Arjuna Vanavāsa

Arjuna Vanavāsa is the twelve years of forest exile that Arjuna chose for himself, as tapas (penance) for entering the private rooms where Draupadī was with Yudhishṭhira. The exile became a pilgrimage. Arjuna met and married Ulūpī, the nāga princess, at Gaṅgādvāra. He married Citrāṅgadā at Maṇipura and became the father of Babhruvāhana. He freed five apsarases who had fallen under a śāpa (a curse) and become crocodiles at holy tīrthas (places of pilgrimage). He went to Prabhāsa, met Kṛshṇa, and at last came to Dvārakā, where he would meet Subhadrā and begin the next great episode.

The cause of the exile

A brāhmaṇa came to Indraprastha in distress, because thieves had stolen his cattle. He went to the Pāṇḍavas and asked for their help at once. Arjuna turned to his weapons, but they were kept in the private rooms where Draupadī was at that time with Yudhishṭhira.

By the agreement of the Pāṇḍavas, to enter that room was a breach that called for twelve years of exile. But the brāhmaṇa stood before Arjuna in distress, and a kshatriya cannot turn away one who asks him for protection. Arjuna went in. He took his weapons, went out and won back the brāhmaṇa’s cattle, and came home.

Then he told Yudhishṭhira that he must go into exile. Yudhishṭhira urged him to stay. The cause had been noble and the aim good, he said, and the rule was meant to govern desire, not dharma. But Arjuna would not be persuaded. He held to the letter of the agreement. He took leave and set out for the forest.

Source: Mahābhārata, Ādi Parva, Chapter 213

Gaṅgādvāra and Ulūpī

Arjuna travelled north and came to Gaṅgādvāra, the place where the Gaṅgā comes down from the mountains. He bathed in the river and spent the night there. That night, as he lay in the water, something seized him from below and pulled him down, swiftly and with no way to resist, into the depths of the river.

He found himself in a magnificent palace under the water. Before him stood Ulūpī, the nāga princess, daughter of the nāga king Kauravya. She had seen Arjuna and been overcome by love, and she had drawn him into her world.

Arjuna explained his position. He was under a vow of brahmacarya (celibacy) for the year, and the vow was part of the terms of his exile. Ulūpī answered that his vow was only about Draupadī and the marriage agreement. It did not bind him to complete celibacy with all women. She stood before him as a woman who had sought him with her whole heart, and she asked him not to send her away empty.

Arjuna accepted her reasoning and stayed with her for one night. In the morning he went back up to the surface. Before he left, Ulūpī gave him a vara (a boon). He would be unbeaten by all creatures born in water, and his life in water would be fully safe.

Source: Mahābhārata, Ādi Parva, Chapter 214

Maṇipura, Citrāṅgadā and Babhruvāhana

From Gaṅgādvāra, Arjuna went through many tīrthas and kingdoms. At last he came to the realm of Maṇipura in the far east, ruled by the noble king Citravāhana. There he met Citravāhana’s daughter Citrāṅgadā, a woman of rare beauty and character. Arjuna wished to make her his wife.

Citravāhana agreed to the marriage on one condition. He had no son, and this daughter was his only heir. So the son born of this union would stay in Maṇipura as Citravāhana’s heir and carry on the royal line of Maṇipura. Arjuna accepted, and the marriage was made.

Arjuna and Citrāṅgadā had a son, Babhruvāhana. Arjuna stayed in Maṇipura long enough for the birth. Then he went on with his pilgrimage and left the child in his maternal grandfather’s house, as he had promised.

Source: Mahābhārata, Ādi Parva, Chapter 215

The five tīrthas and the freed apsarases

Arjuna went on with his pilgrimage and came to a row of five holy tīrthas that could no longer be used. Crocodiles had made them dangerous, and pilgrims no longer bathed there.

Arjuna plunged into the first tīrtha. A crocodile at once seized him. He pulled it out of the water with one hand. As it came onto the bank, it changed into a beautiful apsarā. She told him her story. She and four of her companions had been struck by a śāpa (a curse) from a brāhmaṇa whom they had disturbed during his meditation. The curse had turned all five of them into crocodiles at these five tīrthas, and only a great hero could free them.

Arjuna went to each of the other four tīrthas in turn. At each one a crocodile seized him, and he pulled each out. In this way he freed the apsarases Vargā, Saurabheyī, Samīcī, Budbuda and Latā from their long years of suffering. Once free, they rose in gratitude to their rightful world.

Source: Mahābhārata, Ādi Parva, Chapter 216

Prabhāsa and the meeting with Kṛshṇa

Arjuna went on to the south and west and visited many tīrthas. At last he came to Prabhāsa, the great tīrtha on the western sea, which the Vṛshṇis and Yādavas also often visited. Word reached Kṛshṇa that Arjuna was at Prabhāsa, and Kṛshṇa came at once.

The meeting of Kṛshṇa and Arjuna at Prabhāsa, after years apart, was one of great joy. They embraced and sat together and spoke of everything: life in Indraprastha, the marriages, the tīrthas, and what lay ahead. Then Kṛshṇa invited Arjuna to come with him to Dvārakā, and Arjuna accepted.

Source: Mahābhārata, Ādi Parva, Chapter 218

Arrival at Dvārakā

Arjuna went with Kṛshṇa to Dvārakā, the magnificent city of the Yādavas by the ocean. The Vṛshṇi leaders received him with great honour. At the festival on Mount Raivataka in Dvārakā, he would first see Subhadrā, Kṛshṇa’s sister, and the next great chapter of his life would begin.

Source: Mahābhārata, Ādi Parva, Chapter 218

Not the same as the exile in the Vana Parva

The Arjuna Vanavāsa told here is the twelve-year exile from Indraprastha in the Ādi Parva. It was a voluntary tapas (penance) for entering Draupadī’s room. It is different from the Pāṇḍavas’ forest exile in the Vana Parva, the thirteen years that followed the dice game. During the Vana Parva exile, Arjuna went on a separate mission to win divine weapons in the Himālaya, and afterwards travelled to Indraloka.

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Ādi Parva, Chapters 213–218