Khāṇḍavadāha
The Khāṇḍavadāha Parva tells how Bhagavān Agni, weak and unable to burn the Khāṇḍava forest because Indra guarded it, came to Kṛshṇa and Arjuna as a brāhmaṇa and asked for their help. They agreed. Varuṇa gave Arjuna the divine bow Gāṇḍīva and a quiver of arrows that never run out. Agni gave Kṛshṇa the Sudarśana Cakra and the Kaumodakī gadā. For fifteen days Kṛshṇa and Arjuna held off Indra and all the devas while the forest burned. Indra, moved by the courage of the two heroes and by a divine command, called off the battle and granted Arjuna a vara (a boon).
Background: Agni’s weakness
For a long time Agni had not had proper food. The cause was a long satra (sacred session) performed by King Śvetaki, a great king of fierce tapas. Śvetaki had made Agni serve without a break as the fire of his twelve-year yajña. Agni received so much clarified butter without rest that he became weak and could not digest it. He went to Brahmā, who told him: go and eat the Khāṇḍava forest, and that will make you well again.
But the Khāṇḍava forest was the home of Takshaka, king of the nāgas, who was a dear friend of Indra. Every time Agni set the forest on fire, Indra sent rain clouds over it and put out the flames. This happened seven times. Agni could not overcome Indra’s protection.
Agni comes to Kṛshṇa and Arjuna
Bhagavān Kṛshṇa and Arjuna were resting together on the bank of the Yamunā after an afternoon in Indraprastha, enjoying the river in the warm summer weather. A brāhmaṇa came before them. He was blazing, golden in colour and giving off great heat, and he asked for food. It was no ordinary food. The brāhmaṇa said he was Agni himself, that his true food was the Khāṇḍava forest, and that he needed warriors of divine power to hold off Indra while he burned it.
He asked Kṛshṇa and Arjuna to be his protectors. He said plainly: “I need two warriors who can stand against Indra and all the devas for as long as it takes to burn this forest. Can you do this?”
Kṛshṇa and Arjuna agreed. Arjuna said that he needed a bow equal to the task, one that would not break from shooting thousands of arrows without pause for days, and a chariot and horses that would not fail. Kṛshṇa asked for a weapon that would let him kill enemies at any distance.
The divine weapons: gifts of Varuṇa and Agni
Agni called on Varuṇa, deva of the waters and keeper of ancient treasures. Varuṇa came at once and gave Arjuna these:
- Gāṇḍīva, a bow of enormous power made of celestial material. Brahmā first gave it to Soma, then it went to Varuṇa, and now it went to Arjuna. Its twang could fill the three worlds with thunder. Nothing in creation was equal to it.
- Two quivers that never empty. The arrows in them never ran out and formed again after they were spent.
- A divine chariot carrying the flag of Hanumat. It was shining white, had divine axles and carried all the weapons needed for a great battle.
- The horses Śaibya and Sugrīva, white horses of divine speed, also from Varuṇa’s store.
For Kṛshṇa, Agni himself gave:
- The Sudarśana Cakra, the spinning disc that cuts through anything.
- The Kaumodakī, the great gadā (club) of tremendous force.
Armed in this way, Kṛshṇa and Arjuna took their places. Agni surrounded the great Khāṇḍava forest with walls of flame and began to burn it.
The battle: Indra and the devas come down
As the forest blazed, the creatures inside screamed and ran in every direction. Arjuna covered the forest with a canopy of arrows and let nothing escape. Indra heard the cry of alarm from the nāgas and the forest creatures and rose in fury. He gathered an army: the Ādityas, Vasus, Rudras, Maruts and the twin Aśvins, all the great devas armed for battle. Clouds poured rain. The devas hurled their weapons. The sky became a battlefield.
Arjuna met every attack with volleys of arrows so thick that they filled the sky like a second canopy. He stopped each rain cloud before it could pour water on the fire. His arms moved with more than human speed, drawing, loosing and drawing again, sending thousands upon thousands of arrows in unbroken streams.
Kṛshṇa meanwhile moved through the battle guarding Arjuna’s sides. He struck down attackers with the Sudarśana Cakra and used the Kaumodakī with terrible force. Together the two covered every part of the sky around the forest.
For fifteen days the battle went on. Indra threw his vajra. The other devas attacked in waves, working together. None could break the defence of Kṛshṇa and Arjuna. The forest kept burning.
Aśvasena’s escape
Among the creatures of the Khāṇḍava forest was a great serpent named Aśvasena, the son of Takshaka. His mother tried to carry him to safety by swallowing him and flying up through the canopy of arrows. Arjuna saw her move and cut off her head with a single arrow. Aśvasena slipped out of her body and escaped into the sky before Arjuna could stop him. Arjuna did not let him go on purpose. The moment simply passed too quickly.
Takshaka himself was not in the forest at that time. He was at Kurukshetra.
The voice from the sky: Indra gives way
After fifteen days of battle, in which Kṛshṇa and Arjuna held off every attack of the devas without stepping back, a divine voice (ākāśavāṇī) spoke from the sky. It spoke to Indra directly:
These two cannot be defeated. This is destined. The burning of the Khāṇḍava forest is destined. What you are doing is useless and against fate. Withdraw.
Indra accepted the divine command. He was also truly moved by the great courage of the two heroes, who had stood alone against the whole assembly of devas and had not given way. He called off the army of the devas.
Then Indra came down alone and stood before Arjuna. He spoke warmly and with great respect: “You have shown courage and power beyond what I expected. Ask me for a vara.”
Arjuna said: “When the time comes, give me all the divine weapons (astras) that you have. Let me learn them from you in person, as a student from his teacher.”
Indra agreed. He said: “The time will come. I will give them to you then.”
Agni finished his meal. The great Khāṇḍava forest had sheltered countless creatures and held Takshaka’s kingdom of nāgas. It was now burned to ash. Only six creatures from inside it stayed alive, as was destined: Maya the dānava, the serpent Aśvasena, and four Śāraṅgaka birds.
Later: Yudhishṭhira’s cry against Agni
Years later Dhṛtarāshṭra died in a forest fire at Gaṅgādvāra. Yudhishṭhira, in his grief, spoke bitterly and called up this very episode. He accused Agni of kṛtaghnatā (ingratitude), because Agni had burned the mother of Pārtha, the same Arjuna who had once fully satisfied him at Khāṇḍava. Nārada then explained that Dhṛtarāshṭra had in fact been united with his own sacred fires and had not been harmed by an ungrateful Agni.
Sources
- Mahābhārata, Ādi Parva, Chapters 222–227
- Chapter 222: Agni’s weakness, Agni comes to Kṛshṇa and Arjuna, the weapons
- Chapters 223–225: the battle
- Chapter 225: Aśvasena’s escape
- Chapters 225–227: the voice from the sky, Indra’s vara, the survivors
- Mahābhārata, Āśramavāsika Parva, Chapters 38–39: Yudhishṭhira’s cry against Agni