormented everywhere—how have you covered him, like fire with a cloth? His terrible strength of arms has been revered by the sons of Dhritarashtra.
No other charioteer among all charioteers surpassed Karṇa, the son of Kuntī; he was our eldest brother, the best among all wielders of weapons. O lady, how did you give birth to him before, he of such wondrous prowess?
Alas, by your concealment of the mantra, we have been ruined. Truly, by Karṇa's death, we and all our kin have suffered.
By the destruction of Abhimanyu, the killing of Draupadī's sons, the ruin of the Pāñcālas, and the downfall of the Kurus.
Then, a hundredfold suffering touched me intensely; lamenting only Karna, I am indeed burning as if placed in fire.
Indeed, nothing would ever be unattainable, even if it were situated in heaven; nor would there ever be a terrible calamity causing the destruction of the Kauravas.
Thus, after much lamentation, Yudhishthira, the king of dharma, slowly and tearfully performed the water-offering for him, O king.
Then, all the women and men who were present there at the water-rite suddenly wailed together.
Yudhiṣṭhira, the wise king of the Kurus, out of love for his brother, had Karṇa's women and their attendants brought to him.
He, the righteous-souled one, together with those women, having performed the funeral rites, immediately emerged from the waters of the Ganga, his senses disturbed.
