Arjuna’s Tapas and the Kirāta Battle

After Arjuna received the Pratismṛti vidyā (a hidden knowledge) from Yudhishṭhira, who had received it from Vyāsa, he went north to the Himālaya. He was set on doing tapas so severe that the devas themselves would have to come and give him divine weapons. Only such weapons could defeat the Kaurava armies and their allies, who were more than human.

In his tapas Arjuna met a boar and a Kirāta hunter. The two fought him until he had no weapon left. The hunter turned out to be Bhagavān Śiva, who gave him the Pāśupatāstra. This account is from the Kairāta Parva of the Mahābhārata.

Arjuna’s tapas

Arjuna first did tapas with his weapons in his hands. He stood on one leg with his arms raised and lived on fallen leaves and water only. He made his austerities harder step by step. He stood with arms raised and on one leg for days on end. Then he went without food altogether and lived on air alone. The forest around him blazed with the heat of his tapas. The ṛshis who lived in the Himālaya were disturbed. The devas in Svarga took notice. Indra’s throne grew hot, a sign that someone on earth was doing tapas of great force.

The boar and the Kirāta

While Arjuna stood in his tapas, a huge boar came out of the forest and charged him. The boar was Mūka, a rākshasa, who had taken the form of a wild animal. Duryodhana’s agents sent him. Some accounts say Śiva himself sent him to test Arjuna. Arjuna broke his posture of tapas, took up his Gāṇḍīva bow, and shot the boar with quick arrows.

At the very same moment, another arrow struck the boar from a different side. Arjuna looked up and saw a Kirāta, a hunter from the forest hill tribes, with a woman of rare beauty. The hunter was huge, dressed as a forest-dweller, and carried a great bow. Arjuna challenged him: “Who are you? That boar was mine. My arrow struck it first.”

The Kirāta answered calmly that his arrow had struck at the same moment, and that quarrels over game are settled by fighting. Arjuna shot arrows at the Kirāta, who seemed unmoved. He smiled as if he had not been touched. Arjuna shot more, until his whole quiver was gone, but the Kirāta stood unhurt.

The weapons fail

As the fight went on, something strange and terrible happened. Arjuna’s bow, the Gāṇḍīva, would not work. His quiver of endless arrows was suddenly empty. His weapons fell from his hands or would not answer him. He tried to use the bow as a staff to beat the Kirāta, but the bow broke. He tried his sword, and it shattered. He threw rocks and tore up trees, and the Kirāta took every blow. He fought with bare fists, and the Kirāta caught his punches and held his hands fast.

Arjuna had used every skill of his unequalled fighting. At that moment he could not even call on the devas who guard him for help. He stood beaten and worn out before this hunter whom he could not explain.

Śiva’s revelation

Arjuna knew he had been beaten and felt that something divine was here. He made a small clay image of Śiva and offered it flowers. When he looked up, the flower garland he had placed on the clay image was on the Kirāta’s head. Then the disguise fell away. The Kirāta showed himself as Mahādeva, Bhagavān Śiva himself, the Mahāyogī, the destroyer of the three cities, with Pārvatī beside him. The forest blazed with his light.

Arjuna’s praise: the Mahādeva Stava

Arjuna fell flat before him and offered a great stotra (hymn of praise) to Bhagavān Śiva, calling him by his many sacred names. He praised him as Kapardī (the one with matted locks), Pinākī (the one who carries the Pināka bow), Tryambaka (the three-eyed one), Śūlapāṇi (the bearer of the trident), Bhava (pure existence) and Śaṅkara (the auspicious one). He spoke of Śiva as the highest reality under all creation, the destroyer of ignorance, the one who dances in the cremation ground, the lord of the north, and the master of all beings. He praised his compassion for his devotees and his terror before the enemies of dharma.

The Pāśupatāstra

Bhagavān Śiva was pleased with Arjuna’s tapas, his spirit in battle and his devotion. He gave him the Pāśupatāstra, the supreme weapon of Paśupati (Master of all beings). It was the most powerful astra (divine weapon) there is. The Pāśupatāstra could destroy whole worlds if it were let loose without good cause. Śiva gave it with a clear command: it must never be used against a human enemy, only against opponents who are more than human. Śiva put the weapon into Arjuna’s hands with his own hands, and Arjuna received it.

The gifts of the lokapālas

After Śiva left, the four lokapālas (guardians of the directions) came one after another to the Himālayan peak where Arjuna stood. They were Yama of the south, Varuṇa of the west, Kubera of the north and Indra of the east. Each gave him a divine weapon. Yama gave the Daṇḍāstra. Varuṇa gave the Vāruṇapāśas. Kubera gave the Antardhāna and Prasvāpana astras. Indra promised that Arjuna would receive more weapons when he came to Svarga.

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapters 37–39 (the Kairāta Parva: Arjuna’s tapas, the Kirāta battle, the Pāśupatāstra and the gifts of the lokapālas)