Kāmyakavana was the sacred forest where the Pāṇḍavas set up their main home in the first part of their twelve years of exile in the forest. Many ṛshis (seers) lived there, and it was known for great tapas (austerity). The Pāṇḍavas spent a large part of their exile there. Kṛshṇa, Vyāsa, Nārada and Maitreya came to see them.

The forest

Kāmyakavana lay in the western part of the land of Kurukshetra. It was linked with the Sarasvatī river. The ṛshis of that age knew it as a place of great spiritual power. Many of them had practised tapas there, and the forest was full of āśramas and sacred fires.

The name means a forest of desires or sacred aims. Kāmya means that which fulfils desires.

The Pāṇḍavas at Kāmyakavana

The Pāṇḍavas left Hāstinapura after the game of dice and began their exile in the forest. In time they reached Kāmyakavana and made it their chief camp. It was the headquarters of their exile. There they received visitors, heard the teaching of great ṛshis and planned for the future. The large company of brāhmaṇas who had followed them from Hāstinapura settled there too.

These events happened at Kāmyakavana:

Sūrya gave the Akshayapātra (the inexhaustible vessel). It solved the problem of feeding the large company in the forest.
Vyāsa visited and gave Yudhishṭhira the Pratismṛti vidyā.
Kṛshṇa visited and told the Saubhavadha Upākhyāna.
Maitreya and Nārada also visited.

Kirmīra

The rākshasa Kirmīra blocked the way of the Pāṇḍavas as they travelled toward Kāmyakavana at night. Bhīma killed him. After Kirmīra’s death the Pāṇḍavas went on safely to Dvaitavana, another forest. During the exile they moved between different forests.

Kāmyakavana appears again in the Mahābhārata when the Pāṇḍavas return to the forest between parts of the narrative.

Sources

Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapters 1–36