In the Udyoga Parva of the Mahabharata, Bhishma rebukes Karna before the Kuru court. Karna does not fight the grandsire with words. “I lay down my weapons,” he says, in the Ganguli translation. “The Grandsire will henceforth behold me in court only and not in battle.”
Karna leaves the court for his own house. When the war comes, he still sets the same condition: “Let Santanu’s son Bhishma soon withdraw from the great battle.”